Teach Soap

Hi Peggy! Yes, a water discount can cause your soap to trace faster. I think most of us, when doing swirls, try to use a higher amount of water to give us more time to work with the colors. (Altho my swirls are not nearly as intricate as some!)

You can smooth the tops with a wire cheese slicer if you have one. Are they really that bad that they need to be smoothed?

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

When you reduce water, your acceleration will increase. I would have gone somewhere in the middle of the water amount instead of the minimum suggested.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks ya'll. I wish I had realized that using less water would accelerate trace; oh well, live and learn I guess. I will increase the water on my next batch. As for the tops, some really need to be cleaned up. Others are not as bad. But I'm not sure I can use a cheese slicer because I think it would shave the whole top off rather than just part. Let me see if I can attach a picture.

I see what you mean. If you shave off the tops you will loose the design. I don't know what you can do about that.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I was also wondering if I could smooth it down with a slightly damp sponge. It might still be too textured for that. Thankfully some bars are fine. But I'd like to be able to use them all.
PEggy

I can never get those picture attachments to open! I think they are anti-google chrome!!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Hestey, I posted it using Google Chrome. However, I've always had a difficult time posting pictures on forums. If anyone has any picture posting suggestions I will try agin.
Peggy

I can see it, its just really small. I use photobucket to upload my pictures, then I copy the [IMG] tag it offers and post it into my reply here. It auto-sizes them to a nice size.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Peggy, I like your hearts. If you were to use a razor blade I'm concerned that you would just end up with gouges. I know the photo is small but they do not look all that bad to me. And depending on your wrapper it may not matter. When is the wedding... if you were to use an almost max water amount would you have enough time to have them cure?

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Sorry about that. I was following the direction that said the file had to be under 25 KB, which is tiny. Let me try using Photobucket.


The wedding is April 21st which should be enough time to cure it although I don't know how much longer it would take if I increased the water.
Peggy

Looks good to me! I don't see anything wrong with this soap.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks soapbuddy--I just wish the bars on the right side were smooth on top. Since these are wedding favors, I would like it if they were a bit more professional looking. I do have a scraper tool I use for M&P and I might give that a go. But for now I need to wait until I unmold them which I think will be another week.