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Will this recipe trace quickly?


JanetsCandles

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I found a recipe on the Soap Queen blog and changed one ingredient. I'm trying to figure out if it will trace too quickly to use it in the squirt bottles. http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/impressionist-soap-tutorial/ There's the original recipe. They are showing that it is workable in squirt bottles. I am wanting to change the Canola oil out and use Olive Oil instead. But I'm a bit concerned with having 26% each of Palm and Coconut oils. I've had some problems recently with trace happening quicker than I want with a couple of other recipes, so can anyone tell me how likely this one is to go south on me? I just don't want to get everything set up and then find out that it has to turn into another "spoon swirl" type LOL. TIA!

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I found a recipe on the Soap Queen blog and changed one ingredient. I'm trying to figure out if it will trace too quickly to use it in the squirt bottles. http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/impressionist-soap-tutorial/ There's the original recipe. They are showing that it is workable in squirt bottles. I am wanting to change the Canola oil out and use Olive Oil instead. But I'm a bit concerned with having 26% each of Palm and Coconut oils. I've had some problems recently with trace happening quicker than I want with a couple of other recipes, so can anyone tell me how likely this one is to go south on me? I just don't want to get everything set up and then find out that it has to turn into another "spoon swirl" type LOL. TIA!

Can you up your water content a bit and add some sodium lactate maybe. (?)

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I have found that most formulas - short of all OO or all Lard - trace too quickly for squirt bottles unless you add full water, work very cool, use tried and true fragrances and use the stick blender just to the point of emulsion, not traditional trace. Plus, you have to work very quickly.

The squirt bottles were too much trouble to clean out IMO. I switched to plastic measuring cups like these with the pour spout. I like that I can add a bit of water if needed as I work to thin the colored parts out quickly if needed.

The replacement of canola with OO should not change the trace time appreciably. I'm guessing you've already run the changes through a SAP calculator to adjust the lye and water requirements. My formula is higher in % of Palm and CO than that formula (plus I use shea) and i have time to make 7 color swirls using a water discount.

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I've been having trouble with most of the recipes using CO or Palm actually tracing far too quickly for my liking. With the info you guys just gave, I'm thinking of running the color idea in a Bastille 90% OO/ 10% Castor Oil recipe. Figuring that should give me enough time to work with it. Either that or trade out the CO and the Palm for Lard and see how well that one works.

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Soap Queen is pretty reliable. Just lay off the sb and make sure that your fo doesn't cause acceleration and you ought to be good to go. Barbara gave out a tip to use hair coloring bottles from a supply house. You cut the tips as wide as you want them and they have wide mouths for easy cleaning. HTH

Steve

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I watched a Youtube tutorial where a lady began by swishing her soap with a spoon. She then took the barely emulsified soap and poured into her color bottles. The rest of the batter was whitened with td and she mixed the heck out of it with her sb. She then shook her barely emulsified color bottles up to incorporate the color and began swirling. So she had light to medium trace on the main batter and very light trace on her color. It's just so hard for me not to be the devil out of the batter and worry that maybe it might separate if I don't. HTH

Steve

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I stirred with a spatula just to mix, SB to make sure all was combined. No trace at all showing. Up until 3/4 of the way it was really cool. I used Southern Soapers Dragonfly Moon, maybe it accelerated?

It's normal for soap to thicken when taking our sweet time to swirl. If it accelerated you would not have had time to get it sectioned out and colored, let alone 3/4 of the way through.

Next time you pour soap into a log watch how, after a few minutes, it starts to set up. That's what you witnessed, albeit more slowly, in your swirling session.

<<Tapping foot now for pictures :)>>

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THe thickening is part of why I started using the spouted pouring vessels. As it thickens you can add more water, bit by bit, to keep it flowing. About any flexible container will work - yogurt cups, sour cream containers, etc. Those are nice since you can pinch them as you pour to make whatever spout size you need.

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I used sage and lemongrass from Peak, and followed the recipe as written on the BB site (no subs). When I divided the batter into three containers, I eyeballed it, like it says, and I ended up with more green than the other two. Next time I think I will measure better.

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