Crisis averted

[hmlove1218]

Made a beer soap for the first time and it almost turned out to be a disaster. Mixed everything together and brought it to trace. Added my fragrance and blinded that in and poured it into the mold. Crap! The molds only half full. Frantically run through the recipe in my head as I'm scooping it back out of the mold and into the pot again. Forgot the OO. Measure that out and dump it into the pot and stick blend it all together until it mixes and pour it back into the mold. Phew!

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

at least you caught it in time, congrats

 

[Susie]

I learned the hard way to put all ingredients out by my work area when I start. Then put them up as I use them. That way, when I go to stick blend, one glance tells me I used everything.(I was not able to save that batch.)

 

[Dennis]

I have found three things that must be used to help me not mess up when putting together ingredients in my soap pot. They are:

1. checklist
2. checklist
3. checklist

Even then, fo or color have been involved in GAAAAA, OH NO! moments.
You are not alone. :lolno:

 

[Lion Of Judah]

that's a good save, things could have gone wrong very fast . Susie and Dennis said it best , prepping and having a checklist are very good habits to get into . equally important which i hope everyone does is take "notes"..... very very important when you trying to 1. duplicate a success, 2. trying to troubleshoot a problem, 3. having proper notes if you are developing a recipe book of your business portfolio.

 

[hmlove1218]

I completely agree about having everything set out. I usually set my oils up o the counter and move them to the floor as I use them. I had just set the OO too far away I guess that I didn't notice it. Then add in that my 8 month old smashed her fingers in the cabinet while I was doing this and it was just a disaster waiting to happen.

I haven't tried the check list yet but perhaps I should.

 

[Dennis]

I completely agree about having everything set out. I usually set my oils up o the counter and move them to the floor as I use them. I had just set the OO too far away I guess that I didn't notice it. Then add in that my 8 month old smashed her fingers in the cabinet while I was doing this and it was just a disaster waiting to happen.

I haven't tried the check list yet but perhaps I should.

Ah, the good times in life!

Ya know, some of my best efforts have been the early morning forays around 3-4am. Even then, loss of concentration can be devilish. I have been known to look at my checklist and think, "Did I forget to check that off? Did I add it yet?" This sets off a series of checks that might answer your question but the fact is, all we do with these things is increase the odds that we might not mess up. I have also put everything on the counter, measured out one, put it away, gone to the next, measured, added, phone rings, wander around the kitchen, set the container down, talk, do something else, pick up the container, set it down with the other unused ones, measure while talking, put it away, get off the phone, and continue.
Wait a minute.
That's looks like too much oil!
What did I do?

Goofy humans.

Life is fun. :grin:

 

[hmlove1218]

Ha! I've made some of my favorites at 2 am lol.

My beer soap has turned out to be very interesting. It went into the mold a milk chocolate color and came out a light caramel with spots of pink on the edges. At first, I thought the pink was due to bleed from my mold but then I looked at my mixing bowl from last night and there were spots of pink in it as well. I'm thinking it may be areas that were from the first pouring when it was lye heavy

 

[DeeAnna]

Another thing I often do is a "check weigh". I add up all the stuff that is in a container plus the "tare" weight of the container. This is my "check weight". I then zero out my scale and weigh the container and all its contents. Is that weight close enough to the check weight? If so, I'm good. If not, something is vewy, vewy wrong.

 

[JusDin]

I print myself out a batch recipe sheet every single time I make soap, so I have a list in front of me and a record of the recipe/notes to put in my binder. Yet I have *still* forgotten to put the essential oils in twice! :wtf: Luckily I caught it in time.

It's just like Dennis said...answer the phone, wander around, get interrupted by the kids, someone at the door, A.D.D. moment, etc.

 

[hmlove1218]

Another thing I often do is a "check weigh". I add up all the stuff that is in a container plus the "tare" weight of the container. This is my "check weight". I then zero out my scale and weigh the container and all its contents. Is that weight close enough to the check weight? If so, I'm good. If not, something is vewy, vewy wrong.

That sounds like a good habit to get into. Perhaps I should try that too.

I print myself out a batch recipe sheet every single time I make soap, so I have a list in front of me and a record of the recipe/notes to put in my binder. Yet I have *still* forgotten to put the essential oils in twice! :wtf: Luckily I caught it in time.

It's just like Dennis said...answer the phone, wander around, get interrupted by the kids, someone at the door, A.D.D. moment, etc.

I don't like to print out recipes each time (seems like such a waste of paper an ink to me), so I'm going to put mine in a page protector and start checking it off with a dry erase marker.

I HATE it when I forget the fragrance!! Lol. I've only done it once, but almost done it a few times even with the bottle sitting directly beside my mixing bowl. And Lord knows the one time I did forget it, I was doing a swirl.. Decided I didn't want to mess up my swirl so I just left it unscented.

 

[grayceworks]

I don't like to print out recipes each time (seems like such a waste of paper an ink to me), so I'm going to put mine in a page protector and start checking it off with a dry erase marker.

When you get the recipe how you like it, then laminate and hole-punch, stick it in a binder.

 

[JusDin]

I don't like to print out recipes each time (seems like such a waste of paper an ink to me), so I'm going to put mine in a page protector and start checking it off with a dry erase marker.

I HATE it when I forget the fragrance!! Lol. I've only done it once, but almost done it a few times even with the bottle sitting directly beside my mixing bowl. And Lord knows the one time I did forget it, I was doing a swirl.. Decided I didn't want to mess up my swirl so I just left it unscented.

Yeah I'm with you on the wasting paper/ink but I'm still in the formulating/testing/experimenting/re-formulating stage so I never do the exact same recipe twice and I've gotta keep good notes. Wonder if I'll ever be completely out of this stage lol....

 

[hmlove1218]

I totally agree. I've made a few repeats because I found I really like them, but I've also made some and then tweaked them because they had too many oils or because I didn't like something about them.