chuck_35550

I understand the difference Stella. The article presented this procedure as a way to imitate french milled quality. It looks like rebatch to me, but I threw this out to see what kind of response it would get. I think that has been accomplished. If you look at the complete process that the French use to make their fine soaps it would be much more involved; especially those companies that have been making soap for many years. French and Italian soaps are always touted as the bar that others are measured by (no pun intended). I don't want anyone to be offended by that remark; the intention is to open a study of techniques that might be interesting to soap makers on the Board.

Ok, so I watched a Youtube vid where someone took a slab mold and placed pieces of plastic to divide the mold into triangle shapes and poured two contrasting colors in each divided area and then swirled in a circle. So I took my Kelsei and put the dividers in and then cut up fun foam into 18 (I have a 9 bar mold) equal dividers, pulled off the paper and stuck two together to make good solid dividers. I placed each divider diagonally in each bar and hopefully will pour a batch tonight. Will post pics. Steve

Well the cups are just merely an amount of ice water and then you weigh out 41 oz. This article may have been written before stick blenders but go figure. The recipe would make 10 pounds of soap that has been turned into tray molds and covered with cheese cloth. Not sure about the cheese cloth and then stored in paper for 2 to 4 weeks and then grated for the rebatch. I don't rebatch, so I don't know but just read that it kinda gets stringy rather than melt and understand some people add water to get the soap in a fluid enough state to pack into a mold. Adding the extra cocoa butter, glycerin, jojoba and essential oils sounds like super fatting your oils that you wouldn't want saponified? So, would this be very fluid and easily poured into the molds or just more manageable for the individual molds? I guess you could do a test of one pound and see how it would work?

No. This was in response to Irena. Yes, french milled is factory made and not handmade. The French are world renowned for soapmaking and this process goes back quite a way but it is not the same as rebatching. The French milled version of rebatching is the recipe that is posted on BB. I have to say that the lather on this soap is unbelievably rich and the lavender is exquisite with real lavender incorporated in the bar (don't care much for stuff in my soap). You still have to use lye to make the soap and then add the extra ingredients as you rebatch or french mill rebatch the soap. Did I get that right Irena? HTH Steve

