Best mold?

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I mainly use silicone molds and homemade wood loaf molds lined with butcher paper. I'm not a fan of the plastic molds because you can't put them in the oven to force gel phase. I've used the plastic molds to make beeswax bars. If I pour the wax into the mold when its above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the molds warp and melt. Also, the molds I use have words so that the wax bars will say "one ounce". With beeswax, I sometimes end up losing those letters when I take the wax out of the mold. I can imagine with soap it would be worse, although I think you can wipe the mold with mineral oil to make it easier to remove. That said, there are some really cute plastic molds. I've often wondered if there would be problems with plastic molds if your soap gets really hot on its own. I use beeswax in my soap, so I have to soap at warmer temperatures. I also add honey, so that makes the soap heat up quite a bit too.
 
What is the best type of mould to use? Silicone or plastic?
whatever mold you have

personally I don't like the rash that silicone gets over time
silicone, like glass, slowly degrades against alkalies
once silicone rash starts in a mold it does not go away

plastic needs to be like #5 to cope with heat
plastic softeners makes plastic last for less time
most pp plastic containers are not pretty

I use rigid molds now
the soap comes out when its ready
when I want to hurry I add a liner to the mold or additives to the soap
 
I use plastic molds from WSP for CP soap all the time and it works great. I use goat's milk at 100% water replacement, so I don't CPOP or let it gel. I put them in the freezer or fridge right away, for about 24 hours, and pop them right out. Works great!
That is good to know. I bought a few Celtic molds that are hard plastic, for soap from BrambleBerry about a decade ago, even though I did not start making soap till last year. It has long been on my bucket list and I have only used the molds when I first started with MP soap. Since I started with CP I have not used them as so many told me they only work for MP. I love them and would love to try and use them again. Cheers!
 
I mainly use silicone molds and homemade wood loaf molds lined with butcher paper. I'm not a fan of the plastic molds because you can't put them in the oven to force gel phase. I've used the plastic molds to make beeswax bars. If I pour the wax into the mold when its above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the molds warp and melt. Also, the molds I use have words so that the wax bars will say "one ounce". With beeswax, I sometimes end up losing those letters when I take the wax out of the mold.
This is a little off subject, but when I'm making beeswax candles in a mold, I first spray the mold with a silicone candle mold spray. They come out easily.
 
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