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But the reaction of lye+oils produces heat. If you stop or retard that heat from occurring, it takes longer to saponify. So, putting your mix in a cold bath is just going to retard the saponification process, not speed trace.

My Ginger flower seized as well. I love the oils I got, they smell great--they just all seized. max usage for them is 2%---so much less than I am used to! Yours look lovely.

How about: Coconut: 25% Castor: 8% Crisco: 45% Olive: 22% Hardness:35 Cleansing: 17 Conditioning: 60 Bubbly: 24 Creamy: 25 ...and you can add sugar to the water prior to the lye to up bubbles if you are not happy with the bubbles. You can also add sodium lactate for hardness (or a couple of tablespoons of salt ppo, that is what I use) This is a much more conditioning recipe

I don't see CO, PKO or Babassu as a sub for Crisco--they are what I use for bubbly/cleansing oils. I use lard, and love it...so I am no help for subs unless you just use olive oil.

That is really interesting! I had not thought of that. I know when I do my 100% coconut salt bars (even without salt, if I do 100% coconut with high super fat), I get the batter quite thick so I can mix the salt in, and I have to take great care that it doesn't over heat.

Those are beautiful!

That's gorgeous!!!

Oooooooooooh. Now I get it!! Those are confusing directions. You must have thought we were all dim bells! I have never added color to my lye water, altho I have seen suppliers recommend that procedure for testing a color.

So, use some of your water (before you put in lye) and mix the color to a slurry--use a cup or whatever. Then add emulsified soap batter to your cup when you are ready to colour.

I usually just take a small scoop, put it in whatever I am going to use for swirl (disposable cup, small pitcher, whatever) and mix it with some oils. I always mix oxides with oils, someone told me that long ago, so that is how I do it. I use that small amount of oil, mix it up so there are no clumps, then when I have emulsion, I scoop off a small amount for swirls and put it in the mix. Does that make sense? Or do I need to go to bed? If you are looking to color your base, I always just take out some uncolored portions to swirl first.

Thank you for sharing! They are completely lovely!

I went through this too--I got sucked in by her "going out of business" then found out she has had the same thing up for over a year! My oils took 6 weeks to arrive, and all the bottles are caved in. She didn't respond to ANY of my emails, either.

Hmmm, that is a tough one. Can you post your recipe? Could you have weighed the lye wrong, or used the wrong amount?

:tiptoe: How would you answer this if it were a soaper posting this in the candle section?

I am the same...Goodwill and Value Village are so expensive. V.V books are half of cover price! Whatever. I will go support a good used book store that actually pays people for their books. The clothes are disgusting and way over priced. Back to topic, we have a store here called "The Bargain Store" that I LOVE....I got stainless steel stock pots for under $10, all kinds of cool stuff. Kids clothes are dirt cheap, too.