Teach Soap

I've been using M&P bases for a while now but really want to make my own CP that can then just be melted & poured? I'm concerned about getting a nice, smooth bar with hand milling. I haven't tried hand milling yet since I don't have an easy way to shred the CP soap - any suggestions? I tried searching the forums for "make my own M&P" but the search engine said I had too many common terms. Sorry if this is a duplicate post...
Lisa

Hand milling or rebatching will never be pourable again. Why not try your hand at making cold process soap from scratch?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks, soapbuddy, for the reply. I am making CP soap; but I'd like to make big batches of plain soap so that when it's cured I can melt bars of it, add fragrance/oils and pour it into shaped molds. I know it's possible - that's where M&P soap comes from, isn't it? It must start out as CP/HP or it wouldn't be real soap. So I was hoping someone knew how to do it. I believe there's an additive I can use to keep CP from hardening and make it M&P but haven't been able to find what it is.

I make small batches (2-4 lb.) of custom-ordered soap and would really like to use my own CP instead of purchased M&P.

And my second question was, how do you get CP soap really smooth when hand-milling?

And now that I think of it, I have a third question What do you use to shred your CP for hand-milling? Will a heavy-duty food processor grate it correctly/finely?

Thanks in advance, everyone.
Lisa

MP made from CP is a different animal. Once made into MP, it can only be melted once or twice, then becomes dried out and darker and will become difficult to pour. Here is a site that has some instructions on how to make MP from CP.
http://www.millersoap.com/glycerinsoap.html
If you want to shred your CP, I would suggest a salad shooter.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks again, soapbuddy! And I hadn't thought of a salad shooter - what a great idea. Now I'm actually going to try hand milling, since I have one of those widgets and I've never shot salad with it in my life.
Lisa

I've never shot a salad, but it's the perfect gadget for shredding soap without shredding your knuckles.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

why not just make small batches of CP? You can add FO to it and put it in shaped molds. Most of my CP batches are only about 2 pounds.

Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not sure why you want to make it then have the extra step of melting it back down again to add the scents and colors.

Not knocking what you're doing, just trying to save you the extra step

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~Jola

I'm not sure it does make sense, actually, LOL. Please let me know what you think? Here's my plan:

I want to be able to say that my soaps are made from scratch, and I need to be able to produce bars when ordered - meaning, without waiting for cure time. I don't want to spend the money on MP any more. And, I have custom blends of sap oils I want to make the CP from, plus my own line of colors/scents/botanical creations.

I'm a little afraid of HP (that will probably change) so for now I'd like to have some homemade CP/MP available at all times. I can make some big batches of CP/MP now and in a few weeks I can switch to carving chunks off and making bars to order. Of course until the CP is ready I'll continue to use MP.

I can make more batches of CP/MP every couple of weeks and therefore I'll always have some ready for my custom orders.

I realize hand-milling is an option, but I haven't tried it yet and I'm not sure hand-milling will produce the smooth bars I'm looking for. Plus, doesn't it take a lot more time to hand-mill than to just MP my own homemade CP?

I'm just starting out with soapmaking as a business although I've been doing MP, and I want to create this "manufacturing process" in anticipation of the business taking off. Since I'm a one-woman operation I'm trying to make it easy on myself to fill those custom orders. Cash is tight as I'm sure it is for everyone.

So, does the plan make any sense or am I just making extra work for myself? I'd really appreciate your feedback!
Thanks again,
Lisa

Looking at the direction you're going, I would learn about HP or CPOP. You can make a small batch and have it ready in one week's time.
Making handmade translucent soap (MP) from CP is a time consuming process.
If time is a premium for you, I would either go with just bought MP, CPOP or HP.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hey, thanks everybody. I appreciate your time, your feedback and your info! Looks like I'm going to stick with MP for my custom orders and CP/HP/hand milling for my bestsellers. I'm going to keep searching for those additives, though, and if I find the info I'll post it here in case anyone else wants it.
Hugz,
Lisa

I have to say that you need to think about how to get away from making each individual soap to order. You'll be spending huge amounts of time for a relatively small price point, reducing your effective pay rate to zero.

Just something to keep in mind for your business plan.

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http://www.magichandsworkshop.com
http://www.magichands.etsy.com
http://www.magichandsworkshop.blogspot.com

Thanks - that's definitely something to think about.
Lisa

I agree with Majic Hands, pick your best sellers and do them in some quanity. advertize what you have for sale and if someone wants somthing specal ordered they will just have to wait for it. I seem to make alot of little 2lb. batches of all kinds of scents ( seasonal stuff and just things I like myself) but I've got my main 5 that sell no matter what time of year it is . I've got them in boxes of 8 or 10 lbs at a time.