# Kelsiescreations soap molds



## Anita Martin

Does anyone know if these folks are still in business? I've sent three or four emails over the past couple weeks and have not heard back from them. They are advertising a sale for christmas, so I was assuming they were still doing business. If not, I need to look further for my molds...darn. 
Anita :/


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## NubianSoaps.com

Hmmm, never had a problem getting ahold of Rita.

www.groups.yahoo.com/group/kelseiscreations/ maybe catch her through her group? The gals on it will know what is up at least.

Course I am not one to email anyway, I pick up the phone and call  Vicki


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## Anita Martin

I went back to the site and looked for a phone number, but one isn't listed. I will check the yahoo site tonight when I get home. (It's restricted here at work.) 
Anita


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## NubianSoaps.com

Office806)462-7370

It's right in the middle of their website, first page  Vicki


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## Anita Martin

ohhhhhh. It's official. I'm blind! I found it Vickie, thanks!
Anita


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## shawhee

*Re: Kelsiescreations soap molds - one more ? Vicki*

Vicki,

Is there any mold (Kelsei's) that you prefer? I have the log mold but was interested in one of her others. Especially now that Anita has pointed out the sale..... :biggrin

Shawna


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## NubianSoaps.com

I have a custom mold, made to simulate the size soap bars I get with the Martha Mold, only bigger. It is also deeper so that I can not only pour the soap as a slab so I can swirl the tops or texture the tops, but also I can pour it as 3 logs when I don't care that the top of the soap is actually the side  Max is a genious, he did this for me without me even asking because he just knew I would want it  Guess he has made more than a couple of molds ????  vicki


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## jimandpj

I ordered the same molds that Vicki got and I LOVE them. The bars look so much nicer than what I was getting before. Now that I've used them several times, the soap just slides right out super easy. No greasing or anything.

PJ


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## shawhee

Vicki or PJ,

Would you mind sharing a picture>?

Shawna


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## NubianSoaps.com

If PJ doesn't put one up I will have Troy snap one when he is here in 2 weekends to take home his girls. I will pour a batch as a slab, which is just like the martha molds, it will give you a good idea of how they are with the extra room at the top to also be able to use them as a log. The two deviders slide up and out, so you are pouring the whole 18+inches by 12+ inches of soap at once, then putting in the devider which cuts them into 3 logs, just like the MMold is. I never thought I would like a log mold. Vicki


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## shawhee

Ah I think I get it.... would still like to see one. So you could pour the whole thing then divide, or you could divide and pour three small logs.... Is that what you mean?

Thanks,
Shawna


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## jimandpj

I'm soaping today, so I'll get photos. 

Yep, Shawna, that's what we mean. I cut my bars a bit thinner than Vicki does, so I get 10 bars per log, for a total of 30 bars for each mold. (They average out to weigh 7 ounces). They're closer to a square shape than a rectangle.

My daughter does the swirling, she likes to swirl the whole thing, texture the top, and then put the dividers in. The only time we put the dividers in and then pour is if we're doing layered soaps and the bottom layer is thickening up. You can still push the dividers down, but because it has to displace the soap, it pushes one side of the log up higher than the others, so the bars aren't level on top. Don't know if that makes sense or just causes more confusion.

The dividers are actually pretty thick (maybe 3/4"?) I was expecting them to be thinner. The whole thing is very heavy duty.

You can buy a liner for the bottom (which I didn't get for $ reasons, but would love to). I've been laying down a cheap liner on the bottom before pouring. Then, after about 16-18 hours, I flip the mold upside down, remove the bottom of the mold, and peel off the liner. I leave the bottom exposed for an hour or two. Then, with the mold still upside down, I press down on each log until it slides down so it is touching the table. Then I grab the dividers with vice grips and remove them. Then pull off the outside of the mold. The first couple of times I made soap they were a bit sticky and I had to use a blade around the outside of the soaps. But now they've been seasoned and they generally slide right off (although oatmeal soaps can still stick some).

If I remember, I'll try to get photos of that too.

I don't ever wash them, just scrape off the soap with a putty knife.

Vicki did a great job designing them and they're wonderfully made. I would definitley recommend them for anyone that is tired of their Martha Molds or needs more molds.

