I have a secret that isnt shared by most soap makers….I love to handmill soap, its allso called rebatching amoung soapers. I LOVE IT! Yep there ya go, I do enjoy it. Some parts I loathe, like the grating of 17 pounds of the most deliciously swirled (7 color!) sweet cinnamon scented soap that separated ever so slightly in the mold. I could have just left those couple of bars out (one or two) and called it a day but instead I started the extreemly tedious task of grating the soap up, melting it down and remolding.  But I like to do it because it makes such a gorgeous gentle bar of soap its so worth the effort in the end! Some people add extra oils when they rebatch but I do not, when I did my first rebatch I did it by the book- I measured out my shredded soap, I measured out the oil and water that I was to add while melting it down. I mashed and stirred every couple of hours and read the directions until my eyes ached.  Then I developed my own way and its resulted in many compliments from other soapers that is one heck of a feat! I wont give away all my secrets but I dont add any extra oils, why would I want to zap my yummy soap suds? My soap is gentle enough to begin with, no need for extra oils floating around. I do use a crock pot, extreemly slow melting is the way to get the best handmilled soap. Sure you can melt it down in the microwave but its not going to make a smooth product, Ive tried that way, I was really impaitent once. Now my soap spends all day melting down. Litterally all day, the longer and slower it melts the better, that is absolutly key!  

Posted by Shelley in Soap Making on March 10th, 2007 |