# Making molds



## Kittish

For about $35 in lumber and materials, I'm going to wind up with 8 soap molds in various sizes. 2 1-pound wide, 2 1-pound tall, 1 4-pound tall, 1 2-pound wide, 1 2-pound tall, and one that will probably hold a 4 to 5 pound batch that's both tall and wide. I've got all the pieces cut, next step is assemble then clean up edges. That materials price also includes flexible plastic cutting mats that will make permanent liners for most of these.

I think I've probably got enough loaf molds now. Just need more decorative molds... :think:

ETA: pic of the pre-assembly bits






Now they're all assembled, just need to even up edges some and make sure there aren't any splinters. All of the cuts are freehand with a small cordless circular saw. I don't have a proper saw table with rails and jigs and all that. 

There are screws going up from the bottom into the endcaps on each of the molds, in addition to the ones from either side.


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## jules92207

Nicely done!


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## Cindy2428

What jules said - nicely done!


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## Soapprentice

Impressive!


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## cherrycoke216

Now you have a wooden mold army!!!   Make some tons of soap is your next project!


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## Dahila

how are you going to take out your soap?  I have similar molds but my DH put screws in it so they open like butterfly


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## Kittish

Dahila said:


> how are you going to take out your soap?  I have similar molds but my DH put screws in it so they open like butterfly



Just lift the liner out. I'm going to leave a lip on each liner big enough to grab easily.


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## cherrycoke216

Maybe try a silicone liner? There are YouTube video about DIY a silicone liner for soap mold. But you have to buy the pourable silicone. Not the kind for construction.


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## Kittish

cherrycoke216 said:


> Maybe try a silicone liner? There are YouTube video about DIY a silicone liner for soap mold. But you have to buy the pourable silicone. Not the kind for construction.



I might at some point, if I decide I'm feeling ambitious or that the plastic liners aren't working. But for now, I've got the plastic. I don't have silicone.


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## Kittish

All done! Ok, well almost. The wide and tall doesn't have a liner and I ran out of mats. But every other loaf mold has one! I've got enough wood left to make 4 or 5 lids, too.

The two on the far right with lids inside them are the 4 pound molds I bought off Etsy.


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## penelopejane

Kittish said:


> All done! Ok, well almost. The wide and tall doesn't have a liner and I ran out of mats. But every other loaf mold has one! I've got enough wood left to make 4 or 5 lids, too.
> 
> The two on the far right with lids inside them are the 4 pound molds I bought off Etsy.



Well done! They look beautiful.  I know how much work went into them.  
Congratulations.  :mrgreen:


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## The Efficacious Gentleman

A lovely collection


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## Kittish

Thanks everyone. This should cut seriously down on prep time, and having a batch that winds up needing to sit in the mold for a week or so won't slow me down much. Have to wait and see how well the plastic holds up.


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## penelopejane

Kittish said:


> Thanks everyone. This should cut seriously down on prep time, and having a batch that winds up needing to sit in the mold for a week or so won't slow me down much. Have to wait and see how well the plastic holds up.



I am sure they will be fine.  I have seen videos of people using those. 
If you want to replace them in future an option might be silicone baking sheets.
They come in a variety of sizes and prices!  It would require holding the sides up with clips or something because, unlike yours, they would slump. 

Just a thought but I think yours will last for ages.  

https://www.ebay.com.au/i/332206290521?chn=ps&dispItem=1


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## Zany_in_CO

Wowser!


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## amd

I am jealous of your wooden tall & skinnies. I have them on my hubby-to-be's to do list, but I'm not expecting them until sometime in 2018. (The new house to do list is longer than we expected)

How do the mats work? I've tried making and using them a few times, but they always end up an epic fail for me. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong - either in the cutting or the assembly. :/


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## Kittish

So far the mats work great. I've made one batch in a tall 1 pound, and the block of soap just slid right out of the mold. After I let it sit for day or so the liner came off easily. The liners are pretty much all cut to the same template. 











The way the pieces overlap should stop most leakage, unless the soap is really, really thin on the pour. 

Just get really good measurements for the inside of your mold. For the folds, the outside is scored very, very lightly. You basically only need to barely scratch it for it to fold cleanly. For the bigger molds, both ends are endcaps (because the mats weren't big enough to cut with one end attached)


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## amd

*gasp* This is what I was missing. I have been cutting each side and taping with duct tape (as per both of the videos that I saw)... I will try the score and fold method tonight on my 1lb test molds. Thank you so much for sharing this with me!


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## Kittish

amd said:


> *gasp* This is what I was missing. I have been cutting each side and taping with duct tape (as per both of the videos that I saw)... I will try the score and fold method tonight on my 1lb test molds. Thank you so much for sharing this with me!



