Terry

Really pretty!

That's what I thought - thanks for the feedback ladies.

Wondering.....

In these day of soy, coconut, palm, beeswax -  Does anyone use paraffin wax alone and have a thriving business?

I wouldn't doubt if they cruise this board !!

So pretty!

What a great idea - those are perfect!  

How long does the scent last on the pendant and does it irritate your skin at all when wearing it?

In your opinion could a larger pendant be used as an air freshener in a car?

You are one "Jane of all Trades"   

I too love round soaps.  Your labels are great and so are your scent choices!  I would buy one (or four) in a minute!

Ahhh, Old Glory, nice to hear her name again!  Miss her sense of humor and her all around candle-making/business advice.  

Very pretty!

Pear and honeysuckle sounds like a wonderful combo!  

So that's why I had to sign in again today! I like it!

Hi Valerie and welcome to craft server! This is a great group lots to read up on and lots of great people willing to answer your questions!

2 hours ago, Trappeur said:

Oh yeah?   Well I don't know what it means myself....

 

Trappeur

It means shaking my head

Oooo, very nice and so inspiring!  

Has anyone ever tried stearic in 4627 wax?  I've been wanting to try a bit of this to harden the wax up and to slow down the burn.

WOW Sponie!! 

Thank you for that very in-depth explanation!  You gave me a present on YOUR birthday ha-ha!    I am going to have to read and re-read your post to absorb.  I believe I have seen Valerie's YouTube video but will give it another view for sure.

Floating soap eh?  I know I did stir the soap A LOT after the vaseline stage to try and get it down to about 170 so I can add the yogurt and honey mixture.  So I may have incorporated air too.

Although I had the lid on during the cook except for when stirring I may try the plastic wrap and cook at a bit lower temperature.  My highest temp was 224 degrees, too hot.

Typically what oil/butter do you SF with?  Can any oil/butter be a SF?

You mention silk.  How much of a difference does silk make?  I suppose it makes the soap smooth as in glide on your skin.

One reason I used honey at all is the label appeal when I sell one day.  The other reason was my son's girlfriend's mother is a beekeeper!  She gave me a jar so I added some in and am planning on giving them soap after it's cured.  Personally, I'd rather add it into my fruit shakes - it's just too good for soap!  

Eventually I plan on looking into natural colorants and EO's.  Not now until I find my best base recipe.

I am with you Sponie - HP all the way!  I've seen some really nice swirls with HP and know it can be done.  Never again will I buy the  "beauty bars" of "soap" at the store.

Enjoy!

Thank you JCA - your comments are helpful esp. about the stearic.  I added this ingredient because I understood that it hastens the cook and makes the bar a bit harder than without.  Actually the white pieces in the soap don't really bother me, just wanted to know if it was just aesthetic or a technique/ingredient issue.

Thank you Candy - I did use full water, the default of 38% on the soapcalc site.  I added the yogurt thinking it would thin out the batter at the end of the cook, total cook time was about 20 minutes (not including the time to melt the oils in the crock) to reach the gel stage at which point I removed it from the base.  Melting the oils takes about 45 minutes or so, UGH! Would melting the solid oils in bursts in the microwave destroy any of the properties I wonder?  Next time I will try lowering the heat a bit and cook a bit longer.

Thanks again to you both for your expert advice and encouragement always!  XO

I made two 2-lb. batches of soap on Sunday.  Sorry about the qualitiy of the pictures.

TT's Tonic - (just love tthis - the best scent ever!)

olive oil 40%

coconut oil  25%

lard (manteca)  20%

shea butter  10%

castor oil   5%

1.6 oz stearic acid

2 tsp sodium lactate

2TBLS honey

2TBLS full fat greek yogurt

1 oz FO 

WSP Sun & Sand

lard (manteca)  50%

olive oil 20%

coconut oil  20%

grapeseed oil  5%

castor oil   5%

1.6 oz stearic acid

2 tsp sodium lactate

2TBLS honey

2TBLS full fat greek yogurt

1 oz FO 

1 tiny spoon of pink mica

Both....

My kitchen smelled delightful WOW!

HP method temps up to 220 f, all oils thoroughly melted (stearic in with the oils)

yogurt in a warm crock with the honey and 2 oz discounted from the total water (yogurt/honey liquified).

