Teach Soap

I know I work better when I write things down but in reality, I don't always remember to do that or I can't find a pencil or the computer goes out from a storm or I get distracted by life. A few days later, with more than one batch on the curing shelves, I sometime have to stop and think which recipe did I use with which soap. Was it the 4 oil or the 5 or the 7 or ???

One trick I use to help me is having basic rules for distinguishing my soaps on a most elementary level and I can figure out the rest from there. For instance, vegetarian soap is always made in the flower column and the flower column is used only for vegetarian recipe soap. Cupcakes are always made with water since I prefer more vivid colors in those but other "foods" may be made with another liquid. If a soap is going to be colored using a natural colorant such as clay, an herb or a root or seed, I know that is a goat milk soap. Conversely, not all goat milk soap is colored naturally but an oxide looks different in a milk soap than in a water soap. I have four hand soaps and each recipe gets a very specific colorant - annatto, spirulina, alkanet, and garden herbs - and that tells me the recipe.

Do you have rules or tricks to help you remember when you forget to write things down?

I always start by checking my recipe on soap calc and then print it out. Once my soap is in the mold and every thing is cleaned and put away its time to sit down and relax for a few minutes. I use this time to make notes on my printed recipe but even if I forget to make notes right away I do have my printed recipe. Since I have finally settled on a recipe that I really like, most of my soap is the same recipe. I just have to adjust the amounts depending on which mold I am using.

Mary Lou

I print my recipe from soap calc, and i jot notes on it. Not as detailed as Finney's, but I put the amount of FO, the FO's name and supplier, the type and amount of color, and I make a note if I HPed it. Then the recipe goes in the box with that batch to cure.

Well yes. Like I stated in my opening, I also do better when I write things down. It just doesn't always happen for one reason or another so I have rules about what goes with what.

I give my soaps a name (sometimes will change it later). Then that name and the last date of the cure goes on a scrap of paper which then gets "pinned" to one of the soaps. This will happen as soon as I cut the soap. 99.5% of the time I will take a break after clean up with a cup of coffee or tea to write up my notes on the printed recipe. I have a format saved in a word program on my computer and will usually have several of these pre-printed so I just have to fill in the blanks and staple to the recipe.

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

I put a clear plastic sheet on my recipe. I write down on it with a soluble marker and transfer the notes into my soap binder for a later date. The clear sheet then gets wiped/washed for next time.

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