scentlady

Before you give up take a pound or two and test adding other stuff. Try goats milk, shea butter and add some beeswax to help hardness. And a little Dr Bronner for bubbles. If you read through some of the threads you will get an idea of how much to add of each thing per pound. It will probably take some experimenting. And that's the fun part!

Your candles look great! And the stamp is so cute. My favorite is #2. I like the lighting on that one. Does your candle have a cover?

Trudi you have one lucky dog. My dog spent the first 6 months of his life sick from rabbit poo. It's a delicacy for dogs! He also loves soy wax so I have to keep him away from my supplies.

They ship super fast. You'll have your soap in no time!

I've never done layers but I'll have to keep that in mind.

I've read mixed reviews on WSP regarding softness and how well it accepts additives. Some people complain about shipping charges for WSP as well. I haven't tried it but lots of people use sfic bases and you can stock up when there's a co-op.

Probably the best thing to do is try a sample sizes of the different kinds before you choose. Then figure what the shipping will be on a regular size order so you can get the cost per lb and then choose.

I haven't tried their clear base yet but I need to get some. I have a sample of the base from WSP but for the clear I'll probably go with whichever is cheaper with shipping. I don't know why you'd have to have the same brand for both clear and white.

I actually went with the natural white and the ingredients for that are listed but I noticed the ingredients for the other white are missing from the site.

I would buy 20 lbs. This is a really nice base and it holds a lot of additives, so I don't think you can go wrong. Buying 5 lbs of sample size is pretty pricey.

Be careful what you use for containers. They may not be candle safe. And it's hard to test odds and ends you find at garage sales and Goodwill. You would be better off using canning jars which you know can take the heat.

Sometimes you don't get a full meltpool on the first burn so there will be hangup on the sides of the jar. It may not catch up until the second or third burn. Other times it may burn fine at first and then halfway through the jar will drown out. So you have to do enough burns to completely burn the candle and watch what happens. You have to burn your candle in an ordinary size room because that is what your customers will do. It's the only way to get good results. Also keep good written notes so you'll remember what you did and what worked.

I haven't done much m&p but I have been reading and I think you can add olive oil or beeswax to help with hardness. Be careful with the olive oil cause too much can make your bar feel slimey.

If you can use small molds for embeds try ebay. Also try One Stop Candle for a firetruck embed mold http://www.onestopcandle.com/thestore/prods/CMJ008.html

Brenda, I mostly used the PB for dipping. I mixed it with CB 135 for clamshells. I wait 3 days for testing. I haven't done votives or pillars.

I always used this wax for dipping bears. Not sure about the fo but I think I used about 1.5 oz per lb although I think you could go a little more. cinnamon, chocolate cherry, baby powder and lavender were my strongest scents.

You're right there isn't much of anything in NY state, at least not near me. Drew Candle Co. is in Rochester and they have wax but I didn't have much luck contacting them about picking up orders so I gave up. There are places you can get beeswax though.

You can make your own sheets for rolled beeswax candles. I haven't done it but saw directions online. You may have to search for awhile because I can't remember the site. Mann Lake has molds for making taper and colonial tapers and the candles slide out real easy. I think Candlewic carries some molds as well.

What a super job you did! Congrats

I would like to add my condolences on the loss of your daughter. I am keeping you in my prayers during this painful time.

I don't have an answer for your soap question but I have noticed a yellow tinge in that soap too.

Well I always had separate stuff for candles and I was told for candles that it had to be separate but I wasn't sure about soap. But it makes sense. I planned to get separate utensils anyway but today I was just playing with a batch and used what I had on hand.

Thank you!

I used a glass pyrex cup, melted my soap and added fragrance and color. Can I re use this container for food or should I replace it. I know when doing candles, I never used the utensils for food again. Is this true of soap?

You might want to try CB135. I always got excellent scent throw with this wax.

They should be wrapped to keep the scent in. I used bags tied at the top with a tag. Customers could smell them at the top. I used soy pillar wax and it wasn't really messy.

add me! I just bought a couple of pounds to play with.

They should last quite awhile if you keep them tightly closed. Also some scents last longer and the larger bears last better. I did a wildcat from Millcreek in cinnamon for someone at work a couple of years ago and I can still smell it when I go past his desk. I was using soy wax.

Think maybe I'll try cd-4. I did notice the tall flame and wasn't thrilled with it either. I tried a 1/0 and that worked better than the 2/0, but I hate to use that size wick if I don't have to.