Making a wooden soap mold

[earlene]

In the past, I have lined molds with plastic wrap. Not that particular brand, and always got wrinkles on the bottoms and sides, but worst in the corners. It never melted when I used it for soapmaking. Clinging plastic wrap does not really cling very well to inner surfaces of containers; it tends to need to be pulled tightly to stimulate the cling and often may even need to adhere to itself to maintain a seal. But a seal isn't what you are after here.

I would suggest buying some and trying it and making up your own mind. If you use plastic wrap for other purposes as well, it would not go to waste. Walmart sells that brand, and I bought some and used it while I was in Texas last month, but only for food and for wrapping my Yellow Submarine soap. It tends to loose it's clingy-ness after being in close contact with MP soap, BTW.

 

[DianaMoon]

You could contact the company and ask for the maximum temps.

Thanks - good idea.

 

[Techie Joe]

I had a look on their website (stretch tite) and it doesn't mention an upper temperature limit, but it says that its not suitable for the oven. However you could test it on a hot batch and find out for yourself. It should only have to stand up to around 200f if I've got it right.
I know cling film is very difficult to get into corners, as someone has said already. You could experiment with some kind of clear plastic (sandwich) bag which can sit into a mould when full of batter.

 

[BattleGnome]

What do people here think about lining molds in Stretch-Tite?

I’ve used press and seal before, if that’s an option. I got the idea from SpicyPinecone. It left an interesting texture on the bars but was a bit unwieldy to get smooth on a cardboard box. I can’t vouch for how well it works in the kitchen but I’d use it again for soap

 

[David1pro]

Here's mine that I recently made. As you can see from the bottom mold, I simply screwed one side onto the base - no need for glue. The other side and the two ends are simply held by tension with the bolts and wing nuts. I can cut different sizes for the end to adjust the width. Three of the four sides are held by tension, so the molds can shrink to any length or width (width with new end pieces). I definitely suggest using two bolts for each side, not just one in the middle. You'll get an easier, firmer mold that holds everything square without as much fussing - especially if you're adjusting to a small batch and your ends are not at the ends.

Again, only one long side is actually screwed to the base. The rest is held by tension with the bolts. Using two bolts makes it so the tension held side stays locked down to the base, firm and tight (drill holes for both sides at the same time so they are level with each other).

 

[rjuconnfan]

+1 to what has already been said.
Untreated wood.

I use "torx head" screws on mine so if I need to loosen up the mold to get the paper to release I can do so easily.
Check the Beginner's section on how to calculate mold volume for good information on how big you want your custom soap molds to be.
This is a good time to look at what fits in your hand comfortably for a bar size too.

That's from lessons I learned the hard way and not meant in any way to be critical. On my second run I made a "long skinny" that makes nice sized bars for fitting in the hand - and if cut thin make great "guest sized" bars.
The possibilities are endless.

This is a perfect post to help me too! I am trying to figure out how the amounts given in the recipes fit in different molds. I am confused by figuring out how much soap to make . For my first batch I got the white plastic mold at Michaels that has screws on the side to loosen it. I am going to line it. But I have to figure out how much soap fits in it. Thank you for referring to the post with help for this......so much to learn!