HOW DO YOU USE OUR SOAP TUBE MOULDS?
The mould is a 2 part mould which you'll need to cut so that you can place each piece together in order to make the 3D effect. You'll also need to cut the end of one of the moulds so that you'll be able to pour in your soap. (Pictured below is our HEART Soap Tube Mould, but the same principle will apply to most of our Tube Moulds).
Once you've finished your cutting, simply place both moulds together and clamp with some bulldog clips. Then stand this up in a vertical position and pour in your soap. It's a good idea to just pour in a small amount first and then tilt the mould so that the melted soap touches the edges to seal them. (This is especially important if you've heated your soap too much because then it becomes more runny than usual).
Once this has set, take out the tube shape and trim off any rogue bits of soap where the join is. Now you're ready to put the tube shaped soap into a soap loaf mould.
PLACING THE TUBE INTO THE SOAP LOAF
This is quite tricky and you'll only get it right after quite a bit of practice!!
First you'll need to fill just a little of your soap loaf mould with your melted soap base. You'll need to let this cool down slightly so that a very thin skin forms. (If you allow it to cool too much then the next layer of soap won't "stick" to the first layer and your finished soap might come apart). By pouring in layers and allowing each layer to cool down slightly you'll be able to position the tube shaped insert where you want it and it should stay in place. MAKE SURE that you position the tube of soap the right way around! (In most cases this will be upside down, because you're pouring into a loaf mould where the bottom of the mould becomes the top of the finished soap).
A couple of other things to think of:
You should lightly spray the top of each layer with rubbing alcohol which will get rid of any bubbles that might form. This will also help each "layer" to stick to each other.
Make sure that you don't overheat the soap base because this might melt the tube shaped insert and cause the colour to "bleed" through. This "bleeding" can still happen even if you haven't overheated your soap base because there are different types of cosmetic colourants available - make sure you buy non-bleeding colours to colour your soaps.
Have a look at all of our soap tube moulds here: SOAP TUBE MOULDS
SOAP MOLDS
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