Help with salt bars

[JacquiO]

I tried following this tutorial with disastrous results. http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62435

It's very hard figuring how much oil to use for your mold when half your weight in oils is supposed to be salt. I calculated my lye solution for the amount of oils but should I have added more water to account for the weight in salt? I also used non-iodized sea salt. Is it not supposed to dissolve all the way cause it came out pretty grainy? Would a flaky kosher salt work better?

If anyone has a better salt bar recipe please share. I'm using sodium hydroxide and would prefer to keep it that way.

TIA,

Jacqui

[Kitn]

If you make ( as an example) a 1 pound batch of salt bars. You would get your lye and water amounts as per any batch of soap. I add 50% salt so I would add 8 ounces at trace. You can use any kind of salt except epsom. I use a fine sea salt but have used chunkier sea salt, the salt does not melt down in the gelling soap. The bars do become smooth as marble with use. I suggest you try a one pound batch , you can use 100% CO, it makes a great salt bar.

All the best with your next batch.

[Kitn]

For a 1 lb batch with a 20% superfat.

14.40oz CO

1.60 oz OO

2.25 oz lye

6.54 oz water

8 oz salt added at thin trace.

If you have single bar molds they work the best imho, salt bars can set up and get rock hard very fast. If you use a log mold keep an eye on the soap, and test frequently to see if it is getting hard, you want to cut them before they set up 100%. Ramekins or any small container, gladware or zip lock , single serving yogurt containers will work for a mold if you don`t have any single soap molds.

If you want to use 100% CO you would use 2.30 oz lye and 6.71oz water.

[MarieJeanette]

I calculated my lye solution for the amount of oils but should I have added more water to account for the weight in salt?

When I make salt bars, I use a 'full water' amount, meaning I don't take a water discount.

I also used non-iodized sea salt. Is it not supposed to dissolve all the way cause it came out pretty grainy?

Your choice of iodized sea salt is perfectly fine. I use fine sea salt myself. And the graininess is perfectly normal. That's actually the way a salt bar is supposed to come out. Being water soluble, the salt in salt bars does not dissolve, and is not supposed to until you bathe with it. When you bathe with it, the surface salt dissolves and makes your soap feel like a polished river stone. That's one of the cool things that makes these types of bars so unique.

It's very hard figuring how much oil to use for your mold when half your weight in oils is supposed to be salt.

Yes indeedy, it is, and how! I think my brain almost exploded when I was trying to figure out how big or small I should make my salt bar batch so that it would fit in my mold without overflowing because of the salt. After making some initial calculations (which ended up being a little off in reality), I finally just had to figure it out by trial and error, making sure to takes notes as I went along. By the third batch I had it figured out.

As a basic plumbline of sorts to work off of, if you are going to add 100% salt as per your 100% oil amount, you can expect your soap volume to increase only by 1.25 to 1.5 times.

Here are some threads to help you out with this question:

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61500&highlight=volume

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91794&highlight=volume

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54778&highlight=salt+bar+mold+volume

HTH!

MarieJeanette

[Barbara AL]

I prefer Southern Garden Scents 6 cavity mold for my Salt Bars they hold 16 ounces of oils and 14 ounces of Salt to fill all 6 cavities. I don't have to worry about cutting the Saltbars they just fall out of the molds in about 4 hours.

Barbara AL

[soycrazy]

I prefer Southern Garden Scents 6 cavity mold for my Salt Bars they hold 16 ounces of oils and 14 ounces of Salt to fill all 6 cavities. I don't have to worry about cutting the Saltbars they just fall out of the molds in about 4 hours.

Barbara AL

I love them too! Do you coat yours with anything? I was using mineral oil, but I think they will pop out even without it.

[Barbara AL]

I use Baby oil I put the oil in a small spray bottle and spray the molds with it. I found this on youtube today.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SoapEquipProdReview#p/u/0/miaigRmrRXU

Barb

[JacquiO]

Thanks a lot everyone. I guess I didn't so much screw up the soap as the colors which I totally miscalculated, wasted so much mica and still ended up with a big gray mess. Oh well attempt #2 will be this weekend.

I've been telling myself forever that I'm going to get those six cavity molds but first I want to master this 6 color swirl. I wish all the pics weren't gone on that tutorial.