# What do you think of these molds?



## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-5-HDPE-NO-LINER-SOAP-MOLDS-BAR-CUTTER-Wooden-Lid-AvaL_W0QQitemZ400094482713QQcategoryZ28116QQcmdZViewItem

The molds come with a bar cutter.


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2011)

They look like very nice molds for the price... too bad I already have my molds and sizes or I would order some of those


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

I have one of those from a friend and they hold 6 pounds of soap which is a good size. They are difficult to remove the soap and can create not so nice surfaces on the sides and bottom from the rough surface of the HDPE. I probably should try lining it and see if I like the mold any better. They are difficult to put together with the bolt and nut system.


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## Lynn_Theesfeld (Feb 21, 2010)

They're a pain and if you plan to soap full time- you don't want them, unless you plan to replace them in 6 months. I figured out how to keep the soap "pretty" just grease the inside of the mold, and freeze before unmolding. 
The problem with these is in the bottom piece, it's to thin and warps- flipping it over doesn't help either. They would be good for someone who wants a little curve to there soap, but not for me. 

Lynn


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

Then what mold do you like that you would recommend?


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## Lynn_Theesfeld (Feb 21, 2010)

Vicki's honestly hands down, I have seen her put them together- easy, and the finished product is great, with the added bonus of being able to do more at one time. 

I have moved onto PVC until I either build my own or get kelsie to make me a few. With PCV I don't have to do anything except wash it. I do freeze the soap after 12 or so hours to slide it out of the mold. I didn't do the fancy "caps" (to blow it out of the mold) just used regular ones. The only issue I have with them is getting the cap off, which I use a mini crowbar. 

WSP's molds aren't that bad, though it's again a pain to get the soap out and the corners usually stick, but if your creative it's fixable. 

Honestly if you can look at molds before you buy them it would be much easier to see what's going to hold up and be the most productive- 

Lynn


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## Fiberaddict (Jun 4, 2009)

If you want to make soap to sell, cut to the chase and buy silicone-lined ones. Uplands are the least expensive (I think) in the larger sizes; Woodfields have a good rep. but are a bit pricey. (I have a Woodfields coming; for what I paid for it I could have bought 2 Uplands - I think the difference was like $10 more for 2 vs. the 1. Uplands is closed until Feb. 15, though, and I wanted a larger mold *now*)

WSP has some of their silicone molds on clearance for $12.95 - they'll hold about 32 oz of oil. No box, though.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Uplands, hands down for me! Though I would like to try a Woodfield because they look like the silicone is thicker and I worry about tearing my Uplands.....even though I have never done it. But like Verna said, you can purchase 2 uplands for the price of 1 Woodfield.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

I have 2 slab molds and 1 guest mold from WSP and I love them. I have the celtic knot slab mold from Uplands, which is very pretty, but I get a partial gel and I'm used to not getting any gel with the WSP molds. I haven't been soaping long, though. I've heard that the WSP molds may bow out, but so far, so good. And they're cheap, comparitively.


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

I ordered 2 Kelsei's molds back in July. I waited and waited... and waited. Finally emailed and was told "next week" so I waited another month, emailed a lot and called and she never ever got back to me. 

WSP molds are cheap and do the trick. I'd get a few green ones, play around a bit, and see if you like soaping. If you do, go for the big nice molds.

hth


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

It really depends on what you envision to be your final shape and how big a batch you want to make. I happen to like square slabs and the 3" round PVC sliced at 1". I have 3 square log molds I bought from http://www.lemelange.com/soap_mold_tray.html I use this mold and there is a shorter one 9" long that I think I got from WSP. The soap comes out clean and I do put them in the freezer for a couple hours before popping the loaf out. The bars are not quite square and I do take the extra time to trim them. The trimmings I use in my confetti soap, so they do not go to waste. These are great for someone just starting. Kelsie molds and other of that type are wonderful, but they are expensive. These will get you started and if you find you enjoy soaping like all of us, you can then buy the others. For my PVC molds, they are cut at 16" and I use cardboard on the bottom scribed to the pipe, duct tape a plastic bag and duct tape tight around the pipe after the bag is slipped on works for me. You can make a PVC pipe oval with heat and then make oval soap.


