This started as a pretty cool looking batch of black activated charcoal soap with white and crimson red swirls inside. The top was textured all nice and then, I go to cut the bars. I did a water discount on all 4 of the batches made that day, but this one was waaaaay harder than the rest and just a bit crumbly when sliced. (It smelled absolutely divine by the way: Cherry Fizz). So, I do a quick zap test and got zinged. Yup, lye heavy. I wracked my brain trying to figure out what went wrong, then remembered: as I was finishing up with pouring the oils, my friend called needing some "urgent" relationship advice. So, while I'm yapping on the phone, I forget to add the Rice Bran oil.
Bummer.
I actually considered throwing the whole loaf in the trash. I was that pissed mad with myself. Then, reason returned and I decided to pull out the crock pot and do a re-batch.
After shredding the bars, I added the missing Rice Bran oil plus a bit of glycerin. The glycerin wasn't really necessary but I figured why not. At this point, it can't hurt anything. The bars still had enough moisture in them that it didn't take long to cook down at all and the scent was actually strong enough, that it wasn't necessary to add anymore fragrance.
I glopped it into my mold and smoothed the surface out with some plastic wrap. A few hours later, the bars were ready to cut.
Ugly, right? Yeah, I know BUT the lather is wonderfully creamy and the bars still smell yummy. My boys love them. The bars sort of look like shiny granite when they're wet. These will sit for a few weeks and then we'll use them here at home. Fortunately, this was only a half of loaf made with leftover fragrance oil. Not too much of a waste :0)
Hey,it's 'crazy woman' here (hi,hi)! The same happened to me,as well. But luckily,I forgot olive oil to add and due to its great part in my batch, after adding my l/w, I noticed it was considerable small amount of oils in my pot. Then realized what I did (did not!) and quickly measure out the o.o. By that time, the batter got thickened, but still manageable to work with.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you saved the soap and actually it really looks like granite block. The first version was beautiful.
Lol. Yeah, I hate it when this happens. You were very lucky that you caught your mistake in time. Thanks for stopping through :0)
DeleteBummer! I'm sorry your batch went awry - I know how frustrating that is. The swirls were so pretty! The rebatch is cool-looking, too, though. They do look like granite. It's great that your sons like it and it's still a good batch of soap so it won't go to waste! I had a batch seize on me once and I had to mash it up with my whisk and glop it into the mold. It wasn't pretty, but it was fine soap. I'm glad that you were able to save your batch!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny. It was a big bummer, lol. I'm just glad this was a half batch and not a full loaf. I think I would have actually cried!
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