molding cold processed soaps into wooden dishes..

so to further my soaptopia obsession.. i want to make sure i'm not ruining any of the essential oils when fitting them to the wooden dish.. so far my method is as follows..

i mash up the puck in the wooden dish with a small muddler.. i'm guessing you could use the back of a butter knife just the same.. i then preheated my toaster oven to 300 and placed the entire dish in there for a few minutes to further soften up.. when i take it out i mix up the clumpy mess with the back of muddler and flatten and smooth out the soap with the back of a spoon to make it flush in the dish.. then i place it in the fridge to harden back up..

my main concern was ruining the scent by heating it up.. i know it's been mentioned that essential oils cannot be microwaved.. but i wanted to make sure i wasn't doing any harm and also if there is a better and more effective method?

thanks everyone and feel free to tell me to shutup about soaptopia if you like.. but i'm just taken with the stuff.

I have read that people do the double boiler method to help mold the puck to fit the bowl. Don't quote me on this but i think that Gssixgun had posted this method so you might want to ask him.

the double boiler method doesnt work well with soaptopia soaps, i used a similar cold process to form it to my dish, i used a cheese grater to get it in small shavings and once it was grated it was VERY pliable and went into my dish with no problem. It was uneven at first, but with one shave it has a smooth top.

You have to be careful with many essential oil, the flash point on most are between 170 and 200 so warming them up can make the oils evaporate. If you are only leaving them in for a few min you most likely are keeping most of them. You just have to be very aware of what you are doing. Grating them and adding some hot, not boiling water and let sit until they are more of a mush is the better way of doing it. It won't be smooth, but you are preserving the integrity of the essential oils.

excellent.. i guess i've just been avoiding the cheese grater cause it seems messy and like i'd be throwing away a lot of soap.. but i guess it's no big deal.. it's not like it's $50 a puck or anything.

Ok watch out for the cooks mind on booze...

Double boiler (at sea level) get to 212 degrees, at a full boil... But you don't have to take it to a full boil to melt/soften the soap (soaptopia is unknown to me). I use TGQ's soaps and use the double boiler method to "wilt" the soap enough to adhear to the container I'm putting it in.

A rolling boil is 212 degrees (at sea level, remember?) So don't boil it, let it simmer... slow bubbles that make it to the surface puts the temp right about 180degrees (ASL), so it you only bring the water to the point of tiny bubbles (ok don't get distracted by the beer bubbles...) you should get the soap soft enough to do what you need it to do :) At low enough temps to keep it all safe :)

Here is what i was talking about. Only i didn't notice that he did his in glass and you said wooden.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/attac...-again-002.jpg

The Soap Bowls were found at Walmart ($1.97 each) they are Anchor Hocking Sugar Bowls put to a much more noble use...

The soaps in this pic are all Glycerin, and were melted into the bowls using the double boiler method, by placing the bowls in about 1 inch of boiling water (not a rapid boil you don't want water in the soap) you can gently melt the soaps to fit perfectly... No I don't use the microwave to melt in the soaps as this can wreck the scent (ask Mama Bear)

If you had linked the rest you would have the Grated method in there too :)

If you grate the soap around the edge and bottom you don't even have to grate that much to fit it to the bowl...I grate on wax paper and then toss some shavings in the bottom of the bowl press in the remaining chunk-o-soap then more shavings around the sides and top, then as CarrieM said, a touch of hot water and press it smooth using the wax paper...

Double boiler works wonders just as DwarvenChef explained no need for high heat and no need to melt the whole puck just melt enough to fit it to the bowl...

Actually Glycerin based soap can be melted in the microwave but you don't just turn it on max and wait for it to turn to liquid. You use reduced setting and as soon as it starts to melt you remove and mix until its all heated and melted. You just revisit the microwave until it slowly melts.