Repeat after me...soapmaking requires patience!

In my quest to make a harder soap than the ones I have produced lately using oils that I don't normally use, I rendered some pig fat to make more lard to be included in a batch of soap that I wanted to divide into three to do some experimenting....as usual ;-)

I used the room temperature method this time which is a bit quicker than the normal method where you heat up the oils. The idea was to divide the mixture into three jugs....one jug would be left uncoloured and unscented as it was for the menfolk to use as they have been smelling like roses lately after their shower as I used rose fragrance oil in a recent batch. Oops!

That lot was poured into individual moulds and were ready to unmould 24 hours later. I didn't 'pretty' them up for the photo as their appearance won't bother the men.

I had been meaning to make a swirl in the pot batch for some time which is usually poured into a loaf mould but I thought I would see how it would look in my favourite sunflower moulds. Hmmm...not very good obviously. I used pink clay and olive green clay which I spilled all over myself and the floor and that was probably a good thing to happen as I really am not fond of this particular colour. Anyway I put the two colours into a jug of uncoloured mixture and gave it a swirl before pouring it into the moulds but obviously this method works much better in a loaf mould. Oh well...lesson learned for next time.

The third jug was coloured with pansy mica and put into my 'pretty' mould which I haven't used a real lot.

I have noticed that if you cut soap made in this mould into the normal slices then you can't really see the decorative top so the idea was to just half fill this mould and cut larger chunks of soap to show off the top.

That may have worked really well if I had had a bit more patience. I left this mould for a couple of days as I could tell the soap was soft unlike the ones in the individual moulds but my impatience got the better of me and I took it out of the loaf mould too early and disturbed the pattern which ends up on the top. 

I was very annoyed with myself as I wanted this batch for gift giving and it smelt lovely as I had poured much of the fragrance into the mixture by mistake when I had intended dividing the fragrance evenly between the sunflower mould and this one. I also coloured it with pansy mica which is my favourite as I find it easier to work with than the clays. Even though I mix the clays up really well they often seem to clump like they did in the sunflower moulds. 

I will note the recipe for future reference if this batch does happen to harden up in time.

500g Coconut Oil
450g Olive Oil (rose infused)
500g Lard
  50g Castor Oil
218g Caustic Soda
570g Water
  20g Lavender and Mint Fragrance Oil
  10g Lavender Essential Oil
    1t  Pansy Mica mixed with oil
    2t  Pink Clay mixed with water
    2t  Olive Green Clay mixed with water

Whenever I make soap I seem to learn something new and this time I learned that it is better to use a loaf mould for the swirl in a pot method and also to remember what I know I should do every time and that is to....

HAVE PATIENCE!