Stinkydancer

I have read tons of posts on here and everywhere else about rebatched "rustic" looking soap. I love all kinds of soapmaking, cp, mp, hp, and rebatch. Well, it seems like everyone is searching for a smooth outcome for their rebatch. I have been trying to figure it out for years for some of the foodier scents that I do. I'm happy to report that finally I have found out the way to smoother rebatched soap. I had some unscented soap that I made laying around and I wanted to use it up. It has been sitting for a few months so this soap wasn't fresh by rebatch standards. I wanted to try out a scent blend that my daughter made up and surprise her with the soap. So warning- I just cut the soap with a knife for home use so the bars aren't perfectly shaped. Anyway, I thought I would share it in case you ever needed or wanted to rebatch. Here it is: I started with 3 pounds of soap that I grated and then put into my food processor which turned it to little balls. The smaller you can get your soap chunks the better this works. Since the lye was cured out, I stuck the soap in a stainless bowl and covered it with aluminum foil. If your soap is fresh with active lye- you want to use a stainless pot with a lid. I added 1 cup of regular 2% milk and stirred it up. I let that sit for about 15 minutes. If your soap is fresher, use less liquid. You don't want soap soup, you just want your soap to be a little wet. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. I know it sounds a little high for soap but I haven't burned a batch yet. Put the soap in for about 15 minutes covered. Check it out when this time has passed. Parts should look like vaseline, it may be a little melted at this point. Give it a stir. If it looks dry add a little more liquid. Then pop back into the oven. Check every 15 minutes until it looks like a vaseline type gel with some chunks in it probably. Stir it gently every time you take it out of the oven. When it looks like it's uniformly melted- added some extra oils of your choice. I used Jojoba and a little castor. I didn't measure these out I just eyeball it but it isn't more than a Tablespoon each. You should at this point be able to stir it with the end of your stick blender. Then use the stick blender to break up any chunks. The pop it back into the oven, covered, for about a half an hour. (If it's less than 3 pounds- I would go with 15 minutes. Once you take it out of the oven, it should be pourable. It starts to set fast so work fast with your fragrance using either a spoon or a stick blender(lightly) to blend. Pour it into molds, smooth out the top, and let it set for 24-48 hours. This may take a little longer to set depending on your amount of liquid. After you take it out of the mold, cut it and let it sit until it hardens up. I usually let it sit for 3 weeks and the bars last forever. I added some pictures with the top before and after I trimmed and the inside. It looks chunkier because I added oatmeal to this one. Hope this helps someone!

Wow beautiful suds! I rarely color my milk soaps- I like the browns. But I may try that 50/50- that sounds like it would be pretty. Thanks for sharing.

Oh I almost forgot- if the soap doesn't work out you can rebatch it and add a little more fragrance. That way you aren't throwing out soap.

I would probably not mix your FO in with a stick blender. I would use a stainless spoon or a heat safe spatula. It sounds like the batch seized on you because of the fo. The soap should be ok if you were still able to mold it. You did the right thing by getting it in there fast. Sometimes seizing can affect saponification so if this wasn't HP- definitely zap test your soap and if no zap you can use it. Fragrance oils that make soap seize is a touchy thing. If you put the FO in and it instantly seized then stirring with a spoon may not help. If you want to eliminate it you can mix it in with your warm oils before you add the lye but then the lye could eat it all up depending. Maybe you can try that and just add extra FO and see if the scent sticks. Dragonsblood is usually a heartier scent so you might have good luck that way. By the way, I only make small batches- 32oz of oils. It works better for me and I don't worry so much about screwing it up. Hope I could help!

I'm jealous! I love love love Puerto Rico. What a beautiful fun place! Ummm- errrr- nope never hot there.

This is the only way I soap when do cp- love it. I use both room temp lye and room temp oils usually! I guess it depends on my mood- if I'm anxious to soap I'll melt my oils with the lye. Makes the process super easy...

My walmart doesn't sell palm or coconut oil- so I get these in small amounts at Whole Foods. It took me forever to find the palm there though. LOL It's just vegetable shortening. You can also get larger quantities online of these. My olive oil I get at Sam's Club- super cheap! Fragrance oils I have not found anywhere except Michaels but I have never bought them something tells me they aren't good. Get your Fragrance or Essential Oils from a reputable online soap source, make sure its safe for skin and not just for candles. You also want to watch your oils for discoloration (if you plan to color your soap) and you also want (at least when your starting out) to stay away from oils that will accelerate trace until your comfortable with the process. Most online fragrance sources will know enough about their oils to know how they behave in soap. Good luck and take good lye precautions.

I use Rooto or Roebic from Menards or Ace... I've never had a problem with Rooto- it seems to do fine for my soap.

This is a great thread especially for new soapers. I would say- the number 1 priority is to respect the lye. Use gloves and goggles and simple batches to start so you can work slower. Keeping a soap diary- very important. I would be lost without that. Get familiar with a soap calculator. Don't worry about temps too much- I'm a room temp soaper too! What I do is always cover my workspace with cardboard, newspaper, or heavy garbage bags just in case I spill the lye. It hasn't happened yet but you never know. I also always keep a heavy duty rubbermaid pail thing next to me with some vinegar and water in it to put my used tools in until I wash them the next day. I keep my gloves on until I'm totally done and put then back on to wash even the next day and when handling soap. You can never be too cautious when using lye.

To get the tops when doing cp- I have always poured the top at medium to thick trace and use a whisk to lift the thicker soap to make peaks. Not sure about the m&p method but I think some people whip it with a beater???

I wouldn't worry too much about the vanilla stabilizer with the chunks but for peace of mind you could use it there too. The speckles are safe to use and might add some visual interest to your soap- Speckles just happened to me with my hot process soap and it actually looked kind of cool.

The way I always did it with m&p is I used fine grain sea salt and added it to the soap when it was cool and then poured when it was even cooler and it suspended every time. I guess you could compare it to medium to thick trace with cp. Hope that helps... I think I need to go and make some salt bars- love em!!

It looks very nice- I just got into HP but really like it too. Well- except for the coloring part:shocked2:- but hey my blue speckled soap washes awesome! Nice job!