DIY Mold Liner from Silicone Sheeting

[dibbles]

There are so many DIY wood mold makers here that when I saw this I thought it might be of interest. I haven't looked into how economical it is, but if you have several molds, or odd size molds, this looks like it works well with less mess than the pourable silicone. Soap makers are pretty clever, and thankfully generous with sharing discoveries.

 

[artemis]

Ha! I was just watching this!

 

[elurah]

I love this, thank you so much for posting!! I got a custom acrylic mold a few months back and it is driving me crazy. I even got dividers for it in my naïveté and they are pretty much unusable because of the stick factor. At least this will help me reclaim the main compartmet without having to butcher paper it up each time.

 

[shunt2011]

I had an acrylic mold and absolutely hated it. Ended up selling the thing off to someone who liked them. Soap was near impossible to get out of it. Had I seen this back then it would have made a difference as I liked the size of the mold. I have a big wooden slab this will work perfectly for. Now to find the time to do it.

 

[amd]

I'll have to watch the video in full while I'm waiting at my son's appointment. Just wondering if this is the right silicone:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071FFJGSC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I haven't seen this type of liner before. I think I watched one that Ione did before using the mats you can buy at Walmart, they're a bit less flexible and those are the ones I had trouble with warping.

 

[DeeAnna]

I have used just the translucent plastic sheet (the quilter's pattern-making sheets that Ione shows in the beginning of her video) to make a liner for a slab mold. That stuff works pretty good as a liner, although I'm sure it sticks to the soap more firmly than silcone does. But you can pull the soap out of the mold and then gently peel off the plastic sheet -- it comes off fairly easily. I'll have to try the glue stick idea -- that sounds handy.

I haven't seen the silicone sheet before either -- I found myself wondering if the orange color of her silicone sheet might bleed onto the soap, but I'd think Ione wouldn't tolerate that if it happened.

 

[elurah]

I'll have to watch the video in full while I'm waiting at my son's appointment. Just wondering if this is the right silicone:
https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Rubber-Gasket-Flexible-12x20x1/dp/B071FFJGSC/ref=sr_1_6_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1525358671&sr=8-6-spons&keywords=silicone+sheeting+1/32"&psc=1

I haven't seen this type of liner before. I think I watched one that Ione did before using the mats you can buy at Walmart, they're a bit less flexible and those are the ones I had trouble with warping.

That looks promising, and I really like that it is clear

 

[soapmaker]

Trouble is I like to make soap, not molds! DeeAnna if I remember correctly you don't tape your quilter's mylar together, just set them inside. Is that correct?

 

[DeeAnna]

Yes, that's right. I was thinking the glue stick might come in handy to hold the side pieces in place against the walls of the mold.

 

[soapmaker]

Then again if mylar works, why bother? I guess it would make it easier though. The thing I don't like is just look how long she worked at making that mold, and in the end she only had 8 bars of soap! But it all depends on what you need. I like your idea better, at least it eliminates one step, (all the taping.)

 

[amd]

@soapmaker she reuses the molds, so she isn't making new ones every time she makes a new batch of soap.

After watching the video in entirety, and the video that shows unmolding the soap, this is too fiddly for me. by the time I would get the template taped, in the mold, and the silicone liner glued, I could have had the soap made. And washing those individual pieces of silicone... nope nope nope. I have a hard enough time washing soap dishes, much less flimsy floppy strips of silicone. Too fiddly for this girl.

 

[soapmaker]

@soapmaker she reuses the molds, so she isn't making new ones every time she makes a new batch of soap.

After watching the video in entirety, and the video that shows unmolding the soap, this is too fiddly for me. by the time I would get the template taped, in the mold, and the silicone liner glued, I could have had the soap made. And washing those individual pieces of silicone... nope nope nope. I have a hard enough time washing soap dishes, much less flimsy floppy strips of silicone. Too fiddly for this girl.

Exactly. I agree. I know she reuses them, but when she unmolds and I saw her starting to pull off all the tape I quit watching. Not for this girl either.

 

[IrishLass]

As with DeeAnna, I use heat-resistant quilter's mylar to line my wood molds. Because they are heat-resistant, they do not warp. I custom-cut a set for each of my wooden molds that have been serving me about 10 years or so now (and counting) . I just smear a very light coating of vaseline on their backsides to attach them to my mold before pouring. Takes me all of about a minute to do, if that. They work great and peel off neatly, leaving the edges of my soap smooth as glass.

For those times that I want a more fancy look to my soaps, I also have a custom set of liners for each of my wood molds that I made out of those decorative silicone fondant mats made by Wilton. I use vaseline as my 'glue' for those, too.


