Now maybe this will get me outlaw status but in my opinion slipskin is not to be dreaded. Sure, it's not what you were aiming for but I've yet to have a slipskin issue that made me enjoy a cheese less. And does anyone examine why we aim for certain things? In fact, when first making Valencay style cheeses (ashed bloomy cheese) I had a skin with some slip and it was thicker than I was aiming for and yet it had a lovely succulent "snap" to it that became a favored aspect of eating that cheese. Yet expert consensus was that the slipskin designated the cheese as somewhat of a failure. (not inedible failure, just not matching desired outcome). Although it'll take courage to buck consensus, what if I aim for that because it's a very enjoyable aspect of that cheese (for all who have tried it who are not under the slipskin judgement spell). These little cheeses were about 1 1/2 " square and inch tall; creamy soft supple paste contained by a satisfyingly succulent rind. So very tasty it was easy to eat multiples in one sitting! Why should we grant to experts that we don't even know, the right to decide what outcome we should be aiming for?
You see, when cheese was first being made there were trends created based on how certain make traditions (rooted in available milk, cultures, storage options and current need) turned out cheeses but there's no one saying you have to stay in that rut and aim at that same outcome, lovely as it is, rather than create your own traditions. Cheese is an art like many other food creation and what makes it a success is that someone likes to eat it. There are pieces of famous artwork in the world that make me cringe but there are other people that swoon over them. So too there are traditional cheeses that make me cringe but they are treasured by others.
It IS a fun journey to love a type of cheese made by someone else and see if we can recreate it in our own kitchens or make rooms but that's only one, and I think the current dominant, way that most see the cheese making opportunity. What if we instead realized that rather than limit our description of success to recreating what has already been made we could instead label as succesful a cheese make that has outcome of delighting those who consume it?
I have a lot to learn before I can successfully recreate exactly what I want but my intention is to not limit myself to what others think is best but to explore for myself. After all, how did all these well known cheeses come to pass? Yup, "mistakes" and experimentation by those willing to think outside the cheese box.