Lining a soap mold

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Some people try to tape the liner pieces together, but they really don't have to stick together. You lay the bottom piece in the bottom, and set the side pieces against the sides of the mold. If you want, use some dabs of petroleum jelly to keep the side pieces in place while you pour the soap. (I don't use petroleum jelly, but some do.) Once the soap is poured, the pressure of the soap holds the pieces in place.

I also cut the liner pieces very slightly undersized so they slip easily into place in the mold. If the liner is a wee bit too large, it will bow out of position (taped or not!) and mar the soap.
 
Last edited:
On the same idea as Jstar's, I use those thin, flexible cutting mats sold for use in the kitchen to cut up veggies. I think the mats are made of the same stuff as the school binders. http://smile.amazon.com/CounterArt-...-Assorted/dp/B00337YF7Q?&tag=amazonsmile01-20

You don't want to permanently glue the liners to the mold, by the way. I think that's a bit of a confusing point in this thread. The liners will adhere to the soap, so you will end up removing the soap and liner from the mold, then you gently peel the liner off the soap.


Oh my gosh DeeAnna! That's s great idea! I cut some last night to fit my mold and I'm going to try it out today, along with color for my first time! Thanks for the idea!
 
I'm just wondering...I guess you cut the binder and/or other plastics to fit the mold, so you would cut one piece for the bottom, another piece for one of the sides, another piece for the other side, another piece for the front and another for the back? How do they all stay together and how do they prevent leakage?

I was wondering how to prevent leakage also. I cut up a silicone baking sheet to fit the mold but the batter was at thin trace and leaked at the edges where the pieces came together. Is there a way to prevent leaking? Was able to peel the silicone off easily and no hassle of having to line with paper but the inside of the mold was a mess!
 
I was wondering how to prevent leakage also. I cut up a silicone baking sheet to fit the mold but the batter was at thin trace and leaked at the edges where the pieces came together. Is there a way to prevent leaking? Was able to peel the silicone off easily and no hassle of having to line with paper but the inside of the mold was a mess!

Paper corners maybe? Nowhere near as much hassle as fully lining a mold with paper.

I just ordered some silicone baking mats and some teflon sheets to try out as mold liners. I'm not happy with the continued performance of the plastic cutting mat liners I made for my molds.
 
Last edited:
Paper corners maybe? Nowhere near as much hassle as fully lining a mold with paper.

I just ordered some silicone baking mats and some teflon sheets to try out as mold liners. I'm not happy with the continued performance of the plastic cutting mat liners I made for my molds.


I think Teflon won't work. Because I have googled it earlier and found out it will be eaten by lye.
 
I think Teflon won't work. Because I have googled it earlier and found out it will be eaten by lye.

I'm looking for information on that, and all I can find indicates that teflon is relatively inert to lye, until you get up into temperatures around 300*C. There is one unconfirmed report that I could find of anyone using lye to remove teflon from cookware. There's also an old report from here that indicates that CP soap might stick to teflon, though another respondant in the thread says they don't have problems with teflon liners.

Do you have any links to your information?
 
I'm looking for information on that, and all I can find indicates that teflon is relatively inert to lye, until you get up into temperatures around 300*C. There is one unconfirmed report that I could find of anyone using lye to remove teflon from cookware. There's also an old report from here that indicates that CP soap might stick to teflon, though another respondant in the thread says they don't have problems with teflon liners.



Do you have any links to your information?


https://books.google.com.tw/books?i...EILTAG#v=onepage&q=teflon lye NaOH eat&f=true
Susan Cavitch soapmaker's companion
P.17
I use google, keyword " lye eat Teflon ,NaOH" & it pops up the p.17 with highlighted keywords.
 
https://books.google.com.tw/books?i...EILTAG#v=onepage&q=teflon lye NaOH eat&f=true
Susan Cavitch soapmaker's companion
P.17
I use google, keyword " lye eat Teflon ,NaOH" & it pops up the p.17 with highlighted keywords.