PJ


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## shawhee

PJ,

Thanks, and yes that makes sense. I have the regular Kelsie log mold, then some others that I use, But I want a bigger one and that sounds like it might just be what I need. Cant wait to see pictures - I am like your daughter love the swirls! :biggrin

Thanks,
Shawna


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## Anita Martin

I finally got a hold of Rita. She said she didn't think the molds could be used interchangably as log molds or regular rectangle molds. Pics would be great! I love my log molds, except for the fact that I have to line them. I can swirl the tops or whatever, and the labels go onto a flat side, and the other side is flat also and the top is free to be what it is, without having a label on top, or having to be the bottom of the soap. I'd love to have the option to make either type of soap from one mold. 
Anita


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## NubianSoaps.com

She said she didn't think the molds could be used interchangably as log molds or regular rectangle molds. 
................

Which molds? Not only my custom mold is slab/log but so is another one of theirs. I actually toyed with getting it, you can move around all the deviders to even pour one bar of soap, one log, or pour the whole thing, with or without deviders. It's on the tutorial. vicki


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## Anita Martin

Vickie,
I told her that I was looking for that type of mold, that could do what your do, and she said she didn't think I could do that with hers. She's gone out of email contact again. She must not be getting my emails as she said she only got one..probably going in spam or something. I meant to call her and then she sent me an email, and I resent my dimensions, but I don't think they are going through, so I'll call on my break. 
Anita


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## Anita Martin

Is the tutuorial under another link? I couldn't see it...I looked and looked, honest. :biggrin


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## NubianSoaps.com

Shoot I was just reminded that it wasn't on their site, it was a private one.  I thought I had saved it, let me look. Anyway just like with my mold he cut her mold to be deeper so you don't fill it up as high and it is a slab mold, fill it up higher and it is a log mold.

Going through this process with him I think sending him your soap is the easiest way to do this, so he can see both your soap as a textured top etc...but can also make the mold deep enough so you can pour it as a texture. He then can just multiply out your soap size each way. I could go bigger or it wouldn't fit into my new racks or my 'oven'. Vicki


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## Anita Martin

Whoops, I emailed Rita and asked her for the link to the tutorial, I'm sure she thinks I'm crazy as heck for sure now! :crazy I did send my dimensions, which were similar to theirs, only I wanted mine deeper, 3 1/4 inches, which is what I am using now and it works great. She emailed me this after noon. She had gotten my dimensions and was going to give them to Max for a quote. 

I bought two log molds on ebay a few months ago. They were advertised as "no Line" but I do have to line them. She is worried that hers might be made out of the same material and might stick for me too. Is there a secret to getting the soap out that I missed? When I first got them, I made a batch of soap and I left it in for the normal amount of time for me, about 24 hours, and then tried to unmold. The soap stuck to the sides and when I tried to unmold, it pulled the sides off my soap. I used a metal spatula and tried and loosen it, pounded on it, beat the heck out of it, etc.It just wasn't budging. 

I'll send her some soap. That's a great idea. 
thanks,
Anita


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## Kalne

I've seen those molds on ebay and I've heard the same thing....soap stick in them. Which is why I've been leary of buying no-stick molds. So are Kelsie's made from a different material?


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## Anita Martin

Rita's molds look to be made out of the same material in pictures as the ebay molds, but what I have are certainly NOT no line molds. The best mold I have so far is a silicone star mold. The soaps just pop right out with no sticking at all. I don't like the shape though. I want a traditional bar. I was looking at those on silvermoon, as they have silicone liners, but some people have not been happy with them, which is why I decided to research kelsiecreation molds more. 
Anita


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## NubianSoaps.com

My eucalyptus soap pops right out, the two middle deviders are loose before I even start working on them, that is because it's 100% olive oil (pomace). I don't even try to get my 60/40 butters/oils out. I turn over my mold, pry off the bottom, pull of the liner, flip the mold back to the top and run a paring knife all the way around. The soap slides out. It's how I have done my MM for years so I am very adept with a paring knife 

Most who use butter use sodium lactate to harden their bars for true linerless soaps. I don't like the plastic feel it gives the soap. You want to use less than thesage.com lye calculator says to use, most who use it love it, and most will tell you, you can't move to large batches and be commerical without it. I am going to try.

