http://www.moldmarket.com/faq.html
"Mold Tips for CP (cold process) soapers:
Do not use oil in the molds, it will make the CP stick more because the traced soap wants to grab onto the oils. When you get a new mold, wash it in warm soapy water, rinse and dry with a soft towel and buff it.
Use borax in the water before you add the lye. Add 2 tsp of Borax for every 6 oz of water, stir till it's dissolved and then add your lye to it. What this will do is firm up the CP and make releasing it a breeze.
If the top part of the CP is hard and the bottom is mushy, it might not have had a full trace.
If using Palm Oil as part of your recipe, stir the oil before scooping it out on your scale. Most soap makers do not know that the Oleic Fatty Acid in the Palm Oil will sink to the bottom of the container as the oil solidifies and the other fatty acids will float to the top. If the Palm Oil is just scooped out from the top of the container, you get a soft soap but as you get to the bottom of the container, you'll find you get a harder bar of soap because the Oleic Fatty Acid has sunk down. when using a 5 gallon bucket of oil, dig a hole down into the Palm Oil and start scooping the oil out from the bottom to the top so you have a mix of complete oil.
If the CP sticks in the mold... do not force it out but instead put the whole mold into the freezer for 30 minutes, take it out and let the plastic mold come to room temperature which is about 2 minutes. Put a towel on the counter and turn the mold over on the towel, now put your fingers under the mold and gently pull the sides of the mold to allow air in and then with your thumbs on top of the mold, press as your go around the mold. You should see the air releasing it from the mold.
Using too much water in a cold process soap recipe will cause the soap to be soft and take much longer to cure.
Borax - is not a detergent, it is called "desert salt" and it will not only soften the water more but will also generate more lather in the soap.
Cold process soaps made with milk usually stick and are better left within the mold longer then 24 hours because part of the soap will be left behind in the mold. Use a small amount of warm water and mix borax into it since milk won't dissolve in the borax. If you can't get soap out of the mold, freeze it from 30 minutes and up to an hour. Then, flip the mold onto a towel and put a "warm" towel on the mold to bring the plastic to room temperature. Once it's room temp, "gently" pull away the sides of the mold and watch to see if you get air pockets. Once you see air pockets, press on the mold with thumbs or the palm of the hand and watch the air pocket move in that area. The soap releases and comes out of the mold.
Another option to getting soaps easily out of the mold is by using a small amount of Sodium Lactate in the cold process recipe because it will really harden the soap!"
Cheap mold ideas:
Recycled wooden sewing machine drawers lined with waxed paper or recycled cereal bags are great for rectangle soap bars, and Pringles cans, round Bread crumb containers, and Salt boxes work fantastic for round disks.
www.SunflowerAcres.ecrater.com
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