Sitting at the Crossroads

Some of you may be wondering what is up lately with the lack of soap related updates, and well honestly I'm pondering the feasibility of continuing on. For the past four years I have put all my time and energy into making my product the very best that I could, we've spent endless hours on tweaking the blog, website, and packaging to be what it is, and now I'm left wondering if I have what it takes to keep on moving forward with all of this. I'm hoping I can find a second wind. I truly have a love for the process,and the ingredients, but I'm feeling a bit defeated. Some months back, I started having big issues with condensation forming between the soap and the mold, so I made the switch to a larger homemade wood mold thinking it would allow some air flow that the silicone liner did not-and still I'm having issues. The soap is perfectly fine to use, but lacking aesthetically on all of the outer bars-and now that I've gone to a larger mold that is 2/3 of my batch. Ouch! I've tried gelling and cracking the lid,leaving the lid off,not insulating at all along with a host of other "remedies" all to no avail-soooo I'm just at my wits end and unable to resolve these issues. Interestingly enough some of my batches don't suffer from this odd occurance-it seems if they have some additives that absorb moisture such as pumice or oatmeal there's no problem- those without an additive to absorb excess moisture  build condensation on the bottom and sides leaving unsightly pock marks as a result. Supplies are just too expensive to keep up the process of elimination in an effort to resolve the problem. I'm pretty much devastated to have come this far only to have this kind of issue and am trying not to make a rash decision, instead I am taking a sort of "hiatus" from soap right now. I am still selling off what I have in stock to wholesale and retail customers while I figure out a direction to take. I hope that if you have any words of advice you will chime in- I'm hoping that someone has a solution that would help me continue on-I'm truly at a crossroads here. I feel a real loss and without direction, not knowing what else I will do if I'm not meant to continue on this path I hope there will be an obvious direction soon. I've made a real effort to contribute to a community that I love with positive comments and assistance where I could and now I am only hoping someone holds the key-surely someone has had these same issues along the way.

* Note-This is not a formulary issue-soap poured in round molds does just fine(unless I group them close together and insulate.) This is the same formula I have used for years now. I've wondered if our humidity has changed a bit and so the soap is experiencing more ambient moisture and since it is a hygroscopic there is just to much moisture until it can't absorb it anymore between the mold and soap.