# What happened?



## Whitney (Oct 27, 2007)

Today I soaped Asian Plum from Lillian. I knew that it would be tricky to cold process (I already had one disasterous attempt) but I thought I was ready for it this time. Got it all put together, almost an immediate thick trace but I got it poured. It was at a thick pudding stage when I got it in the mold and setting up fast. A few minutes later it looked great--very hard. I thought I was in the clear. :whew

A few minutes after that it had separated (I guess???). There was a thick layer of oil on top w/ mushy solids underneath. I dumped it all back in my stainless steel bowl and used the sb on it to recombine it, then glopped it in the mold again. It was UGLY so I grabbed a purple bar and grated some purple shreds on top. It looked okay at that point so I stuck it in the freezer (not sure why I put it in the freezer--just seemed like the thing to do at the time :lol ). Now, a few hours later it is unmolded and seems to be good. Still pretty ugly though. :lol

What caused it to separate? 

Has anyone done Asian Plum CP successfully?


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

When did you add the fo? I have yet to have a batch separate on me. Of course, now that I've said it, it will probably happen the next time. LOL


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Nope Asian Plum is for hot process only per Lillian's site when she had it for sale.


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## Guest (Mar 31, 2008)

Mine works fine. I soap at 100f add fo at trace and OP for a few hours.

Christy


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## Whitney (Oct 27, 2007)

I added the FO to the oils before adding the lye. I thought I read on one of Lillian's e-lists that doing that made it more CP friendly?

The first batch of AP I tried was a complete mess. It was mostly my fault though. I knew that it was hard to CP but I had a mental lapse and did my regular recipe w/ a deep liquid discount, etc. The instant I put the FO in I had soap in a bucket. I put the soap in the crockpot thinking that I could maybe I could salvage it that way. I left it alone for a while and when I came back my crockpot was hidden in a mountain of soap foam. It was a HUGE mess. At least the soap tonight turned out better than that. :lol

On a happier note I soaped the Honey today and it is AWESOME! I love it. I also scented some shea with it and have been rubbing that on my skin. Yum!


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I know it's suggested to add the fo to the oils first for finicky fragrances but sometimes it backfires. Sounds like you didn't have enough time to get your lye/milk incorporated well enough, hence the separation. Someone recently suggested to me instead to pull a little oil out and mix that with the fo separately. Then add the oil/fo in at trace. I'm going to give it a try next time I do one of my faster fragrances.


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## Guest (Mar 31, 2008)

I CP Asian Plum with no problems, although it can be tricky... even have time to put chunks of purple in it.. 
It does help to warm your fragrance just very very slightly.. before adding.. 
It sounds like you got a false trace when it separated on you..
Barbara


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## kidsngarden (Oct 28, 2007)

Actually lillians site said it could be CP'd successfully with cool temps.

I'm trying it today and will let you know how it comes out!


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## BasicLiving (Nov 26, 2007)

I just CPed Asian Plum last week. The oils were completely at room temp, but I got impatient and used the lye at a warmer temp - didn't use the thermometer, but I would guess around 95 degrees or so. I added the FO to the oils and then poured in the lye. It VERY quickly got VERY thick. I still managed to take out half and color one plum and one purple and layer it, but it was thick as the dickens. It came out pretty well - and smells heavenly! One of my favorites, no doubt. 

Next time I will soap with oil and lye at room temp - and I will use a whisk instead of the SB. 

I used it at 1 PPO - is that about what you used? The one time I had separation, I used an FO at 1.5 PPO, and Becky suggested that perhaps the extra FO was responsible for the separation. I'm not sure if it was or not - but it made sense to me!


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