Saltbox Pantry

Hi there,

No its not Berger type. I actually posted a picture. I think its on page two. Its similar to a tart warmer. I tested some wax melts and it worked fine even though the vessel is not as deep.

For the oils, I think I have to add some water like others have mention.

I do like the bergers and probably try those next....BUT have to save up a bit more $$...LOL

SP

Great I will try that but with a different scent. I can't handle the Sunflower today...LOL

SP

O.k. so my Monkey farts wax melt works great....no smoking. I guess I will be making my baskets after all with the wax melts instead.

I'm going to continue to test the oils. I think with the Sunflower would have to be 80% DPG - 20% oil. Boy was that extremely strong!

Thanks,

SP

I'm going to give it try with the wax tonight and see how much of a throw I get. Its actually not as deep as it appears.

Thanks,

SP

O.k. have a picture of it.

I only sold one out of the bunch and was thinking of putting them in my gift baskets as the focal point. They are pretty slow moving item on its own, so maybe they will be better in a gift basket. More of a focal point draw the attention to all the goodies in the basket and not so much the price tag....lol

Oh yes, this does have a lid but it broke so this is mine for testing. The lid is all filigree just like the body.

SP

That's exactly what I'm talking about Bruce.....LOL

On the box they call it Oil Diffusers I guess this why its so confusing.....pretty Victorian teapot (fairly big) with the tealite to warm up the oils.

There's a fair distance between the flame but not much air flow so it could be the problem.

I'd post some picture's but it would have to be later this evening.

The "Mother" duty is now taking over....LOL

Thanks again,

SP

No these are oil diffuser pots....sort of like the tart melters but shallower. You can use EO or premixed FO blends. I thought I could blend some of my own but was wrong.

I decided I'm going to just sell the pot on its own and the customer will have to find the oils elsewhere.

Thanks,

SP

Hmmm.

I read somewhere on this site people mixing their own blend....50 DPG and 50 FO.

I did blow it out after I saw it smoking....actually it's way too strong for my liking. It longered on for an hour afterwards. Got a nice headache now.

I think I will scrap that idea and sell the diffuser pot on its own.

SP

I'm testing a new oil diffuser holder and my oil blend....first time. Its been on for about 1 minute and its smoking. I have never used diffusers so I don't know if its normal or if the oil is getting too hot.

My oil blend is 50 DPG -50 Sunflower FO.

TIA,

SP

Hi countrycandles,

This is what I did when I started making soap about 2 years ago. I went to my local library, took out all the books I could find on soap making.

Read it, went out bought all my ingredients and started to play.....I used the recipes that where given in the book.

I preferred the books rather then the computer for my first month or so in making soaps. You have the reference right beside you. I used the computer to research the oils and print out the information, recipes you name it I printed it for my binder.

Never thought of joining any forums at the time. It wasn't until Jan 06 I joined.

I still rather google everything...its amazing all the information that is available.

Hope this helps,

SP

OH NO!!!

I had a feeling something was up. Maybe we can convince her not to. I really really need her. She is the BEST supplier I have found.

SP

I was just on it with no problems. Maybe your server is down....this happens to me from time to time. I start to panic and find out its our server...LOL

SP

She is "bigger", "meaner" and much "better looking" than me so I pretty much go with the flow.....lol.....

As far as brokering yourself.....You can do that if you are close to the US or a "bond" warehouse....If you can go across to the US you just pick up your parcels at a UPS depot and present it at Canada Customs when you come back....Make sure you have complete invoices or they will not clear you package.....

As an alternative you can see if you can find a logsitics company....They will recieve your packages in the US, transport them to Canada and store them in a "bond" warehouse.....You then take the paperwork to Canada Customs and clear the package....Once it has been cleared you go to the "bond" warehouse and pickup the package....They charge you some for the transport from Canada to the US but it should be far less than what UPS would charge...

FYI there is a logistics company in London ON that should be able to help you out....Just not sure of their name so you might need to phone around.....If I can figure out who they are, I will let you know....

....RCS...

Great! Thanks for the information. I will check out the London area. If worse comes to worse, I will have to take a little road trip across the border.

