Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Batch One and Batch Two - Photos

This is the first batch of CP soap I made the other day. Not great, but I think it is soap. The soap color I drizzled on didn't incorporate the way I had hoped, but oh well.







This is my second batch. I made it last night. Can you help me? What happened to it? It looks like alligator skin. I wrapped it and insulated it well, so what happened??


11 comments:

dcyrill said...

Your first batch looks great to me. :) I am no expert by any means, but did you use the same oils or did you do anything different in the second batch compared to the first batch?

Either way looks fab girl.

Anonymous said...

Such an addiction already... I've only made a few batches of CP, so I have no answers for your alligator skin, but both batches look nice.

Joanna Schmidt said...

I used Virgin Coconut Cream Oil. Do you think that would have been the culprit?>

Heidi said...

Your soap looks great!!!

Wish I knew why your 2nd batch did that...this is a question for the professionals = ) My only guess is that maybe it got too hot. I only say that because I had a batch that looked like that because it got too hot. It was perfectly good on the inside though...

Carrie Garvin said...

Hey Joanna- Did you run it through a lye calculator (2nd batch)? Different oils are funny, it's all about the temp, fragrance, etc...The best thing to do is wait and see how it cures.

Sherrie said...

Wow, the soap looks great! I'm sure the strange batch will be fine, but it does look a bit, well, strange, doesn't it? You can probably smooth it out and inside will be beautiful. I've never heard of coconut cream oil - a fragrance oil, you mean? Well done! And I love your pic! :)

in-between said...

Hi joanna! They look great! It looks like you got alien brains on the second batch - like it heated up just a bit too hot and puckered the top.

But that can always be trimmed off right?

Heather@Twin Birch said...

Both of these soaps look pretty! the first batch looks ever-so creamy and the second batch has lots of visual interest! My wise friend told me that just because it's not what you saw in your minds' eye, other people will still love it if you let them! :) (She's smart!) Graham & coffee? That is genius! mmmmm! Keep going! they look great!

Anonymous said...

Hi Joanna,

I'm an australian artisan soaper, and found your great blog through a friend of mine - Sharon at Platypus Dreams :) She makes wonderful soaps as you now know! The unique crinkled 'alien brains' effect is most likely from the soap getting too hot for too long during saponification. I get the same thing on my shampoo soap slabs sometimes as I pour it with a flat top, and I use 2 cm thick timber moulds - well insulated hehe. All my other soaps have highly textured tops, so they have valley's and mountains for the extra heat to escape through and so don't distort. Next time I wouldn't insulate so much, depending on the weather :)

Hope I've helped!
Cheers from Down Under :)
Kathy - www.naturalsoap.com.au

Unknown said...

Hi Joanna,
I started making soap just a few weeks ago and I also got this "aligator skin look" on top on my first 2 batches. :(
Since this article is 5 years old, I'm guessing that you currently know why this is happening...Can you please tell me what I should do to avoid it?
many thanks!

Eve
Montreal, Canada

Unknown said...

Hello Joanna,
I've discovered your blog and started to make soap just a few weeks ago. I've had this "aligator skin" look on the top of my first 2 batches. :( Since this article was written more than 5 years ago, I'm guessing that you now know what causes this? Can you please let me know what I should do to avoid it?

Many thanks!
Eve
Montral, Canada