You just bought the greatest fragrance oil that you have ever smelled. You know... the one that your friend uses to make the most beautiful soap in the world? The one that you worked overtime for in order to get the money to buy? You know, the one that you have been dreaming for days? Yep, that's the one!

You planned the whole thing out. It's going to be a beauty: Nice white soap with multi colored swirls. So you start making the soap the same way you aleays do, and with your usual recipe. When the time comes, you stir your soap to trace and add that wonderful fragrance oil. Just as you're about to pour it...BAM! Your soap seizes right up. Half of it is as hard as a rock in the pot and the other half just barely mades it into your mold. "Oh no!" you cry, as you throw your hands in the air. "Now what do I do?"

Well, before you call the supplier up and demand your money back, and before you call your friend and yell at her, let's stop and see what happened and how you can fix it.

Seizing usually occurs at the moment in which you would add the fragrance oil to your soap. You'll know it when it happens. Sometimes your soap will become like pudding and you may be able to get it glopped into the mold. Other times it will actually freeze up right there in the soap pot. This reaction can be caused by a couple of things.

• Your oil/lye temp. If you have been mixing your oils and lye at a temperature above 105F or below 90F then try a test batch at about 95F. I have found that most of my seized batches occured when my mixing temps were above 105F. When I lowered the temp I was able to mix the fragrance oil into the soap and quickly get it into the mold before it began to set up.
• Mixing at too heavy a trace. Sometimes if you catch the soap right before you notice a well defined trace pattern and add the fragrance oil then you will have enough time to get it into a mold.
• The types of oils used. I havne't noticed one particular type of oil having a greater chance of causing a seize. But I have noticed that if the soap seized with one recipe that when I used a different recipe that it didn't seize up on me.

If the soap has become very firm and is not in the mold don't worry. Simply throw a towel over the soap pot and
allow it to sit for 5-15 minutes. During that time check it every couple of mintues and you will begin to notice that the soap is going into the gel stage. Let it gel right there in your pot. Make sure that you stir it really well at this point. You will probably not be able to use a stick blender so
just keep stirring it up. Make sure that the cooler soap around the edges of the soap pot are scraped into the hot, gelled soap. Keep mixing really well. If you have not colored your soap yet then now is the time to do it but it
needs to be mixed extemely well. 

Once the soap is well mixed, glop it into the mold and cover with waxed paper or plastic wrap. Try to smooth out the top but becareful since the soap is very hot. After 24 hours, unmold like you normally would, and cut. The top surface may need some trimming but at least you saved the batch.

If you managed to get only part of the soap into the mold, you can do one of two things. Either wait until the soap in the pot and the mold go into gel stage and then put all the soap back into the pot and mix really well. Or you can add color to the soap in the pot and layer it on top of the soap that made it into the mold. If you don't want to color it try adding something to it instead such as herbs, oatmeal, pieces of glycerine soap or grated pieces of CP soap. You can glop it on top of the soap that made it into the mold and spread it out the best that you can. Voila! Layered soap.

If, for some reason, you try some of these tips to stop your soap from seizing, and nothing works, don't worry! You can still use that great fragrance oil if you do a little planning.

• If you want to color your soap do it before the soap reaches a light trace. That way it is already colored when the soap seizes up. Then you simply let it go into gel stage, mix it, and put it in your mold.
• If you usually add extra oils at trace before or with the fragrance oil--don't. I find that if the oils are added too soon before the soap seizes up on you they will begin to seep out during the curing stage. You may also notice a very thin oily film on the surface of your bars.
• Have your mold ready to go. That way if you manage to hold off the seize long enough to pour the soap, your mold will be ready for you. If you have to stop to line your mold then your going to end up having to wait for the soap to gel before getting it into your mold.