Molds: New Birch mold or just a regular one

[EZ_Girl]

Hi everyone!
I'm stuck with the decision. Bramble Berry has new birch mold for 18 or 36 bars. It is with devider and soaps come out nice and even. One minus - it is hard to do two or three different soaps at the same time, as deviders do not touch the bottom of the mold completly, so the soap will mix.
Or should I go with just a regular 10lb wooden mold and buy a cutter with it?
It is my first CP, so I can't decide

 

[ChrisShepp]

Hi EZ_Girl,

As I am also fairly new to CP soapmaking, can I offer a personal opinion and some advice? Before I made a single batch of CP soap, I was ready to start off with 50 pound batches and Oprah was going to launch my soapmaking career onto the Fortune 500 list. My first attempt was a 4 pound batch of a simple Bastille (Olive and Coconut)... and it was a COMPLETE disaster. I'll save you the gory details, but suffice it to say that it was a huge blow to my ego and a bit of sting to my wallet. What I failed to understand is that while soapmaking isn't rocket surgery, there is a LOT to learn - and a lot of it is from 20/20 hindsight.

If I could do it all over again, here are some things I wish I had known:

- Until you have a 'surefire' recipe that you can repeat 20 times successfully, stick to 2 pound batches. 1 pound batches can be very unforgiving because the measurements have to be extremely accurate, where as the 2 pounders you have a tad bit more leeway. 4 pounder, you'll probably be OK, but 2 pounds still produces about 10 nice large bars of finished soap. If you are crafty, you can even make your own molds out of lumber from Lowes or Home Depot (or have your DH do it for you!) for about $5/each. The bramble berry molds, while gorgeous, are not cheap!

- Speaking of recipes, it will take you a LOT of research and trial/error to find one you really love; one that has all of the qualities you are looking for, is predictable, doesn't go bad (do a search on 'DOS' here), etc... We have so many fabulous ingredients to choose form, but it takes a while to understand how they work and affect your finished product. You don't want to end up with 10 pounds of soap that is only kinda 'eh... ok' (or 10 pounds that is just plain blah).

- Fragrances can be extremely unpredictable, in fact, I venture to say they may be one of the biggest sources of frustration to us saponifiers. They may accelerate trace, reverse it, seize, rice, discolor, morph, or disappear completely. A single 10-lb batch could require $30-60 (or more) worth of fragrance. At those prices, one can't afford to experiment or have a failure. A 2-lb batch is much more reasonable at $6-10.

- Colorants are much the same story. They can discolor or disappear. The amount you use to achieve a desired color can take a long time to pin down. Ask me how I know that purple is a really hard color to achieve when you are using yellow base oils :wink:

- The actual process for making large batches varies considerably from small batches. Heating the oils takes longer and you can easily overheat them if you aren't really careful. Lye water will take a lot longer to cool. Mixing is harder. Pouring is harder. Controlling the temperature is MUCH harder. And every batch will make 40 or so bars - imagine that 5 batches in, you will need room to cure around 200(!) bars...

I am sorry for writing a novel here, but there is soooo much that I learned 'the hard way'... I hope I haven't offended you - I mean in no way to belittle your ambition. I wish you the very best - I'm sure we'll all be oooo'ing and aaaaaw'ing at your finished products in The Photo Gallery before long Happy soaping!

 

[Sunny]

I agree with everything ChrisShepp said, and want to thank him for writing it.

In regards to your original post, I would skip both of those and go with the following mold, which requires no lining, is easy to use, and makes about 2 lbs of soap.
http://wholesalesuppliesplus.com/Produc ... +Mold+0501


I wouldn't dare do 5 or 10 lbs of soap at one time for the fear of something going wrong and I have been doing this for a while. Have made many batches of soap and still consider myself a beginner.

