How to make easy soap molds

Sometimes, you may have a soap idea, but can't find a commercial mold that fits your need, or you just want to create something silly or personal. For those times, making your own mold is your best option. Mind you, this method does not create professional grade silicon molds that will hold up to hundreds and hundreds of pours, but they are pretty amazingly durable and all of the materials are easily available almost anywhere.
For this lesson, Igor and I decided to try and make crystal soap and rock soap. As it turns out, I made too much silicon, so we also made a shell soap.

Step 1 Measure mold materials and find moldable objects

For this, we're using Amazing Mold Putty from the Alumilite Corporation of Kalamazoo. (I just love typing Kalamazoo.) The product is by and far the easiest mold product to use for the novice, plus it is food grade silicon and made in the US. Because it's food grade, you can use it to mold ice cubes and chocolate and other nummies. The company sells it in bulk quantities, but you can get small containers of it at the craft store for a fairly low price point. (Sub $15.00)
Here is a tablespoon of each of the mixes, and the objects we were originally going to mold.(We added the shell after I upped the amount of mold materials.)

Comments

[SoapyHollow]

Well, I dunno so much about calm. ;) But I'll cop to cool...until Igor becomes a teenager, at which point, Mom can't be cool anymore. Hee. :)

[szechuan53]

what is the melting point of this stuff? I don't need an exact number, just tell me whether or not it's above 500 F.

[GWJax]

The mold putty can withstand 450' F and no more, I use this in a lot of my molding process because it's so easy to use. If you want to pour in molted lead or puter that is ok and you can cook with it like candy and cupcakes in the mold as well. Jax

[szechuan53]

thanks well, i was actually wondering because i've been starting an element collection, but the cheapest forms of some elements were powders or flakes, like selenium. i was going to make molds for some of the elements with lower melting points, like maybe a lego figure or brick (seriously, what kid doesn't want a solid gold lego?)

[muffin1]

(removed by author or community request)

[szechuan53]

you mean radioactive? i will assume you do, and that you are not a terrorist: first of all, the only radioactive elements that most people can buy in relatively large amounts are thorium (price fluctuates often) and uranium (typically $5-10/g) unless you have special licenses and permits. more dangerous elements like polonium and radioactive isotopes of stable elements are available as needle sources and disk sources (from $30 to more than $100), which are used in a number of fields, from cloud chambers to carbon dating.
here are 2 links:
uranium and needle sources
thorium, thorium compounds, uranium compounds

[muffin1]

(removed by author or community request)

[RadBear]

Weapons grade uranium isn't available even in small amounts. The enrichment process is controlled by the government and so costly that buying even a small amount would be unfeasable.

[SoapyHollow]

I, for one, am fairly happy that weapons grade uranium isn't available...but isn't non-processed uranium still something they sell in periodic chart type science kits? (I ask because I don't know. Igor isn't old enough for me to drill the periodic table yet...although I should probably get one just so I can get up to speed, as I've forgotten a lot of it.)

[RadBear]

I'm sure you could get non-enriched uranium. Uranium is fairly common in the environment and its decay is the source of radon gas. It also used to be used as a coloring in various products. Most health physics educators have a piece of orange Fiesta-ware in their educational props kit. It was a brand of plates that used uranium to make the plates a lovely orange color. There was also a fad in the early 1900's to drink irrdiated water and they used to sell uranium containers that would irradiate the water for you. Sometimes they show up on ebay. Sorry for the rant. The short answer would be "yes, I'm fairly sure you can get unenriched uranium".

[INSTRUCTUBAL]

http://unitednuclear.com/

[GWJax]

in that case I would use this mold compound and make a 2 part mold. you can see how this is done on my Elevinator Project instructiable. Pour casting wax in the mold and use that wax figure with the lost wax casting used in almost all jewlery making process, after the wax is gone out of the mold then you can pour your gold into that. If you need help with lost wax casting you can google it and find all the information you need. I use this when making rings and the such out of gold and silver. good luck, have fun and be safe with melted metal. GWjax

[szechuan53]

thanks again, and nice instructable btw.

[GWJax]

No problem thats what we are here for to help others out in need, and thanks for the nice comment on my instructable. GWJax

[SoapyHollow]

That is a great instructable. Thanks for all the advice on temps over here too. I'm so impressed by anyone willing to work with molten metal. I get nervous when I make molten chocolate cakes.

