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HELP - Need clarification on terminology


byrd46740

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Excuse me for sounding stupid, but I am confused on the term morphing.

I have heard this term used in regards to the scent taking on a different smell once soaped, and now I have heard it used in terms of the soap bubbling up out of the mold like a volcano and leaving or blowing a crater in the loaf. What is the common and correct terms used for these conditions?

Thanks in advance for your help :D

Bert

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If you haven't heard of soap fairies, you haven't researched enough. :D

Personally I love them, but Carebear usually keeps them all at her house and refuses to feed them brownies.

LOL - you're right, I haven't heard of them - brownies? lol

I thought soap fairy was a member who likes to go hostile on people. I have seen one or two people on here do that when someone asks a question.

So what terms do you use for the scent changing and for the volcano effect?

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If you haven't heard of soap fairies, you haven't researched enough. :D

Personally I love them, but Carebear usually keeps them all at her house and refuses to feed them brownies.

Sorry, but we're a high-fiber household and I'm not letting them out till they get regular...

Morphing is when something in the soaping process (the heat or the pH) causes a scent to shift or become different, often to something unpleasant.

The volcano thing is related to reaction heat. A lye solution can volcano if the (bad bad bad) water is added to your lye instead of the other way around. A soap batter can volcano if it gets too hot, either in the bowl or in the mold. The mix swells and expands and seems to grow and threaten to expand out of the bowl, which it can do. Think of bread rising in the bowl in fast motion... (but without the elasticity)

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Nah, I refer to those people as women/men with entirely too much time on their hands and not enough brain cells to carry out a complete and simple thought process.

The scent loss/change is morphing and the exploding soap is a volcano as well as a damn mess and total waste of good soaping oils, which like jbren says, is typically associated with overheating.

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So if you had a scent that caused the volcano thing you would say it volcanized? lol:undecided

I am referring to the batter rising out of the mold, not the incorrect method of adding water to lye and exploding lol

I've never had a scent cause a volcano in my soap, but certain recipes and additives in your batch and maybe certain "techniques" that were used might have contributed to the volcano.... It might have been just the person making the soap... LOL (this sentence is not meant to be mean either.. lol) ;) I say to try another batch... with another recipe with no additives (just plain old soap) and see what happens. If it works out, try another batch and add your additives...

Don't judge a FO with just one batch of soap...

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So if you had a scent that caused the volcano thing you would say it volcanized? lol:undecided

I am referring to the batter rising out of the mold, not the incorrect method of adding water to lye and exploding lol

Firstly,the morphing scent might be something like a floral scent, maybe a scent that will accelerate the trace. You melt your hard oils, (do not overheat nor burn them), then add your soft oils to the hard oil and stir or stick blend to incorporate them together. When the oils are fully joined, you add your lye water, (which is best at room temp or just a little above room temp), and bring you mix to a trace, ( light, med, or thick,) you take out some of the raw batter and place it in you color cup and mix that for your color for the swirl.

At this time, you also add your scent to the pan of soap batter and stir.

When you are working with a floral or a spice scent, you need to work FAST because these scent WILL accelerate the trace immediately!

The volcanic reaction will happen when adding things like HONEY to your lye water! Honey is best NOT added until you are better prepaired to use it. Milk will do odd things to you lye mix too but not like honey will. Honey and Goats milk soaps are futher down the road for me. Although I have read and understand home to work with them, that doesn't mean I should yet.

A good thing to do is start at the back of these forum pages and read to the front. Have a norebook handy and take great notes!

I hope this info helps!

Fire

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I am not the one doing the soaping - I am way to big of a chicken for that bwak bwak Not to mention I don't have the much needed patience it requires. I am all about fast - quick - get er done LOL

So it looks like soaping can produce as many different results as veggie wax candle making. And I guess I shouldn't judge on one result then. Well pooh :undecided If nothing else I sure learned a lot today.

Thanks everyone for your help!

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I have not made nearly as many soaps as some of you..But the only time I have had any valcano trouble is when using GM and Honey...I soap totaly Room Temp...and even put my mold in the frig. and still got a crack in my soap...

I used a FO that was not mentioned on the list for soap...it was peaches and cream...But I had it on hand and wanted to try anyway..In just a few days there was no scent at all...I don't know if that is morphing? but that is what I called it..It morphed right out...:D Now I have just a really nice soured milk swirled bar soap with no scent...;) But it is a wonderful...feeling soap..

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So if you had a scent that caused the volcano thing you would say it volcanized? lol:undecided

I am referring to the batter rising out of the mold, not the incorrect method of adding water to lye and exploding lol

Scents do not typically cause volcanos, liquids other than water are the usual culprit for a lye volcano. Soap volcanos are usually caused by overheating ingredients such as milks or sugars.

Scents can cause a myriad of other situations, ricing and seizures being the 2 most common. Morphing scents are just a hazard in the soaping world, sometimes it can even happen w/ the best quality ones. Although most reputable co. will have tested their scents to avoid these kinds of problems. HTH

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We have only be soaping a few months, (which by the way we are both totally addicted) but one of the first ones we did that wasn't on the list was a Strawberries and Margarita, that is creamy smelling. Normally. The soap smells exactly like Play Doh. So we assumed that is the morph. Great soap, we are actually thinking of selling it as Play Doh soap for kids:D

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Sometimes a scent will smell bad in the soap but when curing for several weeks, it will return back to the origional scent. I do not personally know what causes this this to happen. My GUESS, is the lye water because the scent returns to it's origional properties after a month or so and the only thing that has changes in the soap is a lot less water in the soap. You must understand however that this is just a GUESS on my part. Also, it's a good idea to use distilled water and not tap water when making soap! Florals and spicey scents are quick to accelerate the trace of the soap batter in the pot or bucket, Worse, they can cause seizing (soap on a stick) or the scent rices (looks like rice granuals) Water scents can often, though not always do this as well. Thes baches can be saved but you generally have to HP them in order for them to turn out. With ricing, sometimes to can stick blend it back into submition though.

There is a forum called the Scent Review that shows many of the scents and how they behave in CP soap as far as if they did anything weird.

In order to know many things, research is best. Try the Miller soap site and read, read, read.

Fire

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Thanks Care Bear!

I asked, and the soap wasn't made with any additives, so maybe the fragrance is causing it. Maybe no one on here has experienced the volcano reactions from a scent because the scents were already proved out???

Maybe that's it? I don't know, because my chicken butt isn't going to burn down the house with science experments in the kitchen :D That lye scares me LOL

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When I think of "morphing" I think of it as a nice, dreamy fragrance :) that goes horribly wrong after a few weeks cure. :shocked2: One where you smell it and may even be moved to shouting expletives because your big batch of soap now smells nothing like you intended it to! I've never had a volcano (yet, now that I jinxed myself...LOL) but some fragrances are ricers too. I wish I could remember which one I was working with (this is years ago) but as soon as I added it bam! My soap started chunking up on me!! :angry2: I was able to beat it into submission with my fearless stickblender, though! :D You should try soapmaking! It's fun! Plus you can test all your newer oils for soaping results and have a good excuse to make soap! :wink2: It's alot of fun once you get over the fear of lye!

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Thanks Care Bear!

I asked, and the soap wasn't made with any additives, so maybe the fragrance is causing it. Maybe no one on here has experienced the volcano reactions from a scent because the scents were already proved out???

Maybe that's it? I don't know, because my chicken butt isn't going to burn down the house with science experments in the kitchen :D That lye scares me LOL

I'm REALLY curious now.... What scent was used?

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