Help with a myriad of issues?

[Rembetissa]

Hi guys Here is a picture of some of my recent soaps. I have some questions, and would be grateful if anyone could answer any of them for me.

1. Stearic spots in hot process soaps using coconut oil or cocoa butter. I've read that stirring as the oils cool, soaping hotter, bringing the soap to a thick trace, and not cutting too soon should help. Any other tricks?

2. In the picture, you can see my recreation of Kapia Mera's coffee and cocoa feather swirl with intentional glycerin rivers around the feather. It came out okay, but the feather design isn't as pronounced as I'd like. There was also a hole going through part of the feather which I tried to close by smooshing in extra soap. Most troubling was that when I cut the loaf, it wept oil. Is this the culprit of my recipe?

3. The round soap was supposed to be a pull-through. Did I not pour the colors currently to begin with?

 

[Obsidian]

I'm not seeing stearic spots. Can you get a close up of what you are seeing? HP often has white chunky spots from being overcooked or stirred too often.

 

[Rembetissa]

I'm not seeing stearic spots. Can you get a close up of what you are seeing? HP often has white chunky spots from being overcooked or stirred too often.

Thanks so much! You must be right. The soap that was supposed to be solid brown has some chunks that look like what I'm referring to, but I chalked that up to it being a re-batch. In other batches, when I've just blended the batter to trace, covered, and let it cook without stirring, it's come out much better.

 

[Kiti Williams]

View attachment 40134

1. Stearic spots in hot process soaps using coconut oil or cocoa butter. I've read that stirring as the oils cool, soaping hotter, bringing the soap to a thick trace, and not cutting too soon should help. Any other tricks?

When I use Stearic Acid in my soaps, I grind it to a powder and mix it with a bit of the oils, usually the super fat add in.