When I think of making soap I think of the formula (or recipe)... what kind do I want to make? what fragrance do I want? what therapeutic properties do I want from this soap?
What shape to make it is a little lower in my priorities. But soap starts out in a liquid form so it can't just be thrown out on the table or left in the pot to become soap... a mold is vital!
I've used everything you can think of as a soap mold... from the glass baking pan I used for my first cold-processed soap batch years ago (which I cut up in squares like brownies and scooped out of the pan with a spatula)... to wooden molds lined with butcher paper... to Pringle's cans... to Gladware... my favorite thus far has been silicon cupcake pans with cute shapes like hearts, flowers, snowflakes, and Easter bunnies... but
I'm realizing as we build up inventory for the upcoming craft show we are participating in at St. Martin's of the Fields Church in Columbia, SC... my silicon pans are not big enough, I don't have enough of them to accommodate the larger batches I'm needing to mix up in order to have enough product for this project...
My dear Hue-Man (Hugh) to the rescue... using the concept of the good ol' Pringle's can... he has made some wonderful soap molds from 3 inch round PVC pipe, plugged at one end and standing tall enough to get about a dozen perfectly round soaps from each one.
Should have seen us figuring out how to get the soap OUT of the mold after the first batch was poured and cured in the new molds... soap, no longer liquid, and quite hard and packed tightly into the tube... wouldn't budge!!!
OK... something to push it out... a dowel... no soap isn't that hard, the dowel would have just pushed a hole through the soap... need something round and almost the diameter of the tube... hmmmmm... Hugh looked through the house and tried one thing after another... an old empty Grey Goose bottle we were using to keep water by the stove fit perfectly... we pushed... and pushed... and pushed and after the both of us had used all our strength and muscle... the soap finally slid out nicely... exhausting!!!!
There had to be a better way!!! Dear Hugh to the rescue once again!!! He came up with the simple idea of using the hairdryer to warm the outside of the mold just a little, softening the outer edges of the soap just enough to make it slippery... and the next batch slid right out of the tube... success!!!
We now have beautiful, perfectly round soaps and can make several dozen at a time. Craft fair here we come!!!
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