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I have both upland and woodfield silicone molds and love them both.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I have these exact molds, got them off ebay. They certainly are not no-line, at least for me they weren't. I still use them for certain soaps, using a piece of butcher paper to line it. For my regular soaps I bought 4 of the kelsie molds so I could do just short of 100 bars a day if I needed too. They only need lining on the bottom, and I've used various things for that. Right now I'm using a cut-to-fit sheet of linolium, but I don't think it will last very long. A sheet of silicone is what I'm looking for. I did have a problem with two of my kelsie bottoms warping. I'm pretty sure they were not like this when I got them. I had them in storage upstairs through the summer so maybe the heat did it? In any case I can't get them to fit together right and when I used one I had a huge mess everywhere. I think I might need to reheat them and put cinder blocks on them to flatten them back out. 

I do love the ones with flat bottoms. Only thing I'd change is to make them an inch taller so I could do fancier, taller, layerd soaps.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

No line is dependant upon your recipe. I love my molds, Kelsie, and they come in alot of sizes. My best advice is to go with 3 inch PVC, my friend sell 1 inch slices of round soap and get $5 for them, that is more than the $1 per ounce that most get. We have excellent info on screw in end caps with a port on it for a air compressor to shoot the soap out of the tubes, it works super well. I only make my loofa soaps in them but do have a Friend who soaps only these and I also buy my shaving soaps from her for Lee's shaving mugs. From shrink wrap to using coffee filters with a round label, also thesage.com has their larger shrink sleeves that work really well. 

You are only limited in soaping several PVC pipes by how much soap you can make and lift and pour at one time, which is nice. Wife or kids could soap small batches and then best sellers it can be a family day where the men lift 5 gallon buckets of soap to pour...and all the men will want to shoot the soap out of the molds  Using a simple miter box from Lowes/Home Depot the yellow ones that come with the miter saw that you won't use, just buy a sheet rock knife or if wife has a pastry scraper. Pampered Chef sells a wavy pastry scraper to cut decorative edges, and round soap are perfect for stamping with mica. Vicki


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## 2Sticks (Dec 13, 2007)

Wow, I ordered a kelsei mold on Dec 17th. Got my invoice by email and was told it was in stock and would ship out Dec. 20TH. I have emailed nice little notes 3 times and no response. I've called about 4 times and they never answer the phone. My bank account was never debited for the mold so I just don't know what to think. I'd really like to get the mold I ordered. I've searched and searched and haven't found one I like as much as the one from Kelsei's. I'm having a hard time understanding why I haven't heard from them or received the mold that I ordered. :sigh


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

On the round molds... Do they need "greasing" with mineral oil or something similar before using?


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## Lynn_Theesfeld (Feb 21, 2010)

I have never greased mine, but I also swear by using the freezer to pop\slide them out. 


Lynn


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## oh2bejoy (May 20, 2010)

I have a similar mold coming in. it is from soaphutch and will allow me to do all sorts of configurations, from slab to logs to individual bars. I cannot wait! I also ordered the log splitter/bar cutter. I have been using 3 lb wood log molds and I love them. my soaps come out looking the same every time. But I started out soaping with the Wilton silicon loaf molds. Very inexpensive, but it does take some work to make all your bars look the same.


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

2Sticks said:


> Wow, I ordered a kelsei mold on Dec 17th. Got my invoice by email and was told it was in stock and would ship out Dec. 20TH. I have emailed nice little notes 3 times and no response. I've called about 4 times and they never answer the phone. My bank account was never debited for the mold so I just don't know what to think. I'd really like to get the mold I ordered. I've searched and searched and haven't found one I like as much as the one from Kelsei's. I'm having a hard time understanding why I haven't heard from them or received the mold that I ordered. :sigh


 Same deal- and I haven't found any other like them either. I should learn how to make them.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

I do about exactly what Vicki said. Multiple 3". I usually do 2 wal-mart size batches at once which fills 4 18" pipes and one 10" . Gives me about 70-75 bars cut at 1" with the Pampered Chef criss cut cutter. Capped with a flat plug on bottom and put into a rack that DH built me. Some soaps slide right out. Others I pop in the freezer for an hour at the most and then they slide out. The most difficult ones need a good upside-down BANG on my big cutting board. And, yup...my mom is selling them in FL for $5 or 5 for $20.


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