jessiec

Thank you Sharon! You said exactly what I wanted to hear!!! I am going for it!!

Wow, your swirls are gorgeous!! .... very inspiring!

That is a great swirl and beautiful purple!

Congrats on a very pretty soap and a very nice red! I have given up on red. It is always either too light or I end up showering in red bubbles!

Hi everyone! After a very long and difficult pregnancy, I am finally ready to get back into soaping. My problem is that I have just come across a bucket of unrefined cocoa butter that has been in my basement. It still smells and looks wonderful. I hate to waste it, but it's "best used by" date is 06/11/2008...... Ugggh! I know that fresh is best, but my frugal nature is preventing me from throwing it away. I am tormented. Has anyone here ever used an old cocoa butter like this to soap with? If so, how did it go for ya? ~also, this is just for personal use. TIA

Thanks, Stella :-)

Yep... that is my next step. Thanks :-)

Hi everyone! I was wondering if any of you super soapers happen to know if Ventura Foods Palm Shortening is 100% Palm or not. I have been searching everywhere within driving distance to find Palm Oil ... I Hate Shipping Charges.... and I got lucky and found a store that would order the Ventura Foods Palm Shortening. The problem is that I have to pay in advance for 50 lbs and don't want to do that without knowing the ingredient info. The store didn't have any detailed information and I cannot seem to find it online. If any of you happen to know, please let me know. Thank you :-)

Thank you everyone for your responses! I looked at the ones at Kangaroo Blue, and I believe they are the same. They are 12 oz, which is the same that SW was carrying. I would love to come across some in 8 oz. if anybody finds any suppliers with these in 8 or 9 oz. please let me know.

Does anybody know where I can find these bottles? I'd love to find them in 8 oz, but any size will do. The Scent Works isn't selling them any longer. TIA

***Bump***

Has anyone used New Directions Aromatics Foaming Bath Butter? This is the first bath butter that I have seen that already has the preservative added to it. Not having to worry about preserving it sounds really good to me. There is a recipe on their site that is very similar to KB's recipe with the Sweet Almond Oil and Sugar being added for scrubs. I guess that my main questions for anyone that has been using this specific FBB is - How much oil and/or sugar can you add before you need to worry about adding more preservative? And also, once it is opened and gotten water in it from the shower, how long is it expected to be good for? Any info. from anyone that has been using NDA's FBB is really appreciated. I did contact the company directly, but since they don't manufacture it themselves, they weren't too much help. Thanks so much

OMG I didn't realize what an addict I was to this forum until it was down! I have been having serious withrawals! It is sooooo good to be able to research again! Wooooo hoooooo! Time to learn some more B&B!

cocopop~ Would you mind sharing that phone number with me? As useless as I suspect it will be to call, I would really like to try. I am not going to just disappear like they are hoping. I want my money back. Country Creek~ I would recommend that you don't put a single penny into this company's hands. flexiblemolds.com and bluegoosecandlesandmolds.com are 2 that I can recommend from personal experience to be reputable and good quality.

I am in the middle of a dispute with them right now. I ordered molds from them on October 6 and paid through paypal immediately after placing the order. I received my paypal receipt and that was it. No email from the company ever.... and no molds! They took my money and that was it! I have emailed them many, many times and no one has ever responded. I have heard absolutely nothing! I told them that I am a patient person, and if they would just email me and let me know if there was a delay that I would be ok with that. But they have never responded to a single email. The site does not list a phone number, but I really wish that I could speak in person to someone there. I cannot afford to just throw money like that away! The site looks legit..... I just can't believe that they did this. This is the first time I have ever ordered from them and it will definately be the last! I would seriously warn others to stay away from these guys.

Thanks for the response, Cheryl. That makes perfect sense and is pretty much what I was expecting you veterans to tell me. Looking at a few sellers sites made me second guess my better judgement though. It is crazy looking at all of these sites that are selling gel candles and don't seem to be taking safety into consideration at all. Maybe my zoom feature isn't allowing me to look close enough, but it sure appears as if there is no crimp and no tea light container in many of these candles that are obviously too narrow to be wicking to the bottom. Not to mention all of the florals and other flammable items that are surrounding the wick. I think that I will probably go with the tea light since it will be the easiest way to wick. I'd rather be safe than sorry any day. Thanks again for your helpful advice. I appreciate it

Hello everyone! I am playing with some med. density penreco gel and would like to attempt a martini. I have the gel safe fo and have done as much reading as I have been able to find. But, I am still not sure about whether or not I should crimp the wick or if just using the high neck tab is enough with this sort of glass. I am just thinking of a standard martini glass, but they do narrow so much at the bottom that I am unsure whether or not that would be too hot. If anyone has made these before, could you please let me know if you just wick them with a high neck tab or if you have to crimp? TIA

Thank you Lightning Bug. I am glad to hear that it isn't just me. I have worked with these wicks for a long time and not had a problem with them until now. I would hate to have to retest my whole line! I will definately give the twisting a try!

