Layers won't stick together

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

When I made this batch of soap, I thought I was being smart to pour the bottom layer one day and wait until a few days later to make the rest. Turns out that it WASN'T such a great idea....I got a fairly straight layer, but the two layers don't want to stick together. I won't do that again, but is there any way for me to salvage these bars and make the layers stick together?

 

[earlene]

Yes, it's called soap welding.

If you want to keep the smooth lines, don't do step number #1; if you don't care about the smooth lines, do step #1

Step #1 (optional) score the surface of each slightly, just at the surfaces that will be joined.
Step #2 with distilled water, wet the joining surfaces & push together and
Step #3 wrap tightly with kitchen plastic wrap.
Step #4 place on a parchment paper lined oven safe tray into a pre-heated oven at 250° F oven for a couple of hours, keeping the oven on while the soap is inside.

Turn the oven off and let the bars cool inside the oven overnight. The next day, unwrap and check one bar of soap and report back on how it worked. I have done this with soap without scoring the surface and it stays together for the life of the soap while bathing in the shower and handwashing.

Here is a link to a video on soap welding:

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

Yes, it's called soap welding.

If you want to keep the smooth lines, don't do step number #1; if you don't care about the smooth lines, do step #1

Step #1 (optional) score the surface of each slightly, just at the surfaces that will be joined.
Step #2 with distilled water, wet the joining surfaces & push together and
Step #3 wrap tightly with kitchen plastic wrap.
Step #4 place on a parchment paper lined oven safe tray into a pre-heated oven at 250° F oven for a couple of hours, keeping the oven on while the soap is inside.

Turn the oven off and let the bars cool inside the oven overnight. The next day, unwrap and check one bar of soap and report back on how it worked. I have done this with soap without scoring the surface and it stays together for the life of the soap while bathing in the shower and handwashing.

Here is a link to a video on soap welding:

That is very helpful, @earlene ...thanks for sharing that info and video!! You've given me hope

One question...what's the purpose of the plastic wrap? Just to hold the pieces together more securely?

 

[earlene]

One question...what's the purpose of the plastic wrap? Just to hold the pieces together more securely?

Yes, exactly. Enjoy! You can do it without, but I found it to really ensure they stayed tight. It's like a improvised vice.
Edit: spelling correction

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

When I made this batch of soap, I thought I was being smart to pour the bottom layer one day and wait until a few days later to make the rest. Turns out that it WASN'T such a great idea....I got a fairly straight layer, but the two layers don't want to stick together. I won't do that again, but is there any way for me to salvage these bars and make the layers stick together? View attachment 51683

Thats to bad, I haven't any idea how or what to do to make them stick together? soap is pretty though.

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

Yes, exactly. Enjoy! You can do it without, but I found it to really ensure they stayed tight. It's like a improvised vice.
Edit: spelling correction

Okie dokie! Experiment underway!

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

Update: The bars are successfully welded together, although they got slightly deformed. At least they're more usable now!

 

[earlene]

Re-heating like that does soften the bars, hence the slight deformities. You can plane those off later if you want. But I'd wait at least 2 or 3 weeks before I'd do that, just to be sure the soap has a good hard surface first.

 

[TashaBird]

I’ve got the same kind of separation. I’m not sure what happened, except that maybe I turned the heating pad off. I’ve put the pieces I cut back together with the rest of the loaf back into the mold.
Can I put the mold in the oven at 250?
Can I cover it with plastic wrap at that temp?

 

[penelopejane]

I’ve got the same kind of separation. I’m not sure what happened, except that maybe I turned the heating pad off. I’ve put the pieces I cut back together with the rest of the loaf back into the mold.
Can I put the mold in the oven at 250?
Can I cover it with plastic wrap at that temp?

No don’t put the mold in the oven at 250* or 200*F.
you will get silicone rash which you can’t see on the mold but will make EVERY subsequent batch have silicone rash - tiny pitted holes on the surface of the soap touching the silicone.

 

[earlene]

TashaBird, see my reply here on this topic where you posted in another thread. I'd rather not repeat the same detail twice, although, if I had seen this first I would have put it here. So maybe I will just quote below:

I don't have a Nurture mold, but they look like they are no different than any of my other wooden and silicone molds I use in my oven for CPOP, so I'd go ahead and put it in the oven without worries.

If it will fit in your oven, all I would suggest is that you place it on a tray of some sort inside the oven and make sure the wood does not touch the metal sides of the oven. Make sure to pre-heat your oven BEFORE you put the soap inside, as ovens tend to heat much higher than the number you set it at while it is pre-heating.

If you are willing to moisten the surfaces with a little water, that will help, but if you don't want to take it all apart again, AND the soap is fairly new (not old & dry), I'd go ahead and bake it at 170° F for at least an hour, but depending on how big your mold is (a huge slab?), then I'd probably bake for 2 or 3 hours, checking surface temps of the soap with my IFR thermometer. Then I'd leave it inside the warm oven (turned off) for several hours.

If it were me, I would take the soap apart, moisten, then wrap in plastic wrap (kitchen plastic used for wrapping food), then put it back in the mold prior to the bake. The plastic wrap survives just fine, so no worries about it starting on fire or melting; it doesn't.

But if that seems like too much work, try it without.

 

[TashaBird]

Got it! Thank you.