Can you believe it’s re-batch? A tutorial

 

it is not often that I have a bad batch of soap. In fact I have only had 4 in 5 years. 3 Of them have been in the last 2 months. So with these “bad” batches I decided to make rebatch. I love the consistency of this batch and the unmelted flecks in it.

This is what the soap looked like before I made it into re-batch. Really pretty! But alas when I cut it is was crumbly and hard, a sure sign that something had gone wrong. So it got grated and remade.

INGREDIENTS:

• Grated Scraps:           1177.5    gr   
• Water:                         28.6    gr   
• BaseOil:    Castor       18.2    gr   
• FO:    FO of choice     37.0    ml  

METHOD:

• Prepare your mould ahead of time.
• Take the grated soap and place it in a microwave jug or heavy duty plastic bucket. It’s going to get very hot.
• Take all your wet ingredients, except the Fragrance oil and pour that over the grated soap.
• Place the jug/bucket in the microwave and microwave the mixture on 50% strength for 5 minutes.
• Take it out and see if it has started to melt. If not do another 2 minutes on 50%. This is not an exact science and all microwaves are different so you will have to eyeball it.
• Place back in the microwave on high for 1 minute. You should have a melted mass of soap. If it is not all melted then keep going in 30 second bursts until it is all melted. You are looking for Apple sauce like mixture. Unfortunately no picture is available.
• You may need to add more water if it is really thick. Don’t add too much though as your soap will be very soft and you will have to wait for the water to evaporate from the soap.
• Once the mixture has cooled slightly add your fragrance oil and mix really well. Pour into your mould and leave for a few hours or over night.
• Once it has cooled down and set  you can cut the soap and if it is hard enough

Riverlea Soap

Technorati Tags: Riverlea Soap,handmade soap,rebatch soap

Making Rebatch Soap in a Crock pot - a Tutorial

I have made rebatch soap a few times before, and here, but always in the microwave. As much as I like using the microwave you never seen to get the same creamy, melted soap consistency that you do in a crock pot so I thought I would share my method with you.

• Take your batch of CP soap that you made and let it is sit for a few days. You still want it to be soft but not Caustic.
• Grate it up - this is a great upper arm workout.

Ingredients:

• Grated Scraps: 1177.5 gr
• Water: 28.6 gr or more if your soap is hard and well cured
• Base Oil: Castor 18.2 gr
• FO: FO of choice 37.0 ml

METHOD:

• Prepare your mould ahead of time.
• Turn the crockpot onto full heat.
• Take all your wet ingredients, except the Fragrance oil and pour that into the crockpot.
• Take the grated soap and place it into the crockpot.
• Turn the crockpot onto low heat. Give it all a stir.

• Leave the mixture for a bout 20 minutes and keep coming back every so often to check on it. The idea is that it melts slowly and thoroughly.
• You may need to add more water if it is really thick. Don’t add too much though as your soap will be very soft and you will have to wait for the water to evaporate from the soap.

• Once you are happy that the soap has melted turn the crockpot off.
• Leave the mixture to cool slightly add your fragrance oil and mix really well. Pour into your mould and leave for a few hours or over night.
• Once it has cooled down and set  you can cut the soap and if it is hard enough
• You can use this soap right away if it is hard enough but you may need to let it harden for a few weeks if you added too much water.

 

Riverlea soap

Training in the Eastern Cape – part 2

What a long trip – 739km give or take.
Day 1: The Farm to Port St Johns. I don’t travel very well for long distances after my back operation so we decided to do the trip in two parts. On day one we drove from the farm to Umngazi River Bungalows in Port St Johns for one night of R&R . WOW what an amazing place. I wish we had had more than one night. We will definitely have to go back for more time.

I was very spoiled with a complimentary massage at the Spa. This was just what the doctor ordered after 400 odd kilometers of travel in a car.

 

 

 Day 2: Port St Johns to Grahamstown. We got off to an early start on Thursday as we had a 6 hour drive ahead of us. This turned into about 9 with all the road works! We finally made it at 1730 and drove straight to the Angus Gillus foundation

Technorati Tags: Riverela Soap,Handmade soap,cold process soap

where we were met by Lucy. Lucy works very hard to find funding for projects. She and Cynth (her trusty helper) then arrange for certain groups in the community to be trained in a particular field so they can start and maintain sustainable businesses. Very noble.

Day 3: Training. We drove for about 40 minutes to get to the Township of Glenmore where the ladies were to be trained.  What a special group of ladies. They learnt about safety when making soap and you can see them below all kitted out and ready.

After the theory we had a lesson on how to use the stick blender.. the things we take for granted! Below you can see their soaps gelling. Cynth (in the red top) is paying close attention to my demo as she and Lucy will have to remind all the ladies of what they learned.
   
Once we had done the hard part of teaching Cold process I then showed the ladies how to make rebatch soap. And then they also got a demo on using Melt and Pour. They were all given a Riverlea Soap Melt and Pour kit to take home with them to practise.

Lucy has promised a follow up email to show me how the ladies are progressing. I am very excited. We also discussed the possibility of one group knitting cotton face cloths as an add on to sell with the soap. And they could also make homemade paper to wrap the soap.


Riverlea Soap