Do your molds need to be lined?
How much soap do I use to fill a mold?
How did you swirl that soap?
Could you make that 4x15 mold drawing clearer?
Q: I saw your soap mold at your web site and was wondering if it
is necessary to
line the mold with freezer paper (or something similar) in order to prevent
leakage.
A: Yes, the mold does need to be lined with something to contain the soap.
I use
freezer paper as shown in the pictures at the http://www.ChestnutFarms.com web
site ("Tips"). I know that other people have used plastic bags to line the
molds.
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Q: Good Morning: was reading your web site, Winkel Chestnut
Farm, where you
showed the 4x15 inch mold and how it was being used for soap. the question I
have is, how do you decide what the batch size will be for a particular mold
design, for the 4x15 inch mold, what batch size would be suggested. I am a
new soapmaker and have only made 4 batches so far, and this has puzzled me no
end, for a particular type of mold or sizes of molds, how do you calculate
the batch size so that, in the case of your mold size the mold is full, and no
extra soap to throw away?
A: The basic number I use is 0.38 oz of oils in a soap recipe for each cubic inch of
mold to be filled. For example, to fill a 3 inch x 7 inch mold 2 inches deep
( 3x7x2=42 cubic inches) could take (0.38 x 42 = 16 oz) of soap. Once again,
this means 16 oz of oils in the recipe.
To fill a 4 inch x 15 inch mold 3.5 inches deep ( 4x15x3.5=210 cubic inches)
would
take (0.38 x 210 = 80 oz) of soap; 80 oz equals 5 pounds. Now, since our 5lb mold
measures 3.5 inches deep it will not hold quite a full five pound batch of soap. You
might
want to pour it 3.25 inches deep. How many pounds of soap would that take?
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Q: I saw a bar of that Mint Soap that Leslie did a really
nice swirl in. How did she do that?
A: Here is a picture of the soap, and the spatula used to swirl it. Click on the
picture to see
a better look at the spatula. Let's get Leslie to do a paragraph about how she did
this!!
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Q: I was wondering if you have a clearer mold building
diagram.
The one on your site does not come out very clear. Can you help me?
A: I think the image for the 4x15 mold drawing is clearer now (2 October 1999).
Also, the file is now a *.gif file which has resulted in a smaller file size.
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