I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Well, I may have never promised one but I certainly ended up with one!  What I mean is that I added two ounces of Victorian Rose fragrance oil to my second batch of soap.  I also added some oatmeal as an exfoliating agent.  Before I wrapped the mold in blankets my entire apartment was infused with the beautiful scent of garden-grown roses.  Now the mold is resting comfortably in my closet.

Like the first batch I stirred this one by hand but not as vigorously.  I guess I thought it would trace around the same time but I was wrong.  It takes anywhere from 75-90 minutes for the batter to trace and it was already 75 minutes in and I had yet to see a trace.  I kept stopping after every minute or so to see if it had traced but I could only detect a slight trail after drizzling some batter on top of the batter.  Even though there was a faint line I went ahead and added the oatmeal which was reduced in a coffee grinder then added the oils.

I poured the batter into my new soap mold (27 inches long with inner dimensions of 3.5 inches wide x 2.75 inches high.  It has a built in cutter that slices bars 1 inch thick).  To my surprise the batter filled almost to the top of the mold and afraid of dropping it (10 pounds) I set it on the carpet with the lid on top to slide into the closet.  Well during this process some of the soap batter coated the inside of the lid so I hurried to clean it up as to not damage the wooden top.  I also noted that some soap mixture got on the carpet so I cleaned it quickly.  I already had it covered with two blankets when it dawned on me that there may have been some soap batter underneath the wooden mold.  So I uncovered it and the lid went slightly askew.  I hurried to put the mold on top of a towel then put the lid back on quickly and covered it back up.

So one concern includes whether the soap had traced properly.  I believe it did but the first batter was a bit thicker because I had stirred well beyond the trace and never let up on how swiftly I stirred.  Another concern is whether or not the batter will seep through the connecting points of the wooden mold as I did not use heavy duty wax paper but rather a white plastic trash bag that met end-to-end but not enough to miter into the corners.  I did cut two extra pieces for either side to accommodate the shortage.  A final concern is whether the soap batter that got on the carpet will do damage as the lye is highly active at this stage.

All in all I think it will turn out well.  I will report back on Tuesday once I uncover and slice the bars.

Wish me luck!

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Soapmaker's Notes
Today's recipe:

5 pounds of coconut, olive and palm oils combined
12 ounces of sodium hydroxide
32 ounces of distilled water
2 ounces of Victorian Rose fragrance oil (to my horror I thought I bought essential!)
2.5 tablespoons of oatmeal put through a coffee grinder