My soap curls in the refrigerator.
Make your inserts. Place them in a bowl or place and put them in the refrigerator. Wait over night. Pull them out the next day. The refrigerator will have pulled water out of your soap inserts. This will make them less likely to melt. It will also make things easier for you when you are arranging them in the mold. They will be less likely to stick to each other. Depending on how much soap is in each individual insert will depending how much water is lost.
During my experiments, I discovered I could lose 8% to 29% in weight from water. The smaller and thinner my inserts were, the more water I was able to lose. In my experiments, the inserts that lost the most amount of water were easier to work with and they were less likely to melt if I had soap that was a little too hot. I also discovered the larger inserts lost more water the longer I left them in the refrigerator. You can do some testing of your own to determine how long you should leave your inserts in the refrigerator based on your climate, type of soap, and style of refrigerator.
In order to determine how much water is lost during a period of time, weigh your cutouts and record that amount. Place your bowl on the scale and record how much it weighs. Place your cutouts in your bowl and put it in the refrigerator and wait at least 12 hours. Weigh the entire bowl with your cutouts. Record and subtract how much your bowl weighs from your initial total weight. Now divide your finished cutout weight by your original cut out weight. That will give you a percentage of how much weight in water was lost during the period of time you left it in your refrigerator. Now you can plan ahead so you know your cutouts are ready for your melt and pour soaps.
Happy Soapmaking!
