Rescuing a Botched Batch of Soap!
Posted by Michele Zagorski on 13th Dec 2015
Think this soap looks nice? I do, too, but it didn't start out that way...
(Thistle & Buttercup Soap Mold)
For example, I usually try a new recipe for dinner when I have guests over(and every time I question my sanity, but apparently it's some kind of compulsion because I keep doing it).
Usually things work out, but sometimes they don't...take this soap, for instance.
I tried something that's 'not done' in soapmaking, but I wanted to see why it shouldn't be done, and to see if I could somehow make it work. The soap was crumbly and the colors came out looking like a 70's sofa. I made 12 pounds of this stuff! Ugh. (Yes, I know, why experiment with 12 pounds? This is what I'm talking about...craziness!)
But, a bad batch of soap is never a total loss, and these crazy experiments make me a better formulator.
So, I decided to continue experimenting with a new method of rebatching that creates glycerin soap.
I tossed the ugly soap into the crock pot with some sugar water and glycerin, and when it was mostly melted...
...I added some pure, high proof ethanol, which acts as a solvent to dissolve the soap into a silky blend (it evaporates in the process).
If my soap didn't already have a bunch of colored micas in it, this would result in a clear glycerin soap.
While my soap isn't clear, it is glycerin soap now!
I poured it into molds and hoped for the best...
Voila! Beautiful golden glycerin soap with a little mica shimmer to boot!
My favorite mold is an evergreen bough and pinecones (Pinecones Tray Soap Mold).
It feels like home to me.
I have some beehives that I don't tend anymore,
but I still love my little honeybee soap mold (One Bee-Tray Milky Way Soap Mold).
You know the saying about turning lemons into lemonade?
I've found that to be true with most things in life, soap included!
XOXO
-Michele