Hand holding needed

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

houseofwool

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2013
Messages
1,159
Reaction score
714
I made a batch if soap this morning and I am more nervous about it than I thought it would be. I colored it with alkanet infusion and used way more than normal so it's super deep purple. Which is beautiful. But I not be able to tell if it actually reaches gel it's so darkly colored.

Add to that, I made a new mold liner from a placemat and I am worried that it won't release. The liner was fairly easy to make, but I was too impatient to test it with a dab of soap batter.

Ugh. I am just nervous about it all. No real reason to be. The worst that happens is that I need to use a blade to separate the liner and the soap.
 
I'm sure it will be fine! Even if you get a partial gel, the ring should look super cool because of the dark color. I always go with..."yeah it's suppose to look like that." LOL Interested to see what the liner looks like & if it works. I'm getting so tired to using freezer paper to line my molds. Keep us updated!
 
I am holding your hand :)
Take a deep breath, dont worry too much.. It's gonna be beautiful. Every batch has its characteristics :)
 
Every batch has its characteristics :)

Love this!

Gel is complete (CPOP) and it is now sitting on my arctic back porch. Hopefully later tonight or tomorrow, I will be able to see if the new liner worked. I am really nervous about it. In theory, it should work...
 
Calm_down.gif


Keep calm and do something else and get back to us.
 
Bwahahaha! I am out of the house and can't even peek at the soap right now.
 
I'm sure it will be fine! Even if you get a partial gel, the ring should look super cool because of the dark color. I always go with..."yeah it's suppose to look like that." LOL

You can make a partial gel look somewhat intentional by using a soap stamp in the middle of it. It makes the partial gel ring look like it's a frame around the stamp. It leads the eye away from the ring and non-soapers would never know that it's all just a "cosmetic surgery" cover up. LOL
 
You can make a partial gel look somewhat intentional by using a soap stamp in the middle of it. It makes the partial gel ring look like it's a frame around the stamp. It leads the eye away from the ring and non-soapers would never know that it's all just a "cosmetic surgery" cover up. LOL

Wow, that's a good idea. Totally gonna use that.
 
That is a fantastic idea. I have a soap that has a partial gel and I am running out of ideas on how to disguise it

So, I just got home and the liner dropped out of the mold very easily.

And it separated from the soap easily as well

The down side is that the design on the placemat transferred to the soap.

I am sure I can clean the soap up and try acetone on the placemat to remove the rest of the imprint.

ImageUploadedBySoap Making1386547423.149576.jpg

Now, I need to pick up a few more to line the rest of my molds. It will save so much time!

To make them, I used a utility knife and a quilting ruler to lightly score the OUTSIDE of the liner, cutting roughly halfway through the placemat.
 
I use the placemat all the time and have no trouble. Your soap looks really great!
 
Wow love the placemat idea......... what is the placemat made out of I need to go and find these immediately :) Since I have never seen this mentioned before I didn't think it would work. I did buy a roll of thick plastic shelf paper that I was thinking about trying but never did because I was afraid it would melt the plastic. Anyway soap looks great would love to see it cut. Its hard to tell from the pic what color it really is.... but so happy for you it came out the way you intended :)
 
I bought mine at Walmart. The heavy hard plastic kind. They were 97 cents each! I've used mine for more than a dozen times and they're still good as new.
 
The ink transfer wiped off easily with a damp paper towel, as did the rest of the ink that the soap touched. I am guessing that the lye did something to it...

Overall I am very happy with the result and am looking forward to picking up several more so I can have liners for each of my molds.
 
Yay! See, at the end, everything works just fine... Soap looks good, transfer problem all gone. Now go get yourself a glass of wine or better yet, make your next batch :D
 
I tried removing the ink that wasn't in contact with the soap using acetone and it didn't budge. I'm guessing the lye reacted with the ink, loosening it. Once I removed the liner from the soap, the ink came off the placemat using just water.

I need to pick up some more placemats, but am not going to worry about removing the ink before the first use.
 
Back
Top