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Cleaning Silicon Molds for Scent changes


wthomas57

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Hey everyone, 

 

I've been experimenting more with silicon molds lately and have run into quite an annoying problem.

Regardless of what I do, I can't get the scent from previous pours out of the molds. It continues to smell

like the previous fragrances. Sometimes, even stained by dyes used as well. Its actually made me

about give up on these darn things and go back to my normal stuff.

 

But honestly... I've tried EVERYTHING and getting nowhere including:

 

soap and water

mold cleaner

alcohol

baking soda

vinegar

baby oil

soaking overnight

etc

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

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I just use soapy hot water to wash my silicone molds. Even though the scent lingers on the silicone sometimes, there is never any transfer to the new soaps, after worrying about and trying every trick in the book from everything you mentioned to beyond, I just stopped worrying about it. I tested and tested and tested, and the scent just doesn't transfer. I couldn't detect it, none of my testers could detect it, nothing, so I quit worrying and now just wash like normal, and go on to my next batches. 

 

And again I thought I was in the soap making forum. HA

 

For wax, I just make sure all the wax is melted out of it, and then do the same as I do with soap making. Same results, the scent doesn't transfer. 

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Thanks for the reply. I hope this is all true going forward about scent not transferring.

But, I did a lemongrass and I sware I could smell the lemon on the next batch I poured of 

a different scent. The next scent was beachy and it smelled like beaches with lemon. Lol

 

Maybe it was in my head but sure swore i smelled it. 

 

That being said... the smell of the leftover scent in the silicon is MUCH stronger

than what I thought I detected on the the next few pours. So, even if it is transferring... its not

overwhleming. But... it doesn't take much of some scents to really interfere with others.

 

Again, I hope you are right and i feel a bit better now. I guess I just find it odd that if the scent

doesn't transfer to the wax, then why does it smell so much still in the molds. Ugh!  

 

Thanks

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I use silicone molds and have never noticed a scent transferring to the next batch either. I've actually put mine in the dishwasher to wash them. Maybe not a good idea but it works LOL! I do make sure there's no wax on them at all though. 

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ok, well both of you have convinced me that I am over-worrying about this.

I never noticed in the past because I generally had a few molds that I always used

for the same scents. recently, been doing some more things and using various scents during

the process. That is why I noticed the scent still lingering in the mold even after intense washing.

But.... who cares if it doesn't transfer to the wax. :)

 

Thank you both

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Well i doubt it would do much better than mold cleaner which is specifically created to clean molds.

Im gonna do a little mold cleaner in between batches and then soap and water as well to be safe.

 

I'm not sure I'd personally want to use bleach myself

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I also use straight clear ammonia to scrub up some of my stuff. If you REALLY want to get in there and strip the oils out (I haven't tried this yet, but I don't foresee a problem with it) acetone strips vegetable and animal fats like a BOSS. I use acetone regularly for really stripping out items that I'm polishing. (coins, jewelry, etc...) I would only use acetone as a wipe though, and not really very much at that, because the silicone will most likely absorb the acetone. I'll see if I can't get my mitts on a silicone mold and try the acetone concept sometime in the near future.   

Here's MY experience with silicone and wax. I think I've stated this before, but I'm not a chandler, but a bubble head, even so I have cause to pour wax billets from time to time. What I have found is at least as far as with paraffin the wax actually soaks THROUGH the silicone and leaves a white powder like residue on the OUTSIDE and inside of my thinner silicone molds. This is NOT optimal for my soaps. I generally flex and brush off the white residue and then fill the cavities with boiling water.  That seems to get the powder out. I think really, what would be more effective would be a solvent that dissolves your wax... but be forewarned that soaking silicone in certain hydrocarbon and aromatic solvents can soften, swell, and deform silicone, (benzene and naphtha come to mind), which is why you can't use silicone tubing for fuel lines in small engines. If you're using soy wax, well, acetone might be the better bet for you, paraffin's nemesis would be odorless mineral spirits...  You will have to at LEAST warm these molds up after you've cleaned them to make sure any solvent that soaks into them evaporates out. 

HTH YMWV,

 

Sponiebr: the Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services


P.S.: I just did a google search on the paraffin and LO!!!!! Paraffin wax cleaner turned up a US Patent Office abstract for acetone and kerosene as being a superior paraffin wax cleaner...) https://www.google.com/patents/US2741596  Definitely worth a read, though I would still go with the odorless mineral spirits, (this patent has problems as I see it because acetone is infinitely soluble in water. Ugh... wet acetone is SUCH a pain, and it stinks like a bad hangover fart too...)
  

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I make and use silicone candle molds. I never clean them. The candles never smell like the prior batch.

 

silicone soap molds I just run through hot water to remove soap residue (like what sticks to the mold from texturing tops). 

