Sponiebr

Yeah... I want that as my stamp. This is a label: I mean if the Artist Formerly known as Prince can do this: Certainly the Executor of Bad Ideas should be able to get away with this:

You want to understand insanity? I don't recommend it... My point in the above, besides being a not so thinly veiled rant, is that getting one of these stamps seems like it's either going to take a LONG time and a small amount of money or a short time and a LOT of money. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground there. I look like I'm late 50's, I think like I'm over 90, and biologically I'm 41. I think my biological age is all an elaborate hoax. I mean really... All I have as proof of my age are anecdotes and a piece of paper.

I'm SO sorry about that! Actually I took this last night before I melted it down to make new wax billets (the new ones I colored with a little charcoal).

I don't think I am physically capable of doing something sane or reasonable or having something sane or reasonable happen to me... I mean it might happen by accident, but it couldn't happen on purpose. Actually, I've been considering ordering one, even with the whole customs and shipping time from Hungary, meh... I thought it was at least worth a few tries to do it myself. My dad COULD make this, but he doesn't want to make what I want. He want's to make it his way with his improvements. (e.g.: I have to redesign it so that all spaces have at least one area open to the outside to keep from forming air pockets, and it will be made of nothing else other than aluminum.) To get it from China takes forever and is basically a crap shoot at best. Then if I want to fork out the money $35-$180 I could get one done in the U.S. and have it in a couple of weeks... It boils down to time=money, and my time is worth nothing. One of my friends posted on faceplant something to the effect of "When mediocrity becomes the ideal for a society, quality and the pursuit of excellence have died." Having been overseas and seen the long term effects that particular sentiment has had on people I can tell you it truly is an insipid cancer that destroys the very foundation of a nation and removes all sense of worth, pride, personal motivation, and severely erodes national identity. After seeing the impending doom that will become my life due to complete and utter carelessness by people making $200 an hour because they are the best in the business, I have some really sincere reservations as to exactly what my time is actually worth. I mean, people that send out 4 documents to one person and all 4 documents have glaring mistakes and omissions and can't be used? These mistakes are going to cause a legal war! But, hell they still get $200/hr. and their assistant gets $75/hour, and I get to pay both. One person makes mistakes -it happens, one company may also make mistakes that can happen too.., but when it's the industry standard? Who the hell am I to complain about whittling a block of wax? Sponiebr the unwilling and unwitting grand prize winner on this week's installment of "REALITY CHECK NIGHTMARES"

I read this and thought, "Damn... That's almost my vape juice..."

Glad I got someone's morning off to a good start. LOL! This thing is basically just like a rubber ink stamp but made of hard material and used to squish a design that would otherwise be printed on a label into a soft bar of freshly made and cut uncured soap. Ya;'know : "(squish...) Viola! My company name and logo. Wrap some cellophane around it and seal the back with an ingredients sticker. Done. NEXT!!!!!!!" Soap stamp example (Why the HELL am I not buying THIS!!!!?) <------ The sane personality..ytilanosrep enas ton ehT------------> Sponie

Well, FWIW (keep in mind I'm a soaper) as someone that should be considered as an uninformed buyer, I like them, but I would like to see the wax or some of the candle. I know nothing about chandlery except maybe how to fashion an improvised wick and stick it into a jar of tallow for emergency light. (I mean, I understand the concepts, but I don't make candles.) Pretty labels though! Maybe if they were a tad more narrow? I dunno. Cheers, Sponie the suspended executor of nuff'n.

