SpaceGirl

... Fragrance oil, that is. I'm looking for a few places to find a good Goddess FO so I can order some samples and try them out. Primarily for B&B applications, but if it can do well in candles, too, well that's a fine bonus!

jenn -- see the sticky thread titled Weekly Sales and that should answer your question.

Definitely the French Vanilla and Amber from Peak's (and it is way strong). I also really like Sensual Secrets from Fragrance Oil Heaven - it's my personal favorite (until I find something better - LOL!)

Wow. I love those! Really need to try the Hana No Kaori - the name sounds like it should smell wonderful!

Nothing I have to pull some wicks from already poured container testers and wick up. Then I have to do laundry and pack for a week-long business trip. sigh

Hmmmm yes, try more oils and less butters and if there's stearic acid in there, cut it waaaay back (maybe eliminate it all together). Definitely go for a finer sugar or run your turbinado through a food proccessor. Do you know what kind of container they want to pump from? The size of the pump will help you figure out how thick or thin you have to go.

Okay, I'll admit it -- I chuckled a little bit.... but really admire the creative streak that you have with your soap. Couldn't do it myself, so ignore me and be proud of those babies! And yeah, that Geisha Kimono totally ROCKS!

Okay.... so the company provided public notice that it was closing, plenty of people offered commentary that their CS sucked but you still ordered from them? I may just be stupid today (not likely) or extra snippy (extremely likely due to raging PMS hormones) but I just don't get it. When a company like that goes out of business, run, don't walk far, far away from them and realize that any discounts you may receive probably aren't worth the hassle. Don't give them your money! I hope everyone gets their orders but I won't be surprised if you don't.

Dark Chocolate candles (still prepping for my Chocolate show!) and I'm going to try and sneak in some Hyacinth in flower pot containers tonight. I am so happy with the color I got on the Dark Chocolate - looks good enough to eat! Tomorrow is family day... the grandparents are coming down for my son's 12th birthday party. Don't know if I'll be able to sneak any candles with the crowd here (but I need to!).

You might need to adjust the color balance on your camera a little bit.... I've run into the same yellow/orangish issue, too and that seems to help.

Scented -- are you actually making the bathwater dark enough to evoke Psycho? Or a misplaced potty? I don't care what color does in my tub, really, as long as it doesn't stain me or the tub. Now a dark burgundy.... probably not so good. LOL

Shoulda posted earlier, MA! Could have thrown my new and improved milk bath in the Spring Scrub swap box.

Thanks to all who have provided input and shared their experiences in this thread. It's helped to influence my choice for credit card processing... I think I'll go with ProPay for now -- the lack of cancellation fees is really what tipped the scale for me - I can change my mind down the road and not cough up $$$$$.

You're right in that a lotion is an emulsion between oils/butters and water. For this the emulsion is between the oils/butters and the sugar (or whatever else scrubbies you use). Hope that makes sense.

And keep the option of re-negotiating that condition after the first year. Don't lock yourself into exclusivity forever (or a really long time). And hey-- that's really cool for you!

Well I don't make soap, so my shower gel is a base. Right now everything else is from scratch. I personally think that it's a matter of priority and how much time you want to spend on some things. Right now I'd much rather buy a shower gel base then spend time to match batch after batch. But I will make mass quantities of lotion because I've got that (more) figured out. It's ambition to want to make everything yourself, but it might be reality to use a couple of bases to help you (and your product line) along.

And remember that those were ranges so there wasn't any "unaccounted for" mass that needed to be filled in. Maybe the original recipe wasn't quite clear on that.

I make my parasoy blend with GB 415 as well.

Take a little notebook or notepad so you have somethig to write on if needed. Plenty of change is a must! Take a calculator, too. And good luck! My first show of the season is in a month.... I'll be watching to see how everyone else's early shows go.

The ones that I ordered from NDA (and they arrived while we were on vacationn -- yipee!) don't -- but then again I wasn't really paying close attention to a scent.

Aaaggggghhhhh! How do you people do that?!? I'm jealous. Those are so cute.

You need to take some soap and scrub that dirty mind!

*chuckles at beau's mama* You can do it, I know you can! Measure across the circle -- like picture drawing a line through the middle of the circle -- that is the diameter. Half of the diameter is the circle's radius. Or picture the long hand of a round clock going from the center to the edge of the clock -- that length is the radius. Got that? okay. Now take that radius and multiply it by iteself. If the radius was 3 inches, (diameter would be 6 in) then the radius squared is 3 * 3 = 9 inches squared. The radius squared times the magic number pi is the area of the circle. So that number times the length of the tube gives you the volume of the tube. so.... radius * radius * 3.14159 * length of tube = volume. See? Easy peasy :tiptoe: Apologies to all for the math teacher in me coming out..... I try to keep the urge under control, LOL!

Vio -- you can calculate the volume with this equation.... [Half of the diameter of the tube (the radius)]^2 (squared) * pi (about 3.14159) * the length of the tube. Now you soapers have some tricks for going from volume to the amount of oils that I don't know.... hope this helps and that I didn't just tell you something you already knew.

Just as a thought.... check out your local Bed Bath and Beyond or Linens and Things if you have one nearby. I was able to get hotel quality white sheets -- they are white, rectangular and OVERSIZED and they were dirt cheap. What I do with them is use them as a base and then take a smaller, colored tablecloth or other fabric over it as an "accent."