Soap sticking to liner

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Midnight Rowan

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This is a Pumpkin Buttermilk loaf. Was hoping I could get some input on why only one section of it stuck to liner.

I used Amanda's tutorial for a liner made out of chopping mats from the dollar store, slick side in, and have loved it so far (used it on a carrots & cream facial loaf and it worked like a dream). With this second loaf though, just the white part stuck to the liner no matter what I did. Tried leaving it in the mold for an extra 2 days, froze it for about 5 hours, but ended up having to force it off that bottom half and mar an otherwise lovely (in my opinion =P) soap :( I did use a bit much TD on the white portion (mistakenly used 1/2 tbsp. ppo instead of 1/2 tsp. ppo), so don't know if this could have been the culprit or not.

Formula:

5% Castor Oil
20% Cocoa Butter
15% Coconut Oil
10% Sweet Almond Oil
35% Olive Oil
15% Palm Kernel Oil

Did a 33% lye concentration from masterbatch and added in 1 Tbsp. PPO Buttermilk Powder.

In the mold:

PBMIntheMold.jpg


Still in the liner:

PBMIntheLiner.jpg


The result of major frustration:

PBMflaws.jpg


Anyone have any thoughts? Would like to be able to do this one again and have it come out more presentably if anyone can help :)

Thanks in advance!

ETA: Used Oh So Nice! FO and Sticky Batter FO (3:1) from Daystar on the pumpkin portion only @ 1oz. ppo and left the white portion unscented.
 
If you don't want to rebatch it, I would just slice off the part you don't like (if that's possible) and see if that helps.

I wonder if the liner was turned on the wrong side?

still looks good to me anyway!
 
Personally, once it's sliced up into bars, the "damage" may not look as bad as you think and lend character to each bar. Alternatively, you can slice up the affected edges.

Can't help you with lining - am using plexi so I don't ever line my moulds.
 
Did you rub the liners with mineral oil at all? or anything?
It may take a while for the liners to "condition" themselves and be non-stick...
I would use mineral oil for the first couple batches - just a teeny tiny bit and after about 3-4 batches you may not need it at all..
 
I love your bars. Those are fantastic looking and Pumpkin Buttermilk sounds wonderful. I love buttermilk in my soaps. I'm sorry I can't help you about the liner. I've switched over to silicone molds.
 
Really cute looking soap. Sorry, can't help with the liner issue. I'm silicone only. It doesn't look as bad as you probably think it does. Is it still soft enough for you to take the rub it smooth with your finger. If I end up with small divots or a little piece that pulled off I pick it off the mold and smoosh it back in and smooth it out.
 
@jcandleattic I didn't use any mineral oil, but will try it for next batch. Thanks for the tip!

@PrairieCraft Those close ups of the divots were actually taken after I'd already done what you suggested... scraped the little bits off the liner with a sharp paring knife and used that to try and smooth it back onto the loaf (if you look closely you can see little lines where the tip of the knife went across). It did work, but for some reason there wasn't enough of it to cover the entire damaged area =(
 
I think your soap looks fab!

Do you think the TD may have affected the composition of your soap just enough to cause this? The 'pumpkin' part was made the same, minus TD and looks so smooth.
 
So far, am leaning in this direction, dragonkaz... just can't think of what else might have done it. The chopping mat peeled right off the pumpkin part with no effort at all, after 12 hours. And you're right, everything else was the same, except for TD and no fragrance in the white portion. Also, I know the TD is overdone (other than the fact that I measured incorrectly) because in the middle of each bar's white section at bottom is a little circle of fine crackle, which is what I've seen so many times as indication of too much TD.

Thanks so much everyone for the encouragement!
 
Beautiful soap - post cut pics when you have them, OK?

Regarding the sticking, I don't have much to add except that a thin sharp paring knife can help detach your soap if it's really determined to stick to the liner.

I find it easier to fix rough edges after the soap has cured for a bit.
 

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