August 2018 | Failed 2018 Soap | KCK Soapery

This batch cracked.

I can now feel the air getting cooler again. Hopefully, this batch would be the only failed batch for the year.  I may have measured something wrong or the change in the weather made my soap behave differently.  The swirl design is just as I wanted it, but the texture of the soap was not how it is supposed to be.

It started out just as envisioned.

Used the same recipe but tried to make this batch more colorful with purple and green.

Thanks for dropping by!

September 2017 | Tarragon and Bergamot | KCK Soapery

This batch end up being a huge fail.  Every slice just crumbles the bars but I had to finish or toss it out which is a waste since I know I put in good oils and butters into the batch. I might have soaped at the wrong temperature or measured something wrong. I will definitely try to redo this batch using the same ingredients. If it happens again the second time, I will have to blame the fragrance oil. Some fragrance oil reacts strongly during soaping process.

Oils of Coconut, Olive, Rice Bran, Palm, Shea Butter, and Mango Butter. I was excited to use two butters and had used this recipe before.

Decided to just use green and white for this batch.

Emulsifying with lye and added fragrance oil.

Poured the base.

Poured a middle line of green.

Added two more lines on both sides.

Made a swirl with chopstick.

Came out of the mold all cracked.

This could end up being a personal use unless you guys can suggest of any better use for a cracked soap.

Thank you very much for any suggestions.

Happy Soaping you all!

Thank you for stopping by!

July 2017 | Satsuma | KCK Soapery

This is scented with Satsuma fragrance oil.  It is described as energizing and intoxicating and everybody who used it loves it.

Unfortunately, this batch will have to go to my "failed soap" category. 

It has been two weeks and it is too soft to cut.

I needed the mold for another project and pushed the soap loaf out. It did came out but the batter on the sides on all four corners were stuck.

This is definitely going to be a personal use batch.

I will keep you guys updated for how it looked once they are cut.

Thank you for stopping by!

Cupcake Fail

 

 

 These were supposed to be my Mother's Day soaps. What a mess!  The soap loaf part of this Falling In Love luxury recipe was cut and are now curing and still looking good.  The cupcakes however would not unmold and I had to literally forced them out.  Big disaster.  Lesson learned - " not all soap recipe can be made into cupcake soaps.

 

Happy Soaping. 



Failed Cupcake Soaps

 

I was so excited with the arrival of my oils on Monday.  But since I like working on my projects in the mornings, I waited until yesterday (Tuesday) to make another batch of soaps.

 

I planned to start around 9 but was not able to start blending the oils until 1130.  The soaping angels must be helping other newbie soapers since every step I did took too long.

 

I  tried a new recipe from a new soaping book I bought "Soap Crafting" by Anne-Marie Faiola of Bramble Berry.  The recipe includes rice bran oil which is supposed to be very skin loving and very good for sensitive and mature skin.  I also tried a new fragrance oil from Nature's Garden.  Nothing turned out as expected.

 

Even the camera quit on me.  The memory was full and it stopped recording in the middle of my chat about this project. 

 

The only thing that went right was the color.  I finally got the pink I wanted.

 

Off to the next project and hopefully I get my soaping angel back on my side.



First Trouble in Soaping Paradise

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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.