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My favorite bakery scent is NG's 7 Up Pound Cake, always good, strong and true. My favorite floral is Southwest Candle Supply's Indonesian Teak, clean and not too perfumery. My favorite soaping scent is Blue Skies by AH/RE, a real bear to soap because it accelerates like crazy but it smells so good in the shower. Men like it too (I like amber). My favorite Christmas fragrance is Tennessee Candle Supply's Vanilla Bean Noel. My favorite Fall Fragrance has got to be FB's Autumn Nights. Lovely blend of apples and spice in a super throw formula. I pour those for me if no one else buys a single one. Most are good sellers and have been for years.

About the size of a cue tip and the lye water is about 200 degrees or so. Its problematic in milk soaps because I keep the temp under 100 degrees. I figured that there must be a way to boil it to death or use alcohol or a blow torch to make it liquid. Otherwise, I'll never go through such a bag. Thanks for the tip. Steve

Ok, so I have this massive bag of Tussah silk. It doesn't dissolve worth a flip in hot lye water and generally winds up on my hand mixer (maybe I use to much and don't cut it up small enough...who knows?) . I would love to dissolve that giant bag of silk into a liquid for easier use, any ideas?

The real proof will be using the soap in the shower or bath. Autumn Nights from FB did not seem all that strong to my nose but holy cow! Once I used it in the shower, you can smell it all over the house! I'm not sure anyone wants to smell like a sugar cookie or even black raspberries but its very nice when the fragrance blooms in hot water. Whereas Lust by FB is so strong it takes your breath away (hate it, smells like moth balls) and refuses to mellow out. Careful what you wish for sometimes. Steve

What's happened?

Its a mystery. I pour into warmed containers and cool in an insulated box. The candles cool off slowly and shrinkage is minimized. If the candles would only cool from the inside out but they begin to form that outer bond first. I open the box up on the next day and see that some have no wet spots and some have a few wet spots and some have terrible wet spots. The candles on the outer ring cool off faster than the ones in the middle but the real issue seems to be heavy bakery fragrances with lots of vanillin. Creme Brulee' is the worst. Now over time, some begin to show wet spots and others never do. I mean never. Its a mystery to me why this happens and I've never found a solution to the problem. Changes in temperature are going to cause the wax to eventually pull away from the container wall in even the best of candles. Trust me, nobody but you notices wet spots.

You may find this hard to believe, but I treated my votive candles like mini pillars. I wanted the votive to maintain its shell until half the burn. I used an old wax called V wax that was very hard and burned slowly. The votive would burn down into itself and glow whatever color and it was cool. I had a set of metal molds with wick pins. I use the k wax from ah/re for melts and votive candles.

My bad. I didn't notice the candles at the bottom of your pic. So that's kind of like mini-pillars? They should burn without blowing out the sides or would you burn them on a plate? Looks like a fire hazard if they don't have a votive container.

I started with the J waxes (paraffin) and the colors were so vibrant and fun but parasoy just looks the same (pastel) and kinda boring. If the fragrance is really good, it doesn't matter if they look like chicken poop brown (ask me how I know) people will buy.

You can get a plastic lid that snaps on the container. I have some frosted ones that are really pretty when they are burning. Its just hard to get a decent price when wally world sells like two dozen for $1.50 or less. They are great for selling as sampler packs too.

I don't get discoloration with goat milk Babs. I use td and get nice white soap and haven't noticed any discoloration with mica. Odd. But I try to use fos that have no vanillin, so maybe that's one reason. I rarely use vanilla scented fragrances because nothing really works to stop discoloration. I've just about stop using bakery scents in general, because customers complain they get hungry smelling pie or cake and get off their diets.

White matches everything and can smell like anything.

I've used powdered goat milk for the same reason. I like to make a slurry and add toward the end before pouring in the mold. Either way I like the feel.