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10 hours ago, Belinda said:

I use silicone molds and have never noticed a scent transferring to the next batch either. I've actually put mine in the dishwasher to wash them. Maybe not a good idea but it works LOL! I do make sure there's no wax on them at all though. 

Lol ! Thats what I do too ! I do like you, make sure theres no remain wax on the mold so that it doesn't ruin my dishwasher, soak In Dawn dish liquid 

for a bit and it the dishwasher it goes. Im sure the dishwasher isn't the best idea but I don't do it often and I also don't let it go through the intense 

heat cycle at the end of the wash.

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I just soak mine in hot soapy (dawn liquid) water, rinse and air dry.  I get a white powdery film from soy wax as well but the dawn takes it off.  The lady I learned to make candles from said to use some coconut oil and just rub on the molds, never wash.  I'm a bit too OCD for that, I wash just about everything I use for candles or soap.

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I have the waxxy white residue as well. Its actually the most irritating part and the hardest issue to tackle.

Sometimes soapy hot water helps, sometimes it doesn't. I find myselv scrubbing each cavity by hand to get the white residue up.

Ill keep using either mold cleaner or baby oil between batches and then give them a good soak each day.

 

Thanks everyone for your input

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  • 3 months later...

I am glad I found this as the same thing happened to me wthomas.  I did a fresh gain oil that transferred slightly onto the bakery tarts I poured next day (they even aired out overnight).  Now these are flexible molds but same concept.  It takes quite some time just getting the tarts to cool in the molds enough to pop out.  Now to have to wash in between each pour also seems like a century just for each scent.  I never noticed this with prior molds.  Does this tend to happen more when the flexible molds are more new?

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agreed.. its a big pain. And I definitely can tell scents transferring between different melts, its not in my head. My apple smelled like lemon. Lol

And yes, the rubbery flex molds due it to the worst so far. unfortunately, they are the best to use in my opinion

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Silicone is porous and does pull some of the wax through to the underside of the mold. I pop the mold in the micro for a few seconds and wipe off the underside off with a cloth.

 

My molds do hold scent as you have suggested, but I have never had a scent transfer to a new batch of melts and I never clean them with anything. Actually, I tried to clean them in the very beginning and nothing worked, nothing took away the scent. I have even put them in the dishwasher, but the water drops dried on them and left a spotty residue and transferred to my next melts. All in all, I really don't find that cleaning is necessary.   And I certainly haven't found anything that works well enough to be worth the time invested in cleaning them. 

 

Right now, you can smell the scent you just poured in them, but as you use them more and more, where all scents are absorbed, you can no longer smell the previously poured scent. Now mine just seem to be a mix of every scent I've ever poured in them and I can't make out any particular scent. 

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Not all silicones are the same. My cheapie molds with rough-ish surfaces hold onto ghosts of material. The more spendy shiny kinds much less so. Which kind of makes sense especially when the wax you're using is taken into account. All those tiny crannies latch on to material and can impart a little scent once in a while.

 

When silicone making molds I use the two part rtv silicone and have noticed slight differences in durability and porosity. None ever seem to transfer scent in great enough amounts to overtake the new candle/soap/melt coming out of the mold.

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  • 1 year later...
On 3/19/2017 at 9:21 AM, Sponiebr said:

Here's MY experience with silicone and wax. I think I've stated this before, but I'm not a chandler, but a bubble head, even so I have cause to pour wax billets from time to time. What I have found is at least as far as with paraffin the wax actually soaks THROUGH the silicone and leaves a white powder like residue on the OUTSIDE and inside of my thinner silicone molds. This is NOT optimal for my soaps. I generally flex and brush off the white residue and then fill the cavities with boiling water.  That seems to get the powder out...

 

Glad you mentioned that. Yes, after making paraffin wax melts in silicone molds, I too have noticed that white, powdery film on the inside and outside of the molds. Don't really care about the outside. For the inside I usually have to wash them twice with hot soapy water and a soft sponge or a soft bristle brush. I've not noticed any scent transfer from any lingering scents in the molds.

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Get the super super dawn and use it straight on the silicone mold. Wash with super hot water. Also di limolene is r early good at removing the waxy and greasy. Silicone tends to hold onto greasy stuff and shows up as white residue. It can be a big pain in the neck, but me like the ease.

 

i have various silicone molds and have not had an issue of smell transfer.

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After doing this for so many years, I have figured out the problem.  I was overloading my tarts and removing the tarts while not 100% cool back then, so it would leave oil from the previous tart transferring to the next pour.  Now no issues at all with those few minor adjustments :)

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I turn the molds upside down on sheet pans and heat them in the oven. The wax melts and drips onto the pan. Then I pull them out one by one and wipe with paper towels. Then wipe the sheet pans. 

Never had an issue with transfer. 

 

I do separate my molds into white/cream melts and colored melts so I don’t have to worry about color transfer on the light ones. 

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  • 2 years later...

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