Some personal projects that I have tried

[Absinthe]

Here are a few projects that I tried just for fun.

I decided to give it a try. I went to the hardware store and bought two boards. A cheap one fro about $2 and a more expensive one for closer to $10. I used power tools on one, and hand tools (and a rush job) on the second one.

http://ripguides.com/soap/molds/index.html

I thought all this talk of partitioned molds, and dividers sounded interesting. I also figured that with cheap (read that as free) easily obtainable materials and a little patience one could come up with a set for herself.

http://ripguides.com/soap/molds/till.html

I decided to attempt a mold liner. I bought a roll of self adhesive shelf liner. Did some quick calculations and some adhesive to adhesive joinery and quick folding and voila!! Well, here are the results of testing that liner as well as the till in the previous project.

http://ripguides.com/soap/molds/tillanddragon.html

Just so that I am not completely off topic with this, the last of the three contains actual soap

[NancyT]

I'm impressed!!!! Great job on the molds..........are you going to start manufacturing and selling them????? Your soaps look great as well!

[Absinthe]

Nancy --

To be honest, I did not make them with the intent on manufacturing and selling. However, I am not above accepting a reasonable offer to make one for someone.

My hope was that people could see my project and do it themself. The initial project was intended to show that even without expensive wood, or power tools or strong skills, one could make a very usable mold. With not much more effort and a few basic power tools one could make one even prettier, but I doubt one will produce soap any better than the other.

I know, now, after some of the personal responses I have received that some people just do not care to embark on "yet another" hobby and would simply prefer to buy them already made by someone else.

If an individual were to want one, I could take the time and make a single mold to order. But if lots of folks were wanting them, I would certainly have to setup some kind of production run. In any event I couldn't make too many per week, so I would have to have relatively patient clientele as well.

Wait until I get back in the wood shop, I want to make one with sliding dovetails

I haven't gotten the correct materials yet, but there will be a project using corrugated plastic as a liner, and when I get what I need there will be silicone.

[Kitn]

Way to go , they look great.

[Sharon in KY]

Very nice job on the molds, photo's and instructions. Wish I had a wood shop...

[Absinthe]

It is nice to have the facility that I do have, however, I wish I could have one that was setup correctly. Where I could find all my stuff and not have to share it with everything else that has no place inside the house. But most of all, I wish it was in a heated/cooled area of the house so I could get out there more.

[Absinthe]

But you don't need a wood shop to make molds. You only need a few hand tools and with them you can make phenomenal molds.

For less than $10 you can have a miter box and a back saw and make very accurate cuts. Here is one at True Value:

http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-143134/Detail

Then you can get a few clamps:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Bar+Clamp&cid=14088671917582709393&sa=title#p

Or

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Bar+Clamp&cid=3201175993519669351&sa=title#p

Depending on your choice of style.

Here is an inexpensive drill:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3670

Then pick up a quick change drill and driver bit set:

http://sale.ebuyable.com/shop/shop.asp?item_id=TLAC11211

Get a nice combination square

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=square&show=dd&cid=16385007339688654875&sa=title#p

Or even just a try square

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=try+square&cid=9716101759370019170&sa=title#p

A tape measure:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=tape+measure&cid=14728665849585179574&sa=title#p

And everyone should have a nice hammer: (this one will last forever. You may have to change the handle every 10 or so years, and it might need a new head every 20 or so, but other than that it will last forever

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=hammer&cid=10287082614004117883&sa=title#p

And if you want to get really fancy pick up a Workmate:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=workmate&oe=utf-8&ved=0CCUQrQQwAg&show=dd&cid=9294094467462209000&sa=title#p

With the exception of the Work Mate or maybe even including it, you are under $100. Most of the things I listed were under 10 and many were under $5. They would all fit nicely in a single nylon tool bag something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012QRXWO/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001DXVVC4&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0SCSXX3R3C2CFD0QCJ5Q

It could all stow under a bed or behind a door, and if you get the WorkMate that it folds up to about the size of a large folding chair.

Voila, you have a wood shop. We are not talking about fine cabinetry. However, if that were your goal, you could add a set of wood chisels, a few choice hand planes, and scrapers and you are ready to make 90% of what ever your heart desired. You don't need big expensive power tools. Even the power drill is an unnecessary luxury item.

Point is this, just like soaping, you can get started on a shoe string. You can make some pretty nice soap with $1/pound lard, a $0.69 lemon and some red devil drain opener using a used milk carton for a mold. Or you can buy expensive exotic oils, food grade lye, use electric mixers, fancy cutters and all the rest of the "drooled-over-wish-list-items" and in the end you still have soap. One may be a bit prettier than the other but they will still clean your body or your clothes or even that spot the dog made on the rug. Same thing with woodworking... You don't "need" but a handful of things to get started, and none of them are all that expensive. The rest is for when you want or need to go faster... that's all.

[tlc26]

look slike you had fun amusing yourself making molds! now I want to see pics of soap in those molds! I have an idea for the corrugated plastic. what if you cut an identially sized piece and placed them back to back so that the corrugated line matched up? then you would have flat on both sides.

[Absinthe]

This one

Click for full size

is the dragon's blood, orange soap in the shelf liner liner

And this one

Click for full size

is the ylang, rosemary, eucalyptus that used the corrugated plastic till

As for the corrugated, I almost have my measurements down right. Here is my first attempt:

Click for Full Size

Click for Full Size