In this example, I only used half of my original batch, which weighed just over one pound. I used a cheese grater to get the soap into tiny pieces. I dread this part. I like to cook well enough, but grating cheese is my very least favorite thing to do in the kitchen. I hate it. The first time I did this I was so pleased to discover that the consistency of the soap make grating much easier than I had feared. I had my four or five bars grated and in the Crock Pot in no time!
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Soap is way easier to grate than cheese! |
I stirred it all up, and set the Crock Pot on low. An hour later, the mixture was much softer and easy to stir. After another 45 minutes or so, I checked again to find the mixture to be almost completely gelled. I added some lovely orchid color and slightly less than 1/4 ounce of jasmine fragrance oil. Jasmine is my absolute favorite scent!
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Gelled soap. Time for color and fragrance! |
I cut the bottom off of the can, lined the lidded end with plastic wrap, put the top back on, and secured the plastic wrap with a rubber band. The top of the container had now become the bottom. I lined the inside of the can with parchment paper, and cut a few inches off of the can to make it shorter (and easier for the smushing part). I'm happy to say that this worked really well. I had read others' horror stories about not lining the can and having the soap react in a weird way to the aluminum-ish lining inside of the can.
After smushing and setting aside to harden for a day, I tore the can right off of the soap.
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Unveiling the rebatched soap at the breakfast table. |
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Successful, if rustic, rebatch. |
So is rebatching worth the effort? Yes!
In other news, I'm starting some holiday soaps that smell delicious! This one is Kringleberry, and the scent is Christmas morning in a bottle. I'm really happy with how the swirls turned out in this batch.
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Handmade Kringleberry soap. |
I used sparkly micas for this one, and learned a valuable lesson about those. I think next time I would have mixed the sparkly crimson with a little bit of red to make it more vivid. Also, the lighter color has some iridescent white sparkle mica, but I think next time I'd add some titanium dioxide for a more dramatic color effect.
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Kringleberry soap. I love the sparkles! |
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