The one thing to remember is that whipping cream or goat milk has a high amount of fat. Fats are good. Lately, I mix my milk with organic aloe vera juice and get the benefits of both in the final product. Saponification is the great mystery that prevents us from guaranteeing that all these additives won't be eaten by the monster but with the right temps and times; I think these ingredients add quite a bit to the quality of the soap and they don't break the bank. They do look good on your label but how well the product cleanses and conditions skin in hard or soft water is the deal maker. I have tried buttermilk, yogurt and canned coconut milk but goat milk is my favorite. Supposedly goat milk fat does not separate like regular milk but for whatever reason it works the best for me.

I think there is a pound of it in my lab. How much do you need?

Sweet. How did you decide to make them?

Good luck!

I use fine sea salt in a 100% solution at a 12% super fat. The first time I made salt bars it was sort of scary. You want to make sure the salt will suspend in your soap solution and I think temp of oils is best on the cool side. I use a silicone spatula to fold my salt solution and always keep an eye on how fast its moving. Different fos can accelerate pretty fast on you, so make sure and use an fo that you know pretty well. Getting the bars off dividers is a real pita and you just have to be patient and slow when removing. The silicone molds are a much better idea but any mold will do. I have the BB mold with the silicone liner, so I leave out the dividers and cut with a knife. You can get the sea salt at Dollar Tree but Wally World has some good prices too. I do cpop the bars for about an hour and then let them cool a bit before cutting. You can make them look like marble or pieces of rock, but mostly I just move fast and get it into the mold. These can turn into instant rock in mid-air (ask me how I know) so just focus on the job until they're safely poured up. So much fun and customers love them.

I don't know what you're taking but I'll take a boat load of it too. Great ideas with great enthusiasm should produce great results. Thanks for sharing.

I like it when you light a candle and then move on to doing something else and you stop and think, "What is that smell?" and then you go, oh its the candle. Its kind of a background fragrance and not an in your face kind of thing. I can't take super strong candles that suck up the air, but I digress. Usually, I'm getting something within 30 minutes.

There are some good threads on "Comfort Blend" in the archives. I'm not sure why you are curing paraffin, you should be able to light em up the next day. I tried this wax and blended it with other waxes and finally decided it wasn't for me. The 4630 is an easier wax to work with but it didn't have a great hot throw either. I tried zincs, cds, and lx wicking but never got much improvement, so I gave up on both those waxes. I'd rather go back to the old J waxes (whatever they are called now) like 223 for paraffin. Babs has the right of it with the centered double wicking but you might consider another wax.

I feel your pain. All of us have been touched by the occasional sloppy handling of a distributor in one way or another. Sometimes (not very often) I understand that the distributors are at the mercy of marketing trends (China has been a disaster for all of us) and it gets frustrating. Hope things works out and you find what you need. Steve

The turkey fryer uses a digitally controlled heating element. The read out tells you it is 200 degrees, whereas on a stove eye you would just need to use a thermometer with an alarm to tell you if the temp goes up. Otherwise, looks good to me. I've never had an issue with direct contact of the wax with the heating element (no scorching, bursting into flames, ect) and nothing indicates that the wax has been degraded by direct contact. I have filled mine past the fill line but that's because I have no plans to put a 20 pound turkey in my wax.

I'm sorry but those are not the same jars. The Fillmore must be a knock off. The specs on the Fillmore jar are 2.75" in height and 4" in diameter with an overflow capacity of 13.5 ounces and no mention of AH. The LS jars are 2.625 tall and 3.875 diameter with an overflow of 11.7 and AH trademark. The difference in the dimensions are not by much but the diff in overflow capacity is huge. I don't think the fill line on the LS jars barely exceeds 8 ounces. Buying glass is not simple anymore. Chinese glass can be slightly off on specs and look more like seconds or thirds in quality (wavy with dings) to other imperfections BUT its cheaper glass. I could be dead wrong but even so, you need to buy glass that specifies 10 ounces to the fill line (if you are looking for a true 10 oz container) which might wind up being a 16 oz container or some wonky size. Glass is not what it used to be in this country and you really have to be aware what you are getting. Go for samples and save the headaches. The jar will hold 10 oz of wax but not comfortably.