6 Soapmaking Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Batch of Soap!
Nothing is more disappointing to a soapmaker than ruining a batch of soap. You're left with several pounds of useless goo, not to mention the loss of ingredients, time and money that results. Many soap batches are doomed for failure simply because you've failed to test. Fortunately, testing a batch of soap is a simple procedure that will save you countless hours of frustration. When the pressure's not on though, there's also a way to experiment properly. A simple way.
We have all had the darndest things happen to some of our batches; ones that we swore would come out perfect. We've had soapmaking scents that turned to brick in the pot well before we could pour them, soaps that had so many additives that they would peel the paint off the side of a dump truck, and batches that just never seemed to harden - ever.
All of those experiences are valuable learning lessons, but some of them could have been reduced to less costly mistakes by using some simple damage control.
Here are six frequent mistakes that soapmakers make, and how you can avoid them:
Soapmaking Mistake #1 - Making a Huge Batch of a New Recipe
If there's a chance that something might go wrong with a recipe you've never used before, doesn't it make sense to only make a little? If you had your choice of throwing away two pounds of soap or twenty, you'd opt for two pounds, right? Two pounds is a safe test batch size to make sure that you've gotten your recipe right. If it works on a small scale, the likelihood of your larger batch coming out perfect is much, much higher.
Soapmaking Mistake #2 - Changing Multiple Variables
If you want to try powdered goat's milk to see how much more moisturizing it will be in your soap, use it in a recipe that is already tried and true, preferably with no additional additives. Never try to change more than one ingredient in a soap recipe until you know what each ingredient will add (or take away) from your soap. If you ignore this step and something happens that you like/dislike, you'll have difficulty pinpointing where the success or failure came from.
Soapmaking Mistake #3 - Adding Too Many Extras
You can always add more fragrance, coloring or additives to a product, but removing an overdose is almost impossible. I've had batches of shower gel completely ruined because too much fragrance thins out the product beyond repair (and in case you're wondering, yes, I did try adding more of my base, only to have a large amount of super-thin shower gel on my hands!)
Soapmaking Mistake #4 - Not Being Patient
Some formulations will change over time after given some time to sit. What smells faint on day one could intensify significantly by day five. A natural preservative could turn a few months before expected if not combined at the right temp. Regularly make overruns of your batches, label them by date and batch number, and check back on them to make sure that they are still stable. Note how long the scent of your soap lasts, and how much it shrinks from the wrapper for example.
Soapmaking Mistake #5 - Relying On Memory
WRITE IT DOWN! Yes, I know it's simple, but this tip is for those of you (yeah, you!) who think that they will remember everything. Believe me, you won't. Especially if you are making LOTS of different kinds of soaps. Besides, will it really kill you to keep a book of exactly what you did? Don't skip this step, or you'll end up with that one killer recipe that you simply cannot duplicate because it got sucked out of your brain while you were up late one night.
Soapmaking Mistake #6 - Not Testing Fragrances
This is one of the biggest causes of soapmaking failure, and unless you know what to do ahead of time it will surely cause you lots of grief. Soapmakers make this mistake over and over again, constantly making changes to their recipe without coming anywhere close to the solution. Whatever you do, don't waste valuable amounts of time and money by not properly testing your fragrances before creating a batch of soap!
When I first started making my own soap, I couldn't figure out why I could produce a near-perfect batch one day, then the following day have 10 pounds of soap that resembled cottage cheese! I went everywhere on the Internet trying to find an answer, and while I ran into some very knowledgeable people, there were literally thousands of pages of information on soapmaking. After some extensive search online, I stopped looking when I found this ebook.
A truly useful and in-depth source of information, it reveals how to test your recipe for effectiveness before you start, including a no-nonsense 3-step system for choosing and testing the right fragrances before wasting valuable amounts of time and money. It also gives recipe building secrets that you can use when creating soap formulations from scratch.
Click Here to check out this book and you'll be kicking yourself that you didn't find it sooner enough.
About the Author
Tiana Curtis is a DIY-fan and occasionally writes articles to share tips and reviews on various tried and tested experiments.
|
