Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

Greetings,
I am new to the forum and want to say a warm hello to everyone, I have a couple of questions I did a course on cold process soap making which I enjoyed the course notes were a bit useless but that has not deterred me. I am having a couple of problems which are seriously putting me of the cold process soap making and would love to resolve....the first one is scent or lack of it I have tried benzoin, caster oil, patchouli, and maybe a few other things increased the essential oils, wrapped with cling film and still they are a bit scentless, its driving me insane lol....and lots of money down the drain in essential oils, seems to me that people want soap that looks good and smells good well at least I do, just wondering what the solution to this is.
The second problem is white marks on soaps its not stirring, the recipe, they seem fine when you get them out the mould and no soda ash and as they are curing a slight white mark on some of the bars around the edge, all recipes are checked with lye calculators twice and look great until some of them develope the dreaded white marks.....I so love making soap but if these problems continue maybe melt and pour would be better.....please help as I so would love to continue without these issues lol.
Lee

Hello Lee

How much EO are you using? I am surprised you don't get any smell from Patchouli - that one comes through even in minute amounts? Are you using 100% EO or dilluted?

For the white streaks, might be worth putting a picture up here (we love photos!), could be any number of things, from stearic to ash to lye.

I use 100% essential oil the anise smells a wonderful and hold the patchouli was a blend and did not work that great I have gone as high as 30ml for a 20 bar mould...will need to think on the pictures and how to do that not to computer savvy....
Its a nice forum this got a good energy to it...thanks for the reply.
Lee

Just an after thought I know there are some in favour of L___ and some not I would like to keep my soaps as natural as possible but am beginning to think well maybe the chemicals and L___ approach work lol. for me soaps need to be a visual thing and smell great and work of course...a bit frustrated that the course I did from a well known person was so lacking in some areas and now have a kitchen with every draw filled with soap lol....now will think on photos side.
Lee

Lee you need to try and stick to 1- 3% of Eos on the calculation of your oils . Im a new cp soaper and havnt really had problems with the fragrences yet . Welcome to the boards by the way , I havnt done a course , Im self taught and have trived on the expertise on this forum. Have a look in soapy show offs there are some fab creations there :)

Hello Lee, welcome to the forum.


Courses aren't essential to learning soapmaking (lots of us didn't go on one) but access to resources and info is - there's lots of info on the various forum boards. Take a look through [ur=http://www.forum.fresholi.co.uk/index.php/board,7.0.htmll]Troubled Bubbles[/url] and CP/HP Soapmakers General Discussion (http://www.forum.fresholi.co.uk/index.php/board,6.0.html) for starters. You'll also find some links to youtube videos and other web-based resources.

Re your fragrance being insufficient and not lasting - waht was the total weight of your batch of 20 bars? Safety Assessments generally have a max limit on EOs at 2 or 3 % (by weight).

Your 30 ml of EOs would likely weigh around 27g - that would be 2% of 1350g of soap.

You might like to consider making HP soap - the method is kinder on EOs and very much less prone to ash (don't take any notice of courses and instructionsl sites which state that you should be competant with CP before attempting HP - I've never made CP, neither have some others).

ok I have a picture but cant figure out how to get it on the forum just says (http://)....

Thanks for the reply I have spent weeks going through most board and forums, will look at the link suggested thanks. The batch was not for safety assessments more for personal use so I opted for more as to what was in it here you go.
Probably wont hold up to scrutiny lol.
375g coconut oil
475g palm oil
675g olive oil
270g sweet almond oil
100g shea butter
53g black seed oil
270g lye
650g water
10ml black pepper essential oil
10ml mandarin essential oil
15ml vertifer essential oil

The marks on the soaps appear with a combination of ingredients tried many combos, the hot process I would like to do but would like to master the cp first..
Lee


Courses aren't essential to learning soapmaking (lots of us didn't go on one) but access to resources and info is - there's lots of info on the various forum boards. Take a look through [ur=http://www.forum.fresholi.co.uk/index.php/board,7.0.htmll]Troubled Bubbles[/url] and CP/HP Soapmakers General Discussion for starters. You'll also find some links to youtube videos and other web-based resources.

Re your fragrance being insufficient and not lasting - waht was the total weight of your batch of 20 bars? Safety Assessments generally have a max limit on EOs at 2 or 3 % (by weight).

Your 30 ml of EOs would likely weigh around 27g - that would be 2% of 1350g of soap.

You might like to consider making HP soap - the method is kinder on EOs and very much less prone to ash (don't take any notice of courses and instructionsl sites which state that you should be competant with CP before attempting HP - I've never made CP, neither have some others).

Thanks I appreciate that would love to use as little as possible but they need to smell lol, I saw the pictures they look excellent.
Lee

Lee you need to try and stick to 1- 3% of Eos on the calculation of your oils . Im a new cp soaper and havnt really had problems with the fragrences yet . Welcome to the boards by the way , I havnt done a course , Im self taught and have trived on the expertise on this forum. Have a look in soapy show offs there are some fab creations there

any citrus oils will pretty much disappear during the process - you can use clay and they may last a bit longer, but they soon go. Exception of May Chang which stays strong - other EOs that stay strong are patchouli and peppermint/spearmint. I think Geranium does as well, but I don't like it, so haven't used it.

For your soap:
Oil weight: 1948g
Lye Weight: 270g

water will mostly evaporate - don't count

Total weight: 2218g
EO at 1% strength (all citrus due to regulations) - 22.18g
EO at 2% strength (for the heavy ones) - 44.36g
EO at 3% strength (for everything else) - 66.54g

so as you can see you have been using a rather small amount which explains the lack of fragrance (apart from Patchouli, which I would expect to be strong, even at 1%).

