Greetings, I'm new to CP soap making. I started out dong melt and pour for gifts and family members. I'm now on to CP and am using 10 inch silicone molds for batching. I recently ordered a 5 lb mold, but I wanted to get ideas on ways to ensure smooth tops and edges to my soaps. How do you all ensure that your edges are smooth? Thanks in advance!
Smooth tops and edges
- Thread starter narismom
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If you want a really flat, smooth top you need to pour while the batter is still quite thin. If you are using silicone molds, the sides should be nice & smooth. You can also plane your soap to give it a nice smooth surface.
I personally think that smooth tops are overrated but if your batter is thin enough tapping the air bubbles out on the counter will usually flatten out the batter. As far as edges go, Using a plane will do the trick, I've tried with a vegetable peeler but I don't do that well with it and I've also seen some people use a cheese slicer.
While some molds can certainly help based on how well they are made/shaped and the material of the liners, far much more depends on how well the soaping session and pour went, and how well the unmolding and cutting unfolded. Those aspects can make or break the finished look of one's soap in spite of having molds with straight sides and great liners. That's where having a good planer and beveller come in handy- I've found them to be indispensable parts of my soapy repertoire. I would definitely hate to ever have to soap without them!
IrishLass
IrishLass
Dorymae
Well-Known Member
For perfectly smooth, you pour as evenly as possible but it is after the cut that you can make a bar perfectly smooth through planing, beveling and a water bath to smooth the surface and give it that shiney polished look.
That's where having a good planer and beveller come in handy- I've found them to be indispensable parts of my soapy repertoire. I would definitely hate to ever have to soap without them!
IrishLass
Although I still have that awesome tool on my wish list, I just ordered an adjustable loaf cutter (my cutting skills suck) and on the flip side is a plane!
Oh that's lovely! I would love to have one of those. My wish list is getting longer!
$38.00 with free shipping on Ebay which I felt was very reasonable.
Although the soap still works when it is not completely perfect, just putting that out there. $38 isn't a lot, but for starting out, that could be better spent elsewhere
I think Auntie Clara uses a tool to smooth the top of a soap loaf before decorating it. You could use anything -- cardboard cut the width of the mold, a spatula, etc. Unless you're decorating it like she does, however, I don't think it's all that necessary to have a perfectly flat top. Just me! http://auntieclaras.com/
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