Does anyone here use Tog's mini mold?

[Soapmaker Man]

Phillip, that was a great tutorial! Thanks for the favorable comments on how you found the mold to work for you also, I appreciate it! :wink: I think, you will find out the more you use the mold, the more "seasoned" the liners and dividers become and it gets even easier to remove the soap. I love how you turn the mold over and out falls the soap. So easy to peel off the liners and push down on the bars to remove them from the dividers!. Thanks again Phillip, I am glad the TOG Mold is working great for you! Beautiful job again on the batches!

Paul... :wink:

 

[dragonfly princess]

OK what do you use for color? I love that purple!!!! Wonderful looking soap!

I use a TOG mold for my MP soap, it works wonderful and no leaking!!!!

 

[PhillipJ]

Dragonfly. Here's the part that bothers me. The purple color is from WPS. Ultramarine Purple Liquid Pigment. And I fragranced it with Black Raspberry Vanilla.

I used the whole 2 oz of purple on only 8 oz. of soap. It is a nice color tho. I also dumped in the whole 2 oz of fragrance too, so I have $12 stuck in 6 bars of soap now on color & fragrance alone.

Looks like I'll have to make my own color & fragrances from salt. Same as I do my lye. Might even make a loofah from salt while I'm at it too! Salt I can get for free.

 

[dragonfly princess]

So if ya sold each of the bars for about $5 you would make some of your money back!

you can make your own loofa??? I am interested....do tell how you do that?

 

[PhillipJ]

Just kidding about the loofah. But did think about getting some seed to grow em. But I think the growing season is too short for that here in WI.

Although, I am going to try growing patchouli. That's supposed to grow indoors. Actually, my seeds just arrived in the mail. Gotta go check em out.

 

[Neil]

Phillip
Thank you so very much for taking your valuable time to explain how you created such a great looking soap. I will let you know how mine comes out. If if doesnt work right I'll know its me and I must try harder. I did try a swirl once but the additives at trace make the whole batch congel on me.

 

[PhillipJ]

Ya know Neil, that swirling is tricky business. My last attempt wasn't as good. Seems like the consistency has to be just right.

Come to think of it. I put some powdered oatmeal in the main batch. Maybe that helped? And I ordered a cake decorator tube to squeeze a thinner, more consistant line of zig zags.

 

[leansoapqueen]

I just got a mini smelli-so excited about it!

 

[Soapmaker Man]

I just got a mini smelli-so excited about it!

You are a sweat heart! I feel your excitement in your posts! I am sending you a perfect TOG Mold to fulfill your soap dreams! Thank you!

 

[leansoapqueen]

Can't wait- I have a salt bar and some lotion on the way too- woo hoo!

 

[Lane]

Question on the mold!

What in the world is the liner made out of?? After looking at them closer and e-mailing a couple friends, we are considering a larger order, but a few of us are just concerend as to what type of foam, plastic, etc the liner is. It it craft foam like you buy at micheal's? A few of us are eco earth loving soapers and are concerned about the lye/plastic/carbon reaction... Also, as I personally am a sloppy soaper (thats what makes it fun) is it possible to replace the liners your self?

Whew.

And the soap dishes look SO beautiful!!! Do you offer a bulk priceing? I am debuting my online store on Valentine's day and those would be such a great gift to give all of my new customers for that month!

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Question on the mold!

What in the world is the liner made out of?? After looking at them closer and e-mailing a couple friends, we are considering a larger order, but a few of us are just concerend as to what type of foam, plastic, etc the liner is. It it craft foam like you buy at micheal's? A few of us are eco earth loving soapers and are concerned about the lye/plastic/carbon reaction... Also, as I personally am a sloppy soaper (thats what makes it fun) is it possible to replace the liners your self?

Whew.

And the soap dishes look SO beautiful!!! Do you offer a bulk priceing? I am debuting my online store on Valentine's day and those would be such a great gift to give all of my new customers for that month!

