eva

I am using plastic trays and have not noticed a problem with ventilation as it is only one side of a soap that sits on a tray. If you are worried you can always turn the soap around at some point during the curing. I have thought about wire racks also, but as the soap is still quite soft when I take it out of the mold maybe it will leave marks on the soap? I have not tried this so I do not know.

I live in Estonia:wink2:

It is very nice indeed, they look exactly like clouds

Yes, the trays slide into it. At first I wanted to buy a trolley like they use in diners (I don't know if you use them in US, but here they are common in bistros and such) But the new ones cost like 400$ and even the used ones were 250$:undecided .. So I figured as I do not need the rack to have wheels, I just need the space, it can be built out of wood. So it cost maybe 20$ + a few hours of my boyfriend's time. It is very handy, I do not have the soap trays all over the room anymore

Here is a curing rack my boyfriend built for me last weekend. I am so happy!!

Very pretty! What did you use for the blue dots in the soap?

Thank you all for your compliments! Best, Eva

Hi all, here are some soaps from my collection. In the top row from left: goatmilk and shea butter facial soap, lemongrass salt bar, peach soap. Second from the top: cucumber-melon, Bamboo Ji (with a weird purple discolouration), peppermint-chocolate. Third from the top: oatmeal, milk & honey, juniper & pine sauna soap with juniper berries on top, blackberry vanilla In the bottom row: gardener's tomato leaf soap, rose soap with petals on top, Tonic Some are part of my regular collection, some are test soaps. I am definitely going to add the blackberry and rose soaps and the sauna soap. But I am not too crazy about the Tonic Eva

The second one! Best, Eva

Hi all fellow "international customers":smiley2: ! It is true, the USPS regulations are not that new - it seems they have been around for quite some time. I have looked into this - there are no restrictions for shipping fragrance oils with a flashpoint of 200+. But it of course is up to the supplier it they want to mark the flashpoints on their website and ship according to this. Maybe some just do not want to go through the trouble and do not ship USPS alltogether. Not a very good business decision if you ask me. I certainly hope BCN will start shipping the 200+ oils via USPS again, because as said - there are no restrictions on that, they can be shipped both ground and air. I also order some oils from Save on scents - did that just the other day - they have also changed their shopping cart and have clearly stated the regulations (domestic and international) and still ship USPS if the oils are 200+ So let just hope the companies still want to keep their international customers and take that extra step to differentiate between oils. Best to you, Eva from Estonia

Hi Sherri, sorry to hear you are in this position also. I also use about 10 of their oils. I am especially sad for the WYW and BNL oils... And I also do not like the idea of testing all over again. I guess I will be moving over to the fragrance section soon to ask for some advice on certain oils. But some of their oils I have to keep I guess and pay that extra $ as they are my best sellers and probably impossible to replace.

BCN told me that they will not ship oils via USPS - no air, no ground. - The postal department has informed us that we areno longer able to ship fragrance oils by mail of any kind -It probably just is that they are not willing to play with the flashpoint stuff. So I had to use UPS Expedited that cost me about 100$ more than usual.... I will gradually start to replace the oils that can be replaced to other suppliers' oils that still ship USPS. I really-really hope my other major suppliers will not change their policies. I just hate when things like this happen:cry2: Best, Eva

That is what I thought, but they are willing to ship everything else USPS, just not the oils. And with some other suppliers also it is the oils that seem to be the problem. That is why I was thinking of some policy change. I sure hope it is just a suppliers choice not a policy issue...

So it is true - BCN does not ship oils via USPS anymore. I can not even begin to tell you how bad news this is for me. It is just too expensive to ship oils to Europe via UPS and I am really upset and do not know how to proceed. I used BCN for a number of my oils. But my question to you is about USPS policies - BCN also said that the postal department has informed them they can no longer ship oils via USPS. I have seen this policy on some other suppliers websites also, but at the same time many others ship via USPS without any problems (BCN did also so far) Shouldn't the USPS policies be the same for everyone? Do not get me wrong, I am very glad some still ship via USPS, but I am afraid that maybe at one point they all quit doing so. Then I will be completely ruined.... Best, Eva (from Estonia)

I have a potential private label account coming my way and they want candles and cp soap in 4 scents - rose, lavender, smth citrus and smth masculine/fresh. Any suggestions on suppliers for these scents? - it would of course be perfect if the same oil worked for soy as well as cp soap.... Thanks! Eva

Thanks Sabrina! I even did not contact them because thay have stated it so clearly on their webpage that they don't ship to Europe. I will look into that, although I really want to keep my scentlist at a reasonable number... But I guess I can't resist the temptation. Best, Eva

Hi Sabrina! As I understand you live in Italy? I live in Estonia and have been wanting to test Peak's scents but on their web page they say : As of 01/16/02 we will no longer be shipping any orders outside of the United States... How do you get a hold of their scents? Best regards from a fellow european! Eva

Has anyone soaped ambra de napal from JS? How about morphing, fade and acceleration? Thanks in advance! Best, Eva

Thanks! You were a lot of help, I was kind of lost here... Robin, I was also thinking a year for cp soap and maybe 6 months for others, so I guess I will go that way. I don't use any of the most unstable oils, so I hope they won't go crazy... Thanks again! Eva

Hi! Do you state a "best before" date on your products? I am making preparations to bring my soaps etc. on market and according to regulations need to put this info on my products. (I live in Europe) I have no idea what should the expiery date be (or best before date) - a year? 6 months? I am interested in cp soap, lipbalms and bathmelts. Hope someone can help.:undecided Best, Eva

I made my first batch of goat milk cp and tried it yesterday - i am in looove:smiley2: maybe it is my imagination, but it feels so silky compared to my other bars which I also consider quite good:smiley2: I am surprised by the difference Just had to share:o

olive blossom - bcn (bnl) champagne & strawberries - js I color them pink:smiley2:

For what I have read it is ok by law to call your product "natural" even if only 1% of the raw materials is natural ie. not manmade. For the right to call your products "organic" it has to be the other way round basically - there are higher standards and it even is not enough that you use "natural" raw materials, even the "natural" materials have to be grown or produced according to some higher standards (environment friendly, no pesticides etc.) so to make a long story short it is legally ok, but ethics of course is an other matter, because most people don't know the difference between organic and natural. I guess, it would be best to say your product is say 95% natural (or even organic depending) - that leaves some minor % for not natural and you can also feel that you really use the word "natural" in a ethical way as opposed to many manufactures who say their products are natural when they maybe have a tiny drop of smth. that really could qualify... Best, Eva

I tried it and it smelled like a very sweet candy to me. I did not smell spices, but did detect a bit of apple:) I probably will need to test burn it again to make up my mind about this scent.

Just today (for the first time) I put my bombs to egg cartons for drying. I think they should keep their shape. Although I havent had the problem on flat surface either, I just turned to cartons so I can store them away more easily. But you still could try the egg carton thing, maybe it works for you also. Best, Eva To edit - it of cource depends on how big your bombs are, mine are quite small so they fit into egg cartons perfectly.