I Messed Up - Learn From Me

[Zen Pretzel]

A couple days ago, I made an error while soapmaking. I've been experimenting with mica powders and swirling techniques my last few batches. Using my usual soap recipe, I split my batch and added the coloring. I was more than halfway through pouring the soap into my mold when I realized that I forgot to add my fragrance oil. I couldn't just remove the soap, add the fragrance, and then mold it again. I was swirling black and pink and the whole batch would just turn black. I poured some fragrance oil into the mold and tried my best to mix it in as I was swirling the colors. The rest went into the soap that was yet to be poured in. When I took my soap out of the mold, portions of the soap at the sides were orange (DOS or FO not fully mixed in?). The rest of the soap looks okay. I don't think I need to toss this batch at this time. It looks like I can just shave off the orange sections, but these bars didn't turn out the way I wanted them to.

I just want to tell this story to remind people to pay attention to the process while mixing soap. As we start learning more complex soaping processes, it's easy to forget the small but important details and once you're past a certain point, it's difficult if not impossible to go back.

Good luck out there.

 

[Obsidian]

Thats a very common mistake, even experienced soapers sometimes forget FO or other additives.

The orange spots are the FO. DOS never happens that fast, usually takes months.

You did a good save, not every batch has to be perfect.

 

[amd]

This is where it's handy to add the FO before you add the lye.