Hmm. There is no citation to her claim. And a decent amount of anecdotal evidence suggesting otherwise, including threads here. I'm actually inclined to give information found on the forum a bit more weight in the absence of other data.

I found this with your keywords: http://www.vp-scientific.com/Chemical_Resistance_Chart.htm

Potassium hydroxide is listed, though sodium hydroxide is not. Teflon shows excellent resistance vs. KOH. Even better than stainless steel does. Performance vs. NaOH should be similar. It's not until temperatures reach the vicinity of 300*C that lye would start eating teflon, and at that temperature, it'll eat darn near anything.

ETA: a search with 'lye react with teflon' turns up this: https://www.calpaclab.com/teflon-ptfe-compatibility/. Sodium hydroxide is on this list.

From an MSDS for sodium hydroxide (link to full document: http://www.ercoworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/MSDS-Sodium-Hydroxide-Solution-Rev-41.pdf):
Corrosivity to Non-Metals:
Sodium hydroxide solutions attack plastics, such as polyamide-imide (Torlon) (10-100% solutions),
polybutylene terephthalate and polyethylene terephthalate (20-100%), thermoset polyester isophthalic
acid (10-100%), polyvinylidene fluoride (Kynar; PVDF) (70-100% solutions), polyurethane (riged)
(80-100%), and polyvinylidene chloride (Saran) (100%); elastomers, such as polysulfide and
butadiene-styrene (SBR) (10-100%) and soft rubber (30-100%) (52,55); and coatings, such as polyester
and vinyls (10-100%), coal tar epoxy, general purpose epoxy, epoxy polyamide and phenolic (70-100%).
Sodium hydroxide solutions (10-100%) do not attack plastics, such as Teflon and other fluorocarbons,
such as ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (Tefzel), ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene (Halar),
chlorotrifluoroethylene (Kel-F), polyvinylidene chloride (up to 70%), polyvinyl chloride (PVC),
polypropylene, nylon, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN), polyetherether
ketone (Peek), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMPE),
crosslinked polyethylene (XPE), polystyrene and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) (52,54); elastomers, such
as ethylene propylene (EP,EPDM), nitrile rubber (nitrile Buna N), neoprene, Viton A and other
fluorocarbons, Chemraz, Kalrez, Teflon and Fluoraz, chloroprene, butyl rubber (isobutylene isoprene;
IIR), natural rubber, synthetic isoprene, chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSM), silicone rubbers, flexible
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene vinyl acetate; and coatings, such as chemical resistant epoxy, coal tar
epoxy, general purpose epoxy, epoxy polyamide, phenolic and urethanes (10-50% but see above for
higher concentrations).
 
Last edited:
Hmm. There is no citation to her claim. And a decent amount of anecdotal evidence suggesting otherwise, including threads here. I'm actually inclined to give information found on the forum a bit more weight in the absence of other data.

I found this with your keywords: http://www.vp-scientific.com/Chemical_Resistance_Chart.htm

Potassium hydroxide is listed, though sodium hydroxide is not. Teflon shows excellent resistance vs. KOH. Even better than stainless steel does. Performance vs. NaOH should be similar. It's not until temperatures reach the vicinity of 300*C that lye would start eating teflon, and at that temperature, it'll eat darn near anything.

ETA: a search with 'lye react with teflon' turns up this: https://www.calpaclab.com/teflon-ptfe-compatibility/. Sodium hydroxide is on this list.

From an MSDS for sodium hydroxide (link to full document: http://www.ercoworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/MSDS-Sodium-Hydroxide-Solution-Rev-41.pdf):


Thanks, kittish. But my non-stick pot brochure says do not put acid, base, or even soak it in water for too long. Now I'm confused.
Is there anything other than Teflon to coat the non-stick pot?
 
It's probably because the layer of teflon is so thin that it can scratch and chip and break off if you don't treat the pan pretty delicately, and start winding up in your food. Once the layer is compromised in any way, the pan is done (unless you can save it by having the remaining coating removed) because it's coming off into your food. I wouldn't use teflon coated pans to cook with, personally, but I'm quite willing to see how it does with soap.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top