How to Make French Soap The difference between making a batch of basic soap and a batch of French soap is that French soap is milled. This means that the soap is put through a two-part cooking process, which creates a soap that is richer and more moisturizing than basic soap. French soap may take a little longer to create, but your skin will thank you. Things You'll Need 6 cups refrigerated water, 2 large pots, rubber gloves, goggles, 14 oz. lye, 2 thermometers, 42 oz. olive oil, 64 oz. palm oil, 3 oz. cocoa butter, plastic spoon, rubber spatula, soap tray mold, cheese cloth, butcher paper or heavy duty wax paper, vegetable grater, small saucepan, 1 oz. cocoa butter, 1 oz. glycerin, 1 oz. jojoba oil, 1 oz. essential oil of lavender, Soap molds. Basic Soap 1 6 cups of ice water, weigh 41 oz. of the cold water and pour it into a large pot. 2 Put on your gloves and goggles. Very slowly and carefully, add 14 oz. of lye to the cold water. Using a plastic spoon, stir it gently until the lye is completely dissolved. The lye will cause the water to heat up very quickly. Place a thermometer on the pot and set it aside to cool. When the lye mixture reaches approximately 105 degrees F, begin to heat up your oils. 3 Combine 42 oz. olive oil, 64 oz. palm oil and 3 oz. cocoa butter in a large pot over low to medium heat. Place a thermometer on the pot. Stir the mixture with a plastic spoon as it melts. When the mixture reaches 100 degrees F, remove it from the heat and place the pot in the sink. 4 Put on your gloves and goggles. Slowly and carefully, pour the lye mixture into the oil mixture, constantly stirring with a plastic spoon. Continue to stir gently for 15 to 20 minutes. 5 Test for tracing. Run a rubber spatula over your mixture. If the indentation holds for a few seconds, then your soap is ready. If not, continue to stir for 15 more minutes, then test for tracing again. This could take up to 1 hour. 6 Pour the soap into a soap tray, cover it with a cheese cloth and allow it to set for 12 to 24 hours. Pop the soap out of the tray, wrap it in butcher's paper and allow it to cure for 2 to 4 weeks or until the soap has hardened enough to grate and go through the second cooking process. French Milled Soap 1 Cover your work surface with butcher's paper. Break off chunks of your cured soap and grate it with a vegetable grater over the butcher's paper. If the soap still has moisture in it, wear your gloves to protect your skin from the lye. 2 Place the grated soap into a large pot. Add 7 oz. of water and stir to combine. Place the pot on the stove over low heat, stirring slowly and gently as the soap melts. If bubbles form stop stirring for a moment until they disappear. Melting the soap could take up to 1 hour. 3 Melt 1 oz. of cocoa butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add 1 oz. each of glycerin, jojoba oil and essential oil of lavender. Stir well until thoroughly and evenly combined. 4 Add the cocoa butter mixture to the melted soap. Stir gently until thoroughly and evenly combined. 5 Carefully pour your soap into soap molds. Run a rubber spatula over the top to even out the soap and remove spillage. When the soap has formed a "skin" on top, place the molds in the freezer for at least 2 hours. 6 Invert your molds over butcher's paper to remove the soaps. Gently tap or twist the molds if the soaps won't come out, but be careful--the soaps will still be soft. Place the soaps in a cool, dark place and allow them to cure for 2 to 4 weeks, turning them once weekly. The soaps will be ready when you can press them with your finger and not leave an impression. I have not personally tried this recipe but thought maybe some of us might be interested in giving it a try. Run the recipe through soap calc and make adjustments to amounts and use grams instead of ounces for greater accuracy. I would be interested to know if anyone has ever made a similar recipe and results if anyone tries the recipe. Steve

Making French milled soap involves a special manufacturing process that includes passing a soap base through steel rollers. The result is a dense, long-lasting bar. Although real French milled soap is a commercial product, a homemade version exists French milled soap begins with crystals made from previously manufactured soap. The crystals go through a pair of stainless steel rollers known as a French mill. The milling process turns the mixture into a fine paste and makes the soap mixture smooth and homogeneous. It also removes glycerin, which would stick to the rollers. The French milling process ensures that each bar is consistent in color, fragrance and texture. True French milled soap is factory-made. French milled soap is sometimes called "triple milled" because the soap mixture passes through the steel rollers at least three times before it is molded into bars or cakes. Rebatching, or hand milling, is the handmade equivalent of French milled soap. Soap makers melt shredded or diced soap pieces in a liquid and pour the mixture into molds to harden. I'm posting a French Milled recipe in the BB section.

I like Starry Night too. Love the neon effect. Great job. Steve

I bought an 8 oz bar of Lavender soap while in Savannah, Georgia. It is a triple milled bar with shea butter and bits of lavender. The French sure know their stuff. Wowzer. Steve

You click on Search and type in a word and it will bring up posts that have the word in them. I started by ordering a votive kit from Cajun Candles. I picked out the colors of dye and 10 1 ounce fos of my choice and they sent a slab of wax, wicks, 1 dozen votive molds with wick pins, dye and fos with instructions. I made several dozen votives and they looked and smelled really good and then test burned them in a dollar store holder. The wax was paraffin and the wicks were zincs. Paraffin has vivid colors and doesn't require a cure time to smell up a room or your house but it tends to smoke or soot a bit if the wicking isn't right. Find a supplier within driving range or at least one close enough to cut down on the shipping cost and go from there. HTH Steve

I'm curious as to how a stamped metal animal is used in your product. Would you post some pics for examples? Steve

