Teach Soap

I splurged and got a couple of CLEAR acrylic molds from Soap Making Resource. Anyone have one of these? I have followed his instructions from the video to a T, and yet, I ALWAYS have problems getting the soap off of the bottom acrylic liner piece. I have tried it both in the freezer an in the oven and always the same result...the soap just wants to stick.

Does anyone else have this mold? How do you manage the bottom piece? I can probably put a piece of freezer paper there but the point of the mold was that it was supposed to be liner free....

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- Stacey -

Anyone's life truly consists of work, sunshine, exercise, soap, plenty of fresh air, and a happy contented spirit. - Lillie Langtry

Maybe use harder oil for your recipe? I have clear molds, but they came from SoapHutch. I use no liner.

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

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- Stacey -

Anyone's life truly consists of work, sunshine, exercise, soap, plenty of fresh air, and a happy contented spirit. - Lillie Langtry

Could you buy a thin silicone sheet, cut it to size and use that on the bottom of the mold instead?

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

I have heard others say the same thing about that mold. Maybe you should contact Steve and ask him about it. He would probably know the tricks if any are to be found.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

I think a silicone sheet would be a very good idea too. Love those clear molds!

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Soap Blog:

The "No melt" version of quilter's mylar sheets are supposed to work awesomely, though I haven't used one personally. Next time I drive by Joanne's, I'm going to see if they have them big enough to cover the bottom of an hdpe slab mold I have.

Worse case, I use a silpat silicone sheet but those seem pretty thick to me- at least the ones I have for baking. I may try to find a thinner version of the silicone sheets.

Have you tried rubbing the bottom with a little mineral oil before you pour in your soap batter? I've heard that it helps with those molds! =)

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Using sodium lactate or salt might help. The mineral oil should also help until the molds are seasoned.

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I did try just about everything with the molds from trying to slide the side down at the edge of the table, to freezing, etc etc but I just couldn't stand to have another batch with marred bottoms when I'm gearing up to start selling so I decided to send them back. It was unfortunate because I swear my recipes are not very "soft" and I use sodium lactate as well. I'll just have to blame it on gremlins and say lesson learned this time.

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- Stacey -

Anyone's life truly consists of work, sunshine, exercise, soap, plenty of fresh air, and a happy contented spirit. - Lillie Langtry

Sorry to hear those didn't work out for you. That's never fun, but it's good that they accepted them as a return.

My experience is that if you're not using silicone liners, you need something on the bottom to get clean separation consistently. I've used cyclomethicone on the bottom, sodium lactate as an additive and combine with freezing to get clean separation, but it's too painful to deal with regularly and some portion is usually marred.

I'm mostly only buying silicone-lined molds these days. Or HDPE with bottom silicone liners (and I have them send extras because silicone stretches over time). I haven't used the BB vertical column mold I bought yet. I'm actually trying to pick up some of that no melt quilter's lining before I try it, I just haven't found sheets larger than 8.5" x 11". I'd use them on the vertical and on a HDPE slab mold I have that didn't come with a bottom silicone liner.

I have one of these molds and I had trouble getting my first batch off of the bottom. Since then, I had wrapped the bottom with freezer paper, so much easier to get it off. Sorry they didn't work out for you.