Making striped soap - the long way!

[Tara_H]

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” ― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

The plan for today was to make a simple striped egg soap for Easter. But then I remembered the cardboard box I've been using to stabilise the small moulds is bowing, and I didn't want another bulgy batch of soap.

So I decided to throw together a small box to hold it. Now, I'd really like to use finger joints for the corners, but I don't have a jig to make them. Also my table saw doesn't have a dado blade (they're not allowed here).

Right, I'll make a jig for the router table then, nbd. Oh wait, I replaced the router table top a while back and never cut the new mitre tracks...

So in order to make today's soap, this is where I'm starting!

 

[dibbles]

That's dedication!

 

[earlene]

Good girl!

I'd have probably grabbed some velcro or clamps and rigged up some sort of outer stablization to work for the short term, then gone shopping for something to do the trick.

You certainly are energetic!

 

[Tara_H]

I'd have probably grabbed some velcro or clamps and rigged up some sort of outer stablization to work for the short term

I may have to resort to this yet! I got the mitre track cut fine, but then it was far more difficult than I thought to find a piece of wood that was 1/2 or 1/4 inches thick or could be made to be so... Of course my router is in imperial but basically everything else here is metric, which is a complication. So the 3-minute jig has taken an hour so far and now I realised the drill press is not working properly
I still have a roast dinner to make, and chocolate to eat! And I haven't started on the soap yet...

Edit:
I did make a box but I ended up half-assing it and just screwing it together! Will be fine for the moment I guess but I don't think I want to CPOP with metal in the frame...
Hopefully tomorrow I'll have the energy to do the jig properly.

 

[earlene]

I may have to resort to this yet! I got the mitre track cut fine, but then it was far more difficult than I thought to find a piece of wood that was 1/2 or 1/4 inches thick or could be made to be so... Of course my router is in imperial but basically everything else here is metric, which is a complication. So the 3-minute jig has taken an hour so far and now I realised the drill press is not working properly
I still have a roast dinner to make, and chocolate to eat! And I haven't started on the soap yet...

Edit:
I did make a box but I ended up half-assing it and just screwing it together! Will be fine for the moment I guess but I don't think I want to CPOP with metal in the frame...
Hopefully tomorrow I'll have the energy to do the jig properly.

I think you're okay to CPOP with those screws. I CPOP molds with metal screws, wingnuts & whatnot - no problem,

 

[dibbles]

I still have chocolate to eat! And I haven't started on the soap yet...

Priorities! I think you are okay to CPOP with metal screws.

 

[Tara_H]

I didn't CPOP in the end (visions of the wood scorching on the metal, yes I'm probably crazy) but it seems to have gelled either fully or not at all, so all good.


Cut with my new cutter box that I made which accommodates this size, yay!

Annoyingly I forgot to account for the egg in the volume calculations so the red stripe ended up almost entirely in the overflow mould

Also, I think I tightened the screws a bit too much on the box, so the bottom of the mould bowed up a little - seen here as a wave in the blue layer.

It's snowing out today but if I can brave the dash to the workshop I'll see if I can finish up the finger joint jig, I'm sure that will give a better result.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I have two homemade molds with metal screws and haven’t had any issues with them. I think you’re on to something with the perfect wave across the bottom. It’s a cool effect and looks great with your pretty layered soap.

 

[Tara_H]

I have two homemade molds with metal screws and haven’t had any issues with them. I think you’re on to something with the perfect wave across the bottom. It’s a cool effect and looks great with your pretty layered soap.

That's an idea, maybe I can turn that bug into a feature!