SP:cheesy2:

Janette.....I have the good fortune of being located just minutes from the US so I get all my US parcels over there and clear them into Canada myself.....For those that do not know, if the shipper has not made arrangements for brokerage, UPS charges C$35.00 or more in fees to collect taxes and duties on trans border shipments....And sometimes the taxes and duties are only a few dollars....RCS....

Hello there and welcome.

I was wondering about that myself. There's a lot of suppliers in the U.S. who do not use USPS. How would I go about clearing the shipments myself....becoming my own broker.

Sorry to go off topic.

Your wife is a lucky lady. When I told my husband I was going to start making soaps and candles....first words out of his mouth was "I don't want anything to do with it!" Talk about support system....LOL You will have great fun in researching and in making the product.

SP

Wonderful swirls! Can't wait to see it cut.

SP:cheesy2:

I was wondering the same.

I order 2.5 lbs of the the soy for testing. I'm curious about the low recommend temperature's for the FO.....whether or not it will have a better hot throw.

SP

Waxwench is right. You really need to play around with different wax and scents.

Here's something that I saved in my favorites. It might help out a bit.

http://www.ascenttoremember.com/dkscentlist.html

SP

This has happened to me recently. Not with oil sepage but lye heavy soap.

I couldn't understand it. I did notice that my hardware store's lye had changed from crystal granules(when I first started) to pellet size. So I think that has a major play. I also notice that the soapcalc that I used is not right in giving me the lye requirements.

If you run your recipe through both calculators, Soapcalc & MMS, you will see that Soapcalc is not superfatting at 5% is more like 3 - 4%. One of my recipes was at 0% YIKES!! Not giving you much room for error.

Huge pellets size lye and the wrong lye amount.....no wonder most of soaps where still tingly after a couple months cure!

So now I run my recipes through MMS and Soapcalc. I use MMS requirements for water and lye and soapcalc for qualities.

Now here's the strange thing. The other day I had different lye given to me for testing from my soap supplier, and guess what, oil sepage like crazy....no zapping, actually was sweet tasting, but oil ouzing out. Its been sitting for a day now and seems to be better. Its starting to sink in.

At the last minute I had to sub for an oil and think this could be the problem with the sepage.

Hope this helps out a bit,

SP

Unbelievable!! That's one awesome soap you have there.

SP:drool:

Hi there,

The only one I tried is from BCN and to me it's a dead on dupe.

SP

I like to use Neutrogena Pore refining cleanser in the morning and in the evenings. I also use Neutrogena's oil free day moisturizer. At night I use a vitamin A night cream.

I know eventually I will have to seek out another option as I get older, but for now it seems to work with my skin type which similar to yours.

SP

Here's some more info on the ingredients:

Uniester L-197- Tridecyl stearate, tridecyl trimellitate, Dipentaerythrityl hexacaprylate/hexacaprate

Viable mid-viscosity mineral oil replacement, excellent emolliency, good solvency for skincare and suncare

Uniester L-216--Tridecyl stearate, neopentyl glycol dicaprylate/dicaprate, tridecyl trimellitate

Viable low-viscosity mineral oil replacement, excellent emolliency, good solvency for skincare and suncare

Uniester L-278--Dipentaerythityl hexacaprylate/hexacaprate, tridecyl trimellitate, tridecyl stearate, neopentyl glycol dicaprylate/dicaprate

Viable high-viscosity mineral oil replacement, excellent emolliency, good solvency for skincare and suncare

SP

Wonderful displays and product. Great job!

SP:smiley2:

No but that's a good idea!

It could be but I had a lady come in and she really couldn't tell what I was testing......I told her it was Pumpkin Pie and she made a weird face at it....LOL

I will try Eco wicks to see if I get the same results.

Thanks for the replies,

SP:smiley2:

Every spicey/cinnamon type fragrance oil that I test , after awhile start to smell burnt to me. Could it be that my wick is too big even though it barely has a full meltpool after many hours?

I have tested Apple Pie's, Baked Apples, Mulled Cider, Gingerbread and Pumpkin Pie and all with the same results....different suppliers. Its driving me nuts! I'm not smelling any of the goods smells like apples, pumpkin....I have been avoiding these types of oils due to this problem.

The jar I'm testing at the moment is 16 oz Apothecary- 2 HTP 104's some with HTP 93--1 oz of FO.

Anybody else have this problem?

TIA,

SP:smiley2: