MoonShadow

The bank card was used only at a supplier here in Ohio, Paypal & a chinese restaurant in St. Pete.

I called the bank and they closed the card, called the police and filed a report, then called Walmart and they told me the charge was for a pickup at a Walmart store in WI. I'm in FL. They put a block on that account, (that's all they could legally tell me) and I'm waiting for the money to be returned to my bank account, which should be by today.

Just happened to me on Jan. 10th. 1st charge was for $1.00 to Google, then twice on walmart.com & once to Office Depot.

I just got hit too last week. On Walmart.com. For over $700. I caught it the next day. I've never purchased anything from Walmart.com. :mad:

Beautiful!

Here's a comparison. Good vs Evil.

Congrats on your first batch of CP soap!

Ok...here it is cut. It looks WAAAAYYY better than the first batch. Two observations.

The bottoms are kind of rounded, even though I know the mold lining wasn't. So I'm thinking I was so afraid it would overheat, and put it in the freezer immediately, maybe the batter hadn't settled in the bottom yet.

The spot in the middle. Does that mean it only went through a partial gel?

All in all I'm happy...and LEARNING so much!

it should be ready to cut..

does it feel hard when you press lightly with your finger?

if you unmold and cut one piece, and you don't think it is quite ready..

just hold off cutting a little longer..

It does feel hard enough to cut. Since hubby helped me yesterday as I stressed, double checking to make sure I didn't screw it up (I made a checklist from all the tips I got on this thread) I'm gonna wait till he gets home to cut it.

Then I post some picks.

That looks great =- can't wait to see it cut!!

Thanks everyone! I couldn't have done it without all your help!

It leveled off heating up after about 2 .5 hours out of the freezer. It never went about a 7 degree increase. So I don't know if it gelled or not. :embarasse

But it sure is purty right now! I want to cut it. If it didn't go through full gel is it ok to unmold and cut at 24 hours? Which would be now, BTW,

I left it in the freezer for one and a half hours, pulled it out, and it looked like this.This is a HUGE improvement from what the first try looked like in it's young life at 1.5 hours/

I checked the temp, it was 76 degrees and has risen 6 degrees in the 30 minutes its been out of the freezer. I hope that means it's going to gel it's little heart out peacefully...but I'm keeping an eye on it like a mother hen.

Well I am feeling more hopeful with this batch. It behaved a a lot when I hit it with the SB than the first batch did. It turned a very light shade of orange but nothing like the first batch. I added the lye solution at 92 degrees with oils at 90. Chilled the mold first and popped the loaf in the freezer just now. So...fingers crossed!

Congrats on making your first few batches of cp soap. I am about an hour north of you.

Thanks neighbor!

I agree with the nice appearance of the log molded soap. Chilling the mold may help. It's worth a shot, right? If you have room in a freezer or fridge for the first hour or so, that should slow things down too.

My personal preference is gelled soap, so I'd not leave it in a chiller for too long - just long enough to slow the initial, more violent chemical reactions. I've actually had gel start after a soap had been totally frozen in the freezer. It picked up where it left off as it came back to room temp.

Yeah, that's what I'm kinda thinkin'. I like gelled soap too. I think I'm gonna try it again, only this time I'm gonna:

Chill the mold, blend the lye and oils at about 90 degrees, and pop it in the freezer for the first hour or so.

Thanks EVERYONE for your feedback and help!

Yep...I'm goin in! Wish me luck!

No slab mold, but I do have some individual molds and PVC pipe. I just really like the look the log mold gives an OMH bar. What if I chilled the log mold before I poured?

Yes. My standard production formula is superfatted at 7%. I make no adjustments when using milks.

The ambient temps in my work area are always in the low 60's. For milk soaps I use wooden single log molds with either re-usable foam liners, lexan liners or paper. No other insulation. My block molds are not usually used for milk soaps simply because they generate too much heat.

I don't pre-heat the molds, but do keep a fan around when making milk soaps.

HTH

I superfatted at 7% too, like I also usually do. I used a wooden log mold lined with freezer paper. So the differences are the temps in work area, mine was probably 70 degrees. And I don't have a fan.

Evaporated milks are much simpler than fresh IMO. What I would do in that case is dissolve your lye in the the plain water you would normally use to reconstitute the milk. Just make sure you're using at least as much water by weight as lye crystals (to make at most a 50% lye:water solution). This will ensure complete dissolution of the lye crystals.

While your lye water solution cools, stick blend the evaporated milk into your soft oils along with your honey, then add that to the melted hard oils and stick blend well to help ensure a nice blend.

Once the lye solution is ready, add it to the other mixture and blend to your desired level of trace. Easy peasy. I don't take temps, but around 100 degrees for both the lye solution and the oils should be fine to guard against false trace. Once the lye solution is introduced into the oils you'll see a slight rise in temp as the exothermic reaction begins.

My process for using powdered milks is similar - reconstitute the powder in just enough reserved water to make a thick slurry. As an added measure against little browned milk spots, I'll run the reconstituted milk through a sieve to catch any lumps that may not have dissolved completely. Add that milk to the soft oils/melted hard oils, stick blending very well. Then add cooled lye solution and follow your normal soaping procedures.

