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Dienstag, 19. Februar 2019

Hunting for glycerin rivers


When it comes to a Soap Challenge this really forces me to deliver what my mind is contriving. This time, I was quite persistent to get what my mind made up. It took me - while making some beautiful detours - about 8 soaps to nail it. However, soapmaking is my favorite hobby anyways :-)


The first soap(s) creating glycerin rivers has been with full water (NaOH x 2,4). I divided the batter in two parts and made two different soaps. One white soap using titanium dioxide and the other one with the Taiwan Swirl technique using titanium dioxide, activated charcoal and pink clay.


Lots of glycerin rivers float within the white soap while the other soap only has rivers within the white part of the soap. Both soaps got very hot while being in the oven at 70 degrees Celsius (158 degree Fahrenheit) for three hours. The 3-colored-soap (picture above) was oily on the surface on the next day, however, the oil went back into the soap. These soaps were my test batches to see if activated charcoal and clay will lead to glycerin rivers as easy as using titanium dioxide.


The pink oxide soap (picture above) with the titanium dioxide stripe was the second batch and the first batch where I mixed two batters - one with full water (NaOH x 2.4) and one with a water discount (NaOH x 1.4). I multiplied the the NaOH in grams times 1.4 and measured this amount of water to dissolve the NaOH in it. Then I mixed all the oils for the soap with this lye solution. I divided the batter in two parts and added more water to the batter that I wanted to use for the white stripe. That was not a good idea to add more water later, it thickened up badly. I had to work quickly and put my soap into the mold using separators. Since I had to work quickly, the fragrance hasn't been stired in properly that's why the pink oxide part has some brown sparkles also. I was not happy about that, nevertheless, I love the white & pink oxide stripe! The white line on the border looks amazing and the rivers turned out beautifully!


For my my next soap (see the picture in another post), I provided two separate lye solutions. One, for 1/3 of the batter, with (1/3 of the) NaOH x 1,4 for the water to dissolve the lye and the other one, for 2/3 of the batter, with (2/3 of the) NaOH x 2,4 as an amount for the water to dissolve the lye. I used an olive oil macerate with alcanet root powder to color the soap. This soap made my heart jump. I didn't get any rivers - maybe because the soap was only 2 hours in the oven and didn't get hot enough or because macerates don't tend to create rivers (?). I will answer this question sometimes, in the meantime: I love the color of the soap. I have never seen such a dark purple natural color of a soap and the bumpy surface was fascinating. I repeated this batch immediately with an indigo macerate (picture above) and the result was much more stunning, it resulted in a moon surface. I'll post more pictures in a separate blog post (since there are no glycerin rivers anyway). Above you can see the picture of the indigo soap.


For the next soap I had to forget about my new bumpy surface addiction and focus on glycerin rivers again. I used a green mineral color and got glycerin rivers, very tender ones. The darker green part of the soap is the 2/3 of the batter with the high amount of water (NaOH x 2,4) within the lye solution and the lighter green part belongs to the 1/3 of the batter with the low water lye solution (NaOH x 1,4). The soap was for about 2 hours in the oven at, again, 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit). I like the soap but wanted to have circles with glycerin rivers that I could't make since the batter thickened up very fast, I had to switch to a line design.


The second last soap was exactly the same soap as the very last one I made for this Soap Challenge but didn't show any glycerin rivers. I forgot to shoot it, it looks almost white with just a very light circle marble effect. I always soap when my kids go to bed so I turned off the oven when I went to bed, about two hours later. That was maybe to less time of gel phase to get good results.


Finally, with the last soap I got what I was dreaming of :-) This time I went to bed and put an alarm to wake up after the soap was in the oven for 3 hours, it was worth the interruption of my holy sleep.


The surface was a little rough and oily, also. I divided the amount of NaOH in 1/3 and 2/3 and added water in the amount of NaOH x 1,4 to the smaller amount of NaOH (low water batter) and water in the amount of NaOH x 2,5 to the larger amount of NaOH (high water batter). I poured the low water batter from the side into the mold, followed from the high water batter in the same spot. That was not easy since I could hardly see the difference between the two "colors". It was pouring white soap into white soap.

The high water batter is in the middle of the circle showing the glycerin rivers that occur when the soap goes into gel phase. My recipe was 40% coconut oil, 26% olive oil, 10% rice bran oil, 10% sweet almond oil, 7% cocoa butter, 4% castor oil and 3% shea butter. I used a tablespoon of titanium dioxide for the low water soap and 2 table spoons for the high water soap (since it was the double amount). The soap is scented with an essential oil blend of litsea cubeba, sandalwood and patchouly.

I'm looking forward seeing all the great soaps in the challenge, good luck to everybody! Thank you Amy for challenging us creating this great glycerin river soaps and to Auntie Clara for teaching me the beauty of glycerin rivers!



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Alles Liebe, Diane

15 Kommentare:

  1. Your soap is fantastic, Diane! What a lot of work you put into this challenge! Your outcome is perfect though. The amount of time in gel phase is definitely critical, as your soaps show. Thank you for sharing your insights and photos of soaps you made with this technique. The indigo craters are particularly fascinating!

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    1. Hello Amy, thank you very much, I'm happy you like my soap :-) It was a very good idea to bring the glycerin rivers to the challenge, thanks a lot!
      Diane

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  2. I love the white on white, such a perfect swirl for this technique!

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  3. Look at all the beautiful soaps you created! and I love your submission soap with those lovely delicate colour variations that you managed to capture. It's a work of art. Es ist sehr gut! All the best, Belinda

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  4. Look at all those beautiful soaps you created! I especially love your submission soap and those lovely delicate colour variations that you managed to capture. Es ist sehr gut! All the best, Belinda

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  5. Love the circular patterns in this - worth the effort, for sure!

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  6. Thank you for sharing all of your information, Diane! You certainly made some gorgeous soaps! Your entry is incredible and your efforts truly paid off!

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  7. Beautiful soaps Diane and thank you for sharing your process! I have taken notes :-) The entry soap is so elegant.. but really I love them all! Good luck !!

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    1. Hélène, thank you vor your comment, it is an honor for me if you take notes from my experiments. By the way, I love penguin paradise, what a brilliant idea, you are such a creative soaper! Good luck for you, too!

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  8. Diane, your soaps are all so beautiful! Thank you for sharing all the information about your process. I love your entry, but they really are all amazing! Good luck!

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    1. Holly, thank you so much for your nice comment, it means a lot to me! I adore your soaps and love your videos! Thanks, Diane

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