kittywings
Well-Known Member
So, I've loving how my soaps look out of my square pvc pipe molds, but getting them filled, much less getting them filled w/out air pockets in an adventure unto itself.
I thought I was SOO smart today when I decided to re-rebatch my first coconut milk soap from a few weeks ago since it was STILL uber-squishy after nearly two weeks (didn't even need to shred most of it... just mushed it into a pot. It originally was sweating lye, so I put the shreds of it into a new batch w/no heat and no gel). I threw caution to the wind and heated it in the microwave today and then put it in the molds using a piece of wood I cut to squish it down into the mold and get rid of air pockets. It worked fine for the most part and somehow the bars were hard after about 30 minutes! I guess it was the heat??? It didn't discolor the coconut milk either!
Just now, I made a batch of gm soap and decided that I would "pour" it at a fairly thin stage, once again to try and avoid the whole air pockets thing. Well, the opening is so small that it's a pain to even get the soap into the mold at all without most it running down the sides. A slightly less wide spoon would help.
I had to make a big batch because after I had measured the oils out together in the pot, I decided when looking at the soapcalc numbers that I should mix it up (I was using the same recipe that I've done for my other gm soaps) so I had to make sure I used at least the amount of the oils that were already in the pot. That all went fine, but I ended up having to fill 5 of the pipes and the soap was fairly liquid-y for the first one, but by the end of the first it was pretty solid. Long story short, I ended up alternating between a few different tools then using my bare hands to try and squish this raw soap in the molds. My square wood piece is great, but I need to make it into a plunger because I can only let it go so deep before using a knife to get it out. Anyway, I finally got it done, but my hands are desperate for lotion every two seconds (I would squish the raw soap until my hands started to get that itch and then I'd rinse them off, douse them with vinegar, dry and repeat). My gloves were about 2 ft. away... but that would be TOO EASY!
Anyway, does anyone have some magic trick/suggestion that could help me get the soap into this narrow opening?
My DH suggested a pastry bag (not cloth), which MIGHT work... but someone else might have some magic idea.
Here's a pic to assist with visualization:
I thought I was SOO smart today when I decided to re-rebatch my first coconut milk soap from a few weeks ago since it was STILL uber-squishy after nearly two weeks (didn't even need to shred most of it... just mushed it into a pot. It originally was sweating lye, so I put the shreds of it into a new batch w/no heat and no gel). I threw caution to the wind and heated it in the microwave today and then put it in the molds using a piece of wood I cut to squish it down into the mold and get rid of air pockets. It worked fine for the most part and somehow the bars were hard after about 30 minutes! I guess it was the heat??? It didn't discolor the coconut milk either!
Just now, I made a batch of gm soap and decided that I would "pour" it at a fairly thin stage, once again to try and avoid the whole air pockets thing. Well, the opening is so small that it's a pain to even get the soap into the mold at all without most it running down the sides. A slightly less wide spoon would help.
I had to make a big batch because after I had measured the oils out together in the pot, I decided when looking at the soapcalc numbers that I should mix it up (I was using the same recipe that I've done for my other gm soaps) so I had to make sure I used at least the amount of the oils that were already in the pot. That all went fine, but I ended up having to fill 5 of the pipes and the soap was fairly liquid-y for the first one, but by the end of the first it was pretty solid. Long story short, I ended up alternating between a few different tools then using my bare hands to try and squish this raw soap in the molds. My square wood piece is great, but I need to make it into a plunger because I can only let it go so deep before using a knife to get it out. Anyway, I finally got it done, but my hands are desperate for lotion every two seconds (I would squish the raw soap until my hands started to get that itch and then I'd rinse them off, douse them with vinegar, dry and repeat). My gloves were about 2 ft. away... but that would be TOO EASY!
Anyway, does anyone have some magic trick/suggestion that could help me get the soap into this narrow opening?
My DH suggested a pastry bag (not cloth), which MIGHT work... but someone else might have some magic idea.
Here's a pic to assist with visualization:
