cbarber03

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I quit selling HI about a year and a half ago when I wanted to put more time into my own candles. They do have a soy candle, but they market it under the Better Homes & Gardens line, and they do not have good hot throw at all from what I can remember. I bought and tried 4 different scents and they were all the same. They have recenlty went through and revamped their look, new jars, but with that they have also upped their prices. Like others have said, they have always had bad sooting. Before I started playing with my own candles, I used to burn HI candles all over my house. Had to go through and scrub the ceilings and baseboards to get the soot off before we could repaint! Have faith in your product. Once you get yours into the hands of the die hard HI, or any other major manufacturer for that matter, they'll quickly see the difference.

Those do look nice. And I like the color of the Twigs and Berries too!

Very pretty. I love your color combo.

Ok, here's the cut pic. The color on the bottom did not swirl, even though I pushed all the way to the bottom and made sure I was dragging the bottom. Maybe I should have used something bigger than a kabob skewer? The center layer was too thin. It still smells really good though! And I have to do some trimming up yet to at least make it presentable for my own sake. If it performs well when it's all cured, I might have to give a slice to my mom.

Here's a marble effect kind of thing I did with my second ever batch of soap. As with all of my batches so far, there is a problem with this one too! The orangish pink you see was suppossed to be GREEN! Scent is Green Tea and Lemongrass. This baby was 2 weeks old as of yesterday.

Cut pics of couse! Unless it's a horrible, shameful disaster. LOL!

Here's my first attempt at swirling. What do ya think? The only thing I'm disappointed about is that my mica didn't compeletly blend. Even after my arm fell off! Scented Pink Sugar.

Thank you so much for the information. I'll have to give this process a whirl as see how I do.

Sorry guys, I'm just full of questions. So if I understand correctly, if you melt and mix your oils and then let them cool down to room temp, will the oils that are normally solid at room temperature remain in liquid or semi-liquid form?

Do you get a smooth surface with CPRT? It does sound quite intriguing, and a bit less of a hassle as far as melting and cleaning pots after each batch. Also, I'm on a well and spetic system, so I have to be even more careful with the lye!

May I ask what CPRT is? TIA

I just realized how bad my typing was in the first post! Nope, no milk. I used Darwin's basic recipe with the HP and then subed lard for the PKO in the CPOP batch. I guess I'll just be patient and see what happens, but it's so unbelievably hard to be! Man, this soap thing really is addicting! And I thought I loved candle pouring!

Yep, it's me again with another question:tiptoe: . I have made two batches of soap now, one CPHP and the other CPOP. Both have add a weird smell to them, but seem to become more like the FO as each day passes. They kind of smell oily! I used 1 oz pp in the CPHP and .5 oz pp in the CPOP. The first was Pink Sugar from NG and the second was Green Tea & Lemongrass from CS. Do soaps usually take a few days or more to lose the smell of the other ingredients and before they begin to smell like the FO you wanted them to? Thank in advance.

I know what you mean! I can't ever use anthying that contains any sort of alchohol or other harsh chemicals. My skin turns into crocodile skin and itches like crazy! I just started making my own soap, so I can't say I notice a difference when switching, but I can say if the product is not oil rich and contains 0 alcohol, I cannot use it. This and pure intrigue has what's brought me to the dark side of the soap. LOL Like I really need another addiction!

Thank you for your input. I made another batch of soap tonight, only this time I did the CPOP method. It's cuddled in it's mold and being toasted as we speak. CareBear, the credit card trick worked beautifully! I waited a little too long to pour into the mold because I was trying to get the color right for swirling, and the base got a little too thick on me. I also slammed the mold around a bit as Sudsy suggested. Hopefully this batch will turn out better. I'll post pics if it does. I know the color is going to be off. It was suppossed to be green, but turned orange:confused: Guess I need to get some better colorants to work with. I'm keeping my finger crossed this batch will turn out. Sprinkle some soaping luck dust my way, please!

I see. I guess I was expecting it to be smoother like CP. Thank you for clairifying this for me. Next time I'll know I have to work with it more.

Ok, I trimmed all the bars up last night with a crinkle cutter and they look much, much better. The insides were nice and smooth. It was the top, bottom, and sides that looked like the inside of a pumpkin. I still believe I did something wrong. I think I'm going to continue to experiment with the other methods of soaping. I've tried MP before, but just didn't find it to lather the way I want it to. All of you experienced soapers have such beautifuly soaps by the way!!!! Maybe one of these days I'll be able to make a beautiful soap.

I made my first batch of CPHP the other night and it looks disgusting. I can't quite figure out what went wrong. When I was trying to put it in the mold, it was like sticky mashed potatoes. Now it's looks like, well, it's kind of hard to describe really . . . kind of like the inside of a pumpkin with the seeds is the best way I guess! Did I have it in the crock pot too long before molding?

Another vote for JS's Hawaiian White Ginger. Smells sooooooooooo good!

It really depends on your wax. I would just keep trying until I got it right. At least that's how I did it. I still cannot remember for the life of me what sizes I used, I've burned the candle completely and do not regularly use RRD's, so I'm no help:(

I agree with Trish. Maybe you could tell her to start sniffing the bandit out while she waits. I mean, let's face it, if someone took off with a bunch of tarts, they would certainly have to smell good!

Whaddayamean where the nearest Wal-Mart is?!?! You mean it's possible that someone can live some place and not know every route possible to their local Wal-Mart!?!?!?!?! I'm speechless! LOL When you find it, you definately have to get some of these jars. Now I have to go find my old ones . . . . add one more project to my long list of to-do's. DOH!

Those jars do make a beautiful candle! I double wicked them as well, with two RRD's but don't remember the size at the moment. They were for my personal use and did burn to the corners without the glass getting too hot. If I can remember the sizes, I'll let you know. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

I bought one too and was not impressed. It's so much quicker (and more fund) to just beat the crap out the slab of wax to break it up! With the one I got, I sat there for quite a while with it and it only made a little dent. I don't know if I was using it wrong or what, but it is the kind that supposed to be able to cut pillars, but I'm sure it wouldn't do that either!