Apparently I don't have enough to do and am OBVIOUSLY bored and possibly losing my mind. I know right? "Possibly losing" my mind? Well, I say that because I KNOW BETTER, and I can't otherwise explain the unspeakably graphic display of gross stupidity that I spent my evening creating. So while this project isn't exactly related to soap or candle making it IS somewhat related to both and also mixes in mold making, and it's "crafty" to boot. SO I post this HERE. I want a soap stamp. No, no, no, no... not just ANY soap stamp my friends... No a Sponie Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services ORIGINAL MASTERPIECE soap stamp WITH original dies and molds to make MORE stamps!!! These are the minimum requirements... Oh, and it must be FLAWLESS. (a guy's gotta have some standards.) Over the last several weeks I finalized a pencil drawing and then scanned it and got a digital image to work with. I then polished the hell out of the digital image using GIMP and got THAT finalized. I converted the stamp to various formats and made a few depth maps so I could hand it over to my dad who does CNC milling. Well, dad ain't going to be able to get around to that for a while, so I decided to do it the old fashioned way, by carving a relief and casting the stamp. I've actually spent several weeks developing and puttering around with this soap stamp. BUT TONIGHT!!!! I was going to get it DONE. So, this evening, and for most of this morning, I was working on carving the wax to make the positive relief of the stamp so I could make the silicone or plaster molds to cast the final stamp. (Think soap stamp made out of wax) I'll fast forward through the drudgery of it all: I cast the high temp wax billets, cut the image out, glued (yes glued with Elmer's white glue) the image onto a billet, traced, carved, brushed, and burnished the relief. Total time for carving: 4 hours and damn did I do a nice job! Something was bugging me, and I couldn't figure it out. I finally convinced myself that it was the air relief vent that I would need to create so that some of the sealed areas would actually stamp at the same depth as the rest of the stamp. Man I was IMPRESSED with MYSELF!!! OH TOUCH ME! DON'T I FEEL GOOD? I was RADIANT with SOME KINDA SPECIAL. I wanted to see what this bad-Larry was going to look like as an ink stamp, so I inked it up and splat. Hmmm... yeah I gotta fix that sealed middle part... It just isn't co-operating. It needs an air vent. Something else though seems... off... what is... OH F&^H NO!!!!!!!!!! (I'm stunned) NO FREAKING WAY!!!! (I'm in shock, and might need an ambulance, good thing I'm by myself in the middle of nowhere in the moonlit swamp.) (pause: I've made castings before of Scottish clan badges, and sealing wax seals... This isn't my first rodeo, nor my 5th for that matter. resume) I've, um failed to reverse the image. Yep! I carved a backwards stamp. I've got to start over again. I have NO explanation.. I just totally forgot to flip the image. The GOOD NEWS IS: Apparently you can't die from frustration. Wax 1 / Sponie 0 Sponiebr (Suspended: Executor of anything pending outcome of internal investigation)

Trappeur, just for the record I'm the one that made mention of the word smite. (It's up at the top) Well, here: "I don't know if you have been on other forums, but the admins of Craft Server are not going to smite you down if you happen to ask about a soap making topic the general soap forum so that the question isn't precisely under it's perfect little sub-forum... I know some forums WILL smite you with lashings of fire and thorns, but not here. Here... Just friendly genuine help to friendly genuine people seeking genuine friendly help." I'm really trying to lighten up on my usual asinine writing style... (cringe) SORRY! Sponiebr (clears throat) Executor of bad, (well, just name it... I'm sure I can make it happen).

Dear LORD! I thought I had it bad with soap... I had NO IDEA there could be so many issues with a candle. (cowers trembling in the corner.)

SORRY!!!! I'm WAY WRONG.... That was a custom blend FO in there that I got from someone. That I added cedar pine peppermint and pikake to.... Sorry about that.

Isn't that stuff AWESOME? I have a little 1 oz bottle and it is DEFINITELY going to make it into some soap.

I still have not been able to identify my favorite scent yet, and the soap maker doesn't remember what that little extra something was, other than it was a free sample. It's custom blended Tangerine with Cranberry and something, not really sure (it's a weird sweet citrusy note, yuzu maybe?). I don't know. I know htta the FO's were all BB. I've never smelled anything like it since she gave me that soap. I have a small sample of it saved to try and reproduce the scent one of these days. In fact my next FO order will be specifically to try and reproduce that scent.

That's not just a start, that's an AWESOME start!

Wait... No, neither the container nor the hotplate hob material make any difference at all if they are able to be magnetized or not, in fact they usually are not ferromagnetic (e.g. glass flasks etc...) The stirring comes from a little plastic encased "pill" that you put at the bottom of the heating vessel (in this case your aluminum pour pot) and the magnetic stirring field under the heating element spins the little pill when you place the pot onto the "burner". When you pick the pot up the stirring "pill" stays in the pot and stops spinning until you put the pot back onto the hot plate. Usually they have a speed controller that lets you vary how fast you want to stir from off to literally jumping out of the pot.

Do you know if they make one with a magnetic stirrer?

