Cast iron skillet wiping black residue after seasoning

I bought my first cast iron skillet and it was described as unseasoned. The brand is "Palm."

I started seasoning it following the instructions here. I would rinse with water, dry it in the oven at 200-300F and apply 1-2 layers at a time and wait a couple days to a week in between seasoning sessions. After I reached about 5 layers I took a break from seasoning it for about two weeks. When I went to start seasoning it again recently I noticed that my paper towels would turn black when wiping. Is this normal? When I seasoned it before I didn't notice anything wiping off on the paper towels and now it seems like a dramatic difference. I'm worried that I did something wrong. I'm not sure if I should continue the process or start over. I haven't used it to cook anything yet.

Here is a picture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2W8jgzvxmVWNXN0TzYtQ3FKdjg/edit?usp=sharing

I'm wondering if anyone has experience this before and if it is normal? How should I proceed? I'd really appreciate your thoughts.

Howdy Portia, welcome to permies!

Here is a video that might help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjgP-6W_YN4

I think it is normal/OK.

Thanks!

In the video she's starting from a stripped cast iron and wiping off rust. I have already added about 5 layers of seasoning before the black residue start wiping off.

I don't think the black residue is rust and when putting the previous layers of seasoning on the pan nothing wiped off on the paper towels. The black residue just started appearing and there is a lot of it. I am so confused :/

That seasoning mission you're on sounds like overkill to me.
I suspect that your hard work is resulting in the pan being coated in too much fat, which is burning off as carbon.
If it was me, I'd just start cooking with it.
To me, seasoning is basically the shiny, non-stick ghosts of fried foods past
There may be a bit of carbon residue; that's not a biggie from my perspective, but the labour is!

I tried the method you linked to with the Flax seed oil and I also experienced it rubbing off black after several weeks. It was worse when I began cooking with them. I ended up scouring off the flax seed oil.

I agree with Leila. Just start cooking. When I'm done, I just rub out the pan until it's clean. If stuff gets stuck, I wash it out, dry thoroughly and then put it in the oven at about 350 for a couple of minutes to make sure it is dry. After that I melt a bit of lard or bacon grease and rub it into the pan (still in the oven). I take it out after a few minutes and wipe it with a paper towel to remove any excess grease and then put the pan away until next time.

Julie