Q. My favourite !!! How much soap will 1kg make? A: About a kg of soap!! If your molds take 100gm then around 10 soap bars (generally 10-30 soaps per 1 kg)
Q. My soap has little ‘beads' of water all over it A. - If you melt it over too high a heat / too quickly, or cool too quickly (eg - freezer) when your soap sets it will form ‘beads' of sweat on the soap and ruin the appearance. Your soap can be melted again once or twice if this happens. This only happens with soap that has a high glycerine quantity, the Renascent melt & pour soap base has no glycerine to prevent this occurring.
Q. How do I know how much pigment to use A. Keeping this in mind, your colors (if used) will lighten slightly on setting so you may like to have them a little darker than desired at the melting stage. Just add according to what shade looks right.
Q. When I unmolded my soap, it wasn't quite set & I ruined it A. Your soap can be melted again once or twice if this happens.
Q. Do I need to purchase the full Renascent Soap Making kit again? A. Renascent supply 1 kg blocks of Melt & Mold soap, essential oils, fragrant oils, Molds, Colors and many other items, in person & mail order. If you wish to build a soap making business, you can even speak to us about a wholesale account.
Q. My soap doesn't last very long? A. - The Melt and Pour Soap Bases will use up (just slightly) more quickly than commercial soaps, if you wish to prolong it's life, ensure it is kept fairly dry between uses & allow to stand a longer time (up to 3-4 months) to harden. If manufacturing professionally, a dehumidifier will dry the moisture out of your soap & greatly prolong it's life. Sadly, often the more ‘natural' soaps do disappear more quickly but they seem to be much kinder to the skin and personally that is a choice I happily make. Our new Ultra Clear, Ultra White and Goats Milk are really long lasting soaps.
Q. My Soap Art Soap is too nice to use? A. - It's so nice, how could you not use it? We think they are too nice not to use. Life's short - Use the good soap!
We’ve listed some of the pros and cons of Melt & Pour and Cold Process soap making below:
We Love the many CP soaps available and many soapers love making CP, however it is quite an art and takes, time, effort and a degree of care and skill – not everyone wants to and can make soaps this way and of course there is the concern of what if I get an order for 400 soaps with a full 4 weeks cure time, but, there is an alternative way to make soap using ‘Melt & Pour’ bases.
Renascent Bath and Body stock a range of melt and pour bases, which are exactly as they say, you simply melt, pour, set and use, so your order for 400 soaps may well have you up making all night long, but it can be done.
These melt and pour soap bases eliminate the ‘saponification’ process (it's all done for you) – so all you need to do is melt, mix, pour and set (and perhaps decorate if desired) to produce your very own style of soap art and a lovely range of finished products.
Love the lather of CP, but don't want to mix Lye or wait for the 6 weeks cure time? We have made it easy for you with our Milled Soap Base.
Not all soaps & bases are the same. We are delighted to offer this gorgeous & Milled Soap Base. Whether you create some fragrant bathing bliss for yourself, your friends or set up a business (within 1 hour) with your new skills you can be assured of the quality & integrity of your products. Using this Milled Soap Base kit is remarkably easy to create your very own special “bathing bliss” items. The soap flakes provided are pure soap – ready for you to colour, scent & roll.
PIPE IT: Blend with water to a pipe-able consistency and you can add to a piping bag for beautiful Swirls (Frostings and decorations) Simply add water to create a mix you can use like cup cake frosting
ROLL IT: Check out our blog and you can easily roll hand made soaps in minutes
MOULD IT: Make into a slightly thinner consistency and you can press into a mould and unmould beautifully shaped soaps
Ingredients for milling soap:
1 cup of pre-milled Renascent Bath & Body unscented, natural soap
1/2 cup of warm to hot water for every 120 gms (approximately 1 cup, grated) soap
OPTIONAL: Renascent Bath & Body fragrant / essential oils, herbs, additives, Pigments, Micas or other ingredients
Procedure for blending milled soap:
Place the Milled soap into a mixing bowl.
Add water, approximately 1/2 cup per 120gms of soap, a little a t a time
Add a few drops of colour and fragrance if desired
With a tool or with rubber gloves on and blended by hand, Mix thoroughly until a thick dough like consistency is achieved
If it is too hard to blend add a little more water, too thin, add a little more powder
Knead until pliable yet holding shape
Roll into ball shape or press into a mould (you can even cut out with cookie cutters
Set the soaps aside to dry and harden. This may anywhere from a few hours to a week. This process is purely to harden the soaps, there is no concerns with using them immediately as they have already been cured for you before being milled.
Procedure for re-milling soap:
Place the Milled soap into a mixing bowl
Add water, approximately 1/2 cup per 120gms of soap, a little a t a time and stir well.
Heat the mixture on low setting, stirring constantly until the soap is melted and thoroughly combined with the water. It should be about the consistency of a soft cookie dough.
Remove the mixture from the heat.
Add any further ingredients, such as herbs, honey, or abrasives. Do not add essential oils yet because the heat will cause them to evaporate.
Stir the mixture until it’s cool but still pourable.
Add any essential oils and stir thoroughly. Try adding 4 or 5 drops of essential oil for every cup of soap you grated.
Spoon into molds, pack the soap well so there are no air bubbles.
Set the molds aside to dry and harden.
Once the soap is hard enough, turn it out of the molds and set it on a wire rack or waxed paper to harden thoroughly. This may take a few weeks.
Additional Tips & Ideas:
Take a small ball of the “soap dough” and colour / fragrance and roll into a ball, then take a larger amount of your “soap dough” mixture in a contracting colour and flatten out. Place the small ball in the centre and tightly wrap the larger colour around it, pressing to remove air bubbles and roll into a larger ball. Whilst still soft but firm, take a sharp flat bladed knife and carefully cut through the middle to show the 2 spheres with the smaller colour in the middle.
Botanicals may discolout within your soap, but will be lovely rolled around the outside of your soap ball,
Additives like poppyseed or Renascent Bath & Body organic milled rice powder mixed through will add an exfoliating aspect
Renascent Bath & Body organic colloidal oatmeal will add a skin nourishing effect
Renascent Bath & Body Milk Bath Powders or Renascent Bath & Body goats milk powder will make your soaps skin softening
The best colours will be achieved using the Renascent Bath & Body Liquid or powdered pigments, although the Renascent Bath & Body Micas will be terrific also
Use the Renascent Bath & Body skin safe fragrant oils, Essential oils for beautiful fragrances or Essence Oils to add a the benefits of liquid Gem Essences to your soaps
Substitute floral water for water to create a lovely gentle fragrance
Benefits:
Unlike Melt and pour, the Milled soap should not sweat and can be packaged accordingly.
It will lather beautifully
For those who like the feel of HP/CP soap but do not want to mix lye or wait for cure times, this is a perfect solution
Finishing and Storing your Hand-milled Soap
After your soap has dried and hardened thoroughly, which may take as much as a few weeks, store it in an air-tight container. It will last for a long time, but after a few months any scent you have added to it may lessen. You can re-mill the soap to add more essential oils to it, if you wish.
Click HERE for printable adhesive paper for labels
PRODUCT BENEFITS:
Allows production of an Organic certified*shampoo, if the converter/filler has organic certification.
Blended with gentle surfactants, that are approved by the Soil Association**, to provide masses of creamy lather.
Free from SLS, SLES and parabens.
Vegetable origin, enriched with Aloe Vera
Has a natural clear to translucent pale yellow colour.
No thickening required.
Fully formulated base, only requiring addition of organic fragrance or essential oils, with slow stirring. Pre-heating is not essential but warming to 25– 40oC may speed up dissolution.
Can be adapted for different hair types through selection of the additives.
*ORGANIC CERTIFICATION:
Shampoo Base has organic certification from the Soil Association (UK)** to state it contains 70.21% Organic ingredients. Soil Association organic certification ensures the integrity of the products in relation to the environmental impact of their farming and the long-term sustainability of the crops. No chemical fertilizers or pesticides are permitted in the growing of the crop. The same stringent controls apply in the extraction and refining of the oils from the crop, for example no bleaching or chemical distillation is permitted.
Isopropyl Alcohol is used in soap making to remove bubbles, lower surface tension in finely detailed moulds and allow different layers of soap to stick together.
Isopropyl Alcohol is also called isopropanol or dimethyl carbinol, is a compound with the chemical formula C₃H₈O or C₃H₇OH or CH₃CHOHCH₃.
Used to:
Disinfect and sanitise your workspace, a hard surface cleaner that is perfect for lenses, mirrors, glass, keyboards, computer screens and equipment. Also known as IPA, rubbing alcohol, propan-2-ol, 2-propanol and isopropanol is an incredibly handy solvent and cleaner.
Spritz over melted soap to remove bubbles
Spritz on set layer of MP soap base before (immediately) pouring next layer on to cause a "stick" between layers.
In finely detailed moulds a spray into the mould before pouring the melted soap in will allow the soap to fill all the fine details and create a more detailed soap bar with better images.
It is a colorless, flammable chemical compound with a strong odor. Formula: C3H8O Boiling point: 82.6 °C Density: 786 kg/m³ Molar mass: 60.1 g/mol IUPAC ID: isopropyl alcohol Melting point: -89 °C Classification: Alcohol
*Caution extremely volatile, flammable, Store the compound in a tightly closed container in a cool, dry, well-ventilated area away from incompatible substances. Keep away from heat, sparks, flames and other sources of ignition. Avoid skin contact with isopropyl alcohol. Wear chemical-resistant clothing and protective gloves compatible with isopropyl alcohol.
