Teach Soap

Unmolded my first batch this evening! The top had turned from a warm cream color to a gorgeous chocolate brown from the vanilla FO, YAY! But when I got it out of the log mold, the ends and areas on the sides were a kind of swirled pattern of brown and cream. So I'm thinking maybe I didn't stir as well as I thought, and have some lye-heavy areas, boo! But it doesn't look streaky, more like swirly. So I make my first cut and start to laugh...it looks like my soap has a rind on it, LOL! A thin line of deep brown on the edges and a smooth creamy color in the middle. Hubby is looking at it going, "Did you make soap or cheese?" It's kind of pretty, though...very smooth and creamy looking. Is this normal?? Will it get darker as it cures?
I made notes on some things that I didn't expect:
1) My palm and coconut oils were both in liquid form. Since we keep the A/C around 78 degrees, I guess that would be why. But when I checked the temp of these two mixed together, it was 100 degrees (?), so I just popped them in the microwave for about 20 seconds to bring the temp of all my oils up to 105-110 degrees.
2) My SS pot that I was soaping in was WAYYY to big...it was an 8qt pot I didn't use to cook in anymore, so I dedicated it to soaping, not thinking about the size. My soap barely covered the head of the stickblender, so I was expecting some air-filled soap, but it looked OK when I poured.
3) With the large surface area of my pot, I was stirring and pulsing like mad to reach every area. It took about 8-10 minutes to reach trace. With a 2 lb batch, I was thinking it would trace sooner, but maybe that was just a newbie thought, LOL!
4) I used a dam to resize my 4lb log mold, but made it too small! I had a small amount of leftover soap and grabbed the first thing I could think of, which was an unlined oven-proof ramekin. I made a mess getting the soap out of THAT!

The color is normal for vanilla, It will all be brown soon. I find I get alot of ash from vanilla so I keep it covered in plastic wrap from the start for about a week and it helps prevent most of the ash. Took me a while to figure that one out.

Linda -- I have just noticed the ash on some of my soaps, and yes they are vanilla heavy. Next time I will try the saran wrap idea. Thanks!

Cerelife -- Just wait and watch... it will become some shade of brown. Some of mine took awhile and then overnight -- it was brown (which I wanted for some bears I made). I have learnt not to judge color or scent until the 4-6 week cure time is over. There are always some suprises

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

That rind is from the soap contact with the air around it. Over time, as the soap is cut and cured, it should even out with the outside.

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

more than just vanila gets ash for me, I wrap everything for a week anymore.

Thanks, guys! My bars are a very nice chocolate color all over now, and I've been lucky enough to not have any soda ash at all.
It's fun watching them change from day to day!! Yesterday they felt a little greasy, but tonight they are harder and drier...After my inital paranoia about contaminating everything around me with lye and raw soap, I wasn't sure if this was for me (I was actually in tears, because I wanted to make soap so bad), but so far I've not killed anything/anyone, LOL! I think that by this weekend, I will be able to overcome my fears, clean all my soaping utensils, and make a new batch with the same recipe but with BB's Grass Stain FO.
Thank you all so much for your help!!

Just wait til you start dreaming about the soaps you will make.

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

Cerelife, hang in there. We all have had our trying moments... soaps that we would just as not own up to. Even with all of my goof-ups I still enjoy the process and experimentation that goes with it.

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