Sharing knowledge is a big part of what this forum's all about.  If we all share what we know, we all walk away with more than we started with.


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## navigator9

Wow! This shows how when you've got some boards, and you want to make soap molds, you just keep on going til the wood runs out.  And you end up with a collection of shapes and sizes that should keep you soaping for a long time. And great job with those liners, too. So neatly done. Can't wait to see all of the soaps that come out of these molds.


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## Kittish

An update on the plastic mold liners- They didn't work out nearly so well as I'd hoped they would. For the first few uses they were great. Then they started warping, and leaking and the soap started sticking to them really badly. I'm thinking the lye was attacking whatever kind of plastic they're made from, and the packaging for the cutting mats didn't indicate what it was.

I'm shifting over to silicone molds. I've got two 500 and 3 750 gram loaf molds as well as a 750-1000g small slab. At the moment, I've got cardboard sleeves on the ones that need support. I've got a pallet with slats that are 1/4" thick, I'm planning on salvaging those and reusing what I can from my original molds to build permanent boxes for them. The parts of the liners that are salvageable I'll use as stiffeners in leather projects. 

Here are the original pics again, since the links are broken above:


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## penelopejane

At least you will find it easy to make the new molds to go around the silicone liners with all that practice!

I got Nurture liners.  They are thick and work well.  They are really shiny inside and work well but I've only made about 20 batches with them.  They unmold as well as the first time.

One thing I learnt is it is good to have one end that is removable (wing nuts and a bolt etc).  Since I've modified my molds I haven't needed to take them apart so maybe making them 2mm longer than necessary would be enough, not sure.


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## Kittish

I will keep that in mind when I start building the next round of boxes. Long bolts aren't hard to come by.


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## BattleGnome

Have you seen the Soaping101 silicone mold video? She makes a cardboard box to tightly fit the wooden mold then paints the cardboard with silicone to make the liner. Maybe you can still use the ones you've already made (provided you haven't invested in something else already)


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## Kittish

BattleGnome said:


> Have you seen the Soaping101 silicone mold video? She makes a cardboard box to tightly fit the wooden mold then paints the cardboard with silicone to make the liner. Maybe you can still use the ones you've already made (provided you haven't invested in something else already)



No, I haven't seen that video. I've got my smaller silicone loaf molds already (except you can never have too many, right?) but I've still got the 4 pound wooden molds I bought off etsy and the big deep square box I built (looks like it'll make 8 or 10 'on end' bars and is plenty deep enough for that). I've got silicone baking mats to try to make mold liners with, as well as teflon heat transfer sheets. If neither of those work out well, I may get a tube or two of silicone caulking and try painting some cardboard. Huh, now that I think of it, I may get some and see if I can make a drop in divider for that big box. Easier to work with than trying to cut acrylic probably.


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## penelopejane

^^ they don't use the same silicone as silicone caulking.
Watch one of the videos.


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## Kittish

penelopejane said:


> ^^ they don't use the same silicone as silicone caulking.
> Watch one of the videos.



You're right, she isn't. For the mold liner she's using liquid latex rubber (which does check out as lye safe). Hmm. I bet silicone caulk would work, too. I might have to try them both, just for the sake of comparing. I see though that it wouldn't work for a drop in divider for my big box. 

Here's the video for anyone else who wants to check it out, too: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKClapkhZxo[/ame]


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## 0115d8cf

Sorry to hear, but I'm glad you posted an update! That is some serious diy


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## penelopejane

There are others who've use silicone - just a different type of silicone - google soap liners.

I think it's the heat that the other silicone is better for.
But it's $$$. So really think if you might not be better off with a quality silicone mold and make the surround. 

Aliexpress has lots of cheap silicone molds but most have a lip at the top which means you'd have to be restricted to that height or cut it off so you can have a lid. 

BB molds would be a pain to make a box for. Nurture are easy.


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## Kittish

penelopejane said:


> There are others who've use silicone - just a different type of silicone - google soap liners.
> 
> I think it's the heat that the other silicone is better for.
> But it's $$$. So really think if you might not be better off with a quality silicone mold and make the surround.
> 
> Aliexpress has lots of cheap silicone molds but most have a lip at the top which means you'd have to be restricted to that height or cut it off so you can have a lid.
> 
> BB molds would be a pain to make a box for. Nurture are easy.



I've got several silicone molds already that I just need to build boxes for, and I'm sure I'll get more. I'm pretty much going to shift to silicone entirely for my day to day soap molds. I've already disassembled most of my first shot at boxes to use to make those surrounds. It's just the two big loaf molds that I got from etsy and the big, deep square I made that I need custom liners for. And I'm not opposed to trying out different methods and materials until I find the one that I like best.


