This aftermath of the soap volcano turned out pretty good and I loved playing the role of Mad Scientist. Get caught up and read the explosion blog post here.
It has the look of hot process soap with a fabulous texture. Thank goodness the ammonia smell from the milk has dissipated. It smells like Orange Blossom now, a potential new fragrance that I’m testing. I know it’s not the most attractive soap that you’ve ever seen but it’s already pretty hard and it will be great in the shower. The ingredients are definitely luscious! Coconut Milk, Coconut Oil and Cocoa Butter – yummay!
I’m going to do more testing with this recipe next week so stay tuned. You never know what’s going to happen but I’m hoping with lower temperatures to avoid the soap volcano. Either way, a little bit of fast work with scooping the exploded soap back into the mold and the soap is saved. It may not be sleek enough to sell but slap a cute cigar band on there and it’s definitely friends’n’family gift worthy. Then again, the rustic look is always ‘in’.
I need to FIX my comment .. I meant to write
coconut MILK soap..not oil:(
Totally knew what you meant =)
I loved reading this ๐ I think the soap looks rustic and very inviting!
I just made my first coconut oil soap using the room temperature method (almost the same a cold process) . It turned out beautifuly! I cut back the 12 ounces of water for the lye mixture to 8 ounces ..then added 4 ounces of coconut milk at light trace to the soap.it worked great for me but I did NOT insulate as the mixture got VERY warm in the mold…. I was picturing what happened to Anne Marie so I checked on it every half hour or so. I was a little nervous .LOL
Thank you! I can’t believe these soaps actually turned out. I thought the batch was a gonner after the volcano incident (sorry to make you paranoid about your coconut milk batch). I’m so glad you had success =)
I think it looks great! What a wonderful save! I would love to learn how to do this process. So far I'm only a melt and pour kind of gal. I need to get a good book explaining all this stuff. I really want to make this kind of soap!
Jan
I like how they look! I think they kind of look like vanilla fudge! lol..
I've made that soap before (25% cocoa butter & 75% coconut Oil) – it does tend to overhead and volcano on you – especially if you don't use a room temp lye solution and if your oils are warm.
I usually use powdered coconut milk and mix it in with my oils so that I don't have to worry about it overheating.
I also tend to freeze soaps with coconut milk in them so that they don't overheat. It's the opposite of insulating to get it to gel, but with picky soaps I find that it's the best way to end up with a consistent soap.
which is my favorite nut
Thank you oh masters of the coconut
I should add – if you're nervous about using the coconut milk, use the minimum required water to dissolve your lye, and add the balance of liquid as coconut milk. I like to add the coconut milk to the oils before adding my lye water.
Joanna, you don't actually need to freeze the coconut milk – you have to freeze animal milks because of the proteins and sugars, but various nut and veggie "milks" don't require it. I've never frozen coconut milk, and I use it all the time.
Anne-Marie- Thank you. I've been trying to figure out how to add it without freezing coconut because I don't have access to a freezer at my shop! Just a mini fridge. I wil;l try this and get back to you with the results on my blog. 'Til then oh soapy goddess!
Nice save! I was wondering what it would look like in the end. Just goes to show that even what looks like a disaster at the time can turn out lovely.
Joanna, I've been doing some research and have come up with some Coconut Milk Powder answers for you:
Use coconut milk powder @ 1 T ppo all the way up to 1 oz ppo, mix with a little warm water (taken out of the total water) then stick blended into oils before adding lye. If you don't mix it in water first, the soap will have a distinctively grainy feel because the powder doesn't readily dissolve in oils.
I hope this helps! =)
Hi Laura – You will be so enchanted by CP soap when you try it (seriously – it is the coolest process – totally addicting). I tend to push the limits in the Bramble Berry Testing Lab so my recipe was:
1. Traditionally considered a 'bad' recipe with 25% cocoa butter and 75% Coconut.
2. Very very very hot when the coconut milk, lye and oils combined because the super high melt point of cocoa butter.
3. Using an unknown fragrance variable. Yes, you are correct. If you buy from a reputable vendor that does their own CP testing with fragrances, you should generally have consistently good results. Soapmaking is a science so changing one variable can disturb the whole process. In this case, heat + volatile fragrance = unintended consequences.
The DVD is here: https://www.brambleberry.com/Learn-To-Make-Cold-Process-Soap-Dvd-1-DVD-P3591.aspx or at Amazon and yes, it's me. We brought in a professional film crew to Otion and filmed for 18 hours just to get the M & P video and the CP videos shot. It's a thorough video and an excellent intro to CP.
If I was going to choose a book to be a companion to the video, I'd go with 'The Everything Soapmaker's Book' or the Susan Miller Cavitch Book 'The Soapmaker's Companion'
https://www.brambleberry.com/The-Soapmakers-Companion-1-Book-P3731.aspx
https://www.brambleberry.com/The-Everything-Soapmaking-2nd-Edition-1-Book-P4400.aspx
Also, there's always the SoapDishForum.com and TeachSoap.com/Forum for CP hints, tricks and support.
Ha, never mind; you put your guess on what happened in the prior post. ๐
The DVD for sale – is it you doing it? Are more details available somewhere about what's on it?
Anne-Marie, this once again makes me petrified of trying out cold-process soap. This was triggered by using a non-tested fragrance, right? And these are noted in their descriptions on the site, right? So as long as I stay with things you've tested I won't have this happen, right??
Aaaah scary!
Please make a nice big vimeo tutorial on cold process. I will happily pay for it! You make everything so straightforward, and you're always so calm… I wish I was closer; I'd go take a class!
I agree: some of us do like rustic! ๐ I'm 80% about scent anyway, so as long as your soap smells great, I'm all over it. Mmm
Nice save, Anne-Marie!! It looks good to me, but
I'm more impressed with your cool attitude towards a
probably disappointing and unexpected situation.
I personally like the look and if it smells like orange I'd
buy a bar or two! Thanks for sharing this experiment ….it's a great way to learn.
I think it looks delish!
Almost edible!
That is so weird. I bought some Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk two weeks ago to try in soap!
Not really knowing how to use it, but determined to use it! It is one of my very very favorite ingredients in Thai cooking and the decadent creaminess I find irresistable! I always save some from the recipe to drink all by it's self….mmmmm. So I think the soap looks beautiful and I would be tempted to take a bite!
Are you testing a recipe that you might be able to share?????
hmmm? hint hint???
pleeeeeese?
Sounds like it smells wonderful (and the rustic look gives me hope that I stand a chance of actually making soap when I try cp).
The soap is gorgeous. All in the type of soap we like. ๐
I do CP only. Never have experienced a volcano. Thank you for the response on Facebook (and here)
explaining the cause.
Looking forward to seeing your next test!
I think that's one of the reasons I've been too chicken to try CP (volatile at times). Doing MP gives the 'do-over' pass, but I'm so glad to see you were able to save the soap!
Looks great! Reminds me of rebatch, which I really like!
Coconut Milk Powder – I haven't tried that one actually. I know with goatsmilk soap that my preference is always to use fresh. Maybe someone else will chime in with a comment…
Sort of off the topic – a tad. Any chance you can post a coconut milk powder recipe? Must you add it to the lye mixture or can you add it later and still get the same results?
Many of my customers like the rough, rustic look. Says they look more handmade. Even so, I'm not sure I'd try to sell them, but I might give some away and cut up the rest to give as samples with purchases.
i love the look of it actually, but i'm not a fan of the perfect and pristine ๐ fabulous as usual Anne-Marie
I like the looks of the soap, actually. Looks really rustic and homemade! ๐