I am curious about the experience of others with the use of silicone texture/impression mats and/or polymer clay texture rollers in CP soap.
I used a silicone impression mat of waves for the top of my Mount Saint Helens soap, and it worked great. I plan to use it again to make an ocean waves soap by putting the texture mat at the bottom of my slab mold sometime in the next week. I have another silicone texture mat that is typically used to make beeswax candles. I cut it for the bottom of my slab mold and it makes a perfect honeycomb pattern for my beeswax and honey soap.
Now I am on the hunt for a large silicone texture mat of overlapping leaves to use with mint or botanical fragrances. So far, no luck. I found this one on Etsy, but the finished impression isn’t quite what I want because it is too abstract. If I didn’t know they were supposed to be leaves I wouldn’t know that they were leaves.
As an alternative, I am wondering about texture rollers used for polymer clay. They are just wide enough that I could make a pattern to go across the top of my loaf mold, which is 3.25 inches. I’m wondering if I could roll out soap dough, then roll the texture roller over it, and end up with a pattern that a very fussy person would be happy with. This sounds very fussy to me since I would first have to make soap dough, then roll and texture, a thin layer of soap, make sure it is an exact size to fit the top of the soap mold, and hope I don’t mangle it in the process. Has anyone used this type of roller with soap dough?
Another option might be to roll the texture roller over another clay-like material, and then use that in a two-step process to make my own silicone mat that would fit inside a mold. The first pass would give me a negative image in the soap, which I do not want, but I could use it to create a cast for the second silicone pour, and that would create the actual mat to use inside the mold. I’ve done something similar years ago, and might try it as a self-challenge unless someone has a better idea.
Another option is to use a small polymer clay mat, but I would then have to piece multiples together for the soap. I can’t quite imagine how I’d make that work.
Advice, please?
I used a silicone impression mat of waves for the top of my Mount Saint Helens soap, and it worked great. I plan to use it again to make an ocean waves soap by putting the texture mat at the bottom of my slab mold sometime in the next week. I have another silicone texture mat that is typically used to make beeswax candles. I cut it for the bottom of my slab mold and it makes a perfect honeycomb pattern for my beeswax and honey soap.
Now I am on the hunt for a large silicone texture mat of overlapping leaves to use with mint or botanical fragrances. So far, no luck. I found this one on Etsy, but the finished impression isn’t quite what I want because it is too abstract. If I didn’t know they were supposed to be leaves I wouldn’t know that they were leaves.
As an alternative, I am wondering about texture rollers used for polymer clay. They are just wide enough that I could make a pattern to go across the top of my loaf mold, which is 3.25 inches. I’m wondering if I could roll out soap dough, then roll the texture roller over it, and end up with a pattern that a very fussy person would be happy with. This sounds very fussy to me since I would first have to make soap dough, then roll and texture, a thin layer of soap, make sure it is an exact size to fit the top of the soap mold, and hope I don’t mangle it in the process. Has anyone used this type of roller with soap dough?
Another option might be to roll the texture roller over another clay-like material, and then use that in a two-step process to make my own silicone mat that would fit inside a mold. The first pass would give me a negative image in the soap, which I do not want, but I could use it to create a cast for the second silicone pour, and that would create the actual mat to use inside the mold. I’ve done something similar years ago, and might try it as a self-challenge unless someone has a better idea.
Another option is to use a small polymer clay mat, but I would then have to piece multiples together for the soap. I can’t quite imagine how I’d make that work.
Advice, please?
