Choosing Soap Molds

Becca | June 5, 2014 | Equipment | No Comments

Melt and Pour Soap Molds

One of the most fun parts about making homemade soap is picking the soap mold. There are so many choices out there. The possibilities are endless. In addition to different types and shapes, you can also get “soap stamps” to create designs on your soap. Let’s go over several different types of soap molds. (Throughout the post I’ve included affiliate links with images so you can see what I’m talking about and jump over to Amazon if you want to purchase)

Types of Soap Molds

Plastic Soap Molds

These are good beginner molds and you can find several plastic soap molds at your local craft store. Basically these are clear plastic molds that you can make several individual bars with.

Each bar is made from its own cavity in the mold. Sometimes these are single molds or there might be several cavities in one sheet. You can often use soap stamps with these.

Like I said these are inexpensive beginner molds. I wouldn’t recommend these very much though. I often have a hard time getting the soap out of the mold and after many uses they can get brittle and crack.

Tray Molds

Tray molds are like the plastic cavity molds. Tray soap molds are better for higher quantities of production. There is really only one cavity with dividing lines to guide for cutting the soap into many bars.

Loaf Molds

These molds are just like what they seem. Loaf Molds consist of 1 large deep cavity to create a soap loaf. These usually hold several pounds of soap and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and even materials. I would say the most common loaf molds are made of wood, silicone, or plastic.

After you get your cooled soap out of the mold you will need to slice it into bars with a knife, a mitre box setup, or a soap cutter.

Tube Molds

Tube molds are similar in concept to loaf molds. The benefit of using a tube mold is that you can get more interesting shapes after the tube is cut into slices. The soap is a bit trickier to get out of the mold though. You can try using PVC pipe or candle molds. Get creative!

Silicone Soap Molds

Okay these are my favorite! I find silicone soap molds are easy to work with and they last a long time. The best part is popping your soap out of these molds because the silicone is so flexible! As you have seen throughout the post, silicone molds can come in all different shapes and types. You can often find them at Walmart in the bakeware section or seasonal sections! I picked up some heart molds around Valentine’s day.

Here are some molds that I recently purchased from Amazon. I got the blossom and sunflower molds! So cute!