Tokoo

5 hours ago, iansmommaya said:

Friend, I wish I had a photo of my old labels. You would laugh they were SOOO BAD.

Your prices are too low. Can you do other labels or hire someone?

The labels I am using at the moment are just simple. Scent/Oz and 100%soy, nothing fancy. 

I can make new labels, that wouldn't be an issue, I just haven't been able to think of a name/logo yet. Didn't think that  would be a huge issue. 

I agree I original was looking at 1oz per dollar, or 1.25. I discounted these just to see, and was surprised when people like that's to much. 

After letting my soy candles cure for a month, I took them to the local market to sale. They are 8oz jars, and due to not having pretty labels, I was more worried about making my money back instead of a profit. I priced them out at $6, I went 2 days so far, and my results were not good. I also took a pound of individual melts for $1 each. I sold 1 candle, and 5 tarts in 2 days, I figured with Mothers Day, around the corner, and only one person in my area that sells candles I would sale at least 4-5.  I have 5-6 different scents, like fruit loops, butt naked, blueberry, monkey farts, and love spell. Very few people even looked at them, but the ones that did told me how awesome they smelled, but thought they were to high. Not sure were to take them now, but I don't think I will be able to sale them at that market, I guess I could try online, but their not really pretty enough for that I think. Any suggestions.

Thanks everyone, didn't see this. Love finding this forum, its been so very helpful.

3 hours ago, Grungedoll said:

What scents are you using? And what wicks?

Right now I am experimenting with ECO but I plan on trying CD's and see how they work. I have been using The Flaming Candles FO Fruit Loops, Glowing Amber, and Butt Naked. Like Sarah said cbl 130 and 6006 are similar.

51 minutes ago, Grungedoll said:

Or if anyone has an opinion on 6006 that would be helpful as well.

I personally like IGI 6006, I haven't had issues with HT however most of the scents I use are pretty strong. I have heard of a few scents not working well with it, but not sure which ones.

I have never used Joy Wax, so I have no clue how it is. 

On 4/9/2018 at 12:07 PM, TallTayl said:

 

 

 

I made these recipe awhile back TT is 100% correct, this was the first batch I made that held up. I am thinking it maybe due to the ingredients being in grams instead of Oz, more accurate. However I have been playing around with removing the Cornstarch, Cream TarTar, and the SLSA, for the reason she explained.

I use Bubble wrap, I get a lot of it free from items I ordered, so I just lay it out depending on thickness, and lay bombs on it for 24hrs.

2 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Could easily be simple shrinkage. Do you mark where you pour to?

 Like TT said 6006 shrinks like crazy on me, so I now pour around slush, and their isn't any shrinkage. 

I usually wait around 2 days as well, even though I use IGI 6006 which is usually set around 24hrs, just to be on the save side. Plus I don't mind 2 days compared to 2 weeks for Soy. 

5 hours ago, lightmyfire said:

Can anyone tell me what this wax ring is around the top of my candle? 

I get this some times, if I pour them hot even though its recommend to pour hot, what is your pour temp.

13 hours ago, Barbara AL said:

A simple recipe I really like is 50% Lard 20% coconut, 25% olive oil and 5% Castor.

just thought I would share I superfat at 7%

Thank you, I will give this one a try.

10 hours ago, TallTayl said:

For instance, make a small 1 lb batch of:

lard oil only soap.

Later, make an olive oil only soap.

Later, make an olive only (for instance) subbing all or part of the water with goat milk. You will see many differences. 

Make a shortening soap. Note the ingredients and brand so you choose the right SAP value in the calculator. Shortening is often hydrogenated palm oil. Compare this soap to lard and see how close lard and palm oil perform. 

Thank you TT, I know your very knowledgeable about this stuff, so I will take any of your wisdom to heart. 

10 hours ago, Shari said:

I do use alcohol when making soap.  I spray the tops before insulating them and have found that it helps prevent getting some ash on the tops.  Otherwise, no, don't add rubbing alcohol to soap. 

I guess this is what people are using it for, but most list it as ingredient, but not the amount or what for.

2 hours ago, Candybee said:

 

LOL You may want to think twice about grossing your girlfriend out. That can get you into trouble especially if she considers the kitchen her domain.

Nah, Im the cook lol. she hates it when I make Jerky, I can imagine the reaction to processing lard.

24 minutes ago, Candybee said:

Wanted to add there are still soapmakers that render their own fat. 

I was thinking of doing that, plus it's a good way to make my girlfriend cuss at me until she got use to the smell lol. She's a city girl anyway.

2 hours ago, Sponiebr said:

My personal favorite calculator is soapcalc.net  but it's probably because I learned on that one and I'm most comfortable with it. 

Ya, after playing with them a little I agree. BB is to simple, I like how the soapcal is more detailed.

1 hour ago, GoldieMN said:

When we were kids, my Mom would strain and save all our used lard for a neighbor who made soap from it.  Ha!  Another memory. lol

GoldieMN

I grew up as a farmer, so we butcher our own meats, and all the old timers use to ask us for the lard. We didn't use it so we would give it to them. I never seen how they made the soap, just knew they would process the lard. We haven't had any request since I was about 12, doubt anyone does it in my area anymore to be honest.

2 hours ago, Candybee said:

 

Its an old fashioned name for soap made with lard as the only fat. I still get the occasional request for a "lard soap".

