Teach Soap

Ok - getting ready to do my first batch is several years - yea! I purchased a small silicone mold of snowmen (think ice cube tray size). I plan on putting most of my soap in my regular log molds, but want to pour these snowmen to embed in other bars for Christmas. I have never used a silicone mold before - let alone a small one. My question is - once I fill the mold - then what? Do I cover with plastic wrap and blankets or ? Any tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

I've never had an embed size (ice cube size) CP soap gel. I generally spritz with alcohol and leave it somewhere for a few days before I unmold. Adding sodium lactate helps a lot, lessens the surface dents that can happen during unmolding!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Do you spritz with alcohol before you pour or just the tops after they are poured? I did get sodium lactate in my BB order that just arrived. I assume if I add it to the whole batter, it won't hurt the portion that is poured in my log wood mold?

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

Yeah, it is hard to keep them warm, no matter how well you insulate. I've even used a heating pad with my small cavity molds and they didn't gel. You can check the temp range on the mold too, might could oven process them. If you have an PKO or stearic acid, that would make a pretty hard soap, could help with unmolding. The only embed mold I've had consistent good luck with unmolding is the 9-ball mold from BB. I <3 it. I fill it up every time I make a new batch of soap so I can build up my soap ball stash.

And adding SL to your whole batch definitely won't hurt it, just don't add too much or you might get some crumbling when cutting your soap. There's actually a really nice thread floating around in the CP forum section about the benefits of sodium lactate as a humectant too!

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Laura<3

My recipe has 80 oz of oils - so I was planning on adding 5 teaspoons of SL. Does that sound about right?

Thanks!

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

Uhhh, I don't know how tsp translates to ounces. But 1-3% is the range for SL. I started eye-balling it after using it so much, which is probably not good advice to give haha. I would start with 1% though. So 0.8 ounce.

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Laura<3

Thanks! Fingers cross this batch turns out well!

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

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

Great! I will plan on using that range.

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

I have used icecube trays for imbeds a number of times. I cannot get them to gel either, but not to worry it still becomes soap. I also have never had difficulity getting them out of the silicone molds.

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