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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Great success!

Behold my old, single log molds, crappily made by me about three years ago. I bought a big ol' piece of MDF board and had them cut it to length, only, since they don't cut less than a foot at the Home Depot. My boyfriend's (at the time) father came over with a table saw and cut the rest for me the best he could without a sawhorse, or table for that matter. I nailed the pieces together as best I could. They did their job and only cost about $6. These puppies were not easy to line. I used freezer paper and painstakingly folded each piece every time I made a batch of soap. It's not easy to line something so narrow this way. I guess I could've just laid a trash bag in there, but I didn't want the wrinkle lines on the finished product, nor did I want to trim them off. I will still use them for experimental batches and the like.






















PRESENTING:






Notice how the corners are nice and snug? The dimensions are much more even than my single log molds as well. This mold - beautifully made by me - holds three times the amount of my single log molds, so I can make about 48 bars per batch (depending on how many cuts I mess up). I left extra space so that if I found that my pot and mixer can accommodate a quadruple batch, I could adjust. It can't, but I just have to make a couple more smaller purchases and I'll be able to do so. For now, I put hinges on one side (not shown) so that I can get the soap out of the mold with less struggle than the first batch I made.

I used this puppy for the first time on Friday to make a big ol' batch of Shea & Silk. Here's what it looked like:
(nerdy, apparently)

Step 1: Caffeine and eye protection are very important.



Silk fibers 'dissolving' in lye water.



Melting hard oils (any that are solid at room temperature) in 16 qt. stock pot.

reminds me of icebergs...


add soft oils (liquid at room temp) to melted hard (solid at room temp) oils



it turned to soap!
shown after adding fragrance and color

poured in mold

added a li'l texture



24 hours later - it went through gel nicely, didn't overheat (which I was a tad bit worried about)

brushed mica on top :)

I actually cut this one into logs myself, but after doing so (actually, before too) I realized it would be completely worth the money to get a log splitter. So I ordered one the other day and I can't wait until it gets here. I have a feeling that I won't be able to wait for it to cut the Mint Meditation that I made tonight.

Digg!

2 comments:

Nature's Nook said...

So nice that you can make BIG batches now. That'll be good for me!

jimiyo said...

thats pretty awesome process stuff.