You can use the foam sheets that Michael's sells, but I do not use that brand, but another that is higher quality and I buy in bulk. But the answer is yes, you can cut yourself to the exact measurements, perfectly square and use that foam sheets. The sheet I use is denser. I do sell lots of 50 soap dishes. You will not find a finished pine soap dish for the prices I sell. Most are untreated or stained. I use 3 natural oils to seal the wood and retard water from the wood soap dish. I also heat this oil drenched soap dish into a 180 degree oven to force the oils into the wood, then give them a second coat of natural sealer. I am thinking of a more permanent liner system that is permanently sealed to the wood that is a high temperature Lexan plastic that will remain stationary inside the mold and the soap will fall out like muffins in a silicone baking pan. It is in the development stages tonight...hopefully in the next month or so after more testing I can debut this new and revolutionary plastic/woof mold!!! It will be like nothing anyone has or ever seen!

Paul....

 

[Lane]

Thank you for the info! Now if only my soaping friends would get back to me! I know we are going to be ordering the soap dishes, probaby only a few at first to test them... Not that I doubt your amazing wood skills. *bows*. But you can't rave about a product fully until you've tried it!

Now about those molds!!!!
I was wondering around Home Depot tonight trying to figure out how to substitute a beveler (yours is amazing looking by the way...) And yes, the plastic/wood mold idea hit me!!! I actually stopped in my tracks and began writing down notes! I would never be able to make something like that myself...
But as an avid soaper, I have many ideas rolling around in there for the PERFECT mold...The plastic insides would be great for SOOOO many reasons...My only issue with the foam liner it that it must leave a slight texture, plastic would leave a slick/glossy texture... that thought right there leaves me very excited... haha... thats how ya know a soaper!!

Please keep me posted on this molds' development!

 

[Jean]

Paul, I used the 12/24 mold yesterday and I am not sure how to go about getting the soap out of the mold. Please help!
Jean

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Paul, I used the 12/24 mold yesterday and I am not sure how to go about getting the soap out of the mold. Please help!
Jean

Jean, if your soap had a lot of liquids and is kinda sticky this will happen. There are a couple ways to get the soap out when it sticks. First, turn the mold over and drop it a few times on a towel on your table. The soap should loosen. Another thing is to put the mold in the freezer for a while, say an hour or so, and the soap will constrict, and fall right out. The third thing is to take a pair of pliers and gently pull the dividers out, starting with the inside divider. Start with one side, pull a bit, then go to the other side and pull a bit, back and forth until the divider comes out, then the whole thing will come out.
The mold will "season" the more you use it, and release better. Next time you use it, wipe the sides down with mineral oil or spray with cooking spray. Mineral oil on a paper towel is the best, since it will not saponify and turn into soap.

Paul :wink:

 

[Jean]

Paul, I used the recipe you gave me and I did some swirls. They look really nice. So I don't know if I used a lot of liquid or not. I converted your recipe to a 3 lb. batch, so I used 18.24 oz. water and 6.79 oz. lye. The other 8 ingredients are all oils. They lye concentration is 27.ll4 % and the water:lye ratio is 2.69:l.
I am going to research on here today and try to figure out the 33% that you keep talking about. I'll probably have more questions regarding this as I try to understand it. I probably should have had a stronger lye solution but I wanted to have time to swirl. I will try the methods you recommended and I'll let you. Will post pic if all turns out well.
Jean

 

[Jean]

I followed your instructions and had no problem at all. I think I was just getting in a hurry and trying to unmold too quickly. Here are some pictures. I haven't "cleaned up" the bars yet, but they didn't turn out too bad.

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[Laurie]

OH MY do I ever like your soap. Thank you for sharing pics.

I have the 20/40 slab so I can learn from this. I had a hard time

getting it out but I think these tips are really going to help.

Laurie

 

[gallerygirl]

The soaps are awesome looking! I have the mini tog and the 12/24 mold and have had no problems with unmolding. k

 

[Jean]

Thank you for the compliments. BTW the fragrance of these soaps are Lavender/Vanilla.
When I first started to unmold the soap, I thought (duh!) that the grids would come out one at a time. Had no idea that when you turn the mold over and give it a good bang on a towel, the whole thing comes out, grids, bottom & soap. How neat is this?? Then, I just pushed the soap out. I was very impressed with the way this mold worked for me. Paul, you gotta be a genious! Thanks
Jean