sarahmarah

Thank you all! 

1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

I usually stick soft undersapped soap in the oven for a few hours. If that doesn’t solve it, then I rebatch into a new soap either HP or CP.  You can use up to 1/3 existing soap in a new CP and achieve a smooth soap. It’s kind of amazing!

Is there a way to tell if it didn't sap correctly? I don't want to zap it....

Should I be worried that its lye heavy even with all that added fat?

When should I test it? I've heard the ph strips can be inaccurate and I'm not exactly  thrilled with the idea of putting anything in my mouth to zap

10 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

Soft corners usually mean (in my shop) that it May have just been too darn cold to fully sap. 
 

i make coconut oil only for cleaning at 0% sf. Defo too hard to cut so I made dividers. 
30% seems very high, esp since it is a fatty milk. 

Think it will sort out with a long cure? or should I think about scrapping it?

Last night I made a small (14oz mold) batch of 100% coconut oil soap with a 30% SF. All of my liquid was coconut milk. I split the milk and used half of it in frozen cubes for my lye and the other half in liquid at trace. I strained my 1:1 lye solution in my melted oil and fragrance.

It took longer than I thought to strain the lye solution but it seemed to emulsify without issue.

I added indigo for color and attempted a gradient. I let it gel at room temp just to see what results it would have. One thing I definitely forgot to account for was the added fat from the coconut milk. I let it sit in the mold for about 16 hours and parts around the corners were a bit soft and easily cracked off. I would have let it sit longer but everything you read about coconut oil soap tells you it will be a brick if you wait too long to cut. When I cut some soap stuck to corners and side of the mold. The cuts themselves looked a bit wet but soon dried.

I had to perform minor surgery to get the bars to look halfway passable 😂

So my questions are—do these calculations look ok? Was SF too high with the added milk unaccounted for? Should I have added sodium lactate or simply tried to fridge it? Should I have just left it the heck alone in the mold a while longer? 

I feel like WSP always smells richer to my nose like maybe they don't cut it with so much crap? The consistency is quite different too. I can use WAY less and still get a great throw. 

I have other oils that I like and they perform well but few can outshine imo.

I love them.
Their shipping is generally great for me. The only issue I have is the pricing—but honestly their stuff is so good I just suck it up and try to take advantage of sales when I can. 

IMO Brambleberry has the worst shipping I have yet to see (even without a pandemic).

1 hour ago, GailC said:

I'm also wondering about Muddy Soap's fragrance oils.  Had never heard of them until a couple of days ago.  So naturally I had to check out their website.  A couple of their FOs intrigue me.  Someone on Facebook said their oils were strong.

 

Was wondering if any of you have tried their oils besides @sarahmarah.  "Pleasant enough" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement Sarah Marie.   

haha I haven't tried Muddy Soap--just talking about WSP's Game of Thrones fragrance line 😊

Wholesale Supplies Plus

Candle Science

Bulk Apothecary (REALLY not a fan of this supplier at all---but they have a few things I rely on and can grab sporadically)

6 hours ago, Candybee said:

Soaper's Choice for the oils I use. For us east coasters there is also Golden Barrel for bulk oil but mostly I use SC. For salt I buy mine locally in bulk at a health food store in town. Its sea salt from the Pacific. Another source for sea salt on the east coast is C&S. They carry sea salt in bulk quantities. I also use Camden-Grey a lot for clays, EOs, and other additives for soaping and B&B.

Thank you so much! 

1 hour ago, Candybee said:

Just my opinion but if this is a popular soap company they should not have soaps that produce colored lather. An experienced soaper has learned how to make soap with colors in just the right amounts to produce the desired soap color without the bleed. Sorry but to me this just smacks of amateur soapmaking. I would look elsewhere for my next soap order.

 

Its true the soap should be okay even if it bleeds color in the lather. No way I would sell soap that did that. It takes some adjusting to fix the bleed and to me that is what a professional does. Color bleed or lather bleed from a "popular" soap company sounds lazy azz to me. JMO

Thank you

I looked down and my legs were green in the shower and I was all sorts of weirded out 😂

I appreciate you guys weighing in!

I grabbed a few bars of CP soap from a popular soapery and I love the product but noticed a significant amount of color bleed in the lather. Is this a common or expected thing in soap making? I haven’t worked with colorants yet and I have no idea. 
 

7 hours ago, Crafty1_AJ said:

For all you trend watchers!