Unscented GM soap is always in my top 3 sellers year over year followed by Lavender GM and Lemongrass GM, so I get to make tons of GM soap. Powders and evaporated forms are simplest for me, but I have several goat farmers that provide freezers full of fresh milk, so it's the 'old fashioned way' most of the time Once you develop the feel for it making GM is a breeze.

Thanks TallTayl, I'm determined to master GM soap.

The evaporated milk process you describe is exactly how I did it. :embarasse But I got overheating and separation.

Do you superfat your recipes?

To those of you who make GM/honey soap, at what temps do you add the lye solution to the oils? I usually blend the two when the/y're both close to 100 degrees. Should I go lower with GM/honey?

Sorry for the issues you experienced with the GMsoap. The color you describe leads me to believe you didn't freeze your GM prior to adding the lye. Bright orange = burning milk protein. It doesn't ruin the soap, but it may be a bit whiffy until the ammonia smell cures away.

If you're up for another trial run, freeze your milk (a zip loc bag works great). You can add your lye right to the frozen block of GM in your mixing vessel, or thaw the milk to a slushy state. I've been successful adding the lye in small amounts and all at once. Just keep it moving to help dissolve the lye. The trick to lighter colored soap is to keep the lye and milk mixture from getting hot as you're adding the lye.

Some people keep the lye mixing vessel in an ice water bath as an added precaution to keep the blend cool.

As soon as you're confident all of the lye crystals have dissolved, add the solution to your warmed oils/butters. ( I always run the lye solution through a sieve to catch anything that may not have completely dissolved.) You should then have a much lower starting temp. I'd still elevate the mold off the counter surface and apply gentle air movement for the first hour or so - until the initial chemical reaction slows.

I use raw GM and honey all the time with no overheating problems (using 40% lye solution usually). If the honey is thick or beginning to crystallize I like to mix it in some reserved water before stick blending like crazy into the soft oils. It just takes a little pre-planning to keep things cool.

Yeah, when I saw the bright orange that's what I was thinking happened. I had read about people freezing fresh goats milk and adding the lye slowly to melt it, but does than work with the evaporated kind too? In other words, I could reconstitute the canned milk with equal part water and then freeze that? And then add the lye slowly to it?

Good...

did you have a fan on it?

if not..you can try that too..

I didn't. I don't have a portable fan. Just ceiling fans, and they're in other rooms. I try to keep the soap stuff in a separate "crafts" room, where the cats aren't allowed.

you could have put it right in the freezer or frig..

next time try having your mold cold before adding soap..

i have had mine crack before, i just kind of gently push it together as much as I can..

and also you can take of little of the soap when you cut it that is just very fine, and

fill in the crack..and smooth it with a qtip dipped in water..

that is a bummer, when you do everything you can, and it still overheats..

the color could also tone down..sometimes as it cures a few days the color can change.

i use honey in several of my soaps..and they are more temperamental. but it can be done..

don't give up..just try different ways, until you find what works for you..

good luck..

Thanks! I won't give up. I'm too stubborn...or addicted!

They look great!

Moon shadow, Oh congrats! I think it was you and another that said you wanted to give it try:)

I made hot process for years, but I find cp to be so much different.

I wish that I had Eugenia's advice last night. Great advice! I and going to try a couple things tomorrow to change up my " " heating pad mistake.

Titanium: I follow .5 tsp per pound of soap. when layering or swirling, weigh out your soap that you want to color with titanium (use your scale). add titanium into the emuslified oil/water once portions are separated (ie: 16 oz = .5 tsp). I find that I have to stick blend titanium, if not, I can't get it to blend. But maybe someone else has a technique better than mine. I hope that made sense.

Best wishes, you can do it!

Thanks! I'm hooked! Even with a big OMH #fail last night, I'm hooked!

Oh dear. Well, it overheated.

I placed it on a rack and didn't cover it, but within twenty minutes I had a big crack. I then took it outside, but too late.

It turned pumpkin orange when the lye solution was added. I kinda knew I was in trouble then, But it was only 100 degrees and the oils, honey and milk blend was 96.

So I'm thinking... I shouldn't use raw honey? (I did SB it separately with a cup of oils as suggested before adding back into the oils...)

Or....I didn't add the lye solution slowly enough?

Or...I should have chilled the canned GM ( I used canned evaporated kind so I used half the amount of water for the lye solution)

Or...I should have put the mold into the freezer immediately?

Suggestions?

something more..

when adding the honey..i forgot to say..I would take out a cup or so of the oils..and mix it up in that first..that way you know

it is really mixed in good..then add it to the rest of the oils..and mix good again

Ooooo! Great tip! Thanks!

Pretty! Would love to know how well the rose petals hold up over time.

I have been surprised at how well they DO hold up. They're organic, and don't have any preservatives, so after a few uses, they pretty much rub off. If they go down the drain, they're decompose naturally. I was expecting them to kinda get black and slimy. LOL Most of the people I gave them too don't use them for soap, they use the bars I give them. They use these more as sort of a room fragrance thingy.

Looks cheerful! What do you do with the cinnamon sticks? Just take them out before use?

Thanks Soapbuddy! Yeah, pluck them out, and the whole cloves too, cuz they might irritate and also possibly grow mold. They come out pretty easy. But the lemons are M&P.