Ring around the soap? Or more like "what happened"?
I went to check on the batch I made last week and I found it looking rather odd. I have been making soap for purely personal use for more than a year now, maybe two, and I have never had this happen. I even use the same recipe because it works well - 2lbs Lard, 1lb Coconut oil and 1lb Canola oil, and same brand Lye - and is good to my skin. The only usual variables are scent and coloring, which btw are from the same manufacturer all the time. This batch is Nature's Oil Buttnaked fragrance and some yellow and blue liquid coloring you get at Hobby Lobby.
My methods, utensils and molds are all the same too. Stir by hand in a stainless pot with a stainless spoon until trace, pour into plastic wrap lined metal loaf pans, plastic on top and set for 24hrs. Pop out and cut, cure 4 weeks.
There were however two things that I did slightly differently this time. I did start a little warmer, 95* vs 85*, and I laid a towel over my molds for the 24hr set up time as I have read here that many people do. It looked fine when I cut it but now a few days later it looks like this. What gives?
And its the entire batch and not just one of the three molds so I have ruled out it being an issue with the mold.
BTW, Hi Soapers! This is my first post!
I went to check on the batch I made last week and I found it looking rather odd. I have been making soap for purely personal use for more than a year now, maybe two, and I have never had this happen. I even use the same recipe because it works well - 2lbs Lard, 1lb Coconut oil and 1lb Canola oil, and same brand Lye - and is good to my skin. The only usual variables are scent and coloring, which btw are from the same manufacturer all the time. This batch is Nature's Oil Buttnaked fragrance and some yellow and blue liquid coloring you get at Hobby Lobby.
My methods, utensils and molds are all the same too. Stir by hand in a stainless pot with a stainless spoon until trace, pour into plastic wrap lined metal loaf pans, plastic on top and set for 24hrs. Pop out and cut, cure 4 weeks.
There were however two things that I did slightly differently this time. I did start a little warmer, 95* vs 85*, and I laid a towel over my molds for the 24hr set up time as I have read here that many people do. It looked fine when I cut it but now a few days later it looks like this. What gives?
And its the entire batch and not just one of the three molds so I have ruled out it being an issue with the mold.
BTW, Hi Soapers! This is my first post!
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