I am again late to the party
But wanted to suggest a place to pick up free coolers which are extremely well made. I never experience soda ash, but have heard many people mentioned steaming, rather than washing, which I absolutely don't do unless it's for my own personal soap. A cheap, handheld steamer can be bought online. Can also do it over a steaming pot with gloves on to prevent fingerprints.& slippage.
I grab my styrofoam coolers from my local pharmacy. They receive shipments of medications in these. Very thick walled, and thick lidded. My pharmacy - in a more rural, remote area - leaves them out back for people to snag for their own purposes. Doubt they do that in the city, but you could always ask your pharmacy about their coolers & if they simply toss them, like my pharmacy does. They truly are phenomenal, and multi-purpose.
If you're making insulation boxes yourself, construction glue which dispenses much like silicone caulking from one of those metal caulking guns also is great for gluing, and much cheaper than gorilla glue in my area. It's a good alternative which works very well for many materials, including wooden / PVC molds / repairing molds.
I have also used cardboard boxes with an additional cardboard box inside of it, then line the inner box with foiled bubble wrap or foam sheet wrap from excess packing materials I receive - the silver insulation bubblewrap stuff found in building supply stores. I then stuff some smaller towels between the 2 boxes & around the mold/s, then wrap the whole thing in an electric blanket, then more blankets & towels besides that. I even employ my beautiful sheepskins in this task
My natural colorants always are very vibrant because of this, and they stay vibrant for a long time. People who claim natural colorants fade quickly simply don't know yet how to work with them properly.
The above mentioned styrofoam coolers are also perfect for moving fragile / breakable items. We get them in 3 different sizes here & they are all cubes, which makes stacking, moving, packing them very easy. My storage unit has a mountain of them at the moment
They also work really well for storing vegetables, dairy & fruits which you've bought in bulk over the winter. Simply put the cooler boxes outside in the cold, even in a snowbank. In the case of fruits & vegetables, ensure you rig something up which allows the contents to breathe without allowing wild animals in, but which still keeps the contents protected from winter moisture & freezing. Easy enough to do, which I have done every year since I moved to this area.