After the cook I scraped the crock and made soap pancakes! - The Tonic recipe has some nice dense bubbles and the S&S recipe is very creamy.  I love both!

So a few things -

1)  I see white  spots in the soap.  I was pretty careful about not scraping the cooked soap on the side of the pot into the batter when stirring.  I feel I mixed and melted well would anyone know what this could be ?

2)  Also, the soap gives when I press in although it's not too soft.   I ran both recipes through Soapcalc and the oils fell within the quality ranges.  I am hoping cure time will harden the soap or perhaps I do not have a good mix of ingredients? Should I increase the stearic? 

3)  I found that even with the addition of yogurt after the cook the batter was a bit thick and I might have had a hard time coloring if I wanted to.

Any suggestions?  Thank you my dears!

9 hours ago, Moonstar said:

Im 55 and the dr said I was too young to have cataracts lol ! But there they were ! Its amazing though the clarity in which I can see now in my right eye.

Cant wait for the left one to be done. After my right eye was done and I went in the following day for the dr to examine my eye, I was amazed that my right

eye tested 20/20 vision. Getting older sucks lol ! I swear in the last 3 months Ive had more dr appointments than I have had in years - combined ! lol !

Nice on the 20/20 vision     

Sorry to hear about the dr appointments though, hope it's nothing serious!

2 hours ago, Moonstar said:

TT I can relate to the nauseating feeling you got from your vision. About 3 weeks ago I had a cataract in my right eye removed. whoa, talk about getting

woozy . The eye doctor said once my left cataract is also removed things will slowly start adjusting. He said right now my brains getting mixed

signals from both eyes. I get the left one removed in about a week.Plus my eyes are super sensitive to the sunlight . Your right, it is scary though.

Moonstar -  It's great that you will be able to see again!  

I brought my mother for cataract surgery last week and the other eye will be done next week.  She's 82 and already sees the TV screen clearly with that one eye.   When we went for the consult I asked the Dr. if I could be a candidate for cataracts in my late 50's. It's so frustrating not to be able to read labels and such without glasses especially since I used to have 20-20 vision!

4 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Just about. yes. The eye pressure changes were nauseating for a couple of days though. 

 

 

Glad to hear you are feeling better TT and thanks for sharing.  I can just imagine how scary that was.  

I can't even deal with the dilation of my pupils at the beginning of the exam - it throws me right off kilter! 

Thank you from me too! 

9 hours ago, Scented said:

Sooooo ... what was it about Asian Sandalwood that I eventually just didn't like? I can't remember. It was like close to 14 years ago trying it. Sigh. I think most of those people who used it would agree that it was the closest thing to sandalwood out there, but there was always the looking out for something else. So, that said ... maybe the objective is to find a really good sandalwood and experiment by adding a touch of baby powder to it and in a different trial, a touch of something peppery (or a peppery floral ha! find that! or an oriental floral) and then a combo of both. That might not pan out to be anything. It just comes to mind. The baby powder part to take the edge off the peppery every so slightly, but Asian sandalwood had a certain spiciness to it is all that sticks to memory. 

SOooooo ... sandalwood ... the ever pursuit for one that just flat rocks. I know what I've settled on using for various applications but I still have another one to try and an expensive bottle I can't bring myself to try. 

THAT all said ... keep your eyes peeled for anyone offering a red santal ... sandalwood. Google says Cierra has one. I haven't tried Cierra in anything. Wanted to, but then the biz partner said STOP! and not in a very nice way. It was more like biting off the neck way. When it comes to red santal though ... do not get the stuff that's duping a perfume or cologne out there. 

Sandalwood, baby powder, pepper, floral sounds like a good starting point..... - thanks Scented.

The next time someone quotes this list please add the two scents below--

Thank you!

Bartlett Pear

Asian Sandalwood

Thank you for putting this very helpful list together Scented!  

By any chance in your travels have you come across any subs for their Asian Sandalwood?

@Candybee I know you are another user of this scent.... Aside from the sandalwood, what do you think the "Asian" part of this scent consists of?  

I am not too good at describing the different scents that compose a FO but if I can get some of the ingredients I will try and blend it myself.