New soap mold, please help.

[HootsGallery]

Hi there,

My brother just made me a really nice wooden soap mold for CP soap. I haven't really done much CP soapmaking, so I'm not sure how to figure out recipes. I used the calculator to figure out how many ounces of oils would fit in it and it's 58.5 oz. The mold is 18" long, 3.25" wide and about 3" deep
A lot of the recipes that I have are 40oz of oils so that's not enough stuff to put in the mold, right?
Would I be better off looking for big recipes and then just using old cardboard OJ cartons for the excess?
Am I making this too difficult?
I am HORRIBLE at math.
Thanks...

 

[krissy]

if you go to thesage.com and enter in the info you have for your 40 oz recipes and calculate it, there is a thing at the bottom that lets you change the oz and keeps the same percents for you. it says currant batch and resize batch. hth! krissy

 

[heartsong]

x

according to www.soapersmarket.com automatic oil calculator you would need 67 oz of oils, which makes sense, as i use an 18 x 3.25 x.2.25 mold and it uses 52 oz oil.

www.soapcalc.com is the one tool every soapmaker should be familiar with. i use it constantly to create new recipes.

for a drama-free soap i would suggest a bastille soap with a 10% lye discount.

example:

60% olive (not virgin!)
40% coconut

www.brambleberry.com has a simple lye calculator, too.

i would suggest lining your mold with wax paper, butcher paper or contact shelf liner.

it must be great having such a sweet brother to make you something so nice! what a guy!

happy soaping!

 

[ChrissyB]

There is also a sticky at the top of the subject list in this forum for how to figure out your oils.

 

[HootsGallery]

Wow! Thanks so much for all the help! Figuring out how much would fit in it was easier than trying to figure out the recipes. You all are great!
My brother is an amazing guy. I am really lucky to have him.
Thanks again!

 

[xraygrl]

You probably would not want to fill it to the top so calculate for 18 x 3.5 x 2.5.

 

[donniej]

When calculating how much soap I need for a mold, I measure water and pour it into the mold. If it takes 1 gallon of water to fill it to the proper point, then you know you need 1 gallon of soap. Just use a measuring cup and keep track of how much you put in. I usually check twice just to be sure 8)

 

[Jeremy]

I have soapmaker 3 and even inputting my dimensions in does not get it exact. I always use more than the suggested volume and it seems to work and if I have more, I pour into a small mold and make ugly daily use soap.