Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Easy Peasy Artisan soaps....no scary steps!


French milled or Rebatched soap is a method by which you grate the soap up (or in this case, use soap flakes), add water and other ingredients, and remould it into shapes or bars.

It's an easier and less scary way of making your own soaps, and I can vouch for the money saving and skin enhancing properties of this particular one.

Using just Lux Laundry flakes, water, Cconut Oil and Milk Powder, I created these gorgeous rustic soaps, which smell divine, and leave your skin unbelievably soft and delicately scented.

You need:

700gms Lux laundry flakes or equivalent grated soap (NOT soap powder no matter what the guy in the supermarket tells you! Lux flakes here in Australia, are simply flakes of pure Lux soap.)

3 cups of water

4 tablespoons of Milk Powder

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

Few drops of scented or essential oil (Lemongrass or Lavender are particularly lovely)

Here's How:

Bring a large pot of water to a simmer, and sit a large mixing bowl over it.

To the mixing bowl, add the soap flakes, milk powder and water, and stir until it becomes a thick slush.

Add the Coconut Oil and fragrance oil and stir until combined.

This is how mine looked after rebatching, and spooning into silicone moulds....
 
As you can see, it's not smooth and liquid. It's sort of a gluey gloop.

Let them set overnight, then unmould onto racks to air and harden. I've found that leaving them for about three weeks gives them more longevity upon use.

One of these soaps lasts us a week or more of showers, as opposed to the store bought ones, which are lucky to last three days.
 
Here's a batch that I scooped into cookie boxes lined with baking paper.

 
This batch, a half batch actually, still yielded a dozen lovely, neat, well formed bars of soap, at around 40c each.
 
 
I call that a Win!

And they look and smell Very Special :)

Enjoy!

...Mimi...

6 comments:

  1. Hi Mimi, wow you are talented. I've never made my own soap before but you make it look so easy. You save a lot of money and you are not using any bottles.

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  2. Thanks for posting this.
    I usually make cold-processed soap (with the caustic soda) for Christmas presents for work, but I ran out of time this year.
    I tracjked down Lux flakes and have just made my first batch, mixing in lavender oil and some oats milled in the thermomix for texture.
    You just may have saved Christmas in the Frogdancer household1

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  3. This looks divine Mimi. Which essential oil did you use and did you buy coconut oil in supermarket? Also did you add pink food colouring? So many questions, sorry. I love everything you make. Thankyou lovely. Xxx
    Ps, I only have skim milk powder. Do you think that is suitable? Xx

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  4. Now that's a soap recipe that doesn't seem too intimidating Mimi!! Do you have to use separate bowls etc, or is it fine to use your regular mixing bowls? Also, could you whizz the mixture with a stick mixture or is it too thick? I am actually going to make these ones instead of chickening out lol.

    So nice to read your posts as always
    Jen in NZ

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  5. Thanks Mimi, this may just have solved a minor christmas dilemma and it looks easy enough for me to start soap making adventures😊.
    Now to just get started.
    Cheers Bevo. Xx

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  6. I made this soap and blended it after melting in my thermomix to make it light and creamy. It looks really professional now.

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I love hearing from you! I always respond to comments, so don't be shy! Mimi xxx