Hand Milled Soap Recipes

There are several ways to make soap:  Cold Process, Hot Process, Melt and Pour, and Hand-milled.  Never heard of hand-milled?  According to e-how contributor, Christopher Hall, hand-milled soap is simple soap that has been grated, melted and formed into molds. You can either use soap you have made yourself, synthetic store-bought soaps, natural store-bought soaps or bulk soap for soap makers. To these basic soaps you can add any specialty ingredients you wish: essential oils, dried flowers, glycerin or milk are some of the possibilities. Are you interested in seeing the recipes Christopher has in his article?  Then check out his article on E-How tiled Hand-Milled Soap Recipes.

How to Make Your Own Hand-Milled Soap

Another way to make soap is by making it by the handmilled method.  Handmilled soap, aka rebatching, is taking a premade bar of soap and melting it down and adding your favorite scents and coloring without having to deal with lye.

If you are interested in making your soap by this method, here are instructions on How to Make Your Own Hand-Milled Soap by Civita Dyer. As the author states It all begins with plain white bars of soap from the grocery store. I have been to Trader Joe's where they sell unscented white soap.  You will have to buy the palm oil chips online.  The author mentions scenting your soap with botanical fragrance oil.  Now I am not sure what she means by that.  I am purely guessing that she means essential oils.

You are probably wondering how many bars you will get from this recipe.  According to the author, it will depend on the size of  your molds.

Rebatched Soap Recipe from HGTV

Marbleized Soap
Project designed by Dr. Robert McDaniel.

Materials:

covered microwave-safe casserole dish
1-1/2 pounds of grated rebatchable soap
whisk or mixing forksoap mold, flexible plastic, individual bar shapes used
soap colorants (powders or color tabs)
fragrance (essential oils or fragrance oils )
milk, room temperature (cow or goats milk), up to 1 cup
rubber spatula
shallow bowl containing hot water

Steps:

1.Place the soap into a small casserole dish and add 1/4 cup milk. To produce a uniform color, add the colorant to the dish, then cover and heat in the microwave on high for 60 seconds.

2. Repeat the 60-second heating cycle until the soap begins to soften and melt then use the whisk to blend the milk, colorant and soap.

3. Heat for an additional 60 seconds, stir, and add one or two additional tablespoons of milk if the soap is lumpy or too thick to mix uniformly. Repeat the heat and stirring cycle until a uniform pasty consistency is achieved.

4. Add one tablespoon of scent and stir briefly.

5. Transfer the soap paste with the spatula into the clean plastic molds and allow to cool overnight or place in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.

6. Remove the mold from the freezer and place it into a shallow bowl of hot water for about 10 seconds, then turn the mold upside down and push on the mold to remove the soap.

7. Allow the soap to age and harden for one to two weeks prior to use.

To view photographs of this project go to: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_personal_care_bath_body/article/0,1801,HGTV_3144_1377733,00.html

Source: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_personal_care_bath_body/article/0,1801,HGTV_3144_1377733,00.html