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Thursday 27 December 2012

Bonsai & Citrus Ginger Swirl

Yay, first post Christmas soap!

I was suffering soap making withdrawals. I decided I wanted to try swirling again one more time. I brought it to a thin trace, added my FO, split off a portion to mix with a blue mica, and my trace quite quickly changed from light to thick, so in the pot swirling was out. I ended up altering pouring one, then the other into the mold, then swirling with a chopstick. I am excited to see it cut. I am beginning to suspect I soap a little too warm, and think I will try a cooler temp next time.

I also did two other "firsts" for me today. I had purchased some Titanium Dioxide to whiten my soap. I got the water soluble type, so that was added to my lye mixture. I also added a pinch of raw tussah silk fibres to my lye mixture, which is supposed to add a very silky feel to soap. I found the vendor on Ebay, but she had her website printed on her invoice, http://www.missbabs.com/index.php . I bought 2 oz of the Tussah Silk Noil. 2oz is enough to tightly pack a ziplock baggie, and most soapers who use it recommend about a cotton ball sized pinch for 5lbs of soap, so this is going to last me awhile, considering my average batch is about 2lbs. I found it to be a really great value for something that could add a lot extra to my soap, considering I paid about $5 including the shipping.

For my fragrance today, I used Bonsai & Citrus Ginger which was highly reviewed by other soapers on the vendor's site. I was expecting a bit more of a sharp citrus note, but it's not what I expected. I love it, but it was really unexpected. The sandalwood and evergreen really tone down the femininity of the sweet citrus tones. This one is definitely going back into the rotation.

And finally, first my pic, and then the recipe:


Total oil weight1.5
Water as percent of oil weight38 %
Super Fat/Discount7 %
Lye Concentration26.494 %
Water : Lye Ratio2.774:1
Sat : Unsat Ratio39 : 61
Iodine 60
INS 150
Fragrance Ratio0
Fragrance Weight 0 Oz
IngredientPoundsOuncesGrams
Water0.579.12258.547
Lye - NaOH0.2053.28793.188
#Oil/Fat%PoundsOuncesGrams
1Olive Oil pomace400.69.6272.155
2Palm Oil200.34.8136.078
3Coconut Oil, 76 deg250.3756170.097
4Avocado Oil50.0751.234.019
5Castor Oil100.152.468.039
  Totals1001.524680.388
Soap Bar Quality Suggested Range Your Recipe
Hardness 29 - 54 38
Cleansing 12 - 22 17
Conditioning 44 - 69 59
Bubbly 14 - 46 26
Creamy 16 - 48 30
Iodine 41 - 70 60
INS 136 - 165 150
Lauric 12
Myristic 5
Palmitic 18
Stearic 3
Ricinoleic 9
Oleic 41
Linoleic 8
Linolenic 1


This soap should feel amazing! I can't wait to try it.

2 comments:

Maitri said...

I try to mix my micas and oxides with some oil before I even start to portion out my oils. I mix the colors in dixie cups and set them aside. I pour each dixie cup into a plastic pitcher (yay for dollar stores!) Then I measure out my oils, lye, water, etc, and combine. I add the FO at trace and then immediately pour into the various pitchers. Is that how you mix for color? Maybe that would help if you're taking the time to mix up your mica after you've already brought it to trace.

Unknown said...

I did premix my mica, I think I have a few contributing factors. Firstly, I think I may be erring a little too much on the side of caution when it comes to trace. Watching the YouTube videos, it's pretty thin, and I know I have never stopped at that thin of a trace. Add to that, I have been soaping a bit on the warm side, and using olive oil pomace, and it was all working against an ITP swirl. I actually did another attempt the other day that went *much* better, but I have not written up the post for it yet.

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