The above is just a rough draft - for example Peppermint, I wouldn't use at 3%, as it can make your sensitive bits tingle rather strongly. Some of the more expensive ones I wouldn't use at 3% either - mostly they are stickers anyway and don't need it. There are some we shouldn't use at all.

But I am surprised that you are making such large batches if you are just starting and I can understand that this is really expensive! Why don't you make 500g (oil weight) batches, which allows you to play and try out some EO blends without wasting such a large amount? Are you using the recipes from Miller Soap? They are mostly lovely, but very big and need to be scaled down - soap calc can do that for you.

Actually a lot of L___'s fragrances are based on EOs. I am not sure what you mean by that sentence. Of course L___ uses some synthetics, but not excessively. Remember, Poison Ivy is natural, but you wouldn't want to roll in it. Sugar is a chemical, but are using it....

sorry for the delay just back from rolling in poison ivy lol, I appreciate your help and thanks for answering....why the big batches? I bought a mould way to big and need another plus quite enjoy making big ones seems more satisfying.
That is just one recipe used the other are bang on right with essential oils still lack of scent...might try the clays see how that goes.
Lee

Just go to Staples and get yourself a RUB - easy soap mold and even comes with a lid.

Otherwise you will have to experiment with 60g (that's not the same as ml by the way) of EO each time....that's going to be expensive!

What is black seed oil? Other than this ingredient your recipe is similar to mine. I keep telling myself I should stick to an easier recipe, but keep coming back to this one - I use Rapeseed Oil instead of the shea for my standard soap and the shea version for my luxury/limited edition soaps...

does your soap look like bread pudding lol, mine does might be the colorants used well it is that...Black seed oil
Black cumin oil contains 100 healing components which work together in a synergetic effect. That means they all complement each other in the process of aiding our body’s ability to look after itself.
Research has found that there is not another herb known to work with such a wide range of healing capabilities.
Nigella Sativa are known by many names for example, Black Seed or Black Cumin. Habbat ul barakah in Arabic countries (the Blessed Seed) due to the saying of the Holy Prophet (SWS) and habbat as-sawda. It is referred to as Schwarzkummel in Germany and Cörek Otu in Turkey. It is often named Black Onion Seed because of its similarity to onion seed in appearance but they share no relation to each other.
Lee

ah - the stuff that's on top of turkish bread!! lol - tastes a bit like Cumin.

That's a rather expensive oil for a soap? Considering most of it's healing properties will disappear once it has reacted with the lye and formed sodium salts? Will be good label appeal though!

Yes your probably right, not sure it is used on turkeys and costs a fortune but seemed like a nice oil to add, cant wait to use it just another 5 weeks 3 days to go seems like forever.
Leigh

that what happens when you read things to quick you said turkish and I thought you said turkeys lol insane at time.
leigh

Hi Leigh,

A warm welcome to the forum.  I can't help with the technical questions you have as I don't make soap, but it would probably be a good idea to weigh your essential oils rather than measure them.  There are lots of discussions that have taken place around the forum on technical issues that might be of some help.

I hope you enjoy it here  :) :buttrf:

Thanks helen I appreciate that for some reason have not thought of weighing the essential oils good advice though.
Lee

Hi Lee and welcome to the friendliest forum ever.

The advice of weighing your essential oils is excellent advice as this is the truly accurate method of adding it to your product.  Keep in mind that essential oils at 3% are at therapeutic levels and if you are not weighing them to get it accurate you could be going further into levels.  If you are using less than 1 ml then it is accepted practice to measure by drops as well.

Have fun!

Cheers :buttrf:

Dear Lindy,
Thanks it is a friendly forum and a good energy could sense that right from the start, thanks for the advice will always do this from now on.
Leigh

Hi Leigh & welcome!  Sorry you have been finding the soaping a bit frustrating, but stick with it and you will get there...TBH even though I have been making CP for nearly 2 years, I still sometimes come up against little issues, so it's a constant learning process!  You've definatly come to the right place to learn more & for help solving problems!

I really would scale back your batches though.  A 2kg batch is a lot of waste if things don't turn out to your satisfaction.  I strongly recommend weighing EOs too - I use a jewellers scale for this (plenty available on the well known auction site.)

Hi Leigh

Welcome to this very friendly forum


1) go to the reply box
2) click on additional options
3) you see a box with 'attach' beside it
4) click 'browse' and choose the file you want to attach
5) if you've got more than one click the 'more attachments' button and rpt step4

Just be sure you've saved you're image to one of the file types mentioned (jpg etc)
If uploading you should only need a 72dpi (or thereabouts) to get a good image (that helps reduce the file size)

And that should work (I think :mwaha:)

Thanks Denice,
I will give it a go later thank you.
Lee

Hi.  :hi:

Eire

Hi Lee and welcome.... :buttrf:

Hi Lee...........welcome    :buttrf:

Hi Lee  :buttrf:


Celia

Thanks for all the lovely welcome its most appreciated.
Leigh

Sounds good. I will have to check that out.

If you have a Cass Art shop nearby, they have nicely made wooden boxes designed for installations but they look ideal for soaping, ranging from about 3-4 to 14 quid. I bought a seven quid one that I reckon will make about 10 bars but I haven't used it yet. I use a wooden box that a German friend sent us with printen (German Christmas biscuits) in it, but it is big -  2-3 kg. (I have two - my essential oils live in the other one.) Not having a side flap is a disadvantage but the soap comes out eventually if you line it properly!

Muji has a plastic storage box with good straight sides that isn't too rounded at the bottom and doesn't have an injection moulding blib on the bottom.