wood mold liner options

[bootsbrew]

Hi everyone I am looking for ideas for lining my brand new wooden soap mold. I am excited to use this but cannot find any freezer paper. Can you give me some other ideas to line this beautiful mold? Wax paper, parchment paper? Anything else?

Thankyou so much.

Dee

 

[carebear]

some use funky foam/craft foam but I don't recommend it.

 

[IrishLass]

I utilise these for my wood molds on a regular basis:

Funky/Craft Foam, cut to size (a reusable liner). Found in craft stores.

Heat Resistant Mylar, cut to size (a reusable liner). Sold by the sheet in the quilting section of fabric stores like Joanne's Fabrics. Mylar is a very smooth, flexible, semi-clear, plastic material. I buy the heat resistant kind.

Bubble Wrap, cut to size -for a honeycomb look (a reusable liner if used with care).

I use to use freezer paper, which makes an excellent liner btw, but it is not very reusable-friendly. I stopped using it because it became too much of a chore for me to have cut out new ones every time I soaped. Some people have the patience for it and some do not. I belong to the latter group. I always found mine at the grocery store down the same aisle as foil and plastic wrap.

HTH!
IrishLass

 

[bootsbrew]

Thank you very much, I will check out those options today. I am looking forward to using this new mold.
Dee

 

[Ilovesoap]

Irishlass, lets talk heat resistant mylar. How reusable is it? For example could you cut mylar to size and affix it to your wooden mold and have a more permanent liner or no? Just curious.

 

[carebear]

what happens with the mylar is that it sticks to the soap but not to the mold so you can simply tip the soap + mylar out of your mold. then peel the mylar off to leave a smooth side on your soap.

if you affix the mylar to your mold then you won't get it out.

(mylar is lovely stuff - doesn't contribute to overheating at all as funky/craft foam certainly can)

 

[IrishLass]

Irishlass, lets talk heat resistant mylar. How reusable is it?

Very reusable. I have a set of liners that I made for the slab portion of my collapsable TOG log/slab mold out of the heat resistant mylar (5 pieces for each side of my mold), and they are very durable. I bought the heat resistant type because you can CPOP with it at 170 degreesF with no problem. Mine are going on about 5 months old now and they are still in perfect shape after gobs and gobs of batches. To clean them, I just wash them off under warm water, dry off with a dish towel, and then store them flat in my mold until I'm ready to soap again.

For example could you cut mylar to size and affix it to your wooden mold and have a more permanent liner or no? Just curious.

Hmmm.. I'm not sure how that would work. Based on my experience with them, I predict that you would end up having trouble unmolding if they were permanently affixed to the mold. Mylar liners aren't what I would call 'non-stick' liners in that they would allow the soap to slip right out of them. While the liners do come off smoothly & easily, leaving your soap with a 'smooth-as-glass- finish, they do hug your soap and need to be peeled off each side of the soap (at least this has been my experience). I have collapsable molds which makes unpeeling mylar liners a snap, though. I just disassemble the collapsable sides of my mold, take my still-lined, finished soap out, and then peel the mylar off each side.

HTH!
IrishLass


Edited to add that it looks like Carebear & I were posting at the same time!

 

[pinkduchon]

I don't know what mylar is but how do you get it to stay in place before you pour your soap if it is in 5 pieces? I would think the pieces would collapse in if there is nothing holding them in place or it they are not glued together in box shape. Just curious! I would love to use something like this.

 

[carebear]

you can stick them to the sides of the mold with a daub of vaseline or shea butter

 

[eargirly]

Mylar....think big balloons in the grocery store. Those are mylar balloons. The shiny foil looking kind. HTH

~ear

 

[IrishLass]

The kind of mylar I buy is not anything like the foil balloon kind at all. It's a sturdy, smooth-as-glass sheet of flexible polyester film that is very similar to the feel and thickness of a plastic water bottle. It is the kind used in quilting for making templates:

http://www.ozquilts.com.au/matildas-own ... 18207.html


A close-up pic:

http://www.ozquilts.com.au/images/detai ... 57c441.jpg

What I do to make sure they stay in place is to put a dab of mineral oil on them and stick them onto the sides of my mold. Works like a charm.

HTH!
IrishLass

 

[Soapmaker Man]

The foam liners work perfectally if installed correctally, and release from the soap perfectally, in my product line because I apply silicone to them in a special process.

Paul

 

[pinkduchon]

Mineral oil. Very clever!

 

[cdwinsby]

Irishlass,

The mylar sheets look so thin that I'm curious about leaking. Do you need to put anything in the mold to protect it or is it so minor that you don't need to worry?

I have always used freezer paper and can relate to it being a pain! Would love to use something else. My soap molds are all handmade and since I'm not much of a carpenter they don't have perfect seams. If I get leakage it could be a problem.

 

[IrishLass]

Irishlass,

The mylar sheets look so thin that I'm curious about leaking. Do you need to put anything in the mold to protect it or is it so minor that you don't need to worry?

I have always used freezer paper and can relate to it being a pain! Would love to use something else. My soap molds are all handmade and since I'm not much of a carpenter they don't have perfect seams. If I get leakage it could be a problem.

I have one advantage in that Paul 'Soapmaker Man' made my molds with great seams. Beyond that, trickiest part for me was in measuring the mold and cutting the mylar pieces very precisely so that they are as perfect a fit as I could get them. I also cut mine in such a way that they slightly overlap each other in the corners to discourage leaking. When I say I 'cut' them, I should stress that I don't use scissors. I use one of those Fiskar's cutting tools with the razor blade. It gives me a nice, straight, clean cut.

So far I have not had any leakage, but then again I always pour my soap at a medium to medium-thick trace, which also helps to discourage leaking.

HTH!
IrishLass

 

[mandolyn]

I use the craft foam in my TOG molds & it works GREAT!! It isn't attached to the mold, so it just peels off the log.

For my round & oval pvc molds I use a sheet of mylar cut about 2" longer than the mold. I just pull & the log comes out of the mold.

If the soap is sticking to the mylar (happens when I get into too big a hurry), I just place it in the freezer.

Both of these have worked really well for me. I'd NEVER go back to any type of paper.

 

[heartsong]

liners

back to butherpaper for a minute...every walmart on the planet seems to carry waxed butcher paper. it's in where the tinfoil and handiwrap is. that's where i get mine.