“Best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.”
Yes, this is weird, like a blue crab or Picasso on drugs, or how the primordial sea must have looked. Sometimes I try too many different things during the same soaping session and this is what you get!
So I wanted to use four oils, 34% olive, 30% coconut, 30% tallow and 6% castor. I used 39%rainwater and 61% aloe Vera juice and snuck in 0.73% stearic acid to harden up the bar. Oh, and a pinch of Tussah silk to rainwater just before adding the 6% lye, followed by the aloe Vera juice that I froze over night.
What went wrong? Well let’s see. I attempted five “natural” colors, using a teaspoon of olive oil soaked alkanet root, a tablespoon or so of rain water soaked alkanet root, gold mica, charcoal and a pinch of reduced indigo powder.
I mixed oils and lye water at around 110 degrees. Too low, maybe? Instead of pouring the added colors INTO the partitioned soap, I already had them in the containers so I lost control of how light or dark I wanted them. Then I totally forgot to dilute the reduced indigo in water first before adding it to the container. Next thing I know, heavy trace sets in! So I have to layer via spoonfuls into my mold and while I was rushing to do so, I forgot my fragrance oil! This actually turned out to be a good thing since I saved the fragrance for a more respectable soap.
After filling mold and pounding on the floor to remove pockets of air, I insulated with a towel and put to bed.
Next day I cut the soap and nearly lost my breakfast! What the heck happened here!
I sure hope this…thing, lathers up in 6 weeks or it is headed for the recycle bin. I have a heaping full recycle bin! If it has a nice lather, well then we’ll keep it all in the family…hidden, in a drawer along with other unmentionables…soap, that is.
snellislesavonnier 