Do you have problem with stamping in general? Or do you have problem using our SS4Y stamps? Please read this article:
Some facts: - It does matter when you try to stamp your soap regardless of the material your stamp is made of. Below is a picture showing the typical cases we tried to demonstrate. On the left is a way too early stamping, on the right is a stamping that was carried out too late, and in the middle is a fairly good one. The stamps (MERMAID) used is categorised as difficult to use.
- Soap DOES CHANGE after cutting the loaf, so you need to wait certain amount of time before stamping. This time can vary for each different recipe, in each different country. - A recipe cannot be exchanged between soapers wishing for the same result in stamping. Different suppliers or different suppliers in different countries have different ingredient quality regardless of the same name of the ingredient. Example: You make goat's milk soap (properly said: soap with goat milk)in USA with a certain recipe, and you send it to a friend in Australia. They will have a different soap stamping point of view becasue they bought ingredients from different sources from different areas of the world thus they are not the same. - Learning to make soap is not a one day process. It is a journy failing many times, having more and more success going forward in time. In order to have beautifully stamped soaps you need to take your time, energy and loss (many slices of soap until you find the best timing). - Foil between the stamp and soap? We do not believe in this anymore, however we used to use years ago for testing. This doesn't mean it cannot work for you
- Isopropyl rubbing alcohol? Well, in cases when the soap is getting hard already but still sticky can be very good help. You can use it freely for any stamping project, we use it as well, however some 3D stamps seem to work better without. Which one as there are so many. We use 70% and suggest to use the same or above. - CP, HP and M&P soaps can be stamped but with different timing however M&P cannot infinitely stamped with any 3D design. - Clays can be stamped, we started some tests. - Our stamps have gone through many tests, we have external testers who help us a lot, and it seems this final design is the best. (see the image just below)
- Everybody is able to stamp, at least with our stamps, I am 100% sure about this. We use the stamps before even release them to sell. You need experience to see all of these. For Example: do you know that by using titanium dioxide you can stamp your soap much later than the soap without? How do we know this? Experience :-)
TIMING: How to find the best timing minimizing scrap production? 1. Remove your loaf of soap from the mould. Slice all the loaf. Thickess is as you want. 2. Make a hand touching test. If the surface feels sticky do not even try stamping. :-) 3. If you do not feel stickiness anymore (generally speaking 1-2 hours at least) you can try the first imprint. (probably it will not work, so if the slice is large enough do not place the stamp in the middle so you will have a chance to try again on the same side). You have 3 possibilities here: 1. perfect :-) take a note of the timing with this recipe using this stamp 2. doesn't tear out but it is not beautiful and sharp/crisp around the edges. In this case possibly you need to wait a few more hours to stamp again. 3. soap gets stuck in the stamp and it gets torn out. This still can be a long time to get the perfect result. Clean the stamp using a toothbrush under lukewarm water. With a completely dry stamp you can try again after around 6 hours (as wrote above, feel free to use isopropyl, it may helps). 4. Trying again after waiting as suggested you will visually see better result. As long as you do not have sharp edges you need to repeat the steps above.
VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT WAIT DAYS WITH A HARD SOAP. WITH HARD SOAP YOU NEED TO DECREASE THE TIME WINDOW BETWEEN TWO TRIES, stamping can become too late. Example: using the soapcalc.net website: our Hardness = 44 soap is in mould for 48 hours and takes 12-24 hours to achieve perfect stamping. Our Hardness = 49 soap is in mould for 24 hours and can be stamped 6-12 hours after cut. Timi also made 37-40 hardness soap as well, but it can be stamped after a week. Stamping this soap can really make you to wait for 1-2 weeks for good results.
FEEL FREE TO ASK. PLEASE SHARE PHOTOS IF YOU ARE NOT SUCCESSFUL and need an answer why. YOU CAN SEND PHOTOS PRIVATELY IF DON'T WANT OTHERS TO SEE, WE HANDLE THEM STRICTLY CONFIDENTALLY. WE CAN HELP MORE BY SEEING PICTURES OR EVEN THE RECIPE. Writing you have cucumber in your recipe is not enough, it can be 1% or 10%, so exact info needed.
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All the best
Timi & Viktor