# Mold Question for Vicki



## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Vicki - why did you go with the Kelsei molds over silicone molds?

Thanks,
PJ


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I mostly talked to those who were doing it more commercial, visiting two soapers in person and watching them soap, and then talking to several via email. The silicone liners in molds, the ones that are free standing in wooden molds, colapse over time. The big free standing molds you screw together is what I will be using by summer which will make big 25 and 50 pound blocks of soap, you then cut them into slabs, into loafs and then into bars. Using a cutter and then using a tank. The last place I visited and I have been there 3 times, used Kelsie molds, but her bars were much smaller than I wanted to do, and she used the big screw together silconed molds (they are metal with a silicone coating) for her single poured soaps (she says it's too much volume of soap to swirl or marble...she measures and stick blends right inside these molds so no pouring.

I did not want to be replacing my mold liners over and over. One of the gals I talked to simply pours into wooden molds just like my kelsie, except much larger, she has it lined with plastic (thick black plastic used in construction) she then puts a piece over the top of it and then sets about 6 molds on top of each other. They get molds ready one day, measure butters and oils the next day, soap on the next day, unmold on the next day and cut on the last day...now that is alot of soaping!

Tell me what you find out in your search. I am hoping to get at least 2 of each size screw together mold and get at least 6 more kelsies this year before christmas soaping starts. I have my two new warming cabinets, one to OP in and one to dry in that will hold (hopefully 10 of my molds) they are still being worked on to change from baking sheets (they were for proofing bread dough) and now to hold my molds. Vicki


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

I've often thought of switching to block molds - although I HATE to lose the textured tops, but I've been concerned about the soap overheating with the added goat milk. We have a couple of fragrances that we use now that we have to be careful that they don't overheat. Do you think goat milk and block molds would be an issue?

PJ


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## momofmany (Aug 18, 2009)

:help If anyone is going to be selling their "vicki molds" I'd be interested in them. :lol thanks, Lisa


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

With the way I do GM soap, adding it warm at emulsion I am not worried about it. I will still do several of my scents in my kelsie's for my textured tops as slabs, and will still do some of them as logs because of the overheating factor, but most of the scents that I don't do alot to...marmalade, Pear Berry, Pomegrante etc...I will simply use the block molds. I am suffering from a huge lack of room right now and not sure I am going to be able to wait on all this for husband to get around to my addition, I am going to be moving all my cutting and wrapping into my dining room  I have to, with my MIL here this last winter it made me understand just how my business runs....if something like that happened again it could put me out of business...I ran out of soap for Valentines days and I was running 4 weeks behind getting orders to stores because I simply couldn't soap and take care of her. And when she was asleep I was exhausted and couldn't soap. I have to be able get more soaping done during the summer and fall, and to do this I have to move to bigger molds, and I think the block molds are going to be key. 

It does scare me the age of our mold maker  Vicki


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Lack of space is a good problem.  When we built our soap room I thought it was so huge and would last 5+ years before having to expand and we're already running out of space. Jim built me a loft over a goat stall - so that's another 15x15' of storage. I already annexed Jim's workshop space - it now holds all of our festival stuff - we have quite a lot b/c we have setups to do 3 shows at a time. Fortunately, our barn is really tall so we have a lot of space to move up for storage. We just have to use ladders.

We've got soaping scheduled so that we are done by September 1st. That's assuming that my growth does not exceed my predictions. I learned early on, that with my life, something unpredictable will always occur.

I'll be very curious to see how the block molds work for you. One of our slowest jobs is scraping and putting the molds back together. The boys do it, but still, I'd love to figure out something faster.

Uh oh - I didn't think the age of our mold maker was an issue. 

PJ


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

So you are already using the block molds? Or are you talking about putting the kelsie molds back together. My kelsie molds I simply soak in a sink they fit exactly into, I changed my sink next to my washing machine to use this for, I put them together just dried off. I don't wash the liners. Other than running a flat screw driver through the channel on my kelsie that the bottom fits into, I seldom have to really clean my molds between batches.

Are you anti sodium lactate? All my gals who soap more commercially than I do says it really is the next step. As is a cutter and the tank for the blocks. I was talking with a freind of mine in Houston today, she comes up and gets milk to soap with, she is talking about quitting her job and going full time also. She does all EO's and I wish she would post on here!

Storage is going to be huge, always, my whole addition is going to be just for space to have a cutter and the tank, a big table that can be accessed all the way around for classes and wrapping soap...it isn't going to even be addressing the storage issue of commerical drums of oil, it is going to have to stay in my husbands shop and be walked back and forth in 3.5 gallon buckets pre-measured from his shop to mine. Vicki


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