giedre11

I like their soap too, just not as much as SFIC. The only thing I didn't care for was their shea which to me anyway, seemed to have a bit of an oily smell.

Gosh, sounds like we all have a bunch of hobbies! I too used to sew quite a bit. Actually had to as I was so broke, I had to make my own uniforms! They weren't too bad, but I did get pretty wild with them! I also knit, crochet, do the soaps and candles and a little bit of beading. I'm also gettint into cutting cabochons, which is a lot of fun. I think someone else here mentioned they do the same. I think it's way cool, because you never know what you're going to end up with! DBF and I love going to Tucson for the annual "rock" show. We have a ball! He is in to faceting {sp??} and recently made me a ring. I have dabbled in many other hobbies, but soaping and candles are my main thing!

I added some sodium lactate to my HP to make it more pourable, then on top of no water discount, added extra coconut milk. This stuff was soupy and I didn't think it would ever harden up, but I also added the SL at the rate of one oz. per pound of oils and let me tell ya, it hardened those bars right up!

Well, to answer one of your questions, I have several wooden molds and yes the bottoms are thinner than the sides. I don't see why you couldn't just make it whatever thickness you wanted to?? Now I do have a Kelsei mold also, gosh I just love that thing! The plastic divider slats, are well, I guess just a very thick plastic, and very smooth. There are notches in it with little arrows pointing in the direction of how they should be inserted. There are also notches in the sides of the mold. I would think that once you got a thick trace, you could just insert your dividers and they would stay put? Good luck!

Yes, another one that does this is Scent Works Bamboo Ji. I just love this FO, but it will discolor mauve in such a way that it doesn't go through the whole bar of soap, say as vanilla does. It just leaves a deep mauve shell all around. It is rather pretty though. I did color it green, ended up getting a mauve rimmed soap with green on the inside!

I think you are so right. My batches used to trace super fast also, I always blamed it on the FO. It's only recently when I went back to basics- olive, coconut, palm- that I started getting much better behaved batches. I'm slowly adding or subbing different oils from this and it's working out a lot better!

Here''s one supplier of sodium lactate: http://www.bestdeal.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc? The sugar sounds good, I've never tried table sugar, but I do use the sorbitol. Oops, wrong link. Anyway go to Camden-Grey and just do a search for sodium lactate. http://http://www.bestdeal.org/essential-camden/17.html

I've always said, my passion is making candles and soap. I can get lost in it for days! I have gotten so engrossed with it, I sometimes forget to eat.

Ok, did my second ever batch of HP last night. This time I added SL at the end of the cook. Let me tell you, it makes a BIG difference in the "pourability" of the soap...it'll never be {I believe} as pourable as CP, but the SL in HP is superb! I was even able to add my beloved grapefruit fo, once the batch cooled down enough. I do love yuzu, but to my nose it's just not the same. Anyway, I'm making friends with HP!

I've sorta gotten over being mad at my first attempt at HP, lol, and am willing to try again. I've done a lot more reading and I've come across these hints...now mind you, I have not tried any of these myself as yet, but plan to today. Ok, try adding a little bit {how much is anyone's guess??} of glycerine at the end of the cook, or try adding some sodium lactate or sorbitol, also at the end of the cook. These things are supposed to help make the HP soap more pourable, and so shouldn't come out as funky looking...again, I have not tried any of this yet! I'm not sure about the glycerine as I heard it can make the soap feel sticky, but then maybe just a little?? bit won't do it that way. The sorbitol I have is in solution, so now I'm wondering just how much extra water that will add to the HP. The sodium lactate sounds best to me and I think that's what I'm going to go for. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I've found that while the oils you use may accelerate trace some, it's usually the fragrance oil that does what you described. Some eo's do the same thing.

I've read where adding a little ROE will help in preventing DOS. There are additives like BHT and EDTA that will also help, but these are not "natural" like ROE. One interesting thing I found was a bar of soap I made 2/6/2003 and shrink wrapped it. No fo...I had forgotten it. I just unwrapped it maybe two weeks ago and it got DOS in about two days! Don't know what this proves, if anything.

I can't say I've used their flavor oils, but if they are on par with their fragrance oils, you should be ok.

I just bought some of these jars at Walmart.

Why don't you just try adding peppermint eo? It's lip safe and you can add to your desired strength.