Prototype Test 1: Will It Even Work?!

After recently completing our first mold prototype, it was time to begin testing. While we had done a lot of design work and planning, there was still a question as to whether the idea would actually work. The prototype came out great, and we were happy with the results, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t end up with a soupy mess of liquid soap on our table when it came time to pour.

We chose a 50/50 combination of hemp seed oil and goats milk soap bases for our test. We added charcoal for color, and for its beneficial properties when applied to soap. We finalized everything with some cinnamon fragrance oil, and a touch of clove oil.

After the melt, we assembled the mold and poured.

Our first prototype didn’t have a tapered pour spout, and so we were forced to use a funnel. This caused us to overfill just a bit, but that was inevitable without specific volume specifications. For all production models, we will be including precise volume information so that you’ll know exactly how much material each mold will hold.

At this point, things were going well. There was no leakage, and the mold held up well to the pour. We even got to watch it fill! The only thing left to do was wait and hope for the best!

After allowing the soap time to cure, we set the mold on its side and started peeling! The internal connectors popped apart easily, and we soon had a glimpse of the final product.

We simply kept peeling the top layer of silicone off the bottom layer, and when we reach the bar of soap, it came free from the top layer with ease. After just a bit more work, we had the top layer of silicone separated from the bottom, and a brand new bar of soap resting in the middle! There was a tiny bit of flashing around the sides, and of course at the pour spout. Most of this was removed easily by hand, and anything that was more difficult succumbed to a bit of trim work.

With the mold apart, it was a simple process of bending the mold to get the bar of soap to pop free. We cleaned it up, and there you have it: The world’s first bar of soap crafted from a MightyMold! Our biggest takeaway from this was to reinforce the connectors around the casting subject, in order to eliminate the flashing as much as possible. Additionally, we noticed that the mold picked up impressive amounts of detail. So much so, that when production models are created, the casting subjects are going to have to be flawless. Any little imperfection can and will be noticed in the final product.