michelleB

I'm wondering what color a "Happy" scented candle should be?? When I hear "happy" I tend to see bright sunny yellows. This is a clinique dupe & their packaging seems to lean towards an orange/sherbet color. Should I stick with that & use orange?? How do the rest of you handle your dupes? Do you stay within the same color range as the originals...or change them completely? Based on this scent description, what color does it "say" to you: A chic, modern, multi-layered floral with sparkling, lingering fragrance of Ruby Red Grapefruit, Boysenberry Bush Flower and Hawaiian Wedding Flower. TIA!!

Thanks Candle Man! I usually dip at a much lower temp though, like around the 150* mark or lower, but still I see your point & it's a good one. I did test on one rag-wrapped styrofoam ball last year (didn't have any more on hand) and it worked ok...but that was likely due to how quickly it was removed from the wax. Super fast dipping! :-) That's why I was thinking I might just do em all that way this year. Has anyone tried dipping those wooden "wicker/rattan-looking" spheres that they sell in the craft section of wal-mart? They're about 2 1/2 - 3 inches around I think. I saw those and thought maybe they'd be cute dipped in wax and then maybe sprinkled with glitter afterwards to use for tree ornaments. Any thoughts?

I dipped "rag balls" last year to make scented tree ornaments & they worked out great! Just ripped long ragged strips of fabric & wrapped around fluffs of stuffing til I had a ball shape, then dip, dry & hang em up! Next time I'll prolly use small styrofoam balls to wrap fabric around, just to make it a little easier on myself.

same here, $15-20, possibly slightly more. It looks WONDERFUL!!! Very nice lookin stuff ya got there! I especially like your snowman jar candle!

smellywax...I've never used it, BUT even with that said...GO FOR IT! lol In my experience with the ones I've tried so far, ANY butter can be whipped into a body butter. Never met one yet I couldn't beat the snot out of at some point or another. You just may need to do a little adjusting on the amounts of softer oils to get the right consistency. Is it a firm butter like cocoa? Closer to mango/shea?? Unless there's a huge difference in the firmness, you shouldn't have any problems at all with getting it to whip up nice & fluffy with the first try. If there IS a huge difference, just add a little more/less soft oils til it feels right. Keep us posted if you whip this up. I'd like to know how it feels on the skin and how quickly pistachio butter sinks in (greasy feel/shiny/weird smell/etc). Have fun!

I THIRD the Gingerbread Cookies from Snowtop!! It's been my all time best seller year round!

Hmmm...well, unless you just want to make soap, easiest thing to make would probably be whipped shea butter. You'd just use the shea and a bit of the sweet almond oil (some add a pinch of cornstarch too) and whip it til it's fluffy. With Christmas just around the corner, little containers of whipped shea would make terrific gifts!

My 16yo son and his friends around here LOVE the Tsunami, so I can barely keep enough of that one made up. :-) moniek...try SerendipityScents for AXE dupes. That's where I get mine and I think she's doing a pre-buy right now on boat-loads of AXE dupes by the pound.

I use 100% goat milk & I get "slightly off-white" and beige soaps quite often if I'm using fo's that don't discolor. Only time I get a really brown soap is if it's some sort of vanilla or coconut. I don't use gm powder either. What I do is use the canned goat milk from wally-world (which needs equal water to be reconstituted) and I mix my lye with the WATER, then add the canned goat milk at trace. In other words, if recipe calls for 8 oz fluid, I mix lye with 4oz water & then add 4oz canned GM at trace. That way I don't have to worry with ice baths, freezing the milk, etc. Hope that helps! :-) edited to add: Gelling also plays a key role in determining how light a milk soap will be. Non-gelled soaps are somewhat lighter in color.

I like the positioning of the 2nd and 3rd pics the best...they've got a nice "flow" to the arrangement & yep like Dani said, very inviting. :-)

I feel your pain & frustration. I've had testers in the past who volunteered for soaps, lotions, and basically anything else I was making at the time and I really really NEEDED their honest feedback because it was crucial to formulating a final recipe. I'm a patient person, but it drove me NUTS that out of 10 people, only TWO bothered to tell me anything at all. And that was after I tracked them down and insisted on feedback. That was over a year ago and do ya know that one of them still hasn't even TRIED the samples she got???!!! Again, these were volunteers & FRIENDS who clearly understood how important I considered their testing to be. Yep like mizbizzyb said...CUT EM OFF. You need good dependable testers who will get back to you in a timely fashion and not be afraid to be honest with you. Anything less than that is a hindrance instead of a help. Some people simply "want" because there's something there to get. If they don't reply after you contact them again, I'd cut my losses and look around for somebody else to test. Best of luck to you! ((Hugs))

I tried these last year and though they were a huge hit...I was disappointed at their appearance after drying. I layed mine out on wax paper to dry and they got lots of flat spots and 'goobers' in places. How do you guys/gals dry yours? Should I try hanging them up like dipped rag-balls? I just don't have a lot of hanging room, but I'll do whatever works. :-) Ginger, as for pricing and bundling, I sold by the half-dozen and dozen and priced according to "after" weight of the added scented wax. (just figure up your cost per oz of wax & fo, and add your other costs like packaging etc. Determine your sell price from there) They're very inexpensive to make, so they literally fly outta here due to the low price. And yes they make wonderful fire-starters! I finally got me a fireplace where I can use em myself and I'm totally hooked!

