Pale surface

[squeakycleanuk]

I have made a few batches of soap which are still curing. I've got about a week till the first ones ready, so I've not used any of them yet. I have used an individual bar, silicone mold for all 5 batches but for the first 3 batches I left the mold uncovered (to prevent gelling) and for the other 2 batches I covered the mold with silicone embossed sheet (to make it patterned on one side). However, this embossed sheet seems to have effected it somehow and I don't understand why. Basically the embossed side of the soap is a paler colour to the rest of the bar which doesn't make sense to me because if anything I would have expected that to happen when I left the soap exposed but the exposed soaps are all an even colour? My first thought was that it was the dreaded ash that I've heard of on this forum but it doesn't have an ashy appearance, its just a thin layer on top which is a lighter colour to the rest of the bar. Does anyone have any ideas what this is or how to prevent it (other than the obvious stop using the emboss layer ). I tried to take pictures to show you but due to lighting they didn't turn out well and the bars appeared normal, so I'm afraid I have nothing to show you.

 

[bodhi]

My guess is that that the silicone affected the temp of the soap and that part remained a little cooler than the rest.

 

[Candybee]

I've heard about some silicone molds discoloring soap. Not sure if the mold will get any better with use.

 

[squeakycleanuk]

My guess is that that the silicone affected the temp of the soap and that part remained a little cooler than the rest.

That makes perfect sense really. Think I might cut up the embossing mat and use them in the bottom of the mold instead of the top and see if that works better

 

[Lotus]

Hey, I use a silicone mold and this tends to happen to my soaps as well. Is this what you mean? These are the same batch of soap, the smaller one is a slice off a big bar.

 

[squeakycleanuk]

Um, maybe, it does look a little bit similar, its hard to tell from pics. Maybe it is a silicone issue then. I'll have to do another one without covering it and see what happens, if it happens again then I guess I'll just have to accept it as a silicone issue :-|

 

[Lotus]

Hey, squeaky, please keep us posted on your next attempt. I really am curious.

 

[squeakycleanuk]

Will do, hoping to do another one later in the week and it seems to develop a day or so later so hopefully I'll have an update by the end of the week