Welcome! I make soap but this is a chandler's paradise! Lot's of really helpful, talented, and knowledgeable people here at Craft Server. I'm glad to know there is another guy out there that can crochet. Slainte, Sponiebr

Ooo, what's the shimmer? Mica?

sponiebr: i ordered all of my supplies from Bramble Berry, as i wrote in my original post. I am not sure what you mean here, since I did post in the proper category, in the proper sub forum. I belong to several on line forums (non-craft related), and never been 'smited'. Maybe this isn't the best place for me. But I thank you for taking the time to respond. What I meant was that the Mods are pretty easy going. I came here from a place that wasn't as easy going. I was trying to say that we're people friendly. (I'm kind of a smart ass, and sometime even when I'm trying to be genuine I miss my mark.) It's a curse. I see that BB comment in you OP now. I'm having a little trouble with some optical migraines today, I've had 6 in a row so far today and the scintillating scotoma is really blocking my vision. I need sleep. So that BB link that I tacked on looks like it would be good for dry skin, I mean it looks good to me. Slainte, Sponiebr

I mean... ya know, ONE way to get around the taper is to use little perfectly fitting tubes and stick them down into the cups. I mean you're going to lose a little product with that insert in there but you can do it. I'd find a thin walled pvc pipe that fit the exact dimensions at the bottom ring of the cup and then you could cut the pipe to length and fill all the surrouding area with a wax. Just a thort!

Melt and Pour Soap Additive List! is a great place to start KandleKrazy! I've also just PM'd KrazyKelly as I think that she still works extensively in M&P. I have'nt seen Kelly in a few days though. Ve shall zeeee.... Slainte!

Well, I don't really mess with melt and pour. In CP soap glass isn't really optimal, but I guess in M&P you need it for melting the base? I don't know much about M&P but from what I understand it is a syndet (synthetic detergent, or man made soap-like material), and syndets aren't terribly kind to skin (STRIKE THAT... BREAKING NEWS!!! Syndets are recommended for sensitive skin according to a guy who sells them... o.O Seems legit.) Even so, I've not heard of anything bad happening to a person using M&P, it's actually a very popular product, even among people that make traditional soaps. M&P does have some advatages as it's already a finished product that doesn't have any reactions going on in it. (like lye saponifing fats...) I'm sure you could mix in emollients and such to get the moisturizing effects that you would want. So, again... I work in CP, and mixing something like salicylic acid into a CP soap would be a bad idea because acids and lye just DON'T get along at all, but in M&P maybe you could, you probably could? But SHOULD you? I have no idea. I have psoriasis and I make pine tar CP soap, which is it's own special fresh flavor of hell. I also make a goats milk, honey, and oatmeal CP soap in which I use organic whole oat flour. It does have some scratch to it but not anything really bad, and I have found that the scratchiness to those bars is only present when rubbing the bar directly on my skin. Transferred to a wash cloth there's no scratch, or not that I've noticed. You can also get colloidal oatmeal which is all hydrated and homogenized and expensive. Personal advice? Keep it super simple until you learn the in's and out's and whether or not M&P is going to be something you like, (I'll bet that it's going to be FAR better than anything you have used so far.) I would think that tea tree would be VERY drying, which isn't what you indicate that you need. I'm not sure who SFIC is, but have you been over to Bramble Berry? You might want to check out the lavender and chamomile facial M&P bar at bramble berry's how-to web site SoapQueen M&P cleansing soap it's at the bottom of that linked page. The clear plastic molds are the way to go apparently for M&P, you just need to be careful with them as they are a bit fragile and temperature sensitive as I understand. Really? If I ask sweetly can we try to play nice? Craft Server really is a wonderful place with genuinely helpful people. Including me (sometimes... well... rarely actually... y'know, let's just skip it.) OTHER people are nice and helpful here. I don't know if you have been on other forums, but the admins of Craft Server are not going to smite you down if you happen to ask about a soap making topic the general soap forum so that the question isn't precisely under it's perfect little sub-forum... I know some forums WILL smite you with lashings of fire and thorns, but not here. Here... Just friendly genuine help to friendly genuine people seeking genuine friendly help. Anywho, it's not much but hope it helps you some, or at least get's you moving in the right direction. Slainte

Hum... So, I dunno, but I kinda need a hefty hit of ginger when I want a ginger fragrance. Nothing off the shelf would fit that bill for me. Although I haven't attempted a specific "gingerbread" fragrance yet, I have mixed some ginger fragrances from CS. If I were going to shoot for a gingerbread fragrance with what I have to work with from CS I would probably start with a base of Red Ginger and Saffron and then start adding alternately Pumpkin Pie and Snickerdoodle until it just had enough spice to qualify it as gingerbread. The red ginger and saffron from CS is nice, not something I thought I would really care for except as a "booster" for snickerdoodle, but I did a test batch of soap and didn't particularly care what the fragrance was and I happened grab the bottle of Red Ginger and Saffron, and I have to say the fragrance has really grown on me. Well, that's just my crummy spare change donation for opinion land. YMWV. Slainte, Sponiebr the Executor of Bad Ideas, Bad Opines, and Sundry Services.