IrishLass

 

[soapmaker]

As with DeeAnna, I use heat-resistant quilter's mylar to line my wood molds. Because they are heat-resistant, they do not warp. I custom-cut a set for each of my wooden molds that have been serving me about 10 years or so now (and counting) . I just smear a very light coating of vaseline on their backsides to attach them to my mold before pouring. Takes me all of about a minute to do, if that. They work great and peel off neatly, leaving the edges of my soap smooth as glass.

For those times that I want a more fancy look to my soaps, I also have a custom set of liners for each of my wood molds that I made out of those decorative silicone fondant mats made by Wilton. I use vaseline as my 'glue' for those, too.


IrishLass

Do you think this would work on larger molds? or just small ones. Edited to ask if the soap seeps through the cracks and gets on the wood on the corners?

 

[DeeAnna]

If you want your molds to stay pristine looking, then you don't want to use the mylar sheet as IL and I do. Since the corners aren't taped shut, they obviously aren't liquid tight. That means some soap can weep through to reach the mold itself, but not nearly as much as what you'd guess. The mold itself should be reasonably water tight and fully supports the mylar, so there's no force that would cause more than a trace of soap batter through the openings in the mylar.

The lye and oil discolor my wood molds a little bit, but in 5 years or so of using the mylar, that is the only damage. I'm not bothered by the discoloration. I use a spatula or putty knife to scrape off any soap bits in the mold and any residues that might be on the mylar. That's pretty much all I do to get the mold and mylar ready for the next batch, but washing the mylar would be fast and easy.

I use the mylar on a 15 bar slab mold. I'd have no trouble using it on a larger mold, as long as I could find mylar sheet that's big enough to cover the mold surfaces.

 

[IrishLass]

Do you think this would work on larger molds? or just small ones. Edited to ask if the soap seeps through the cracks and gets on the wood on the corners?

How big are your molds? Mine are big enough to hold up to 4 pounds of soap, and the liners work very well in them.

Re: seepage: I do get a little seepage at the corners that sometimes (but definitely not always) reaches as far as the mold, and when it does, it never leaks outside of the mold itself. Like DeeAnna mentioned you'd be surprised at how miniscule of an amount it is. If I were to gather up all the seepage, I reckon it's not much more than a 1/8th to 1/4th teaspoon amount all told when I've poured at thin trace, and practically nothing when I pour at medium-thick trace. If any soap happens to reach past the liner to the mold, it's no biggie. I just scrape it off at unmolding time with one of those tapered plastic scrapers you can buy at the grocery store for scraping food off of dirty dishes. It comes off very easily. The discoloration left behind doesn't bother me, and it hasn't hurt my molds in the least- they are still holding up great 12 years and counting.


IrishLass

 

[Serene]

Amd,

That's the one I use.

 

[soapmaker]

How big are your molds? Mine are big enough to hold up to 4 pounds of soap, and the liners work very well in them.

Re: seepage: I do get a little seepage at the corners that sometimes (but definitely not always) reaches as far as the mold, and when it does, it never leaks outside of the mold itself. Like DeeAnna mentioned you'd be surprised at how miniscule of an amount it is. If I were to gather up all the seepage, I reckon it's not much more than a 1/8th to 1/4th teaspoon amount all told when I've poured at thin trace, and practically nothing when I pour at medium-thick trace. If any soap happens to reach past the liner to the mold, it's no biggie. I just scrape it off at unmolding time with one of those tapered plastic scrapers you can buy at the grocery store for scraping food off of dirty dishes. It comes off very easily. The discoloration left behind doesn't bother me, and it hasn't hurt my molds in the least- they are still holding up great 12 years and counting.


IrishLass

I'm not worried about that small amount of seepage. One of my current molds is a 5 lb. log mold.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...If I were to gather up all the seepage, I reckon it's not much more than a 1/8th to 1/4th teaspoon amount all told when I've poured at thin trace, and practically nothing when I pour at medium-thick trace...."

My experience is similar to IL's -- Seepage is more likely if the soap is poured at emulsion or very thin trace. If there's any seepage, it's quite minor. If there was more than just a little bit of seepage, I'd probably be looking at another way to line the mold -- a large issue with leaking/seepage is something I really dislike.

 

[MissChris]

it is always nice when someone shares their ideas. Great job!
i have homemade 16-24 bar wood molds mostly. You can get heat-resistant quilter's mylar 18x24 template sheets at.joann fabrics for just 2.99 right now on sale. they work great too.