Well I'm not sayin what I was immediately thinking of! But it sure brought back some high school memories of things ya could do under it! LMAO! Gosh it's gettin hot in here. Um, what were we talking about? OH YEAH!! I'd go with green!

can I be somebody important too? Secretary or treasurer maybe? I suck at bath bombs. They hate me. They're the devil.

Oh those are so PURDY!! I just wanna EAT the first two, shower with the second one, and decorate with the fourth one!! Fantastic job!

In my area, the 2oz and 4oz containers are the perfect sizes for whipped shea butters. They last forever, and really...I don't want to sell such a large quantity that the customer can go for a year before having to order again, lol. (AND the point about rancidity over time is a very very good one!) I use 2oz low profile jars and I can barely keep it made as fast as it's ordered. I'm actually thinking of discontinuing the 4oz because my customers think it's just "too much" (product, not price).

Oh Carrie those are LOVELY!! I especially love that round Rosemary Mint, but they're both beautiful!

I read about this on another forum just a little while ago and they were saying that it's a 'fluke' of sorts, something to do with the web host probably. Kitty is aware of it now (cuz somebody emailed & told her) and she's trying to get it straightened out. edited to add: oops! Typing at the same time as spatreats. Glad it's working again! That didn't take very long!

I do that too! I've got all sorts of "kaleidoscope vomit" candles sitting around here, lolol. Having a thunderstorm right now as I type, so they're out and ready to roll if I need em!

Don't know if you mean for b&b or candles, so I'll go both routes: I've used their Cherry Almond and it smelled exactly like Jergen's lotion. My best selling scent in lotions, butters and candles. STRONG throw in soy candles. It's the only fo I've tried from them and it's a high-quality oil, even though it's not the 'premium' version that they offer. This one I use is just manufacturer's grade. Hope that helps ya!

ROFLMAO!! yep it's disgusting for SURE. I just 'bout fell outta my chair the day I found a WHOLE big list of stuff I can't say on here. Funny, funny, funny! There's a market for everything somewhere I guess, lol.

Um, WELL actually I've seen a few fo names & descriptions that sound like they could do the job. Only thing is, I don't remember the supplier now (I was just surfin around when I ran across em). Besides, er, ahem...I don't think I'd be allowed to say the fo name on here...ya folla me? I'll say this much though,think about what all else people 'might' say smells like stinky fish. (yes, THAT). Now either google for that as a fragrance oil, or go to fragrance finder and see if they've got it listed. Hope that helps you somewhat!

MarieJ...you're extremely well informed AND well prepared, so I have no doubts that you'll have a blast with your gm soap! :-) Ida...you're doing GREAT! I've had soaps that separated on me in the mold, started gelling while still in the mixing bowl, turned into HARD soap while still being stick-blended...you name it! Trust me when I say there will be days when you look back on this batch...and WISH your current batch behaved as well, ROFL. But it's all part of the fun of soapin. To answer your question, yep these will still need the full cure time before being used in the shower/bath. But I always test a sliver or end piece on my hands at the sink right after I cut it. I'm an impatient soaper, so I have to at least do that much just to reassure myself that it actually worked & turned into soap! lol. Just keep in mind that you usually won't get the full effect from the lather until it's had a little more cure time.

Give it a couple of days or so and the smell will change. Sorry, shoulda warned ya about that possibility. :embarasse If the goat milk gets really heated up, it can put off a really raunchy stench. Luckily it's only temporary though, so keep checking on it over the next 24-48 hours and you'll start to notice the GOOD smell coming through more & more, and the BAD smell fading away. Don't worry, it's nothing that you did wrong and it won't change the outcome of the soap. I'm really excited for you!!! Gosh I still remember my first OMH batch...and if I'm not mistaken, it went the same way with the gm 'ammonia' smell and it scared the be-jeezus outta me! Turned out to be such a great soap though that I only got one bar out of the whole log! All my friends & family helped themselves to it, cuz of the yummy smell. It's definitely an all-time favorite! Keep us posted on how it goes & give us some pics if you can. I LOVE soap pics!

Oh CAROL you're such a BAD BAD influence! Here hibiscus has already tempted me beyond measure and now YOU'VE gotta tease me with a 350% gm soap???!! (if my math's even remotely right) Good golly gumdrops I'm gonna march right into my kitchen an' soap me up a storm! Heck, I might even throw the whole goat in there! Mmmmmmmm, I'm gonna keep the whole dern log for myself too! Oh, and thanks for the warning about the cracking. Yep, prolly overheated, so I'll stick mine straight in the fridge or freezer. Wish me luck, I'm goin in!