Candybee

Congrats on your soap sale! Re your pumpkin soap, that looks like ash to me.

I use micas and oxides for color. But one of my favorite greens for soap is to add cucumber and avocado puree to my batter when I want to keep the color natural.

I have been thinking of trying a matcha tea scent but didn't know where to get it. So I may try the one from WSP. BTW-- the Sparkling Green Tea from Essentials has faded in my CP soap during the cure. It's barely there so I have to move on to something else. So still looking for a green tea that sticks.

I just got an email from Rain Shadow Labs about their hand sanitizer base that contains colloidal silver. I have also seen other hand sanitizers with it in it. So this got me to wondering if anyone uses it in their products and found it effective. I just started to research it because I am curious but at the same time skeptical of the claims.

My mistake. I should not have assumed they were salt bars. Other than that, the other tips I posted may help you some.

Did you use full water (liquid) in your recipe? I ran it through a soap calculator and get 5.32oz of water. So I would use that amount as my coconut milk. I always do salt bars using a full water calculation. Also, how much salt did you use? When I make a 40oz batch I use slightly less salt at 36-38oz or 90-95% salt to oil. A little bit less salt may keep the soap from crumbling. Also, I use individual molds or a mold with dividers so I don't have to worry about cutting the soap, just unmolding. If you don't have this kind of mold you may want to consider one for the future if you plan to make more salt bars, especially if you plan to sell. Personally, I never use 100% coconut oil for my salt bars. I use 80% coconut oil and the other 20% any oil or combo of oils I like. I typically use shea butter and almond oil. I like my bars to be a bit more moisturizing. 30% superfat is pretty high even for a 100% coconut soap. Like others have posted, I would have started out at 20% and adjusted from there if needed. For my 80% coconut oil recipe I use 12% superfat and the bars are super moisturizing. I also use coconut milk in my salt bars. But I split my liquid, half aloe juice, half coconut milk. I make the lye solution with the aloe juice and add the coconut milk directly into the batter even before I add the lye solution. There is no need to add any liquid to your batter at trace unless you are using a known accelerator. Eg., pine tar accelerates fast so I add it in just before pouring my batter into the mold.

I've been ordering from them for years without a single hitch. Like all suppliers and shipping venues getting your supplies processed and shipped to you is much slower these days due to Covid-19. So just plan ahead and figure your wait time in when you need to purchase. Also keep in mind that many items such as aloe, sanitizer suplies, alcohol, witch hazel, etc, may have a limited supply, be out of stock, or you are only allowed a maximum of 1-2 per purchase. During normal times my products always came on time and were properly packaged. Nothing has ever arrived damaged or missing from any of my orders. Re their pricing, they ship many of their items free. Since we know shipping is not free I figure its included in the cost of the item. If you do comparison shopping with another supplier you may find that in the end WSP could save you money. For example if xyz supplier charges less for an item but with the shipping charges you could find that the item(s) purchased at WSP may save you money. I always have a backup supplier whenever possible. One reason is not simply for OOS items but comparison shopping. If the same item costs me less at another supplier than WSP I will order from the other one instead. There are several items I shop for in bulk and I save money on them by buying them from WSP instead of elsewhere. So my advice is to comparison shop and pay attention to shipping and processing times. This will save you a lot of headaches and money.

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.

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

Actually, it sounds really nice, like something I may like. I may get a sample next time I shop at CS. Thanks. BTW, does it give your nose a buzz? 🤣

I sell mostly at craft shows and farmer's markets so I make what my tables hold in my soap boxes. I do 2 tables for soap and B&B year round. Each table will hold 4 soap boxes with 3-4 different scents giving me a total of 16 soap scents. Then I have 2 double basket risers that also hold about 3-4 scents each giving me a total of anywhere between 8-16. I make about 34 different soaps. For B&B like lotions, balms, sprays, etc., I try to keep no more than 2-5 scents. Candles I make only during the fall and holiday season. I try to do just 12 scents but end up making as many as my table risers will hold. I do one full table of candles during the fall and holidays and typically carry about 16-20 scents.

Depends. Not all waxes are the same. This is one of those things that you simply can't skimp testing on. You will find some FOs are light naturally and others blow your socks off strong. A general rule of thumb is to start out at 6% fragrance load and adjust up or down from there. In my wax I have found less is better so I use 5% for most of my FOs with the exception of a few. This is where testing comes in so you know which oils work in your wax and which don't. Candlemaking is fun but its an expensive hobby and or business. You tend to go test a load of different FOs before you find the right one you are looking for. This is why many suppliers have 1oz sample FOs. Take advantage before you start buying FOs by the lb.

If you plan to scent your wax with EO's it could be very expensive and exasperating. A lot of EO's simply don't scent wax very well in wax and were never meant to be used in wax and those that do often need large amounts to do so. You will find that EO's aren't cheap either. There are many fragrance oils that are designed specifically for use in wax and all the successful candlemakers I know use FOs from well known suppliers. There is lots of information about where to find them in the fragrance forum.

