Not every batch of my delectable soap, believe it or not, comes off smoothly. I blogged about it before, but this time I thought I might share some valuable "learning opportunities" for those of you who are thinking about making soap. Pay attention, Grasshopper, and learn from my mistakes.
Opportunity #1: When making goat's milk soap (cold processed) it separated and never set.
Lesson #1: Milk-based soap is notoriously tricky. I had insulated the mold after filling it (which you should never do). The top looked solid, so when I turned the mold over to release it, much to my surprise, oil and little rice-sized chunks of soap spilled everywhere. Not to worry, though. I threw the whole debacle back into a pot on the stove, heated it up while stirring, and poured it back into the mold once everything had melted again. Next morning it was good as gold. I have had to conduct several re-do's on this recipe and I suspect that it might have something to do with the clove essential oil. Even with the disasters, this is one of my favorite soaps. When working with milk the trick is to not let it ever get too hot (while mixing it with the lye as well as after it goes into the mold).
Opportunity #2: Not wearing shoes while dealing with the lye. Ouch. Yes, this can happen to you. A tiny pin-drop of lye must have splashed out and landed on my big toenail. I never even noticed it until several hours later when the lye had finally burned its way through the nail. The pain was excruciating even though I could hardly even see the damage.
Lesson #2: This should be obvious.
Opportunity #3: Added fresh lavender flowers to the soap.
Lesson #3: They turned brown and looked very unappetizing. I've read that you shouldn't add fresh botanicals as they will "cook" and discolor. Dried is better.
Opportunity #4: Took too long to mix in color.
Lesson #4: If you want a marbled-colored look to your soap, you need to remove a bit of mixed soap, stir the color into it, and then add it back into the main batch and give it a couple of stirs. Today I took too long and by the time I turned around to add it back in, I could barely get the blender out of the pot; it was stuck firmly into the batch. I managed to mix the color in and muscle the soap into the mold, pressing it in with a spoon (it was surprisingly still molten hot). Perhaps I'll add a photo of this one to the blog later. I imagine that it will be full of air pockets. The obvious remedy is to work faster, or bring it to a lighter trace before adding the color. Sometimes the scented oils can speed up trace. I used Aquaflore by Sweet Cakes today (I've never tried it before).
You may read in some literature about soap making that if something goes wrong with your soap batch (i.e. separation, seizing, etc.) that you must throw the batch away and start over. I've found, however, that if I heat it back up, either on the stove or in my huge crock pot, I can rescue the soap and it will still be wonderful. I find it helpful to keep detailed notes about each batch I try. Record your process; the time it took to trace, how long to set, how it turned out - look, lather, etc. Record how the bar appears several months after making it. Also, don't forget to note your mistakes. This will help prevent making the same mistakes again.
I've also read that before you start handing out your soap or start selling it, you should make soap for at least a year. At first I thought this was a ridiculous suggestion as all of my soap batches were wonderful right from the get-go. In hindsight, though, they were absolutely right. Both my recipes and techniques have improved tremendously over the years and I would now be embarrassed to hand out my earlier attempts.
"Practice is the best of all instructors" - Publilius Syrus (Roman author, 1st century B.C.)