 

Local news here reported last night that "comfort" items like chocolate, ice cream, popcorn, and alcohol (and we're not talking hand sanitizer here) are seeing a big surge in sales.  I've noticed a lot of my candle orders lately are including comfort scents such as Vanilla Bean, Grandma's Kitchen, Butter Cookies, etc.  I typically sell those kinds mostly in the fall/winter, not in spring.  I'm getting feedback from  customers that this crisis and the ensuing stress are EXACTLY why they are ordering favorite comfort scents.  It's a coping mechanism when we feel like things are out of our control; we get a sense of having a bit of control when we can purchase and enjoy our favorite candles or foods.

 

A friend's d-i-l works at Starbucks, and even though only the drive-up is functional, she reports that people are NOT slowing down in buying their favorite comfort coffee / espresso beverages either!  Quite the reverse.  I have to admit, I'm drinking a bit more coffee than is typical for me, although it's made here at  home and not at the local drive-up window.  DH is eating more comfort foods like my homemade pizza, baked potatoes, etc.  He even requested my homemade mac & cheese the other day -- and he almost never requests special foods!  And he actually made French toast today because it sounded good to him ... we NEVER eat French toast and usually the only thing he cooks is hamburgers. LOL  Atypical times call for atypical stuff.   

 

 

That’s so funny, today I decided to dig out all my packed away comfort scents to pour candles for my family and I. I’ve also been allowing myself a drive through coffee a couple times a week because my French press sucks.
We’ve also never had so much breakfast for dinner (brenner). I can definitely understand 😊

*Shots Fired!*
I wonder if this is going to be a trend in other suppliers ...I love C3 and its seems a little odd how this just got thrown out there out of the blue. 

2 hours ago, Candybee said:

 

Price is why I try to steer clear of their FOs but will always cave for an exceptional one. If you give it a try would you please report back how you liked it? I am looking forward to soaping EBB's Sparkling Green Tea but it does not have the strong "tea" notes I am looking for.

I absolutely will report back. I really like WSP's White Tea so i'm hoping this one follows suit. 

Has anyone tried WSP's Green Tea? Its been on my list to try but the only thing that stops me from ordering is the price.

Any 'berry' FO. I like a good blueberry with Lemon Verbena. A Tea scent would blend well too---white or green tea would be perfect.

If you're talking about EO's I have no idea...

Is Coconut 1 completely interchangeable with the widely available Coconut 92 that you can get at the soaping retailers? 

47 minutes ago, sarahmarah said:

Just reading up on coconut wax and apparently C1 is coconut 🤦🏻‍♀️—I don’t know why I thought it was a basic no frills soy wax...looks like I have a road of learning ahead lol

I’m a meatball today, sorry. Home schooling has my brain on meltdown mode. I’m getting everything confused 🤯

Just reading up on coconut wax and apparently C1 is coconut 🤦🏻‍♀️—I don’t know why I thought it was a basic no frills soy wax...looks like I have a road of learning ahead lol

I understand that soy can usually leave that tell tale residue of wax behind on a container after burn. I’m testing C3 right now and I’m wondering if there’s any additives  I can add in to make the burn leave no residue behind (assuming it’s properly wicked). I’m not looking to add paraffin if I don’t have to. Would adding coconut wax to my C3 help? I know this is just a nit picky cosmetic issue but I have some time to test and thought I would try. 
 

There was a cool hipster type of candle I was gifted a while back that is marketed as vegetable wax—upon further research I think it’s made up of soy, coconut and a bit of palm. It has absolutely no residue left behind. It seems it can be done—but how? Is this an instance where something like C1 would be blended with coconut wax?  I never really gave much thought to blending waxes....🤔 seems costly?

I know it’s a little pricey but WSP has a Buttered Shortbread that would add a rich buttery vanilla pop to any white cake scent. You definitely wouldn’t need much of it.

Thank you all!

I totally panic bought the 18kg of OO 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

I’m still learning so I’ll be experimenting like crazy. I’m going to have to check out those other resources ASAP 😊

48 minutes ago, Laura C said:

You could try this list.

Thank you, I didn’t even think of that list. 😊

I was going to place an order with Jedwards as it is local but they are only seriously doing bulk BULK at the moment. I don’t need 18kgs of anything and I really don’t need 40lbs of salt lol. Just wondering where a good place to get oils and supplies would be? I’m in MA