[GWJax]

Thank you so much for the comment on my instructable. and your welcome. I have been making jewlery for a long time so I don't think of melting gold and silver that hard any more even though I had aluminum exploid in my left eye that caused for a corona transplant 2 yrs ago. and of course I was not wearing my safty goggles at the time now I use a full face sheild for all metal melting. So those who have not melted metal before beware and use all safty cautions.. by the way I voted for you in the book too as I think this would be a great instructable for it. GWJax

[SoapyHollow]

Question: If I used something like this molding material to make a cast of an object, and I sent the mold to you, would it be possible for you to make me a silver piece from it? Would you need to see the mold first before you could tell? If you think it's possible, I'd be thrilled to make a mold and send it to you for evaluation and a bid on making the actual piece. (The only jewelry I wear is artisan crafted, why own something that everyone else does? But this piece was made by a deceased relative and I'd love to be able to replicate it in silver, which is the metal I usually wear.)

[GWJax]

Everything is possible to reproduce, but a good clean mold would have to be made, as you know the Amazing putty does shrink a little bit. plus is it flat or does it have a lot of undercuts on it. If you can post a picture of it for me and weigh it in grams I can give you a better price for it but not on this tread, please PM me and I'll give you my e-mail address so you can send the pictures to me. after that I'll let you know how to make the mold I need. Jax

[szechuan53]

the aluminum in the eye incident sounds painful. sorry...

[SoapyHollow]

I've not tried anything that hot, although I've done thermogenic cold process which can get up to 350, and I've poured stuff in at boiling...about 100C or 212F.

Silicon as a rule is rated to about 450, but like I said, I've never tried getting *this* brand that warm.

[szklanki]

Hi. I would like to know if the coloured soaps aren't colouring hands while cleaning?

[SoapyHollow]

No, there's not enough color in the soap for it to leach onto hands. :)

[SoapyHollow]

Yay! I'd love to see pics when you're done!

[Nabil]

The stone is simple amazing! sooo real

[T-K]

This is cool!

[whiteoakart]

Very nice!

[OhTheBether]

This rocks! I can't wait to try it.

[SoapyHollow]

Sweet! I'd love to see what you do!

[noxvox]

That amethyst soap is gorgeous! How did you form the whitish base of the crystal? Did you use two colors of glycerin or did it just settle that way? Brilliant instructable!

[SoapyHollow]

Thanks! It's one of my favorite soaps recently. It's taken me a while to figure out how to pour "crystal soap". I should do an instructable on it now that I think I've figured it out. :) Basically, it's 4 colors of soap. You do multipours, but you warm up each previous layer a little, so you can sort of blend them, so you get that gradation.

[BeadSpinner]

I like that... just one more thing for me to try - not enough hours in a day!

[SoapyHollow]

Heh, I know...crafting is an addiction, and this site is totally the dealer of my downfall. ;)

[knarx]

I hate this. Not the instructable, but the molding mixture is only available in Canada and the US. So, I am sitting here molding my finger in my ear. Damn. This seemed so interesting.

[szechuan53]

plaster works preety well, but only on simple things like a cube or half a lego person.

[shalow]

I just checked around, to se if i couldnt find some place that sells it outside the usa (as im from eu ) i wont be able to buy any at the moment, but ill keep the stuff at the back of my mind til when i need it.
anyways i found one place where you can get it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Amazing-Mold-Putty-Silicone-Molding-Polymer-Clay-More_W0QQitemZ120288988740QQihZ002QQcategoryZ28104QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[SoapyHollow]

Hmmmm, I know the company sells stuff on their website, will they not ship overseas? I would have thought there'd be an international distribution channel.

[knarx]

I contacted them a few hours ago. I will see, the homepage said only Canada and the U.S.

[Babyshoes]

I also just contacted them after a google search found nothing worthwhile. We shall wait and see!

[Hippykidz]

VERY COOL! We have been making family gifts for years now with our children. I can't tell you how many different times we could have used this. chocolate,hard-candies, soap,candles...

[SoapyHollow]

Yeah...we too are like the crazy people with the arts and crafts projects. :) Igor loves to make stuff. I'd love to see what you do!