My first soaping disaster

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Lin

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This happened Thursday, but I'm just now getting around to sharing my story here lol.

I was making some castile soaps to cure for a full year and give away next christmas. One I subbed out the water with pumpkin, the other greek yogurt. In addition to the soaps themselves I was using a bit of the pumpkin batter to fill in the holes in the top 2 pumpkin soaps my boyfriend had made a couple weeks ago. Then a bit of the yogurt batter to dye green and paint on my tree embeds to add green sugar sprinkles. I decided on this after watching the soap embroidery video on soaping 101.

My boyfriend set up the table for me and helped me prep, then I started on the pumpkin soap first. When the stick blender started getting warm I asked the bf to stir the batter for me with the whisk while I messed with my laundry. Came back and started with the stick again and it traced rather quickly. I filled the pringles mold and stuck it in the freezer. I added a pinch of salt for hardness to the extra batter and repaired the holes then set the leftovers aside. Everything was going perfect, and my bf was tired so he went to bed.

Next up was the yogurt soap. I blended it for a little while after emulsification, and then decided nothing terrible would happen if I left the batter alone (as opposed to my bf keeping it moving) to get closer to trace while I swapped laundry. Came back and separated some of the batter off and added green coloring, and blended the small amount to a medium trace. Painted it on the trees, shook the sprinkles, all is going great. Back to the main batter and after having left it alone it barely took any time at all to bring to trace. Poured it into my pringles mold. started tamping the air out of the mold...

At this point, after lifting the mold slightly to tamp one more time the lid came off the bottom of the pringles can and soap batter started pouring out onto the table. I exclaimed "OH ****." I got the lid back on it in the middle of the mess to avoid any more pouring out, and realized soap batter was dripping on the carpet. So I got a towel as fast as I could from the laundry and threw it on top of the spot on the carpet to catch any further drips, and set to work scraping all the soap batter back into the pitcher! Then I scrubbed the carpet with the towel and set it aside before pouring vinegar onto the carpet as visions of a huge burnt hole in the carpet danced through my head. I re-poured into the mold and wiped the sides with a million papertowels before sticking it in the freezer. I combined the green batter with the last of the pumpkin in a dixie cup and set about cleaning off the table, and everything I'd touched with soap batter covered gloves in the process of dealing with the carpet first and saving as much soap as possible second. It took a while! Afterward I had to go get something from the bedroom, and my bf asked me what had happened. I sweetly asked what he meant, and he said why did I exclaim "oh ****." Ooops.... I hesitated a LONG moment before giving him the cliffnotes LOL.

Then I spent the entire day (my bf works nights so sleeps during the day) in the living room with my laptop guarding the spot on the carpet, to ensure the dogs didn't decide to try and taste the strange smelling spot; and tried to keep them from walking in that area as I imagined missed spots of soap batter burning their poor paw pads! Huge sigh of relief, no disfiguring carpet burn! And after all that I only lost about 1 1/2 bars worth of soap.

Somehow as a result of the whole thing soap batter ended up inbetween the pringles can and the parchment paper at the bottom. I was really pissed off at first, but it actually left an interesting shape on those bars. Looks purposeful!



 
There is always an adventure waiting when you soap! Glad it all worked out.
 
the middle and right ones kinda look like dog paws. i think it's cute. are they all like that?
 
This kind of mishap is probably my biggest fear when mixing and stirring and what not. I always fantasize (read: fear) spilling straight lye water or bleaching my faux wood floors or really just ruining something that will cost a zillion dollars to repair.

I'm praying for your carpet and no delayed ill effects.
 
the middle and right ones kinda look like dog paws. i think it's cute. are they all like that?
Nope, just those 3 bars because they were the bottom 3. The soap went up through the bottom somehow between the parchment paper and the mold, no clue how that happened! The bar on the right was the very last bar (with a sliver cut off the end) and the other 2 the ones above it. I actually at first was wondering if I could peel the soap off and fill in those spots since it was still rather soft lol, but then I realized it actually looked pretty nice and I'd probably ruin them and make them look like crap trying to smash the soap back on!

EvilNurse, well its not MY carpeting... haha. Bfs place not mine ;)
 
Wow! What a night! I applaud your stick-to-it-iveness. You didn't give up on that soap, and you were rewarded. :)
 
Show me a soapmaker who's never had the bottom come off the pringles container....

Been there, done that. It's a built-in hazard. Don't feel too badly about it.

Your carpet is probably super clean now.
 

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