Soap Trial #1 - Vanilla Yogurt and Dark Chocolate Mocha [Rebatch soap]

Jeni, oh Jeni.  During another FB messenger conversation, she and I both gave each other some credit for enabling the other.  She to me for assisting her purchase to Brambleberry.com in the way of 'thank you' gift certificates, and she to me for offering me up her older 2# mold that had been collecting dust, awaiting a timely death in a burn pile. !!!!!

What a wonderful lady!!!  Additionally, when she dropped off the mold, she also snuck a small bag of fragrance oils that had been, in her words, "on her shelf for awhile."

Turkish Mocha!!!!  Dark Rich Chocolate!!!  And others.....

So, while she was here, I had her take a look at my cut pieces.  ugh!  SOOO not pretty.  Nor very pleasant smelling >:(  But those Type-A worries aside, I asked her about the tackiness they each had.  She nodded... 'yup, yup.  These will be good bars."

Well...aside from the strange cuttings.  And smell.

That bundt-style mold ended up not being such a great idea;  I didn't care for wedge-style cuts.  Therefore, some trimming was done.... Quite honestly, it kinda looked like a crinkle-cut mess!

The lighter bars from the plastic container were better, but... again, my Type-A personality was having a hard time with all the differences.  There was really only one bar I liked;  the one cut from the center of the mold.

Therefore, after she left, I got to thinking.  I remember reading up on a method known as re-batching;  essentially when soap gets melted back down for one reason or another; to add missing ingredients, or....in my case, to add fragrance oils!  {and try out the new mold!}

I kept ONE of the previous bars (first attempt);  the lovely lil' cut from the center of the plastic mold.  All of the rest--- INTO the rebatch!  Using the mircowave rebatching method, I added 14g of Turkish Mocha and 26g of Rich Dark Chocolate.  Rebatched soap doesn't reach its previous pudding-liquid state;  rather it takes on a mashed-potatoes feel and look. 

Twenty-four hours later, the new loaf is unmolded and cut!  

Not only did Jeni share her older mold with me, she also included her old cutting form to boot!

The cuts alternated between the crinkle-cutter and straight cutter.  Eight gorgeously smelling bars cut, along with two lil' sample-size pieces.

One concern about rebatched soap that kept coming up on most of the websites I researched is that there may be clumps of the original batch that don't melt completely, leading the final batch to be splotchy.  For my bars, it works!

Now, to rename this first batch:  Vanilla Yogurt & Dark Chocolate Mocha soap :D

My soaping ingredient stash grew after a brief shopping trip this morning.  The awesomely cool fact:  if/when the obsession over soap-making decreases or deceases completely, MOST of these ingredients will be repurposed into the kitchen :D
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Three week update:
The color has richened deeeeply into a dark, DARK brown.

The smell remains ABSOLUTELY amazing, but due to the high HIGH amount of Dark Rich Chocolate fragrance added in comparison to the Turkish Mocha, it resembles chocolate more-so, with an underlying mocha.  Did you know that on rebatched soap, you don't need to add as much fragrance as in the initial CP soap?  So, yes folks... these bars pack a whopper of smells!!!!!

Two little slivers of edging had been cut off the ends, and being almost three weeks into curing, I jumped into testing the soap out yesterday!

NOTE:  Go EAAAAASY on the coffee grounds, folks!  This most definitely is going to be a soap I keep in the kitchen, which is typically where we wash up after being outside in the garden.  The coffee grounds are an EXCELLENT exfoliating and scrubbing additive!