Make sure and ask for at least 1/2 inch or more deeper than what you think you want, so you are not having to pour to the top of the mold. Are you getting the deviders that individually cut each bar of soap? Mine just devides the whole mold into 3 logs, not bars of soap.

Although the molds come with screws and lag bolts, I have never used mine, the mold simply is so well made I have never had a leak and I never pour at thick trace. The more you use your mold and don't wash it the better it works. My next mold will be used for dark soaps, one for colored soaps and one for white soap, so I won't even have to clean them period, except after making dragons blood  Vicki


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## Anita Martin

Well, I did try to line my molds with silicone putty. The soap came out a little better, but with silicone stuck all over it. :/ 

I don't pour the soap to the top, so I did ask for just a little deeper than I needed. I am currently cutting the soap myself once it is out of the mold in the log shape. I got a cutter and cutter box when I ordered my log molds from ebay. I don't like them. The slit that the cutter knife slides through is too wide and some of my bars are bowed in or out slightly. 

I have not used sodium lactate and had never considered it. I want the soap as natural as possible to give people more of a reason to buy it. I did buy some nice bars locally made a while back that were goats milk. Those bars had a list of ingredients a mile long. I plan to stay small, so I guess I won't have to worry so much about taking more time to get soaps out of molds.

I'm just so much looking forward to getting some molds that are easier to work with and make my bars look nicer.
Anita


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## Ravens Haven

Did you let the silicone dry first?


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## Guest

Vicki's soap molds:


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## shawhee

Ah, thank you so much!! That is what I was thinking, but it sure helps to have pictures


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## NubianSoaps.com

The bottom photo shows you the whole mold. It is poured right now for a log mold, so the top of the soap you are seeing is actually the side of the finished soap once cut. The two middle dividers that make it into 3 logs are removeable. So you pour your base soap, swirl and then push the two dividers into place. In the close up photo you can see the half circle cut out in the lower portion of the mold. You stick a flat screw driver into this indentation and it lets you wedge the side of the mold up and off the bottom. I have never had to take apart the screws on the outside to get my soap out, nor have I ever used the lag bolts and screws he gave me to keep the bottom of the mold and the sides together tight so it doesn't leak.

Sorry this is such white soap, it actually will by tommorrow oxidises (Sandalwood with a reverse swirl), but the camera was here for me to use and it's what I had poured. 

Obviously to use the same mold as a slab mold with pretty swirled tops or textured, you simply don't fill up the mold as far.

Thanks Sara! Vicki


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## Anita Martin

Vickie, when you use this as a slab mold, do you have to cut each individual bar or are there dividers for each bar? Rita emailed me today and gave me a price on the mold Max made for you. She said she was going to put pictures of it online after the holidays. 

As for the silicone I tried with mine, I did let it dry for two weeks. It may have been the wrong kind. The brand was Lexel, super-elastic sealant. I asked the hardware store guy for silicone, and this is what he gave me. On the back it says *tougher than silicone. So maybe it's not really silicone. Hmm. Never noticed that before. Heck, I thought the guy knew what he was talking about. 
Anita


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## NubianSoaps.com

No, I use it exactly like the picture for log or slab, just less soap for the slab, more soap for the log. I didn't think the individual devider (grate) that makes individual bars would work. I wanted it to be really versatile, and not to have a mold for slab or a mold for log. Vicki


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## Whitney

Vicki, how many bars do you cut from this mold when you pour it as a log?


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## NubianSoaps.com

36 with tiny little slivers left on all three logs, so it can also cut my slab mold exactly. Vicki


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## Whitney

Thanks!


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## Anita Martin

Vickie, what do you use as a guide to cut either log or slab soaps?
Anita


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## NubianSoaps.com

The same yellow miter box I used to cut for my Martha Molds. Remember this duplicates exactly the MM size bars, except for cutting 7 each log, it cuts 9 or is that 8? 

Miter boxes are under $10, I just make a mark for my slab bars and a mark for my log bars. I use a pastry cutter, I like the wooden handled ones they keep the blade straight longer. 

I would love to have a tank, but for two different size bars I would need two....not happening now until after I get all my molds this spring. Vicki


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