How to Rebatch Soap

I wrote about the four different ways to make soap (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/7683... One of four ways to make soap is melt and pour (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/7683... Another way is cold process (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/7683... Today's article is how to rebatch soap. Rebatching is also called hand crafting or hand milling.

Ingredients

• soap that has recently been made using the cold process method or stored wrapped in plastic since it was made. If you make your own cold process soap in order to rebatch it, don't add any additives like color or scent after you reach trace. Just pour it into a simple mold.
• one cup of whole milk (you can use goats milk) per pound of soap, less if the soap contains olive oil
• scent, color, and other optional additives

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Chop the soap into little pieces. Put the pieces into a pot. Add the milk. Stir. Put the top on the pot. Put the pot into the oven. Stir every fifteen minutes or so.

When everything has turned to liquid, after about an hour or two, Remove the pot from the oven. Add scent, color, and whatever other additives you want. It's better to stir your additives together in a little bit of oil in a separate container and then stir them into the pot of soap. When the additives are all mixed in to the soap, put the soap into molds. Let the soap cool and harden in the molds.

When it is ready, remove it from the molds. Set it aside for about four weeks to cure so all the water evaporates out and you get a nice, hard bar. Now you can do the happy soap dance!

Why Rebatch?

• You can rebatch if you don't want to work with lye. You can buy soap noodles from http://www.soapcrafters.com that is cold process soap ready to be rebatched.
• You can rebatch if you want to add milk or goats milk to cold process soap to make it richer and creamier.
• You can rebatch if you don't like how your cold process soap came out. Rebatching is a way to salvage soap that you would otherwise throw away.
  The copyright of the article How to Rebatch Soap in Soapmaking is owned by Sinclair A. Sheers. Permission to republish How to Rebatch Soap in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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