 

[EZ_Girl]

Hi ChrisShepp,

Thanks for your post and I appreciate your advices! I'm aware of the whole process of CP and been studying it for couple months, reading, waching video and etc. I'm not worry of the size of the mold. With dividers I can make small baches as well (actually I was going to start with 4lb, but now I'll try 2lb).

I guess my main question was about the durability, quality, time in getting mold together and taking soap out, time cutting and etc. I'm type of person that likes to have fewer things (maybe more spendy sometimes) around, but that can perform more tasks, are high quality and less maintenace. I hope you know what I mean.

 

[EZ_Girl]

Thanks Tasha!

I didn't even think about silicone molds. I use them all the time for M&P, but it didn't cross my mind for CP.

Thanks again!

 

[EZ_Girl]

But how do you cut CP soap? Is it softer than M&P or just about the same? Can I use just a regular cutter (simple dough cutter with wooden handle) that I use for my M&P?

 

[ChrisShepp]

But how do you cut CP soap? Is it softer than M&P or just about the same? Can I use just a regular cutter (simple dough cutter with wooden handle) that I use for my M&P?

That should work just fine! It depends on the recipe how long you wait. I make a recipe that turns out pretty hard (50% lard, 30% Coconut, 10% Olive, 10% Castor @ 8% lye discount) and I usually cut it about 24 hours after pouring. It's like cutting a big block of firm cheese - it takes a little effort, but is still just a tiny bit mushy and brittle. As you develop your own special recipe, you'll learn by trial/error.

Good luck with your first batch - the idea about using dividers sounds good.

 

[jess_adams24]

I am fairly new at this as well, but started with the 8oz ziplock containers. They are cheap and the lid works to insulate them really well. They are pretty flexible for small batches also. I test all of my new recipes in these molds before I try it in the large log molds.

 

[donniej]

I guess I'm unique in that I never really made batches smaller than 20 pounds

I do agree that it has it's down sides.... like the costs and hassle of throwing away hundres of bars at a time. I can remember having so many bars to throw out that I wasn't sure if the trash men would take them all at once.

I also agree that 2 pounds is a good number. Get it all figured out around there and then go up in modest increments. It's interesting that as the batch sizes increase, things change even if you do everything exactly the same.

 

[honor435]

I agree dont make big batches right away.. I make 2 lb batches all the time, and its perfect, 9-10 bars, and since I like to change fos and color all the time, it a nice amt of bars. Also, its more than 6 or 7$ for even a 2 lb batch, unless maybe you are using lard? I figured mine out once it was about 16$ for a 2 lb batch, thats w oo, po, co, castor. Theres a really nice spot on saratoga scents (cost calclator) that you can enter your ingredients and it will tell you how much each bars is. Good luck to you.

 

[EZ_Girl]

Thanks!!!
I appreciate all replies. I'm sure now to start with 2lb recipe and go with selicon mold for now (maybe 2 or 3 , to have a variety)

 

[EZ_Girl]

Ok, I got the mold .... and made these soaps last weekend. Not bad )) Now the hardest part - have to wait!

[IMG=http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4251/p1030927.jpg][/IMG]

[IMG=http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/7393/p1030930.jpg][/IMG]

 

[carebear]

very nice.

you don't HAVE to wait! I never could with a new soap! but don't judge until a good solid cure period.

 

[donniej]

Very nice! Congratulations!

 

[dubnica]

Very nice soap. What fragrance and additives did you use? One of them look like coffee?

 

[EZ_Girl]

Thanks!!!

Pink one is with Orange Lab Color (Does it look orange to you?), Walnut Seeds and Apple Jack FO.

Brown one is with Brown oxide, Freshly ground coffee and Dark Chocolate FO.

My hubby loves the first one. I think from two of us he is the most impasionate about waiting for cure.

BTW, before I ordered supplies, I compared everything from Bramble Berry and Whole sopa supplies (I liiteraly put everything into the cart), and it came out that BB is cheaper even with that rediculos FedEx shipping. But I ordered mold from whole supplies,as BB doesn't have this one.