When I ran out of my stash of BW's Honey Gingerbread I went with JS Buttery Gingerbread. If you check out their website they carry 4 gingerbread types including Honey Gingerbread. Haven't tried their HG but loved their buttery gingerbread so would not hesitate to try it. Another option is Soapalooza's Iced Gingerbread. It has had numerous rave reviews in the past but I was using Peaks Gingerbread Cookies at the time so never tried it. However, you have to order Iced Gingerbread in bulk quatities or you could also order a cheap thrills sniffee to see if you like the scent. Soapaloosa's Iced Gingerbread comes in bulk quantities of 5lbs or more. But that is for the Iced Gingerbread and not all their other scents are bulk only. their regular scents come in regular sizes like you would expect. If you can find Peaks Gingerbread Cookies it is a great fragrance but it is definitely a cookie and not a cake type scent. But as far as gingerbread notes go it is spot on and still my second fav after BW's Honey Gingerbread. Keystone Candles used to carry Peak's Gingerbread Cookies but its now discontinued. They now carry Iced Gingerbread Cookies. Have not tried it but if they discontinued Peaks to carry this one it must be good. TMO

Don't any of the Peaks FO suppliers carry it? I will have to check and see.... Found it at Keystone.. Green Tea (Peak) So its described as green clover and aloe scent, is there a distinctive green tea note in it? That is what I am looking for, a fragrance that has a strong tea note in it.

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.

It sounds lovely. I have some red tea fragrance and honey l'occitane I wanted to blend to make a green tea & honey scent. Will let you know how it goes. I saw C&S has a green tea and cucumber BBW type scent. I think I will give that one a try too. The green tea scent is for a line of neem soaps I am doing and want one in a green tea and honey scent. I am adding green tea extract to the soap so thought a green tea type scent would be a perfect match.

I just got a bottle of this to test. It smells more like bubbly champagne than green tea but I still like the scent. How does it smell in CP? any problems soaping it? I'm gonna try it out in a couple of weeks and was wondering if its a light scent and I should use more and if I could do color swirls in it. Thanks.

Anyone have a suggestion for a good green tea FO for CP soap?

Funny you should say it was KOH. I was just thinking about that and was going to post it but saw you already posted that that was the problem. You could save the soap by making a regular batch and adding the 2 together in the crockpot so you get a double batch; half KOH batch, half regular lye batch. Means you need to put the KOH batch in the crockpot to melt it down with a little liquid, then make another batch and add it in the crockpot with the KOH batch and blend the batches together. The soap will come out a bit soft for a few days but should firm up fine. I do this technique all the time with a line of soaps I make; half KOH, half Sodium Hydroxide lye. Or, just use the soft soap as a hand soap, or do what TT suggests and cook on low heat with a bit of liquid to make liquid soap. Add the liquid slowly until you get the desired thickness you like. I like to use a combo of aloe juice and glycerin to make liquid hand soap. They say out of accidents come invention. I never waste soap. Even the botched soaps I find I can use then or reinvent them or rebatch to make something I can use.

10% castor should not be a problem. I have recipes that call for that. The soap would be soft for a few weeks but eventually hardens up nicely so no problem. I don't see that adding sodium lactate would be necessary if her previous batches were fine. Since the recipe and ingredients are the same something has changed in one or more of the ingredients. The description fits the lye IMO. So, buy lye from another source and test it with you recipe. Just make a small batch so you don't waste your ingredients.

I agree with Sarah it sounds like a lye problem to me. You also mentioned the lye started coming in different containers so my guess is the manufacture or supplier changed something. Also, lye can be impure too so again I think something has happened with the lye. To see if I am right, go to your local hardware or home improvement store and purchase some lye. Make sure it is 100% lye and not cut with anything. It will will say 100% on the label. I used to buy rooto brand at my local hardware. This time just make a smaller batch like 1 lb with the new lye to test it out. I'll bet you will find it was the lye. If so, find a new lye supplier. But test it first to make sure it is the lye.

So far I have items I ordered from China last month that have not arrived and no arrival date in sight. Plus craft shows are beginning to cancel or postpone events I signed up for. At the moment I believe the worst is yet to come but I also believe that in a few months it will have played itself out for the time being and flare up again next season, Hopefully by then we may have vaccines. But my biggest concern is that even if the virus disappeared in the next month or two people may continue to be too scared to go to venues like craft shows and farmer's markets and I am thinking sales wise this is going to be a crap year.

I have 9 of the 5 1/2 lb molds. I haven't checked out their molds in a while and they didn't have the 7 1/2 lb one before. I might get me a few of those with the liners. I need to be able to make more soap faster and this might be it.

I remember that. I also remember someone posted results of single oil recipes that was quite interesting and educational. As in only one oil in the soap. So there was a coconut oil soap, an olive oil soap, a palm oil soap, a castor oil soap, etc., etc., etc. Knowing what each individual oil does in soap helped me with tweaking my soap recipes over the years. Did you do the single oil soap post TT?? Can't remember where I saw this.