Handmade Soaps

River City Soaps: Handcrafted Soap with a Texas Flair

Press-Lock™ HDPE Log Mold

Custom-made by SoapHutch

		Unassembled pieces of the mold
		The first side inserted in the base
		Detail of the grooves the end piece slides into
		The end locked in place. You can see two little holes, one center top and one center bottom, in the end. They're about 1/4" deep, and they're to help with unmolding.
		Assembled mold with a batch of soap in it. The mold is 17.5" long and I only wanted this log to be 15", so I used the "dam" insert that came with the mold to make it shorter. The thing on the table in front of the mold is the lever tool used for unmolding.

Starting to unmold. Push the little metal part of the lever tool into the hole at the top of the end, then press the handle down over the side of the mold, which causes the end piece to slide up.

Grip the top of the end piece and pull it out, then repeat the process with the other end.

Note: You can see in the picture of the log, above left, that one side of the soap has already released from the mold. This happens pretty often with one side, although I've never seen it happen with both.

		There are little holes for the unmolding lever at the ends of the side pieces near the bottom. Press down on the soap log with one hand (I put a paper towel over the soap to avoid smudges) and use the lever with the other hand to get the side piece sliding up. It might take a few tries to get it started.
		Here the soap has lifted with the side piece because it hasn't started sliding loose. Lower the side back down to the base and try again.
		Here the side piece has started sliding; you can see the bottom of the soap log behind it.
		Once the side starts sliding on the soap just a bit, use the finger hole at the top end to pull it up and completely off the soap.

		One side unmolded. Repeat the process for the other side.
		Because I used a dam in the log for this batch, I needed to slide the dam off as well. I twisted it to the side to start it sliding off the soap. If you make soap using the full length of the mold, this step isn't necessary.
		Smooth sides and sharp corners of the finished soap log.

Finished soaps