As described in my School Soaps Success thread, I powered through 6 batches of @David James's recipe, with 1/2 vinegar, sugar, and small tweaks to oils depending on what I was running out of that day (I tend to make small batches, sometimes just 3 bars, so I underestimated what it would take to make 78 bars in just over a week during a pandemic 
). With some of the loaves, I ended up with a less fluid batter than I might've wanted for tiger stripe, but I don't mind the big chunks, and I think the green & yellowish green bar is one of the prettiest soaps I've seen. The side-pour black & grey with a very thin batter was my second-to-last soap (side note: all the "whites" in all the soaps are the natural colour. For the black and grey bar, I wanted more contrast, so I added some TD to the uncoloured batter....it's the only one that has a slight yellow tinge!!) and with only a day left, I needed to get that final one done. I chose pink and teal micas and started up. While mixing, I realized that the pink was getting really rather red and the teal seemed a forest green and panicked that I was suddenly making a whole loaf of unscented Christmas soap! So I chucked some peppermint EO in, some green oxide into the teal just to be good n green, and poured it into a nice swirl, and put the loaf to bed in the oven.
A mere 8 hours later it was ready to unmold and cut. I tried to cut it with my cheese slicer but realized I'd break the wire, so took a knife and hoped for the best and it was lovely!
Except wait, here's the rest of the photo: ha ha ha, forget it. Crumble City!
So into a bucket it goes to deal with later, because I still have 12 soaps to make and less than a day to do it! (Oh and, I hope everyone is noticing that the "red" turned out a nice pink after all, and if I'd left the teal alone, no one would have ever thought "Christmas" about this soap....
Fast forward 6 weeks or so and I'm ready to deal with this soap. It's been scenting the basement with lovely peppermint for weeks, but now I have a mandate to create a peppermint + menthol soap for a friend. He doesn't care what soap looks like, so even if (I mean, when) this rebatch turns out ugly, he won't care. So I started grating.
I grated like this for a really long time, but eventually decided that my food processor would make quicker work of it, so finished with that.
Somewhere around here I forgot that I was planning on rebatching half and keeping half to use as confetti (since I am the Confetti Queen), so I dumped all of it into two large casserole dishes, added some milk, and put it in the oven.
Well, after stirring, adding quite a bit more water, and even stick-blending the pot that was melting faster, I was ready to stir in some menthol melted in jojoba and pack it into a mold.
The other pot wasn't melting as well, so I decided not to add water and try to smooth it out, and I would use it as confetti in other soaps. But oh my, would it have been a very different look had I kept the original shavings instead of this:
This is the "smooth" one, in the pot:
The colours are deceptive here...it was really quite a bit greener...kind of like the main green on the SMF board, actually! Like, day-old guacamole.
But through all of this, I have to say I quite like the final product:
I know they always say that rebatching is what you do when all else fails, but this is my third rebatched soap and I quite like the rustic look. Makes me feel like I'm doing HP with the big girls! (@Dawni , @msunnerstood , @linne1gi , @AliOop ....who have I forgotten?)
I do wonder why this one hardened SO FAST and I also noticed that it had some zap, all these weeks later. I did add a bit of extra oil in the rebatch which hopefully will take care of any lye heaviness. Was it the peppermint EO that made everything harden? I've used it lots of times with no problem, so I'm a bit at a loss. Here are the details:
). With some of the loaves, I ended up with a less fluid batter than I might've wanted for tiger stripe, but I don't mind the big chunks, and I think the green & yellowish green bar is one of the prettiest soaps I've seen. The side-pour black & grey with a very thin batter was my second-to-last soap (side note: all the "whites" in all the soaps are the natural colour. For the black and grey bar, I wanted more contrast, so I added some TD to the uncoloured batter....it's the only one that has a slight yellow tinge!!) and with only a day left, I needed to get that final one done. I chose pink and teal micas and started up. While mixing, I realized that the pink was getting really rather red and the teal seemed a forest green and panicked that I was suddenly making a whole loaf of unscented Christmas soap! So I chucked some peppermint EO in, some green oxide into the teal just to be good n green, and poured it into a nice swirl, and put the loaf to bed in the oven.A mere 8 hours later it was ready to unmold and cut. I tried to cut it with my cheese slicer but realized I'd break the wire, so took a knife and hoped for the best and it was lovely!
Except wait, here's the rest of the photo: ha ha ha, forget it. Crumble City!
So into a bucket it goes to deal with later, because I still have 12 soaps to make and less than a day to do it! (Oh and, I hope everyone is noticing that the "red" turned out a nice pink after all, and if I'd left the teal alone, no one would have ever thought "Christmas" about this soap....
Fast forward 6 weeks or so and I'm ready to deal with this soap. It's been scenting the basement with lovely peppermint for weeks, but now I have a mandate to create a peppermint + menthol soap for a friend. He doesn't care what soap looks like, so even if (I mean, when) this rebatch turns out ugly, he won't care. So I started grating.
I grated like this for a really long time, but eventually decided that my food processor would make quicker work of it, so finished with that.
Somewhere around here I forgot that I was planning on rebatching half and keeping half to use as confetti (since I am the Confetti Queen), so I dumped all of it into two large casserole dishes, added some milk, and put it in the oven.
Well, after stirring, adding quite a bit more water, and even stick-blending the pot that was melting faster, I was ready to stir in some menthol melted in jojoba and pack it into a mold.
The other pot wasn't melting as well, so I decided not to add water and try to smooth it out, and I would use it as confetti in other soaps. But oh my, would it have been a very different look had I kept the original shavings instead of this:
This is the "smooth" one, in the pot:
The colours are deceptive here...it was really quite a bit greener...kind of like the main green on the SMF board, actually! Like, day-old guacamole.
But through all of this, I have to say I quite like the final product:
I know they always say that rebatching is what you do when all else fails, but this is my third rebatched soap and I quite like the rustic look. Makes me feel like I'm doing HP with the big girls! (@Dawni , @msunnerstood , @linne1gi , @AliOop ....who have I forgotten?)
I do wonder why this one hardened SO FAST and I also noticed that it had some zap, all these weeks later. I did add a bit of extra oil in the rebatch which hopefully will take care of any lye heaviness. Was it the peppermint EO that made everything harden? I've used it lots of times with no problem, so I'm a bit at a loss. Here are the details:
(Except if that were true, I wouldn't have 78 bars of muddy brown, multi-scented rebatched soap headed for the local shelter, haha).
Sorry I can't speak to the peppermint issues; I don't tend to use it in my soap bc it *tingles* in all the wrong places.
