Teach Soap

I have a ridiculously large collection of Mold Market/Milky Way/assorted individual molds. When I use them, my usual technique is to leave the soap is the mold for a week, then put it in the freezer for a minimum of 24 hours. They pop out pretty easily for the most part, and the details on the mold survive the unmolding process.

I have a craft show at the end of next month, so I'm madly making soap. I wondering if I can cut the pre-freezer time any so I can do a faster turnaround on some of the molds. I bought some Easter Egg molds from Brambleberry, two sheets of four molds each. A one-pound batch fills about six of those. (Okay, probably seven, but I liked the first FO I used so much I "stole" some of the raw soap to put in a plain mold just for myself. ) I'd like to be able to do another batch of Easter Eggs, as I've only got six. (I also have to redo the chocolate bunnies and baby chicks, as I think my FO is too old and it smells like chocolate with some nasty chemical undertone to it, but that's a different problem!)

Can I cut the time in the molds down to say, three or four days before freezing? I'm guessing it would take more than the 24 hours I usually give the soap in my big wooden molds, as I know there's not the same mass in the small molds to drive the chemical reaction as quickly.

Thanks for the help.

Anita

I was able to unmold my soap from a milky way slab mold (the fleur de lis one) after about 24 hours. It was an extremely accelerated batch though, not sure if that affected things.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

2 weeks for a CP soap to cure might not be enough. Are you gelling, then putting the molds in the freezer? Are you discounting your water so the soap gets harder faster?

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

Woops! I read that as at the end of this month. I would use some sodium lactate to harden the bars faster, so you can get them out of the mold faster. I freeze mine usually overnight and they come right out.

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

Let me see if I got this right...

Add some Sodium Lactate and/or discount the water to make the bars harder
Pop the molds in the freezer as soon as the soap is in them
24 hours later, remove from freezer & pop out of molds
Let cure

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

Ohh I like those molds Anita! I sure hope you can get them out of there at a faster pace! Can you toss some pictures up in the picture thread later? I'd like to see the ones you have done already

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist