Re batched Cannabis Rose Soap
We're not even sure when we did this re batch. Last Friday? Maybe on Monday? At this point it makes no difference when we did it; it's done, and it smells great.
Re batching, our short definition: Grate up soap and remake it.
Re batching, according to our own long definition, is when we remake soap that went wrong or for one reason or another simply isn't selling (lack of scent, lack of beauty, wrong season for scent, lack of interest....the list goes on). We remake it by grating it, adding a little water, then heating it until it completely melts. Once melted we add additional fragrance or essential oil, then put it in a mold to harden for 24 hours. The soap is now reinvented, or, re batched, and ready to use/sell.
We know that every bar we make isn't going to sell; that is why we love the re batch. We can reinvent, jazz up the scent, add more color, or even add embeds for decoration - all in re batched soap.
Several months ago we made a CP soap called Cannabis Rose, the colors on the bars were graduated from deep pink to almost white. We were very happy with the soap....until the scent basically disappeared. If you really tried you could smell Roses, but it was so faint that it basically was power of suggestion rather than an actual smell. It sat around, went from show to show, and did nothing.
Fine. OK then. In spite of how beautiful it was and how proud we were of the graduated layers, we pulled the plug on this one.
RE BATCH!
This was the beautiful Cannabis Rose just before it walked the plank (so to speak)
Who knew a Cuisinart could be so versatile.
Lesson for the day (we are always learning lessons!): Empty the bowl of the Cuisinart before it fills up with soap shreds and turns them into a soap ball that compresses the grated soap.
The grated remains of our artistic Cannabis Rose.
The turkey roasting bag is perfect for re batching soap. We filled our bag with the grated soap, added about 1/4 cup of distilled water, mushed it around, secured the top of the bag then placed the bag in simmering, almost boiling, water. It is kind of a do-it-yourself double boiler.
Periodically we would lift the bag from the water and mix the shreds by pushing, prodding and mashing on the bag (so scientific).
After 1-1/2 hours (give or take a few minutes) the consistency of the soap seemed right so we opened the bag and added 2 more ounces of fragrance oil. We are using Cannabis Rose, from +Natures Garden, who describe the scent as "blend of Bulgarian rose, pomegranate flower, bergamot, cannabis accord, sheer jasmine, dark chocolate, white musk, patchouli, and oolong tea."
Seriously, how good can a scent be?
We tried to squeeze all the batter toward the hole we'd cut in the corner of the bag. Unfortunately, we had not cut the hole large enough and had to really push and prod the soap to get it all out of the bag.
It looks almost weird coming out of the bag. If it hadn't been for that beautiful smell, we would have been rolling on the floor laughing, or at least giggling (well maybe we DID giggle a little anyway).
Here we were down the the very last bit of soap, but we didn't like losing even the small amount that stuck to the inside of the bag. We will work on our technique of soap removal.
We filled up our 10" silicone mold and made four "guest" soaps in the other mold.
Here is the soap in the mold, we let it sit overnight then will cut it.
The next morning we cut the soap. We think it looks pretty neat! There are lots of white specks and a few dark pink ones, all from the left over soap. It looks like a tile floor from the 50's.
Here is the new, re batched, re-scented, and re-worked Cannabis Rose soap.
It is ready to use now, but we will wait a week so some of the added water can evaporate leaving us with a harder bar of soap.
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