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## 0115d8cf

Kittish said:


> You're right, she isn't. For the mold liner she's using liquid latex rubber (which does check out as lye safe). Hmm. I bet silicone caulk would work, too. I might have to try them both, just for the sake of comparing. I see though that it wouldn't work for a drop in divider for my big box.
> 
> Here's the video for anyone else who wants to check it out, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKClapkhZxo


 
Silicone caulking is great for smaller push molds, but I can't imagine painting with it. It's gloppy and thick and sticky, unlike the pourable latex. 

And it reeks. _Bad_.


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## Kittish

0115d8cf said:


> Silicone caulking is great for smaller push molds, but I can't imagine painting with it. It's gloppy and thick and sticky, unlike the pourable latex.
> 
> And it reeks. _Bad_.



That it does. I've used it before for other projects. If you use a nice, wide flat brush, it can be spread to a thin, relatively smooth layer. 

The latex she uses in the video isn't very pourable, I don't think. Looked like rather thick paint. I'm going to get a jar and try it, as well as trying the silicone caulk idea. I might also try one or two of the two part silicone mixes (you can get them in different hardnesses, from super soft up to very firm) and see if they work at all for painting thin layers. I will post pics of each attempt as I make it, though it'll probably take me several months to work my way through them- I have rather a backlog of projects in progress just now.


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## penelopejane

Kittish said:


> That it does. I've used it before for other projects. If you use a nice, wide flat brush, it can be spread to a thin, relatively smooth layer.



Here's another video on making a silicone liner for a soap mold:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr3q5D6qDRc[/ame]


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## Teapot

Both really useful videos, thanks for linking those.

I'm currently using silicone sheets to line my wooden moulds, but they are in separate pieces, so there is a tiny bit of leakage at the corners. Not much, but obviously over time it's not going to do the wood any favours, so I want to make silicone liners to fit the moulds. And if I make multiple liners, then once the soap is solid enough, I can lift it out and re-use the mould, rather than having the whole thing out of action.

In case it helps anyone, I rub vaseline along the wood and then stick the silicone sheet to that, so that it doesn't flop and sag.


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## deighturp

I line my wooden molds with parchment paper and after the soap sets up I just lift if out of the mold, and cut the bars.  No problem (yet) and I think there won't be any problem in the future.


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## amd

Yep, I do the same way too with freezer paper. I have made cutting mat liners and used them a few times. I have to put in the freezer before pulling off from my soap, but I do really like them.


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## earlene

0115d8cf said:


> Silicone caulking is great for smaller push molds, but I can't imagine painting with it. It's gloppy and thick and sticky, unlike the pourable latex.
> 
> And it reeks. _Bad_.




To paint with the silicone caulking I used a method that includes adding naptha (purchased at Home Depot) solvent into the caulking.  This makes it 'paintable'.  It smells to high heaven for a really long time and I'm not sure how long it actually takes to dissipate.  I learned it from a guy who makes masks, so my granddaughter and I did it for her Hallowe'en costume one year.  

If you want to give it a try watch this video.  If you skip forward to minutes 9:01 that's where he starts mixing the silicone caulk with the Naptha then he goes on from there to paint the mixture onto the form.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfH_HCI0G4I[/ame]


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## bathgeek

So here's a question... why don't we just paint the inside of wooden molds with silicone?  Is there a reason this isn't a thing?  Does the silicone mold absolutely have to be separate from the wood?  I'm thinking of making a box with a front that flips down, and if I coat the whole thing with silicone on the inside then once I flip the front down I can theoretically slide the whole thing out the front, then just wipe down the mold and reuse.  What am I missing?


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## Kittish

bathgeek said:


> So here's a question... why don't we just paint the inside of wooden molds with silicone?  Is there a reason this isn't a thing?  Does the silicone mold absolutely have to be separate from the wood?  I'm thinking of making a box with a front that flips down, and if I coat the whole thing with silicone on the inside then once I flip the front down I can theoretically slide the whole thing out the front, then just wipe down the mold and reuse.  What am I missing?



That sounds like a very good question, actually. I have to wonder if it would work. *adds another idea to the list to try*


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## Teapot

I have wondered the same, about painting the inside with silicone. Logically, it seems like it should work, but I wonder how easy it would be to get the soap out? (If the mould doesn't have any removable pieces, that is.) 

I find that if my silicone pieces fit together very neatly with no gaps, it's hard to get the soap out of a straight-sided loaf mould. When I use the fractionally larger mould, there is a 1-2mm gap where the liners don't meet, and it is much easier to get the soap out. (To clarify, I have two wooden loaf moulds, but one is about 2mm longer than the other.)


