How to make handmilled soap

Many crafters want to know how to make handmilled soap. Luckily the process of handmilling soap is fairly easy, if you have the right equipment. To make handmilled soap you will need the following items: plain cold process and soap base chunks, a grater or food processor, a double boiler, stirring spoon, fragrance, coloring, and soap molds.

The next step is to grate your soap chunks. To do this you can either use a cheese grater or a food processor. Use a fine grade grate when preparing your soap base. This will help it to melt easier.

After your soap has been grated you will want to heat up your double boiler and add the soap chips to the top pan of the double boiler. Stir the soap to help it melt evenly. If chunks develop break them up with the spoon. Continue melting and stirring your soap mixture until it looks stringy. At this point you will want to remove your soap from its heat source.

Next you will want to stir in your fragrances and dyes. Make sure that you follow the instructions in your soap recipe when it comes to the specific ingredients and their amounts. For dyes you can go with what the recipe calls for, or you can experiment with different pigments, color chips, or organic compounds. After your basic soap has been mixed, you can then add in your botanicals and herbs into your soap mixture. Make sure that your soap additives have been mixed thoroughly into your soap mixture.

At this point you can spoon your soap into your molds if you plan on making bar soap, or you can pour it out onto a lined cookie sheet to cool for a secondary processing technique. If you want to make soap balls you will need to let the soap mixture cool until it is easy to handle. Then scoop up a tablespoon or so of soap and roll it between your palms until the soap ball is properly formed. Then set it aside to cure. If you want to make whipped soap you will need to allow your soap mixture to cool in its pot and then use a submergible blender to whip air into the soap mixture. The added air will lighten the color of the soap and it will change its consistency. Next you will want to pour your soap into its molds, or you can allow it to cool and then roll it into soap balls.

The final step is to unmold the soap after twelve hours and allow it to cure. The longer that you allow the soap to cure, the milder and gentler the soap will be. This is because the curing process allows the glycerin in the soap to mellow out a bit before you use it to clean with.

Bookmark this at Del.icio.us