Soapmaking 101
Lesson 8: Advanced techniques
Handmilled Soap
Hnadmilled soap is essentially cold process soap melted down and repoured. It is also called re-batching. Why, you ask, would someone go to all the trouble of making cold process soap just to melt it down? Well... handmilled soap is hard and shiny, because the soap flakes have been compressed into each other. And sometimes you want hard and shiny. For one thing, soaps last longer when they are harder. You can also pour handmilled soap into those beautiful little intricate molds... Also, delicate scents and additives may be degraded by the cold process method, but with retain their value if added during handmilling. A good example of this is aloe vera gel. I have noticed a significant different in soap produced by adding aloe vera at trace to adding it to a rebatched recipe.
Many, many handmilled recipes are available on the web and in books. However, as saponification has already taken place, handmilling is where you can truly let your imagination run wild and make up your own recipes on the fly. It is the one occasion, I feel, where you can experiment with fresh ingredients in small batches such as cucumber or kiwi, and with expensive cosmetic or medical remedies such as french clay or kelp. You can can also experiment with a variety of molds, such as candy molds, jello molds, mini cake pans etc.
Equipment and Techniques
Here is a list of equipment you will need for handmilling:
- very sharp knife or soap cutter
- grater (wide cut)
- stainless steel saucepan
- wooden spoon
- saptular
- thermometer
- molds
Follow these basic steps to handmill your soap:
- Cut your soap into chunks and grate it (don't try to take a short cut with a food processor, I tried it and you just end up witrh a gooey mess).
- In a saucepan, add soap and water in the following ratio: 1 pound of soap to 12 ounces of water.
- Gently stir the mixture with your spoon - try not to stir up bubbles as they will mar the surface of your finished soap. Heat gently - don't let the mixture boil.
- Let the mixture liquify completely and then remove it form the heat - you need to let it cool slightly to about 150 degrees farenheit before pouring.
- Gently stir ikn the additives your recipe calls for.
- Pour the soap into your molds. This is where your spatular comes in handy - you want every last bit. Tap the molds on a flat surface to get rid of any bubbles and to level the top.
- You can either leave the soap in the molds until they have hardened enough to remove them (the edges should pull away from the sides) or you can put them in the freezer and unmold them after about an hour. Place the soap somewhere cool to dry.
In handmilling, it can be effective to substitute the following for the water: goat's milk, regular milk, green tea, herb tea, and rose water.
Norma Coney's book The Complete Soapmaker has 46 handmilled recipes and photographs of each, and I recommend it if you are going to do a significant amount of handmilling. Check the Resources section for more information and how to purchase this book. Check out my links section titled "Advanced Techniques" for links to handmilled recipes and information on the web.
Whipped Soap or Soap that Floats
A fun handmilling method that produces soap that floats! When your soap has melted sufficiently, beat it with an electric beater on high speed for several minutes. The soap should look white and fluffy and, well, whipped! Get it into your molds quickly as it can set up fast. Soap that floats is always a hit with small children.
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