soapermom

I am soaping this weekend, just to see, I am infusing oil with basil puree and straining... I am hoping if I color a deep green and brown swirl maybe browning wont be noticable, basil in and of itself, has an enzyme that makes it turn brown, that is why I inquired... we shall see!

oh gosh.. hundreds. I didnt wanna remelt, I am NOT a pillar maker. I just wanted to do something to unload them ..somehow. plain ole pillars arent good sellers around here. but the remelting to make tarts could be an option. Also the baskets is a good idea.. make a basket with my B&B stuff and throw a few pillars in...

I am going through all cabinets and hitting craft stores to find stuff to recycle some ugly pillars. I also have to work on a halloween scented tarts order.

My father recently bought out a ladies candle business. I am talking pallets and pallets of containers, pillars, tea lights etc.. He has had no trouble reselling containers and tealights, pillars are another story. Some are just ugly, some are just dinged.. all smell nice and otherwise seem to be good quality. I am trying to dress them up for holidays to help him unload some. I need some ideas to fix them up?( even if just for SHOW and not burning) I had thought of covering them with things like cinnamon sticks, rolling them in crushed herds, sand, other stuff... any other cool ideas to recycle pillars?

I for one am pleased! My hubby should be back from Iraq by Chrstmas, I am counting the seconds!!

It sounds like what my husband gets, his is from over exposure to moisture, its not athletes foot at all,( his is from wearing wool socks and combat boots everyday!!) we use pure shea, I also use a callous shaver on his feet to get all the dry/dead skin off esp where his feet crack open.. ( all the treatments in the world will have a tough time penetrating hardened skin) I also massage g\his feet once a week with emu oil. I do use a commercial foot tretment from Bath and Body..blue spa best foot forward.. its the best commercial foot cream i have found. The key to controlling his, is keeping his feet dry.... cotton socks or bare feet whenever possible, and foot powders with cornstarch or something else moisture absorbing.

not that bad when ya buy a huge box at the dollar or or thrift grocery... she was selling them like hotcakes!

i dunno, was beeswax your only emulsifier? that could be a problem, or just the recipe itself..I alway cool at room temp.

I wish I had had my camera.. she sold the plain ole ugly ones for 3.00, she had some.. that were made to look like animals with tails, mice,cats etc.. they werent terrible fancy, free form sculpted I'd say..but CUTE!!! she sold those for $6( I am not quite sure what the core of the animals were..she didnt have one unpackaged for me to check out!!)

I will agree its unusual, but whats so yucky? its clean cotton. The idea is yucky more than the actual item?

yes people were snapping them up.... and really , unless you inspected it( like a fellow crafter would:wink2: ) you prob wouldn't figure it out right away..

fire starters, made from tampons??? I saw them thismorning at a craft fair, honestly at first glance I had no clue, only after further investigation realized it was a tampon dipped(many many times shape was altered)) in wax and had bits of wood and/or corncob shavings...

well, you have to play and test and experiment to see what works, and what percentages work. Really I have soaped most everything I can get my hands on, and the tricks have been more in percentages than the actual additive..and of course time plays a key role as well. I mean I havent had a cucumber soap sit around for 1 year too see if it eventually turned brown or rotted in anyway, it gets used up to quickly.. Anyhoo, this wasn't one of my regular shop soaps, I try anything and everything..after you conquer the basics, you just keep pushing the limit to see what else!!

or rosemary? I am overrun in my garden, and swweet basil smells sooo lovely.

I added cucumber puree, and some shaved cucumber skin!

I never add additional preservatives, I have never had any go bad or rancid from lack of doing this. I have made added cucumber to MP so yes its possible!

the finer the oatmeal the better it will suspend of course, and the only thing I do different that what you decribed, is I dont stir so much, after I add oatmeal and fo or whatever else, I let it sit, until a skin forms on top then stir it well, sometime I will let it skin twice and stir before pouring.. also if yu just have too much oatmeal per lb, some of it is just gonna settle, if this doesnt work for you I would try reducing the amount or buy a supsending Mp base, or buy some cosmetic grade silica and make your own.

when I first started, I bought supplies from local craft stores. After I realized I could buy wholesale online, i did. I expected it to be way cheaper, which is was, but difference in quality floored me!! the Fo's I had bought(in store) might as well have been water, the container wax I was using was really crappy as were wicks, even store bought MP was drying and very sub par. I would never go back to craft store stuff.

some oils are especially formulated for use in chocolate - have no alcohol, glycerin or propylene glycol .

are you wanting to do MP or CP or what? I have made scrubby coffee bars with a very fine espresso grind, and just a plain coffee soap with a coffee FO and a bit of espresso powder.. ALL MP. I haven't made a coffee CP yet. Just haven't had the desire to try it.

yes, you cannot use extract, its alcohol based, you have to use the flavoring oils.

I use non bleeding liquid gel pigment for embeds and such..you deep color when used in clear MP.I got the ones I use from go planet earth! They even have cool metallics. look further on that site under liquid gel.

yes I like them ok, great for soap. not so great for others things. color blending to me wasn't as easy using these, but much easier cleanup if you spill of course!! Some, cannot be used in like lip balm, or anything that goes near eyes or mucous membranes. FNWL offers small sampler packages of these so you can try them out before committing to a large amount!

I concur, its mouth watering. throws great in j223!

it can depend on what butters and oils. Most have a shelf life of 6 months to a year if stored in cool, dry place, some have a shorter life. If you have the basics(oilve,coconut, SAO, shea cocoa butter etc.. I would say you are just fine to play with those. Soapnuts and TLC have shelf life charts for butters and oils.