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## Kittish

Teapot said:


> I have wondered the same, about painting the inside with silicone. Logically, it seems like it should work, but I wonder how easy it would be to get the soap out? (If the mould doesn't have any removable pieces, that is.)
> 
> I find that if my silicone pieces fit together very neatly with no gaps, it's hard to get the soap out of a straight-sided loaf mould. When I use the fractionally larger mould, there is a 1-2mm gap where the liners don't meet, and it is much easier to get the soap out. (To clarify, I have two wooden loaf moulds, but one is about 2mm longer than the other.)



If the mold doesn't come apart at all, then I'd think it would be very hard to get soap out of a silicone coated mold. Need to be able to break the airseal to let the soap out. I'm kind of thinking of painting each piece individually, so that there is overlap on the silicone coating at the corners when the mold is assembled. I think I'd also carry the silicone up over the top edges, so it makes a lip. I'm kind of thinking silicone might not stick well to the wood of the mold, so you'd need some way to stabilize it and one or both of those might work. 

With the one small silicone liner I cut and tried out, I was able to pull a couple of pieces of the liner out ahead of removing the soap from the mold. Soap slid right out once I had those liner pieces out. Just pulled straight up on them. I think if I cut any more silicone liners, I'll leave a little bit of a lip that extends up past the top of the mold, to make it easier to grab.


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## jcandleattic

Teapot said:


> I have wondered the same, about painting the inside with silicone. Logically, it seems like it should work, but I wonder how easy it would be to get the soap out? (If the mould doesn't have any removable pieces, that is.)



You would most likely need to freeze it and bang it out of the mold, kind of like people do with PVC pipe...


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## bathgeek

Teapot said:


> I have wondered the same, about painting the inside with silicone. Logically, it seems like it should work, but I wonder how easy it would be to get the soap out? (If the mould doesn't have any removable pieces, that is.)
> 
> I find that if my silicone pieces fit together very neatly with no gaps, it's hard to get the soap out of a straight-sided loaf mould. When I use the fractionally larger mould, there is a 1-2mm gap where the liners don't meet, and it is much easier to get the soap out. (To clarify, I have two wooden loaf moulds, but one is about 2mm longer than the other.)



I hear you.  My idea was that the sides of the molds would fold out, so you would unlatch, fold down, and slide out the soap.  Of course, to ensure the soap could be removed, I guess all four sides would need to fold down, but it's nothing hinges can't fix... ^_~


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## earlene

Would silicone adhere to wood?  I don't know.  When I have used silicone to caulk tile and tubs, it does eventually peel away fairly easily, but that's with a smooth porcelain finish.  Wood is much more porous.  So I decided to do a search on the topic.  Apparently you'd have to glue the silicone to the wood if you want it to adhere to the wood.  Doesn't seem like the best way to go in my mind, but if you want to try it, go for it and let us know how it turns out.

Here are some links on the topic:

http://silicone.co.uk/blog/how-does-silicone-stick-to-different-surfaces/



[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNpfGhtzZLI[/ame]

For mask making, we painted the silicone/naptha mixture onto a smooth surface, waited for it to dry and it peeled off quite easily.  Getting the right consistency for painting and for it not be too thick or too thin takes a bit of practice as well.

The other issue I see is that painting on the inside surface would be problematic as the liquid silicone tends to travel with gravity, therefore it I think it would slide down the insides and want to pool at the bottom.


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## penelopejane

bathgeek said:


> So here's a question... why don't we just paint the inside of wooden molds with silicone?  I'm thinking of making a box with a front that flips down, and if I coat the whole thing with silicone on the inside then once I flip the front down I can theoretically slide the whole thing out the front, then just wipe down the mold and reuse.



The soap doesn't actually fall out of a silicone mold.  You have to pull the silicone mold away from the sides of the soap then you can push the soap away from the bottom of the mold by turning it upside down. 

So you would have to have all four sides folding down to remove your soap and you would have to be able to lift it off the base. 

Then you would have to work out how to get a very smooth finish to silicone after you worked out how to get it to stick to the timber - maybe with a special silicone type adhesive/sealant that would act like silicone.



earlene said:


> Would silicone adhere to wood?


Earlene, 
Sikaflex sticks to wood.  It is a polyurethane adhesive/sealant that's very similar to the characteristics of silicone. 
You probably have something similar in the US. I am not sure if it is safe up to 250*F as silicone is. 
http://aus.sika.com/en/solutions_products/02/02a024/02a024sa08/02a024sa08100/02a024sa08104.html


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