I have not gotten these 3 7/8" apothecary jars down to perfection, but I can offer you what has worked so far for me. Straight ez soy, dye, 1 oz. fo pp. I am getting close with dw eco 6 or dw rrd 47's but I did feel like the glass was getting too hot for my liking with extended burn times. In case you didn't see my post, my last tester had an issue with the nicely trimmed eco actually curling down into the mp and extinguishing itself. So I am rethinking these guys. I know what you mean about having to wick up with this. Straight soy is a bugger. I am now trying to dw the htp's again. Previous tests showed me flame height that I thought was insufficient. But, I will keep going around and around until I get it. I am determined to beat this jar!!! Hang in there and know that you are not alone!! As for your flames being too small and you feeling like you need to wick up so high...... maybe you could try leaving your wick just a touch a longer instead. I keep mine around 1/4 and I do not have to wick up quite as high as you are having to. Maybe adjusting the wick height will help you out. I forgot to add.... maybe you could also try reducing your fo to 1 oz. pp. There are some wonderful quality fo's that are unbelievable throwers in pure soy and really do not need more than 1 oz. pp. Good luck to ya!

Thank you for the quick replies. Top- I wicked up on the eco 4's because the the 4's were not giving me a decent flame at all. They were tiny and I came to the conclusion that I would never get a full mp before they actually piddled out on me. The other odd thing with the wicks curling back into the mp is that they were only a 1/4" long at the time.... not excessive. But, I am going to give the eco 2's a try anyway. I am willing to try anything at this point. It seems as though I have always had to wick up with the eco's in the ez soy. But, they have worked well for me up until this point. Thanks for your idea and I'll let ya know how it works out. Meridith, I do trim my ecos between burns, even though they are self trimming. I am going to try again with the htp's. I know that a whole lot of people like to dw with them in soy. I don't have any CD's atm. They are the only wicks that I have not tried yet. Thanks again for the replies

Hi Stacie, I use ez soy and found the eco 10 or 12 to work depending on the fo. I haven't used that fo before, but if you have the eco's you could try the eco 10 and see how it works for you. I also want to add, in case you don't care for the eco's, that I think the htp 104 or 105 might work. It was a long time ago that I tested the htp's with the tins, and I can't get to my notes. But they are worth a try.

Hello everyone.... I have been having a heck of a time with my newest jars and am hoping that someone out there can help me. I am a devoted straight ez soy user and have been using eco wicks with great success. I love the clean burn and the self trimming aspect. BUT, for the last few months I have been trying to wick these BCN 16 oz. country comfort jars. They are 4" high and 3 7/8" wide. I started by double wicking with 2 eco 4's and the flames became tiny. So I bumped up to 2 eco 6's. The jar did get a bit hot and I wasn't totally thrilled, but it was better than the htp's and rrd's that I tried. The htps (2x 73, 83, 93, and single 1212, 1312) were all too small to reach full mp in several different burns. The rrd's (2x 37,40) were too small. rrd 2x 47 is a possibility because it did get the 1/4 to 1/2 full mp within the 4 hour burn times, but the jar got pretty hot and a touch sooty. I have been working on these buggers for quite a while and was pretty close to saying that the 2 eco 6's were my best burn and that I would go ahead with those. But, then the last 2 jars I tested (2 different scents) both had the same problem with the eco's curling down into the mp and actually extinguishing themselves! I like the self trimming but this is ridiculous!!! I have not had this happen before with any of the hexagon jars that I have single wicked with the eco's. Anyone else out there have this happen, or is this just a flukey bunch of bad wicks? I don't know what else to try. Any experiences or help that you can offer would be so appreciated. I love the look of these jars, but double wicking is kicking my booty! Here is the link for the jars http://secure.candlesupply.com/catalog_page_detail.cfm?queries_index=index7&title_bar=16oz%20Country%20Comfort%20Jar&recordno=4&Product_CatalogID=2732&ProductCodeID=47&ProductSubCodeID=203&NewProduct=0 Jessie

Alrighty, I will definately whip it longer! I really love these bases. Thanks, Gene!

Thanks, Patricia, for your quick response. Yes, I contacted KY and they said that they haven't experienced this with either of the bases. They thought that maybe they had been kept in a hot location where they were sort of melting. I have called and it seems that the bases look nice and whipped and that they are just turning color rather than actually separating. I have read many times that different FO's will do this. I didn't expect it to make the lotions look as though something were wrong though. Perhaps I should be coloring them to hide this issue. How long do you all wait before you normally see color changes take effect after making up a scented base like this? TIA

I need some help with the ky soy body whip as well as the body glaze bases. I have used them for quite a while now for my husband and myself. But, for our own use, I have never added any FO or color to them.... just straight base for us. I have had some friends that wanted to help me out, so they purchased some from me in 4 oz. clear plastic containers that I got from kangaroo blue. I mix each base with 1lb. of base to .1 oz of Body Safe fragrance oil (less than what is recommended as .16 FO for 1 lb base is what is recommended) and No color. I use an electric mixer to mix and make sure to whip it for at least 2-3 minutes to thoroughly mix the FO in. I allowed them to cure for 48 hours before delivering them to my girlfriends. 24 hours later, my friend calls me saying that my lotions are starting to "separate". That is the word that she used. I know that I whipped the FO thoroughly into them before putting them into the containers. What is causing this? The only thing that I can think is that it is the FO beginning to change the color of the lotion base. When this occurs, does it look as if the lotion is separating? If this sounds familiar to anyone or if you have any help that you all can offer me, it would be greatly appreciated. TIA