It's been so hot here lately I find projects I can do indoors. Today I made cheddar cheese and rebatched a somewhat failed batch of goat milk soap. The last soap I made was more brittle than usual so I had lots of little pieces left after cutting it so I decided to make new soap out of the leftover pieces. Also, I didn't add any fragrance or herbs to it first time around. I had planned on putting spearmint leaves in but a friend came to visit while I was making it and somehow I got distracted and forgot to add the spearmint so it had very little smell at all. We're using that soap and it feels nice but I like to have just a little something to give me a clean or yummy smell. So today I decided to rebatch it, which means nothing more than re-melting it and adding other things. I had originally thought if I added enough olive oil and goat milk I could make shampoo or body wash out of it but it set up like a hard soap so instead I poured it into molds. The first one I made I added a very strong spearmint "tea", olive oil, almond extract and a vanilla oil. The next one I added olive oil, coffee, coffee grounds, a jewel weed infusion and cocoa. I can't wait to see how that one turns out. I may want to eat that one.
First I chopped the soap into very tiny pieces and added very hot spearmint tea or coffee. I added the milk, olive oil, coffee grounds etc. then let the grated soap melt. When it was all melted and smooth I poured it into the molds.
This was so much more fun and easier than making the original soap which takes a few hours and this way I didn't have to worry about working with lye. Today I ordered some potassium hydroxide. That's what I'll use in place of the sodium hydroxide (lye) I use for bar soap. Potassium hydroxide will keep the soap in liquid form.
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