Candybee

I use a combo of NaOH and KOH. With the right % of each it gets hard like a regular soap.

SMR has it for real cheap. The one I keep forgetting to buy is the sweet basil. I want clary sage but he has been out for a long time. He has the dalmation sage but I am sort of afraid to use it. I use it sparingly in soap and cut it with other oils so its diluted. SMR's eucalyptus is the globulus kind. I think its the cheapest or the most common. But its the one I love to use most in my soap. I had to find the eucalyptus radiata at Camden Grey? I think. Thats the one I am using for a special recipe soap.

Yup! I could use one of those extenders!!

I always color my dragon's blood candles cinnamon red. I have done it so long I can't picture it any other color but red! So I would use red for soap too. I would go with red, black, white, and cobalt blue (or as close as you can get to it!).. even navy but a deep, dark vivid blue! Or--- deep purple is good too.

You guys crack me up! The soap is still on the ceiling (sigh!).... with my luck I will fall down and hurt myself trying to clean it. Guess it will wait til tomorrow. I did end up making another batch of shaving soap today. A smaller batch. Tehehe! Its cooling in the mold now. Ceiling soap will wait til I feel like cleaning it.

It was interesting but stressful at the time. I just finished cleaning up my kitchen and crockpot this morning. I have more shaving soap to make and just can't get into the mood after what happened yesterday with the volcano. Funny coincidence I watched a PBS special on Krakatoa last night. Now that was some volcanic eruption!

I thought about doing stencils at one time but never got around to it. I also thought a lot about glass etching too. Maybe one of these days I may try one or the other. Hope you get it figured out.

Was cooking my shaving soap in my crockpot and vrooommm! Soap starting bubbling up and over the top of the pot! I had made a double batch this time thinking I could save time but I guess the soap gods had other ideas. Anyway I saved the soap and cut the pucks up today so they are good. But I noticed I've got shaving soap on my ceiling?!!

Its possible you had candlenose when smelling your candles. Let them cure a week or two then try smelling them again. Congrats on the great smelling melt! Aren't melts fun?!! Personally I prefer a dancing banana guy!

It holds up really well without morphing or fading. I love it!

Haha! They look just like little cups of jello. Very pretty!

I love Camden Grey and Soapmakingresource for EOs. I get the majority of my EOs from them. They make buying them more affordable too. I found that Eden Botanicals and Essential Depot also carry a lot of EOs with specifics about their origin, distillation, and description. But they can be pricey. However, they usually have that one oil or two you can't find anywhere else. BTW-- you should try some eucalyptus and geranium EOs. Peppermint and Eucalyptus together are fabulous in soap. Geranium beats any rose scent I have found. I love adding it with my fav rose FO to make it pop. Also, if you sign up for SMR's newsletter he periodically sends EO recipes out. He had some really good ones on lime last summer.

That's not a standardized cooking pot she's melting wax in on her stove. Its an aluminum pouring pot. The only thing between that pot and the burner is a thin layer of aluminum foil. I still don't see how that is safe. To me that is not the same as heating oil in a cookpot or frying pan. Nor is it the same as heating the wax in the pour pot inside a cooking pot used as a double boiler. A pouring pot is simply not designed to be used on top of a cookstove or range. When I see that pouring pot on the stove it just sends chills down my spine.

Where did you shop at? Love your oil choices. I have many of those. I wish I could afford some ginger EO.

Sounds like you got enough to keep you testing for months! Seriously, your descriptions are very helpful. I really don't need another supplier but in light of CS shipping problems I am seriously considering switching suppliers for my candles.

Oh that sounds really good! Hard to believe there is a better sugar cookie. MW SCR got such great reviews! Would you mind giving a new review once you test in wax please?

Yes I was thinking of trying it in CP or HP soap. I have only tried it in paraffin years ago when it was from the company before she opened MW. So don't know if it works in soap but it rocks in wax.

Since you are adding palm to soy and not the other way around I assume you are not interested in crystal patterns but simply 'hardening' your candles? You can add in any amount really but I find it best to start in increments of 5% and keep adjusting until I am happy with what I have. I would think that somewhere between 5-25% palm may be what might work for you. I would look for a container palm like crystal container or glass glow instead of any pillar palm. The reason is even small amounts of pillar palm added to soy may make the candle pull away from the sides ending up with a candle that 'rattles' in the jar. Ask me how I know this. LOL You can also try 1-5% beeswax to achieve a harder candle. Just use beeswax sparingly as it can make the candles crack if you use too much.

I have some iridescent glitter and was thinking of trying that. Its finer than the silver so it should maybe work better. But I want it in gold too. So it looks to me like the olive soap looks better without the glitter and the windy tree looks good both with and without. so now all I have to do is find the right glitter! Thanks all! You helped me make up my mind!

Sorry-- I should have been more specific. I was asking more with or without glitter. I dipped the stamp in silver glitter for some of the soaps and others without any glitter. Still some others with a minimalist amount of glitter. I love both stamps. Just trying to get others perspective on the glitter. Thanks!

I just got some new soap stamps. I used to have a logo soap stamp for my old company. But since I renamed it I needed new ones. I just decided to go ahead and get some without a logo. Here are 2 I got and played with today. Trying some with and without glitter. I kind of like without the glitter or just a little bit on some. I have learned if I am gonna use glitter I have to use sparingly as a lot goes a long way. Also, I need color coordinated glitter for different soap colors. The silver does not go with the pink. I think gold would look better but just testing stuff out today. Tell which ones you like.

Yeah. They both bought their palm waxes from IGI and even had the same batch numbers on the cases. So if you got a bad batch from CS you could've gotten one from Peaks. But I think Peak watched the boards more closely and pulled bad batches. You could notify CS about a bad batch and they would continue to sell the remaining batches. Frankly, they didn't trust in their customers experience enough to pull the bad batches. I sent them a few lbs from one of batches they sold me. It was after that they contacted the RSPO in Malaysia and then suddenly discontinued their palm. Is was quite the scandal! I am hoping the RSPO has gotten better at policing their own. I think Peaks would have pulled it if it continued to have problems but since they didn't I am hopeful it truly is up to standards.

Believe me a lot of people were amazed and disappointed that CS discontinued selling palm. Fortunately they continue to sell the CSN wicks for which I am grateful. But they really left a lot of chandlers in a fix when they quit selling palm. But I did understand their being upset with the RSPO for allowing inconsistency in their members wax products. For a long time I used Candlewic's crystal container palm exclusively and still do today. This year I will be switching back to Peaks Glass Glow as I am familiar with it and now that they opened up a warehouse in PA (closer to me on the east coast) and am starting to sell candles year round again I will get my wax from them. But I do have to give a big thumbs up to Candlewic for their outstanding wax constistency and quality. They buy the raw materials and custom blend the waxes on sight in their own factory. I always got consistency in the wax I bought and could rely on its performance plus the cost was the lowest around for that wax. I am praying that the Glass Glow from Peaks is consistent. Its one reason I switched to the crystal palm from CW. The glass glow was not consistent for years. It was good when it was good and awful when it was pour quality. That was a problem in the RSPO a few years back. I don't know if its changed but am hoping that they regulate their members manufacturing process or have tighter qualifications for production now. If I run into an inconsistency problem again its back to CW's crystal palm.

Sigh... I'll have to practice a lot to get this swirl right! But even with the failed swirls they are still pretty enough I can live with it!

Beautiful. That gets my...