As you all know, I am now into soaping. I like the fact that I don't have to rely on a machine to perform well to get a good result for my hobby. Quilting was great and I am not stopping but the sewing machine sometimes don't like me. With soaping, I should be able to just learn from mistakes and try not to do them again. For my first two handmade from scratch soap, I have found two troubles.
These are the soaps that are right now curing on my windowsill. They are curing nicely but things are not looking as good as I had expected. The swirling are looking fine and gives that handmade look. You can also tell the different techniques used. But the texture of the soaps are not what I like to see.
The above picture is of my first batch of soap and the dried buds did not stay. To get the soap drying uniformly I have been rotating them and they kept on falling off. I must have sprinkled them at the wrong time. If you look at them closely, there are shiny glittery speckles on top that were not meant to be there and the dried buds that had fallen off left dark brown spots. Not pretty at all.
For the second batch, the swirls turned out just fine but if you look closely, a lot of white powdery substance is lining the top and specially in the grooves. I hope this is only cosmetic. I will have to go check for any remedy for this. Still have 2 more weeks to wait and I can try the first batch out and check on how they will perform as soaps.
Anybody who knows about these problems are very welcome to give me your suggestions and recommendations so I don't repeat these mistakes. Thank you very much.
Now I am off to read about trouble shooting.
Update February 6, 2014:
I panicked too early, except for the brown stains from the fallen buds, the glittery stuff and powdery stuff are showing signs of clearing and they are just cosmetic according to soaping experts. They are things I can just wipe off. These are not "real" failed soaps. In fact, I learned that most soapers encounter these a lot. Still have 2 to 3 more weeks to wait, then I get to try how they will perform.
Now I am off to read about trouble shooting.
Update February 6, 2014:
I panicked too early, except for the brown stains from the fallen buds, the glittery stuff and powdery stuff are showing signs of clearing and they are just cosmetic according to soaping experts. They are things I can just wipe off. These are not "real" failed soaps. In fact, I learned that most soapers encounter these a lot. Still have 2 to 3 more weeks to wait, then I get to try how they will perform.