My project today is re-batching soap, I hope you'll join me!
I had a batch of soap that I just wasn't happy with the fragrance and I felt like I had nothing to lose by trying to re-batch it. I learned things that I'll be sure to do next time too! Pictured above is soap shavings. I took several bars to craft night at our church along with my cheese grater.
I had other soap left overs to go in my re-batch, it looks like a lot of soap but it only weighed out to two pounds. After adding it to my largest Crock Pot I put in 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of Castor Oil.
Because it filled my biggest Crock Pot, I was a little worried...
You never know what's going to happen till you try so here we go, I turned it on low and waited.
After about an hour it was melting down. One of the things I learned was not to be afraid to add water a little at a time.
I made sure to check the temperature several times before adding the fragrance oil so it wouldn't dissipate like before. It's all part of learning as you go. This batch could have used more water. I need to mention here that I had some left over soap shavings that were dark from Chocolate soap and white shavings too that I stirred in just before I put the soap in the molds - you'll see why soon.
The soap molds are experimental and I like the size soaps they produced.
The next day I took my re-batched soap out of the molds.
Cut up the soap logs into bars.
Set the bars on a baking rack to dry out before we use them.
All in all the re-batching was successful, the soap smells wonderful. I used Elements Bath & Body Phoenix fragrance oil, it smells similar to the store bought Axe fragrances. The only thing I would do differently is add more water to the re-batch. A few of the bars crumbled and broke apart. Did you notice the specks and spots in the bars of soap? Those are the soap shavings that I added in just before I put it in the molds.
Have you ever re-batched your soaps?
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7 comments:
Jan, your re-batch looks great! I need to get together a bit more soap scraps, then I can try this. How can you tell while the re-batch is still in the crock pot that you need more water? Is there a certain consistency you look for? When is it "done"? Thanks, Anna Oh, and I LOVE the dark chunks, looks like chocolate chips. Yum.
I haven't ever made soap, so this was interesting to me. Hmmmm. Looks like a great gift idea. Thanks for sharing.
I give you kudos for making it to begin with, but trying to 'fix' it boggles my mind!
I like te look od your finished product, btw!
Hi Anna,
I think just trial and error is how we'll know how much water to add to the re batch as we go. Sorry I don't have a definite answer for you, I don't have enough experience yet =(
I'm thinking if I have too much water my soap will just take a little longer to dry out?
Have a good day my friend!
Jan
Hi, I saw your post on the HomeAcre Hop. We're soap makers, too, so always interested in what others have to say about the craft! It's always hard to tell what will happen when you rematch--I'm thinking yours smelled really good!
Meredith/Green Circle Grove
Wonderful! I'm thinking about trying my hand at soap :) Thanks so much for sharing this on The HomeAcre Hop!
I would love to have you join me on The Creative HomeAcre Hop today!
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-creative-homeacre-hop.html
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