That makes sense then. 

2 hours ago, Crafty1_AJ said:

When you are ready, I have posted a simple beginner's soap recipe here in the forum.  But it does assume you have some basic soapmaking research/understanding under your belt, and that you know how to use a lye calculator.  

Thanks, I will take a look at it. I looked at the calculator on BB, didn't fully get it thou, however I am in no rush, still lots of stuff I want to research. 

3 hours ago, Sponiebr said:

 

Thanks, and I understand. I have actually been reading through some of the stuff on soap queen. I been watching her 4 step video about the process, mostly safety. I plenty of safety stuff so that not an issue. The reason I asked about lard, is see a lot of recipes with lard, and lye, but I always heard old timer in my area making plan lard soap, never understood how they did it. 

I heard Sesame oil causes some funky smells, and Peanut I wouldn't use that.  

3 hours ago, Candybee said:

What oils do you have? I would start off with an easy beginners recipe using only 1-3 oils.

 

Re rubbing alcohol, I've only used this with making layers with M&P. Never used it with CP.  In M&P its used to help layers stay together kind of like an adhesive.

 

Lard makes a great soap but is not a sub for lye. Lard would be a fat in your recipe. You need 3 things to make soap: liquid, fat, lye. Fats are your oils like olive, coconut, castor, palm, safflower, lard, sunflower, etc. Liquid can be distilled water, aloe juice, milk. Lots of possiblities for liquids. You can also combine liquids but use only the amount needed for your recipe. For now I would buy my lye at your local hardware store. Just make sure its 100% lye. Later on if you decide you want to go into soap production you can buy your lye in bulk.

 

Curing depends on the type of soap. Basic bath soaps with combinations of oils can take anywhere from 4-8 weeks. Some cure longer than others. Castile soaps (olive oil soap) is best cured for a year or longer.

 

Once you made your soap and it hardens, you can cut it into bars and stack the bars on a shelf somewhere where they won't be disturbed. If unsure of the surface, line it with wax paper or freezer wrap.

 

If you tell us what oils you have, want to use, we can help you decide on a recipe.

I have a ton of different oils, I use Olive oil/Vegetable oils the most to cook with so I have close to 128 fl oz at all times. But I also have Coconut/Sunflower/Peanut/Sesame/Lard and Canola Oil.

I don't really know to much about which oil does what, but I was thinking maybe Sunflower/Coconut and sesame - not sure if they go together though. 

So after seeing some of the soaps on here, I figured i would research it a little, to see what I needed to make it. To my surprise, I actually have 90% of the basics, I use a lot of different oils, and wines to cook with, so only thing I need is Lye. However so far I am still confused on a few things. 

Rubbing Alcohol - I've seen this used on soap/bath bombs. I wouldn't think this wouldn't be safe to use, but I am thinking maybe its evaporating, or maybe a chemical change is happening. 

Curing Soap - Not sure exactly how, I know the soap needs to air out but I also know they don't mean leave it on the counter for a snack later.  I would think with lye you wouldn't want to put it on cardboard, or wood. I have a little one, so I would have to put it up somewhere she couldn't reach, which is almost no were. 

Cure time I have seen some people say 4-6 weeks, 6-8 weeks, 4-6 months, up to a year.

Lard - I see a lot of soaps that have this, but can you make CP soap with Lard instead of Lye. Not sure if it hold fragrance, and colors the same as lye. 

Sorry for all the questions, but I kinda have to plan a lot before I can do anything. My kids, are hanging off me when I work on bath bombs/candles so I could imagine something toxin with them, I have to find a time when they are gone for most of the day. 

These are absolutely amazing looking. 

On 8/21/2017 at 6:49 PM, birdcharm said:

What I really do not understand is how crafters who put items that can burn or melt into a gel candle can be so uncreative when there are so many options for safe embeds.

 

I honestly don't think its about being uncreative or creative, when it comes to E-bay seller's. Its all about the quick bucks. Whats fun is they warn you about color's may differ, but nothing about the candles may catch fire like a roman candle.  I stopped using E-bay over 10 years ago, do to the flooding of cheap sales, sad really. 

Your right though, I love gel-candles, but I haven't seen to many that I actually want to buy, besides the plain ones.  

19 minutes ago, Jeana said:

 

I think they look good the way your doing them. I personally don't like white backgrounds, its hard to see certain colors, but that's just my opinion. It all comes down to personal preference though. 

I love the fire one, but they all look great.

26 minutes ago, smellywax said:

There is no way it was caused by malware because I have malware software and my husband is also IT and I had mine stolen without ever opening an email of theirs. So there is more to the story and the fact that they acknowledged this going on for a while really bothered me. I won't be ordering from them anymore.

Same here. First time ever used their site, I run a adware and malware scanner every morning, because I do a lot of downloading. I never open any emails, unless its something important, I check tracking on websites not emails, so therefore I know it couldn't have been mal-ware, but it seems they have had this issue more then once.

7 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

It takes a LOT to make any money at it. But I found soap more profitable than candles because at least soap won’t burn someone’s house down. Soap took a lot of testing and refining, but even a crappy bar of soap is safer than an open flame. 

LOL, true, didn't think of it that way. I have to look into it more, just so many terrible you tube video's, makes it hard to get the basic's sometimes. Bath bombs took me awhile to get because 90% of videos I seen people had no clue what they were doing.