The first loaf I tried was Chamomile Spring. This is the only soap I make that uses Melt and Pour soap base, I would really like to find a CP alternative but unfortunately the whole design of this soap relies on being able to look through the clear top down onto Chamomile flowers embedded in the CP soap below. It is one of my top 3 selling soaps and I am loathe to do away with it although I really don't like the M&P use. This was a bit of a nightmare as my molds are 24" long and this cutter only does 10 bars, so I had to cut up the whole loaf first. (see the other bit of soap in the background)
It all worked fine until I got half way through, then the M&P was just too hard for it to handle. I quickly took the whole thing out, half cut - and cut through the M&P top by hand, after lining it up again the cutter went through the CP soap underneath like a dream.
Lovely, really neat slices. The wires did leave a slightly rough surface but I think that once the soap has cured a bit more and I trim the edges, a quick polish of each bar should sort it out.
Then I tried my Azeite Puro - rapidly becoming my best selling soap ever. As a Castile soap it is quite soft so I knew I would not have much trouble, and it was effortless!
Line it all up and..............
Hey Presto! Perfect bars. This is such a soft soap its quite hard to cut accurately by hand but with the cutter the bars are absolutely even in thickness.
Don't they look good? Just got to cut each one in half again (by hand :-( this time) and they are ready for curing. I would say this will cut down my cutting time by 3/4. Well worth the price. Thanks very much Celine from Soaperstar for setting me up with this fab buy and Sam from Outer Hebrides Soap Shack for selling it to me and shipping it all the way from Uist.
And if you are interested this is the maker. I don't think its the best cutter ever and It's probably not much good for someone who cuts up high volumes of soap but for my immediate needs its ideal.
I have this cutter too, as I got fed up cutting all my soap by hand. I agree with everything you said - the soap is slighlty rough when cut, but trim them and they are fine. It is also very very heavy! But as a cutter for a small time soaper like me, it works just fine.
ReplyDeleteHave fun playing with yoru new toy lol xx
Congrats on getting your cutter! I recently switched from slab molds to loaf molds and it was evident pretty early on that I am not talented in the cutting department. Your soaps look amazing!!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Mary
Isn't it amazing what a cutter will do for you? I'm so glad I bought mine this year too!
ReplyDeleteYay, so glad that you and Sam got it sorted... glad to have been your matchmaker!! And the cutters are just amazing - even if mine is a different make, it really helps speed up the whole process. I just to LOATHE cutting soap, just hated it and I have no problems now at all. Sadly they're not designed for MP soaps but have you looked to see if you can make a translucent CP instead? Yay!!!!
ReplyDeleteYes Celine you can make clear CP soap, but its a real faff, you have to cook it for about 4 hours! I will do some though and see if it works. I really hate M&P. Thanks again for helping you really are a star X
ReplyDeleteHola soy Nati, tú blog me ha encantado, no tengo palabras para poder expresar lo que he sentido viendo tantas cosas bellas.
ReplyDeleteTe felicito y me quedo como seguidora.
Yo tengo dos blog a los que te invito a conocer, sin ningun compromiso, solo tienes que pinchar mi foto y te llevará volando.
Hasta pronto besos Nati.
Thank you very much Nati, I will definitely follow your blog. thank you for your lovely comments. X
ReplyDeleteI had a custom soap cutter made for me recently. It also wasn't what I expected. Your cutter is heavy, mine is HUGE!!!!! I had a carpenter friend of mine fix it up so it isn't so huge and also the original size of the cutters were wrong. Luckily my friend was able to fix it. I can't wait to cut my logs of soap!! Have fun!
ReplyDelete