Rebatching: A tutorial

Since I've shifted my etsy focus to rebatching kits, its high time I posted a tutorial. The biggest challenge of rebatching is knowing when the soap is ready for additives. Hopefully this will make the process much easier.


Before you get started have your mold and additives ready. I like to use a small box lined with parchment paper as a mold.


If you order one of my soap making kits, your soap will look something like this when you get it (minus the roses). That is roughly 2 pounds of soap base which will make 8-4 oz. bars of soap. The size of the bar depends on the mold you use.

When you're ready to make your soap start by grating it into an oven or microwave safe dish, or a crock pot. It will seem like a lot of soap before its melted together.


After grating pour in 1/4 cup of liquid per 2# of soap. I usually use milk. Let it sit for 2 hours to soak up the liquid, stirring every 30 minutes.

Once your soap is shredded, cover and put into a warm oven (170 is good) or turn your crock pot on low. If you chose to microwave you will do short bursts of 30 seconds to 1 minute. Microwaves vary so you have to play it by ear. Oven and crock pot methods will need stirring every 15 minutes.

This is my soap after 15 minutes in the oven. The top layer hasn't melted yet, so I'll stir and pop in the oven for 15 to 30 minutes.

Eventually your soap will look like this. Its easy to stir and there are no lumps of unmelted soap. It will look like translucent mashed potatoes. Before you take the soap out the oven for the last time, premelt any oils or butters you plan on adding to the soap.

Here's a better look. My soap is always thick because I don't use lots of liquid. If you wanted it to be runnier you could add another 1/4 cup of liquid. When your soap looks like this its ready for additives. Some of my favorites include honey, oatmeal, cocoa butter, essential or fragrance oils. If you buy a kit additives are included.

When you add your extras stir well to incorporate, but don't stir too hard or you'll get frothy or bubbly soap. Here is a 2# batch in the mold. I borrowed a small puzzle box from my kids.

My blogging buddy Amber makes beautiful handmilled soaps.... Mine never look as good as hers do so I took some pictures of hers = )

The first time is always a little scary, but once you get the hang of it you can soap in your sleep!