Hand-Milled Soap Making Process

Hand milled (aka re-batching or French Milled) is a soap making process that is different from the melt and pour process, This process starts by grating a pre-made bar of soap, such as Castille Soap, melting it with water and adding additives, fragrances and oils to make a bar of soap, A bar of soap made by this process takes 2 to 4 weeks to cure before you can used it.

Soap base - Start with a pre-made bar of soap, preferably a vegetable base soap by the cold process method. You can also purchase a high quality bar of soap such as Castille Soap. In either case, it is best to use soap that has no fragrance or coloring because you want able to create your own unique bar of soap. If the soap base you are using has coloring or fragrance in it, it may interferer with what fragrances and colors you want to add.

Method - The soap will be grated and melted with water in a double boiler. Fresh preserved additives, oils, fragrances, dried botanical and colorants can all be added to create your unique bar of soap,

Curing - A bar of soap made by this process sometimes requires up to 4 weeks to completely cure, but in most cases it will be ready to be used in 2 weeks. It is not necessary to wrap in plastic and over time they become harder and better the longer they cure.

Molding - Use simple shaped molds with large embossed decorations. The most common form of a hand milled soap is in the shape of a ball which has been molded by hand. You are limited in this process of making soap, but is an excellent way to produce a natural looking bar of soap.

General Directions for Hand-Milled Soap Making:

1. Grate and process 2 cups of vegetable based soap until fine.

2. Place grated soap in a heat resistant glass measuring cup or bowl.

3. Add any oil that the recipe calls for. Add 1/3 cup of water.

4. Place measuring bowl in a hot water bath on the stove top. Melt the soap, stirring gently until the soap starts to appear "stringy".

5. Remove the melted soap from the heat and add the additional ingredients. Stir the mixture to disperse the ingredients.

6. Work quickly, spoon or pour mixture into prepare mold.

For more information on this process, pleae refer to "Natural Soapmking" by Marie Browning, Sterling Publications. As of this writing, I am not aware of anyone who teaches a class of making soap by this method.