{"id":4515,"date":"2011-01-21T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatcakessoapworks.com\/handmade-soap-blog\/?p=4515"},"modified":"2017-09-19T21:02:38","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T03:02:38","slug":"the-story-of-two-soaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatcakessoapworks.com\/handmade-soap-blog\/index.php\/the-story-of-two-soaps\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Two Soaps"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the story of two soaps. Both came from the same batch, but one is lye heavy and the other is superfatted. Soapmakers are scratching their heads right now wondering how this could be! I was confused at first, but it makes perfect sense now. Let me tell you how it happened. <\/p>\n

*cue music as we go back in time*<\/p>\n

Last November I had a brilliant idea to make a double batch of coffee soap<\/a>, but split it in half after adding the lye solution to the oils, and fragrance each half differently. I even added different colored swirls to each batch. You may remember these soaps – one was Cinnamon Bun and the other was Moroccan Spice.<\/p>\n

\"Cinnamon<\/a>
Cinnamon Bun and Moroccan Spice Coffee Soaps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After I poured the lye solution into the oils, I just stirred the soap with a spoon. Then I poured off half of the soap, blended it and added coffee, fragrance, and a quick swirl and poured it into the mold. The second half of the batch just needed a quick turn with the stick blender, then I was able to add the coffee, fragrance and even had time for another quick swirl before pouring it into the mold. It was so easy! <\/p>\n

Fast forward to yesterday. I was experimenting with a new recipe to see if I made my soap base without rice bran oil if I could add titanium dioxide without having a crackling effect. I wanted to make two kinds of soap out of one batch, so I started out the same way. Poured the lye solution into the oils, stirred with a spoon, then poured off half of the soap to make a batch of Antique Lilac first since I knew floral fragrances tend to seize. This was going to be my true test to see if the soap would come out without crackles. Here’s what my last batch of Antique Lilac looked like two years ago:<\/p>\n

\"Antique<\/a>
Antique Lilac soap by Great Cakes Soapworks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lots of crackles, right? Well, here’s what my batch looked like today:<\/p>\n

\"Antique<\/a>
Antique Lilac soap by Great Cakes Soapworks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, I couldn’t cut this one yet because it is SUPER soft. And I was dying to cut some soap today, because I just got my new soap cutter this week and I haven’t tried it out yet!<\/p>\n

So, I pulled out my second batch – Rosemary Mint. Made with rosemary and peppermint essential oils, and just a little bit of chromium green oxide – no titanium dioxide. This was the test batch to see how white the new soap base would be by itself. I spent quite a bit of time making layers and swirling the top of this one! It was quite hard when I pulled it out of the mold, so I was excited to try it out with my new soap cutter!<\/p>\n

I positioned it into the cutter….<\/p>\n

\"Rosemary<\/a>
Rosemary Mint soap by Great Cakes Soapworks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

…pulled down the wires…and the soap was so hard it just crumbled on the edge. Then I realized that the wires needed to be tightened. But even after I tightened the wires, they wouldn’t go through the soap! I even got out my soap cutter box to see if I could get a blade through it. No luck!<\/p>\n

\"Crumbled<\/a>
Crumbled soap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was right about this moment that I realized that this soap was definitely lye heavy and completely ruined. I really wanted to cry. <\/p>\n

So have you figured out what happened yet? I believe that the lye solution was not fully incorporated into the oils. When I poured off the first half of soap, I left more lye in the second half. Moral of the story: Mix the soap just a little bit more before splitting a batch like that – if I dare try it again. I’m feeling a bit gun-shy right now.<\/p>\n

The good news is, it appears that not having rice bran oil in the soap base prevented crackled soap – at least so far. I’ll have to verify that after I can cut the soap and see what it looks like inside. IF I can ever cut the soap. I’m praying pretty hard that the Antique Lilac soap will eventually set up!<\/p>\n

Thanks to Michele of Tierre Verde Soaps for sharing her experience in trying to find the solution to smooth soap made with titanium dioxide! I will definitely be making more soap without rice bran oil in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the story of two soaps. Both came from the same batch, but one is lye heavy and the other is superfatted. Soapmakers are scratching their heads right now wondering how this could be! I was confused at first, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-botched-batches"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t