A Failed Batch!

I have started using a new type of oil in my soaps called Palm Kernel Oil.  It is solid at room temperature, therefore, needs to be heated up before I can mix it with other ingredients.  No biggie.  So I'm beginning to add all my pre-measured ingredients: liquid oil, solid oil and sodium hydroxide (lye), all together in a giant stainless pot. I start whizzing it around with my mixer and suddenly it seizes up... goes all curdled, like burnt milk, and thickens to the point of nearly stopping the mixer.  I'm freaking out because it's only moments before I'm going to have a solid 5 pound bar of soap stuck in a pot.

I quickly grab a spatula and pack it into the mold like putty... only to find that it completely liquifies back to normal within a minute or so.  I'm sure there's a good scientific reason for this, but at the moment I'm completely puzzled.

So now I have a mess of goo which is not properly mixed already in the mold.  What to do?  I can't pour it back, so I bring the stick blender to the mold and have another go at it.  Just as I start feeling like Smarty Pants,  my mixer sucks in the mold's paper liner and completely purees it into the soap mixture.

My paper soap loaf is now curing for a couple days before I can try extracting it.  Anybody want to try a bar?