Glycerin Rivers

Glycerin Rivers Coursing Through the Soap

I didn't mean to get a 'tiger' pattern in this soap, but I really like it.  You see, this pattern was created by rivers of glycerin forming in my soap during the saponification process.  Glycerin occurs naturally in cold processed soap and is part of the reason that soaps made in this manner tend to be very moisturising and nourishing for your body. So why did this occur?  During the saponification and curing process, my soap got very hot and basically, little rivers of glycerin formed in between other oils which had started to solidify.  It is still fine to use; the translucent parts just happen to be a little bit softer.

In fact, often when people comment that soap is very drying to the skin and that their skin is left feeling tight, what they are referring to is commercially produced soap. Large-scale commercial production of soap often deliberately remove the glycerin and add it to moisturising products such as lotions marketing the lotion or cream as a moisturiser to combat the 'dried leather' feel associated with soap.

Poor soap, it gets such a bad wrap at times all because people are led to believe soap has to be drying.

If you regularly use cold processed soap full of moisturising oils, you will find over time the need to use moisturisers diminishes.

You can see in this photo how the parts of soap with
Glycerin Rivers are more translucent

Infusing Natural Colourants

I love using natural colourants in my soap making, not only can you get a gorgeous Symphony of colour variations, you also have the added bonus of knowing that they have been derived from nature.

So what's on the soapmaking menu today?

Clockwise from the top.
Spirulina, Paprika, Alkanet, Madder Root
Indigo, Turmeric, Australian Bush Tomato
Centre: Chlorophyll

I am infusing these colourants in light olive oil. As it is winter and I don't have alot of shelving space alongside windows, I'm opting for the warm infusing method.  This involves gently warming the oils slowly over 3-4 hours in simmering water using a double boiler.  It is important when using this method to not "cook" the oil.

What colours might I expect the infused oils to produce?

Spirulina - blue-green colour

Paprika - Salmon to orange colour

Alkanet - Pinkish red through to purplish blue

Madder Root - Light pink to earthy red

Indigo - Blue

Turmeric  - Lemony yellow to earthy gold.

Australian Bush Tomato - I'm not sure what to expect.  Perhaps an orange to red colour.

Chlorophyll - Pale green

Colourants waiting to be infused. Left to Right:
Spirulina, Australian Bush Tomato, Alkanet,
Madder Root, Indigo & Turmeric

You can see in this image that some of the colourants started to infuse themselves without the need of the water bath.

Unmolding My Soap

The soap fairies have worked their magic and my batch of Honey & Oatmeal soap as been unmolded.

I am really happy with the results.  The silicone cylindrical mold leaves a lovely glossy surface to the soap.

Unmolding the soap from the cylindrical mold

I'm loving the marbled pattern that has been created.

 I wonder what the soap will look like once it has been cut?

Experimenting with patterning on the surface made using a bamboo skewer.

Happy with how this turned out considering how thick and quickly the trace became.

Getting Back In The Saddle

Some say soap making is like riding a bike.  Once you've learnt how you never really forget.  Sure you might fall off but it is important to get back on and keep going.

Where has the time gone?? This year has flown by so quickly that until yesterday I didn't realise that it has been almost 12 months since my last batch of soap.  Why did I leave it so long?  There are a number of possible reasons.

1) I started a new job at the end of last year.

2) We moved interstate and took a long time to adjust to the reality of downsizing from a house to a 2 bedroom apartment.

3) Dealing with the passing of  some special people in my life.

4) Trying to make time to complete work related course work.

5) Supporting my husband whilst he was in between jobs a we settled into our new lives.

6) Travelled back to the UK to visit family.

Or perhaps I simply lost my creative spark.  I don't know what happened but late last week my husband asked me when I was planning to make some more soap as the stash of my honey and oatmeal soap had been depleted and how he really likes it.

His comment took me by surprise as I hadn't realised how much he likes my soaps.  He also noted that he knows soap making makes me really happy.

So with this in mind yesterday I set aside time to make a double batch of my honey and oatmeal soap that is made with olive oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil. cocoa butter, vitamin e, honey, oatmeal, lye

Honey poured into traced soap

On the whole I thought I had it in the bag but boy had I forgotten a few things.

I forgot;

1) That the lye solution takes alot longer to cool down than what I remembered.

2) Using a rand new stick blender can cause the soap to trace more quickly.

3) Honey can speed up acceleration.

You wouldn't believe how quickly my soap turned from a nice thin trace to the beginning of soap custard.  I was able to get it into my molds and thankfully this was planned as a simple log with no intricate patterning to be included.

The annoying thing is that I know all of the factors but somehow let them skip to the back of my mind.  Maybe it was because I have made this soap so many times before that I felt I didn't really need to think about it.

Well my soap seems to have turned out okay.  Time will tell when I remove it from its mold later on.

Has this frightened me away?  Absolutely not.  What I will do next time is be more prepared in advance.  I'll also take it easier with the stick blender and remember that less is more when it comes to using the blender.  I'm also going to make time each week in 2016 to get my mojo back.