Jcandleattic

Thank you! Anytime I do this type of swirl, especially with more than 1 color, I always think it's going to be a muddled mess. I'm impressed with this one. I love it, and it smells perfect for the colors and theme...

I do my MB lye almost exactly as TT does. I make it at night. I make a 50/50 solution of 4lbs water to 4lbs lye in a bucket that I mix then leave in the sink. I let it sit, covered with the lid overnight to cool and then then the next day, I transfer my solution to my VERY VERY well cleaned out liquid laundry detergent jug. I then reuse the laundry jug every time I need to bottle my solution. I use the same jug for about a year then I start over with a clean jug. I could probably use the jug longer, but I feel after a year, it might start to break down. (Probably not, might be irrational, but it doesn't hurt anything to replace them every year, so I do. )

Thank you. That is very helpful. I think I have it figured out now. Sometimes new things are very intimidating to me, and I don't understand why. And most of the time it's the easiest things that come hard for me. LOL And I have no idea why my other post posted twice - minutes apart from each other. I only posted it once. LOL

I think I'm just searching wrong. I just wanted to see some palm pillars to get some inspiration. I put in palm candles and I got some palm trees, some palm oil, and some container candles, (not palm) so I was confused as to how it worked. LOL I did what you did and put in palm pillar candles and exactly what I wanted came up. Thank you Belinda.

I think I'm just searching wrong. I just wanted to see some palm pillars to get some inspiration. I put in palm candles and I got some palm trees, some palm oil, and some container candles, (not palm) so I was confused as to how it worked. LOL I did what you did and put in palm pillar candles and exactly what I wanted came up. Thank you Belinda.

The only advice I can think of is keep the mold warm as well. The slower the candle cools the more the effect will show up. Also what is the reason for the additional stearic? Palm waxes are already high in stearic and IMO they don't need any extra.

Okay, I know this is going to sound dumb - but how do you use it? LOL I was trying to find pictures of palm pillars, and every search I tried didn't work. I know there has to be a way to find such things, but I have no idea... LOL I'd love to figure it out. I don't know what good "following" someone does. I did that with a few, but I don't really see anything from them, and I pinned something (umm the acid trip soap from Grumpy Girl) but because I love looking at Friends meme's so when I pinned her soap I figured other soap pictures would pop up for me to look at, but nope, all Friends meme's... LOL IDK I don't get it I guess... HELP!!! BTW if you want to find me on there - I'm Jcandleattic of course. LOL

Yes, as TT said, each preservative is different and not every preservative is right for every application. You can go to places like Lotion Crafter's for example (or places like that) and look up the perservative you have, see if it's right for your application and they should have usage rates. Or even wherever you bought yours should give you info and usage rates - plus I think (but am not sure) that information is on the MSDS paperwork.

Anytime you are burning a candle, a lid should be taken off. I believe jars with lids like that are to help people smell the candle without taking the lid off, not to be burned with them on. Me personally? I would never burn a candle with a lid on. That's inviting a whole other set of problems/headaches with wicking that is just not needed.

Everything you measure (besides drops of dye - which you didn't use) should be done by weight. It's more accurate than volume measurements, which can cause many things to go wrong. In theory everything looks good, but the true test will be when you do the test burn in a week or so. Good luck.

I master batch my oils and my lye (separately of course) My oils I master batch in a 5 gallon bucket. My oils stay relatively slushy in room temp temps, but in this cold they get a little colder, so every soaping day I take my drill with paint stir attachment and stir up the oils to make sure they are all well blended. Then I just measure out total oil weight of the batch size I want come soaping day. It's easy to do - I just tell my soapmaker/soapcalc program to make a 25lb batch of soap, and that gives me the measurements I need for 25lbs of master batch oils. Makes soap day go so much faster. Doing it this way I can easily get 15-20 batches of soap made in a session depending on batch size if I so wanted/needed too.

Candy, i got the cutter at FCS about 12.5 years ago or so. I've had it pretty much since starting to soap. I used my Dragonfruit/Botanical Orchard Nectar blend I made that I was asking for a name for. Decided to use that blend for this.

You did. And I am very happy with it.

I'm so happy with this one! It smells great, and the swirls are how I envisioned them, and I hope after they've been exposed to the air a bit, they will brighten up. Not sure - it's okay if they don't. The only complaint I have is I wish the gold would have been more "gold" than the beigey/orange, but ?? I think that's just the way it goes. LOL Anyway, They smell divine too! So perfect. (IMO)

Great soap!

Thanks puma! I will have cut pics up tomorrow. I'm cautiously optimistic about the cut. I'm hoping the colored swirls are just as vibrant.

Thanks!

Pretty pleased with this one. We'll see how pleased tomorrow after the cut. I didn't strategically place the embeds, so cutting may be off... Oh well... Anyway, from beginning to end here it is. It is now comfortably resting in it's box with towels to promote gel. Not sure the gold in the actual soap will be the right color, but I think I did a decent job with the embeds. Big beads and little beads for the parade. Oh and sprinkled with Green, Gold, Purple and Iridescent glitters. It's very glittery!! LOL

I love all the names, and I especially love the legend behind what is "dragonfruit" and why the name Dragon Fire was suggested, but alas, I ended up using this scent for my Mardi Gras soap and I think it will work out perfect for the colors/scent combo. Thank you everyone. I'm positive I will come up with a scent that these names will actually be perfect for. In fact, I've already got a scent combo in mind for the Dragon Fire name.

i made it. I'm going to post the "wet" soap pics in the gallery here in just a few minutes, but suggestions are always welcome.

I personally wouldn't worry about labels until you are ready to sell. That most likely won't happen for quite a while. As simplistic as my labels are, it took me forever to create them and find the right brand for me and my business. But I use a print shop photo editing software to create mine. I thought about going with Online Labels, but their Kraft labels are not quite right for me, so I scrapped that. LOL

I'm so excited about this soap I want to make. As soon as I make it, I will def post pics. Does anyone else here celebrate Mardi Gras? I never did until I became real good friends with a gal from NOLA, now I celebrate, but it's nothing hard core like some people...

Don't know what to name this - I just mixed Dragonfruit with Botanical Orchard Nectar and it smells really good. They were sort of similar scents, very fruity and nice, so I'm pleased with the result. Now just to figure out a name... Hmmm... I was thinking Dragon Nest, but I think it might be too fruity for that... Help!

I was going to make soap today, but just got hit with an overwhelming tiredness. I think the week back to work has caught up with me. I am going to go take a nap. Maybe soap later - but if not, definitely tomorrow. I have several ideas I want to do, and I also have to organize the workshop, so I might as well do it all while I'm down there... What about all you guys? What's your weekend plans soap/candle/craft - wise?

Presto's are coated with a teflon, so after a while they do break down. I've had a couple for about 10 years or so and are still in perfect condition, and I have a couple that are only a couple years old that are already starting to get flaky, so I think it just depends on how they are used and how they were made. The old adage is so true - they don't make things like they used too....