In the history of making Naked Soap there have been some serious and funny soap disasters along the way. I've decided to post some of my favorites in the next few blogs. So let's begin with Soap Mold Disasters.
So, you've got the perfect recipe for soap figured out. You've got all your supplies ready and everything set up. Now what to pour the soap into. As far as molds go, there are hundreds of options, some very expensive and high quality, some very cheap and low quality, and some budget friendly lying around the house. Most of the time my soap goes into silicone cake molds. They're flexible and you can then cut the soap loaf into any desired shape.
However, a few months ago I was tempted by another option for soap molds: PVC Pipe. The online tutorials make it look so easy and simple. Just seal one end off with a Ziploc bag and some rubber bands, and pour the soap into it! Allow to cure, it slides out and voila! Round soaps that can be cut to any thickness. It looks so darn trendy and simple that I couldn't resist. Well, after many, many tries I've yet to master this stupid pipe.
The biggest flaw for me is the hot soap would melt the plastic Ziploc bag and suddenly my sweet pomegranate smelling soap is all over the counter top and kitchen floor. My neighbors got to listen to a whole string of cuss words that day. That's what I get for cheaper Ziploc bags. So to upgrade and improve I re-sealed the pipe with heavy duty thick plastic Ziploc, sealed it with rubber bands (many more this time), and then placed the pipe inside a box to catch any leakage. This time I ended up with the zip lock bag catching all the soap, but the rubber bands failed in their duty to seal and all the soap ended up in the bag. Soap in a bag. Fantastic.
Well, after loosing several batches of soap this way I finally got one to work: I wrapped thick saran wrap around the bottom of the pipe, sealed it with high quality Ziploc bags and LARGE heavy duty rubber bands wrapped around several times. This baby wasn't even letting air out. I pour the soap, and (dramatic fanfare music) it works! I let the pipe cure for several days, and remove all the wrap. That soap looked amazing.....inside the pipe. Alas by the time I got it out of the pipe I had piles of gooey mash that was once soap scraped out all over the counter top. The soap was like cement to the insides of that pipe! I ended up smashing the pipe with a large hammer and peeling pieces off of the soap. Blasted. Turns out soap does not do well with a non-flexible, non-lined mold. Since this time I've junked all my pipes. I don't know how people have figured it out in the past, but that's way too much effort on my part to make some trendy soap.
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