Teach Soap

Hi everyone! I'm very new to soap making and I'm hoping I didn't just screw something up A friend had bought me some shaped molds (one is the "Bird on a Branch" mold (, another one is a cupcake mold and one is a unicorn mold. I know these are fine for m&p, but I was getting bored with pouring my 1lb batches into a baby wipes container, so I used the shaped molds. I know that it won't gel....so...is everything to saponify ok? I have a feeling I'm going to have a heck of a time getting the soap out of the molds...

Any advice would be greatly of appreciated!

Soap does not need to gel in order for it to become soap. Just leave it in the molds longer, til it's hard enough to come out, or put the soap in the freezer. Overnight is safe.

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

Whew! Thanks Soapbuddy!

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

Baby wipes containers..... I've got a few of those laying around....
I use that type of mold sometimes for embeds. As Irena suggested, freezer works great!
Post some pics! I've never seen a soapy unicorn before!

I have an absolutely ridiculous collection of Mold Market and Milky Way molds, as well as a few strays that I've picked up from other places. I treat the soap in those molds a bit differently from my three-pound log molds.

First, I leave it in the mold for at least a week. I don't know for sure that a smaller mold would take more time to saponify (since a smaller amount of soap would generate less heat to drive the reaction), but I don't want to take any chances. Secondly, once the week is up, I put them in the freezer for a minimum of 24 hours. You want them frozen solid. That's another reason why I wait a week to freeze them - it's my understanding if you freeze them too soon, you can disrupt the saponification process. By waiting that full week, I know it's okay to freeze them.

After your 24 hours are up, take them out of the freezer. Some of the soaps will pop right out of the molds with no extra work. I think sometimes on the smaller, or less ornate molds, just the heat of your hand will be enough to release them. Others may need a bit of persuasion. If I know it will be a bit more difficult to get out, I take them to my kitchen sink and run very hot water over the back of the mold. I try not told hold them upside down, as the hot water may cause them to release surprisingly fast, They tend to ricochet around the sink when they do (with an unerring aim for the garbage disposal!), and frozen or not, they will dent themselves up nicely. For some larger, more ornate molds, you may have to run the hot water, try to release, and run the water again if they don't. Sometimes the annoying thing for me is that for two of the exact same molds in the same batch, one will release easily and I have to fight with the other.

I made drying racks for the "fancy" molds by assembling stretcher strips and stapling plastic needlepoint canvas to them. That allows the air to circulate all around. I turn them from time to time (okay, when I remember to!).

I'm going to be making some soap in my "fancy" molds later this week (when some stuff I've ordered comes in), and I'll post some pictures later.

Anita

Wow, great advice everyone! I'm going to leave the soap in the molds for a while (it's still pretty soft), but I'll post pics when I unmold. The coloring isn't very pretty and it started to trace pretty fast on me, so they'll probably be "keep by the sink" bars.