cmille3

Vegethix (hydrogenated soybean powder) is wonderful!! Heat your oil, add the powder, and let the powder dissolve in the oil. Once it cools down, you'll have a lump of any oil butter.

OK, it's morning...How'd it work?

Yummy! Those look really good.

Sorry I missed it. I think it was only a couple hours away.

I tried to PM you but couldn't.

I've had an issue with Bill in the past. When he's on, he's great. The best time to call is after 7 PM.

What a great tutorial!

You can try placing a piece of waxed paper on the top and then smoothing it out. Let the waked paper stay on the top until you're ready to cut. I use a freezer bag box to smoothe it.

Sounds like the oils were too hot. It started to saponify and freaked out.

First off, mint tea is fabulous. Take a couple of good sized sprigs, stuff them into a jar and pour boiling water over them. Strain before drinking (or not).

DH makes a dry rub that includes mint. He ties sprigs together and hangs them and then just crushes them by hand.

I bugged my husband for 2 years to make me a wooden log mold. This weekend, I got a double log and DH said "THAT'S what you've been bugging me for!?" Now he's going nuts. He's working on dividers for a log mold similar to the ones used in a slab...

Some HP tutorials are misleading. When I started, I did 2 pound batches. I learned it took 2 distinct 30 minute cooks to get it to where I needed it to be.

If possible, sit down and watch your batch. That's how I learned. (Heck, I still like watching the soap fold over on itsself. Sometimes, I take pictures - DH thinks I'm nuts.)

And DO NOT be tempted to uncover it!!! That was one of my problems. I would get antsy and want to stir it.

I use tea tree all the time. Treat it like any other FO/EO.

For the witch hazel, I'd treat it like water.

I'm chiming in late but here's what I absolutely must have when I soap:

• 1 huge Pyrex measuring cup. I love this thing.
  
• 1 small Pyrex (used exculsively for measuring dry lye). I had an incident with static in my lye that left me shaking. I have not had that problem since switching to glass to measure my lye. My pitcher is plastic.
  
• 1 empty coconut oil container. I use it to stand my stick blender in and I use the lid to place my rubber scraper on.

Everything else is standard stuff - Goggles, gloves, stick blender, rubber scraper.

I use a combo of shea butter and cocoa butter as a deep conditioning treatment. I love it. I can't use it as a leave-in because my hair is fine.

My husband swears by jewelweed.

M&P can be a very creative medium. Take your time with it and have fun.

I have the one they sent me in my purse. It looks like it's been through the wringer. It has nicks and scrapes in the fancy blue pattern. But the info is still very legible.

Check the Better Business Bureau and/or the Chamber of Commerce from his area. It doesn't sound fishy so far but better safe.

I ordered from them. It was a great price and the S&H tacked on less than $10 (I want to say it was $6 or $7).

You can go to the website and see the amount before you commit. I even tacked on like 200 extra pens and my order was less than $60.

Wow. Very nice!

bake

B---what? I seem to remember something about that...but doesn't that involve taking the bath bombs out of my oven?

Red bleeds?

Yuppah. But I *might* know a very unscrupulous soaper who discovered the red rinses right off...and my husband never knew the difference.

The pudding cups were discovered when DD was in her "I want pudding" phase. I felt really guilty throwing them out and then I realized they were a perfect, little 4 oz cup...

You got it. Glop, squish, and ignore.

I molded mine yesterday at 3:30 and I won't try to unmold until tonight or tomorrow. It's gonna be sticky. I'll unmold the drawer liners when the paper pulls away easily from the side of the mold. I also glopped some into a Milky Way just to play. I'm not exactly sure what to look for on that one. Every batch is an adventure!

They're technically usable now but they'll get nicer the longer they sit.

My favorite inexpensive molds are the 3X2X15 Rubbermaid drawer liners. I think they were $2 at CVS. My second favorite is the silicone muffin mold. $4 at Christmas Tree Shoppe or $8 at WalMart. And yes, Red bleeds but Blue doesn't.

Pudding cups (or the individual ice cream cups) work nicely, too.

Is it high in olive oil? I had this problem yesterday.

Try stick blending it. If it mixes together, let it hang out another 30-45 minutes. If the stick blender makes little blender-shaped dents (wish I could describe it better), it's as good as it'll get. Take it off the heat and stir for a couple of minutes.

I almost thought my batch had riced but it was OO only - no scent at that point. It's fine today.

If you're just playing around, Saran Wrap is your friend.