Made some beautiful soap but...

[draggirl]

When I covered the mold, little did I know, the cover was touching the soap. I just went to peek at it and when I lifted up the cover, it pulled up chunks of soap with it. I'm taking this as a sign that I need to order up some roving wool and go ahead and felt up some of my soaps.

 

[Hazel]

What kind of cover were you using? How big were the chunks? Maybe you could plane off the damaged top and chop it up to add to another batch.

I have problems with plastic dropping and smearing the top of my loaves. I messed up 2 loaves in the past week from sagging plastic.

 

[draggirl]

I have had that same problem when using plastic wrap and I read to use a piece of cardboard and towel to insulate instead. Either my cardboard was too flimsy or my towel made it sag or a combination of both. It's big chunks. I scraped it of the cardboard the best I could and pressed it back in, but all the planing in the world wont save it. Luckily, it was just a 2 pounds batch that was messed up and not the 6 pound log.

 

[Hazel]

You could just chunk the whole loaf and add it to another batch as embeds. On the other hand, you might like felting since you've been thinking about trying it. You could even do both. :wink:

I should try the cardboard suggestion. Since these were soaps I put in the frig, I wouldn't insulate them anyway so keeping them warm isn't a concern.

 

[Padamae]

I have been wanting to try felted soap. Maybe I can get my hubby to clean wool for me. I have a friend that has 3 sheep.

 

[dOttY]

I had issues with plastic wrap when gelling. Although mine didn't sag, I found condensation would collect on it and then drip on to the top of the soap, leaving ugly spots.

Not that I gel much, but when I do, I use a stiff piece of cardboard and then cover with towels.

The plastic wrap experience was a p.i.t.a!

 

[judymoody]

I spray my soap top with alcohol and then I cover with something stiff like a board or a cookie sheet before insulating.

If I'm not gelling, I spray with alcohol and once the top surface is relatively firm, I cover loosely with plastic wrap.