Patience!

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Todd Ziegler

Circle Z soaps
Joined
Sep 10, 2018
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Tipton IN
This is something that I didn't have when I first started making CP soap. However many of the staff, experienced soaper's and active members finally drilled in to me. Because almost every question I asked in the beginning was answered with, patience.

So I wanted to say thank you for everyone who told me to be patient. I also thought this would be a great thread for beginners to read and understand just how important patience is.

I am hoping that members will chime in and in their own words, explain the importance of patience. I always need a reminder every now and then to be patient.
 
This is something that I didn't have when I first started making CP soap. However many of the staff, experienced soaper's and active members finally drilled in to me. Because almost every question I asked in the beginning was answered with, patience.

So I wanted to say thank you for everyone who told me to be patient. I also thought this would be a great thread for beginners to read and understand just how important patience is.

I am hoping that members will chime in and in their own words, explain the importance of patience. I always need a reminder every now and then to be patient.
It's a hard lesson learned isn't it??

In the beginning I would ruin so many loafs by unmolding too soon, or soaping too hot (not waiting for the lye to cool) or cutting too soon.
Or my skin would dry out because I was using day old CP (even though at a day old it's much better than commercial, still...)

Now I have to actively remember I have soap in the mold or I will literally forget about it. LOL Because I've been doing this so long, it's a very rare occasion I use a soap that isn't at least 2+ more years old, and even though I get excited about what the inside of my soap looks every time I cut it, I have learned to just give it time!!

Great idea for a thread...
 
It's a hard lesson learned isn't it??

In the beginning I would ruin so many loafs by unmolding too soon, or soaping too hot (not waiting for the lye to cool) or cutting too soon.
Or my skin would dry out because I was using day old CP (even though at a day old it's much better than commercial, still...)

Now I have to actively remember I have soap in the mold or I will literally forget about it. LOL Because I've been doing this so long, it's a very rare occasion I use a soap that isn't at least 2+ more years old, and even though I get excited about what the inside of my soap looks every time I cut it, I have learned to just give it time!!

Great idea for a thread...
Your post is the very reason why I think this topic is important! Every time I log on and try to help a new member, almost 70% of the answers are be patient but that is a hard answer to accept lol.
 
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Patience can be so hard, especially when beginning a new hobby.

I ruined so many batches by immediately rebatching anything that didn't seem right.
Too soft, rebatch. A little oily, rebatch. Didn't turn out beautiful, rebatch. You get the point.

I should also add that I hate the looks of rebatch and generally threw it out in the end. Patience would have saved me many of those early batches.

Another thing that newbies need to know is handmade soap isn't always going to look perfect. Its going to have bubbles, spots, ash and other small cosmetic issues that aren't really issues at all.
Thats part of the handmade charm so don't be so hard on yourself if your soap gets ash, its what soap does.
 
Patience can be so hard, especially when beginning a new hobby.

I ruined so many batches by immediately rebatching anything that didn't seem right.
Too soft, rebatch. A little oily, rebatch. Didn't turn out beautiful, rebatch. You get the point.

I should also add that I hate the looks of rebatch and generally threw it out in the end. Patience would have saved me many of those early batches.

Another thing that newbies need to know is handmade soap isn't always going to look perfect. Its going to have bubbles, spots, ash and other small cosmetic issues that aren't really issues at all.
Thats part of the handmade charm so don't be so hard on yourself if your soap gets ash, its what soap does.
Beautiful answer. I really hope new members read this thread. It won't stop mistakes from happening but it will help you to understand that mistakes don't always mean failure.

And homemade soap is not always beautiful as you said but that is different from being a good, functional soap.
 
Beautiful answer. I really hope new members read this thread. It won't stop mistakes from happening but it will help you to understand that mistakes don't always mean failure.

And homemade soap is not always beautiful as you said but that is different from being a good, functional soap.
I actually thought about making a thread like this since we have so many new members who seem to be struggling.

I have made some hideous soap, you should see the monstrosity that is my last attempt at confetti. I hide it away for over a year, it warped and dried weird, even uglier but its really nice soap.
 
I actually thought about making a thread like this since we have so many new members who seem to be struggling.

I have made some hideous soap, you should see the monstrosity that is my last attempt at confetti. I hide it away for over a year, it warped and dried weird, even uglier but its really nice soap.
This I why I started this thread. I think patience is something that new soap makers struggle with. It took me 4 tries to understand that I wasn't being patient enough to let my oils and liquids cool down. Once I did wait for them to cool down, I was rewarded with a better swirl.
 
I am still an impatient soaper...I just suffer though! The one thing I do need to learn is to wait over 12 hours to cut because I keep getting wire rash on the surface of my bars.
 
I am still an impatient soaper...I just suffer though! The one thing I do need to learn is to wait over 12 hours to cut because I keep getting wire rash on the surface of my bars.
Patience leads to experience. Some soap can be cut after 12 hours. Salt soap should be cut within 2 hours. I understand the desire to see what your soap looks like on the inside but my grandmother used to tell me, if I am not patient, that raspberry pie will burn your mouth. Nevertheless I burned my tongue, once!

If you are addicted to soap making like me, you will eventually have soap being ready every week.
 
Patience leads to experience. Some soap can be cut after 12 hours. Salt soap should be cut within 2 hours. I understand the desire to see what your soap looks like on the inside but my grandmother used to tell me, if I am not patient, that raspberry pie will burn your mouth. Nevertheless I burned my tongue, once!

If you are addicted to soap making like me, you will eventually have soap being ready every week.
Lol, I'm up to my ears in soap Todd.

I know my recipe, I know I should wait at least 24 hours to avoid wire rash, but sometimes, I still don't care.
 
Thank you for this thread!!! I am impatient by nature and want all of my soap to be beautiful and perfect and I've only made 5 batches lol..
 
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