Everything but the Kitchen Sink Soap

The little soap samples I hand out at craft shows are very popular.  Yes, people like getting free things.  They LOVE getting something unexpected that actually helps their skin.  Especially when it is a great little Hunk-o-Love that I call, "Everything but the Kitchen Sink".   As you can see from the picture above, I take about one month of soap shavings (the beveled edges off each soap I wrap) and  endpieces (the lumpy pieces at the top of the mold) and rebatch them into soap.   What's rebatching? 

For me, it is turning those unusable, unsellable pieces of perfectly good soap into a bar of soap that is even greater than it's parts.  I add a little bit of distilled water, all the soap shreds and bits and mix it all up in a small stock pot.  I put a cover on it and then heat it up in a slow oven (about 225 degrees) for several hours.   It doesn't exactly melt, but, it does get soft enough that it can be stirred and then glopped back into the mold.  It sits there for another day and then I cut it into bars and let it cure as normal. 

So, the next time you see me at a craft show, stop and get your own little Hunk-o-Love!