Welcome to the Board. Steve

I would pour 7.5 oz of wax and .5 oz of fo for the tester. That should give you an 8 oz candle by weight. It should fill your container to whatever neck or rim your glass has and allow for a lid and it is a tad over 6% fo (4.5 is 6%). Unless you just find it easier to weigh out your wax and throw in a 1 ounce tester. I like to subtract the amount of fo from the wax amount and get a slightly better than 6% amount and have no left over wax. When I pour them up they weigh exactly 8 oz or whatever and that works out to the good. If you are wicking both jars and hoping that the tester will be good and thus leaving you with one ready to sell; then fine and dandy unless the wicking turns out to be inadequate and then you are stuck with two bad candles and wasted money. HTH Steve

I feel like a broken record but you really need to order a candle making kit. Think of it as a reference point in your understanding of how a candle works. Randomly buying wax and wicks will only be a waste of resources (financial) and believe me, this isn't the cheapest and easiest craft you could pick to learn. Please don't invest a ton of money until you've had a chance to try out a kit and see how that works for you. Votives are neat and easiest to do IMHO, although some people might suggest melts. Good luck. HTH Steve

Aroma Haven/Rustic Essentuals

I use the tree molds for Christmas and the snowflake molds for winter. I like to use peppermint and blue on the snowflakes and apple jack peel and red or christmas cabin and green for the trees. But I use mp for those molds. HTH Steve

There are a couple of non-vendor vids on youtube and the molds look like they hold up well. I'm still sitting on the fence but there ain't no way I can afford a Soaphutch acrylic. I don't want no more molds that hold onto sticky soap and screw up the sides. Its down to Soap Makers Resource and Silvermoon. I've learned to listen to Babs but somewhere deep down the devil is saying, "go for it". lol

I think the term is "rancid". When oil goes rancid it gives off a foul odor and may look kinda funky. High oleic oils have longer shelf life like safflower and sunflower but I don't know about a bottle if the seal hasn't been broken and if its kept in a dark cool place like my basement. KWIM? Steve

What percentage fo we talking about?

It always gets the job done.

I have to follow that up with a firm BS! The soy experience? Concerned customers? I used to go to great lengths to explain my wax was a blend of 70% soy, blah, blah blah. The customers look at you with a blank stare and a nod of their head like, "So what?". It just gets petty to worry about truth in advertising and boils down to who has the best smelling candle that lasts the longest. I guarantee that if you made a candle out of cow poop and could make it smell fantastic and last for hours; that no one would ever notice. That's my rant. Steve

Frosting is a natural characteristic of soy. It is not a flaw. It is strictly unique to pure soy candles. Often times it is called the "bloom". Actually, many customers are concerned if there is no frosting on their soy candles. It is a way that a customer can tell if their candle is really made with pure, all-natural soy wax. It's part of the soy experience! Frosting does not seem to affect the scent throw or the burning properties of the candle. You can safely burn a candle with a bloom without worry. Frosting is a particular crystal growth of vegetable oils. It will cause the candle to look dry, which is simply a characteristic of that crystal structure, but has nothing to do with the candle "drying out". To minimize frosting, try to keep your candle out of direct sunlight and florescent lighting. Even changes in the weather can cause additional frosting. It is almost impossible to stop the soy wax from blooming. This is a quote from a soy site.

I have both books and they are both valuable but I love Soap and Other Obsessions. You might get a subscription to The Saponifier magazine. I read it when there is down time and it has back issues like the one with the swirl contest and how to do all the swirls. Its pricey though. HTH Steve

I used 50% goat milk and 50% Silk Coconut milk in an ice bath with my lye. It moved very fast because of some sugar in the coconut milk but it made a fantastic feeling bar. It made a much firmer bar than 100% goat milk. HTH Steve

According to the web site, they are being flooded with orders for the molds and are taking several weeks to fill orders. I think silicone lined or acrylic molds are more expensive but the costs on most all of them seem about average. I was intrigued by the wooden pushers that are used against the bottom insert to get the soap out. I like the fact that you can observe some of your swirl through the clear acrylic. Haven't made up my mind yet, may buy one of each and put myself out of business. LOL Steve

http://www.soap-making-resource.com/ Just hit the youtube icon on the site and several videos come up. There is a demonstration video on site. HTH Steve