I tried ice-cube moulds, I tried silicon baking moulds, I had a wooden mould made by a carpenter, then I struck gold at IKEA one day with my Molger Moulds. As I found them in the bathroom section, they are probably meant for organization and storage in the bathroom but they are AWESOME soap moulds and very economical. The three moulds together in this picture cost between 7 and 8€ total.
The smallest of the moulds, an excellent experimental batch mould, makes three soaps 81mm across, between 50mm and 60mm height (depending how you want them) and the soaps in this picture are about 26mm thick, but you could make thinner or thicker soaps. None of mine are the same as I hand cut them. The soap you see in this picture is a variation of my beer, egg & honey shampoo bar. This one has goat milk, egg & honey and something weird happened in the middle, darker and speckled, as you can see in the photo. If you have any ideas on how to correct that, suggestions welcome!
The middle mould makes about 6 (and a small slice) soaps but again, it all depends on how thick you want them.
The longest mould makes between 9 and 11 soaps.
My only issue... I do love these moulds but here I go “tweaking” as my blog buddy at http://thesoapsister.blogspot.com/ calls it. In trying out other soaps, I realize I prefer smaller width soap. I am not sure I like mine 81mm across. They may just seem a bit unmanageable in the hand at first. If you look at the photo below, mine is the last one in the row.
I think my favourite width so far is the soap I got in a Soap Swap from http://cocobongsoaps.blogspot.com/ , which is 75mm across (Second one from the frount in the photo above). If mine were that width, I could cut them thicker as well, which I like. I love the look of the size of the soaps at Beguile Soaps http://beguilesoaps.blogspot.com/ and Platypus Dreams http://soapobsession.blogspot.com/. So I will most likely try to modify my Molger moulds somehow. I have been thinking of cutting a magazine down to the mould size and sticking it along the side, or I may get a carpenter to make me wooden inserts which I could just slide into any of them.
Happy soaping!!
Great soaps and mould ideas!
ReplyDeleteWith your dark/speckled soap, I'd say it probably overheated (if you insulated...?) and the specks are the proteins from the milk & egg components.
What a great idea. I need to look in Ikea to see if they sell these here. Did you drill a small hole in the middle of the bottom? That really makes it easier to get the soap out (prevents vacum forming). I found that out with some molds that my cousins husband made for us. As to the darker middle. It's probably a result of gelling. The honey soaps that I make get very hot and gel even if I never insulate. It has never bothered me to see the or gelling circle. But as I understand it, if you use thinner molds that don't insulate so well or keep the soaps cool (I read about some that put them in the fridge/frezer) then they shouldn't gel.
ReplyDeleteI am totally going to Ikea as soon as I can. I have been planning on building my own log molds, but these look awesome! About how many ounces of oil fit in each one? Just trying to figure out how much soap to make for each one. But thank you so much for sharing! $10 for 3 molds can't be beat.
ReplyDeleteHello & thank you for the ideas on honey soaps that dark "gel" in the middle. It definitely sounds like over heating. I will try maybe not even putting a top on it next time? As for the ikea moulds, I have no problems getting the soaps out so far. I use wax/oven paper to line the moulds and they usually come out easily. As for the quantities of oils, it depends on how high you want them. The small, experimental batch mould, I usually put about 240gr. The middle mould between 600 and 640gr and the large one around 900 - 940gr. I really like these moulds, hopefully you will too!! xo Jen
ReplyDeletep-lee, I have not been able to post on your blog. I cannot get to the secret work confirmation. It's as if it were hidden... so here is what I was trying to post to you:
ReplyDeleteJennifer Young said... Hello! This is the first time I have seen your blog and I like it! I like your all natural experiments best and can't WAIT to see how your recent orange/ yellow experiments come out. I also experiment with natural colourants and am getting SO frustrated with Alkanet Root. Oh well... I guess the mystery of how the soap is going to turn out is all part of the addiction. Nice looking soaps!! Who is we...? Are you a group making soaps? I sometime wish I could share soap making with someone, neither my daughter or husband are very interest in the process but both do some great testing for me! xo Jen
Wow what a beautiful blog! Got to visit some more! LOOOve the flowers and lace border. Your soaps are awesome too! Have a nice day!
ReplyDeleteJen, I make soap with my friend Jeanne most of the time. She loves it, but I may be obsessed with it :) If we can't make soap together every 2 weeks or so, I'll sneak in a batch by myself. It's really great to have a soaping buddy to help out and to hang out with while you wait for the oils and lye to cool. Thanks for the compliments on the soap. I just made a beautiful batch of soap using annatto seeds, so I'll post on that soon. Things have been busy lately, but I should be making more soap pretty soon now that it is summer. Look forward to hearing from you more!
ReplyDeleteOh I like your Ikea molds. The last time I looked for those I couldn't find them. I especially like the one that makes 3 bars for small test batches.
ReplyDeleteJen,
ReplyDeleteI bought the Ikea molds and I looooooove them! I made a castile peppermint soap this weekend and used them. They came out perfectly. Thank you so much!
Glad to hear that you actually used the moulds and like them as much as I do! Nice!! xo Jen
ReplyDeleteJust catching up on soap blogs after a short holiday - GREAT idea the Ikea 'soap moulds'!
ReplyDeleteI see they also have a Molger box which is 15cm x 30cm and a shallow depth of 5cm - so cutting down the middle would make each soap a nice 75mm across. BUT it doesn't come with a lid and has a fixed divided section which looks to be about 1/3 of the 30cm so one part may be 10cm (good for test batches) and the other 20cm - not totally sure of the exact measurement -just guessing by my eyes!
Pricewise, it's just under half the price of the set of 3 with lids - here in Australian dollars, the set of 3 is $19.99 and the divided box (without lid) is $8.99.