Teach Soap

I made myself a vertical-bar mould, 3x7, 2.2Kg.
It works OK except my home-made separator pieces were a bit curvy because I cut them with large scissors. (It's 2mm PVC)
So, I thought I would sandwich them between two plates of heavy glass with clamps and put them in the oven for a while.
Unfortunately I was distracted by something and when I came back they had half-melted
So I had to spend the next few hours with a hacksaw blade, clamps, etc to make a new set. I did these in acrylic (an old Rocher chocolate box) and they are quite plane, no distortion compared with the others. Hopefully the bars will be regular.
I like the vertical configuration because it's compact and it's easy to do column pours. However, getting the spacers out of the soap was a problem with the first batch done in this new mould. I've waxed everything now, including the plastic spacers, so am hoping it won't be quite so difficult.

Hmm... maybe I should pick the spacers out before the soap goes too hard, i.e. not wait overnight?

Oh, wow, that sounds like quite the PITA. Sounds like you need a spacer that is oven-proof yet "easy" to cut to the right size?

I am not a materials expert, but hopefully someone else here is?

I've got the 21-bar mould back together again now and I am making a little 5-bar mould for testing small batches (500g) for fragrances. I must say I have learned more about moulds than I wanted to. . . I can understand why some prefer cutters. Acrylic seems weak for spacers in my experience, PVC seems to be stronger.