Fish in a bag soaps are undoubtedly one of the cutest soaps you can make.
There's a few tips and techniques that will assist you to get it flowing easily.
You can make the fish from soap, click HERE for our "animals" soap Moulds, we will be adding more fish moulds very soon, you can just drop your fish in the bag or you can wire it to hold it in place, Here's the basic instructions using wire and then without. Scroll down for the advanced tips and ideas.
WIRED FISH:
Simply make a hole with a pin in your plastic fish,click HERE for the plastic fish (ours are designed for soaps and will sink rather than float on the surface.
Poke the wire through and bend underneath the fish. Click HERE for the Wires.
Pop it into the bag - we use the self seal plastic bags over cellophane as they are more durable, won't easily melt or fall apart, the sealing strip allows the pegs to grip your bag so it doesn't slide through and "sploosh" melted soap everywhere and they don't wrinkle as easily once completed. You can choose any size bag but we use the 4 x 6 inch self seal bags.
You can hold the bag with one hand and pour with the other, get a friend to assist you, use a funnel or pop it in a mug whilst you fill it.
Fill the bag to the desired height (amount) of melted soap base. We recommend Original Ultra Clear as the clearest base. Ensure the soap is not too hot as it may melt the bag and will create bubbles and lose clarity.
Tie the top of the bag, we recommend our Twist Tie Ribbon Bows for ease of use and to make perfect bows every time, click HERE for the ribbon bows.
Clip up (we use the $2 shop plastic clothes lines with all the pegs), then taking the wire, move the fish around in the bag of melted soap until it is "swimming" where you like. Allow to set.
The Fish in a Bag Wires really do make it a lot easier, as they are resusable, super thin, have a firm strength and won't leave a visible mark if removed when just set (not fully hardened). The other benefits include that you will no longer have the awful realisation of "dead fish" (upside down) in your bags as each fish will swim exactly where you want it to.
Once the soap is set but not fully hardened gently pull on the wire and it will slide out, you can wash it and reuse it.
Snip the top off the seal seal bag, so it is now just a standard bag, containing your fish in a bag soap bar.
- - - - - - - - - -
NON WIRED FISH:
Use the same instructions as above omitting the wire, just drop your fish into the bag and add the soap, once clipped up, use your fingers to move the fish into the corner of the bag and you have a few minutes to manipulate it before it sets and leaves marks.
- - - - - - - - - -
FISH IN A SOAP BAR: If you want to create a fun soap, you can just add the fish to a soap bar without the bag.
Pour a thin layer of clear soap into a mould and press your plastic fish in, allow to set without moving. Once set Spritz with Isopropyl Alcohol and pour a layer of white soap base, allow to set. Unmould!
- - - - - - - - - -
FISH IN A JAR: Using our Liquid Soaps, you can add a little fish in the bottom of the container or use the Shampoo / Bath Goo base to suspend him. Pour half the bottle full, place your fish and then fill up. So cute!
HANDY GET IT RIGHT TIPs AND IDEAS:
Move the fish to the outside of the bag to see it more clearly, even in the clearest soaps, a fish right in the middle of the soap is harder to see.
Adding the slightest touch of blue to your soap base will make the "water" appear clearer (We use a drop of blue pigment in water and then add a few drops of the water to the melted soap base so it is only a hint of blue)
Take a little Rock Salt and place in a bag with Mica Powder and shake to colour the rock salt with beautiful non bleeding colours, add a small amount of this in the bottom of the bag for "aquarium pebbles"
Use our Original Ultra Clear Soap base for the best results: Melt, spritz with Isopropyl Alcohol, Allow to sit and any bubbles or impurities will come to the surface and form a "skin", poke through the skin and pour the underneath soap base it, pour carefully to avoid bubbles.
Who doesn't love silicone moulds, they take your soap making from a plain bar to a work of art in a single pour! Would you like to stay in touch personally and see what we are regularly creating? If so, we have a special facebook group to share with you.
If the thought of mixing lye and chemicals frightens you, let us welcome you to the world of Melt & Pour (MP) Soap Making. So easy a child could do it (with a little assistance) Here a (very young) Emma shows you the simple basics of soap making.
I love the look of satisfaction on her face when she unmoulds (that tricky little soap) and shows the finished product,
WIRED FISH:
Pop it into the bag - we use the 
You can hold the bag with one hand and pour with the other, get a friend to assist you, use a funnel or pop it in a mug whilst you fill it.
Clip up (we use the $2 shop plastic clothes lines with all the pegs), then taking the wire, move the fish around in the bag of melted soap until it is "swimming" where you like. Allow to set.
T
FISH IN A SOAP BAR:
Here's the links to the supplies you will need:
