Candybee

I'm thinking of replacing my current milk scent. I have been using SGS Oatmeal, Milk and Honey for a long time in my CP soap. Just looking for fresh ideas. Do you have a favorite you don't mind sharing. Thanks.

I use CS Mistletoe. I love it so much I have it year round. It smells like a christmas wreath to me, very fresh and strong. It has eucalyptus EO in it which I like because it can also work as a sinus relief scent. My favorite candle Christmas Tree scent is Fillmore's Christmas Tree hands down. It is the same scent that Tradewinds used to carry years ago and Tradewinds had some of the best FOs around during its time. Once I found this one I quit looking. My favorite for soaping is Elements Smoky Mtn Pine (formerly Christmas Pines from Flickers). Its wonderful in CP, a lovely fresh and slightly sweet pine perfect for soap. No A&D and doesn't morph or fade. Stays true and strong. I suppose it can be used in candles too I just never tried it once I started using Fillmore's CT.

That was the price SGS sold Goddess at when they brought it back. I actually find Purefragranceoils to be cheaper than what SGS was selling them for. Haven't really checked to see what Purefragranceoils is charging for it because I haven't needed it. Have you thought about having it duped? There are a couple of threads on the closing of Moonworks and several of their FOs have already been duped by other suppliers. Check out the MW closing threads.

Your books remind me of a couple of old candlemaking books I have. Some of the candle wax melting and wicking techniques discussed in the book are ancient history. But the sections with candle designs has some beautiful and artistic pictures and technique discussions in it that can be used today. So I still hang on to them hoping one day I will have the time to try some out-- or just to look at the pictures!

It might have been a false trace. My lard recipe has olive oil, lard, coconut oil, and castor. I put the coconut and lard in first or whichever is hardest at the time of soaping. Let the first one melt then add in the next solid oil. By the time the solid fats have melted my soap batter is already similar to a medium thick pudding. I never worry about it cause it will stay the way a long time. Once all the oils are in I SB until its emulsified and I can see it has reached true trace. The true trace looks different to me than the false.

I'm sure that in many ways soaping in the '70s was much different than today. I think we have more access to a variety of soap fats and additives plus social media for learning, research and development we didn't have back then. But I bet many of the very basics are probably the same. How the author got the lye mixed up is a head scratcher. Certainly no seasoned soaper would make that mistake.

Good for you. I started out using only oils I could source locally at my grocers and Walmart. Wally's carries lard, olive oil, and coconut oil. They also carry other soaping oils when you feel you want to expand your recipe: castor oil (in the pharmacy section for tummy aches), sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil and more. BTW-- Wally's has a really good shortening for soaping you can sub for the palm. Its similar to the old Crisco before they changed their formula. Look for the shortening that says 'animal and vegetable fats'. The animal fat is tallow and the veggie is palm. It makes an awesome soap.

I get severe stomach pains and headache pouring gingerbread. I have to make sure I have my respirator on when pouring it. I love the scent in the candle just can't hack it when pouring lots of candles. I used to hate, hate, hate Home for the Holidays but now I love it. It makes me gag and want to throw up when I am pouring candles or tarts. Ick. But I love it in candles and tarts. Go figure.

How many times have I heard myself say that!

I also CP at room temp (RTCP). I quit using a thermometer last year. It just makes it easier to work with certain recipes or fragrances that trace fast. I also sometimes use the Thermal Transfer CP method. Thats where you rely on your lye solution to melt your solid oils in your lye water. I use it for my lard soaps and bastile soaps. It works for me because I don't use recipes that have a lot of hard oils. My bastile has only coconut oil as my hard oil, and my lard soap has only coconut oil and lard as my hard oils. The rest are liquid oils. Personally, I think its one of the easiest methods to learn and to use and works great with some recipes. Plus I use less equipment so less to wash. I think you end up using a particular soaping method for the soap you are making. For example, as I mentioned I used the TTCP for my old fashioned lard soap. For my shave soaps and some difficult fragrances I CPHP. Salt bars I have been using CPOP.

Whatever design you come up with I would love to see it. Does this facebook group have pictures from previous winners or is this the first contest?

That's the swirl!! That looks like the pic I saw. I love how the design looks like leaves growing off a stem coming up from the ground. I have an idea but don't know how to go about it. Do you remember the embed soap that came out looking like the moon over the mountains? Wouldn't a leaf design with a background and the moon above be cool? Or a round embed with leaf design around it like a daisy? Gads... I couldn't do any of those myself. But I can see pictures of soap in my head all the time of what I WISH I could do!! LOL

That looks like a fall theme to me. Dry grasses, fall colors. Do you know any leaf designs or swirl techniques? I like the purple color in that pallet the best. Which colors did you pick? I hope the purple, black, and orange. I love bold colors together. I know I saw a design that starts out looking like a leaf design where you add colored layers over it? Where did I see it? Soaps 'n Lotions?

Don't throw the books out! You never know where you may get your best ideas from!

Whats the challenge? Maybe we can give you some ideas.

99% of my soaps are milk soaps. I only make about one or two soaps without it. I love the feel of soap with milk in it! Most of my soaps I use coconut milk while my oatmeal soaps I use goat milk. Personally I prefer canned milk. The reason: its concentrated and super creamy and you can store the cans a long time whereas fresh milks have to be used within a certain date. A concentrated milk (canned milk) needs water added. So I split my liquid; half canned milk, half water. I use the water half for my lye solution and I add the canned milk to my soaping oils. You can add milk to your oils before or after you add your lye solution. It will work either way. I love the richness of canned milk in my soap. I also love that I can have a "full" milk soap by splitting my soap liquid by using half canned milk and the other half water. I have done the freezing fresh milk into ice cube method for my lye liquid many times. I just don't like it. I hate the ammonia smell milks give off when used directly with lye. I also am not good at keeping the milk from overheating even though its been frozen I still have problems with it. With adding canned milk to my soap oils I don't have any of these problems and no smell. Other soapers have no problem using the freezing method so you should at least try it. The last milk type is using powdered milk. You can make your milk adding water and use the freezing method. Or, you can add half of your water to your lye solution and use the other half to "cream" the powdered milk and add that directly to your soap batter instead. This second method of creaming is also a splitting of your liquid; half for lye solution, the other for creaming your powdered milk. Powdered milk works just fine in your soap and feels the same as other milks. The pros are that it lasts a long time and is easy to buy in bulk. The cons are that its not exactly "fresh" milk and that you must be careful to work out any lumps in the powder. There is one last method I haven't tried that I know of for coconut milk. You can make your own. I have heard the method of using coconut shreds you buy at the store. You soak the coconut overnight and squeeze out the milk the next day to use in your soap. Or, you can buy the coconut, shred it yourself, soak it overnight in water, and squeeze out the milk and use that in your soap. If you buy the coconut, be sure to save the coconut milk/water in the coconut to add to the milk you are making. The pros for making your own coconut milk is its fresh, has no preservatives, its organic and natural. The cons of course are the intensive labor and that it must be used within a short time frame or it must be frozen to extend its shelf life. The best method of using milk is the one you prefer.

Swirling just takes lots of practice. I think most of us work on it for years while others just have a knack for it and make it look easy. Like you the hardest part for me is getting the trace just right for each recipe and fragrance. Seems like no two are alike and each needs its own timing. For some fragrances I find I need to add them at the last moment. That means after I have already split my batch into different bowls to color, colored each bowl, then I add the scent and whisk it in to blend just before pouring. Other batches I can add the fragrance and blend before I split the batter into bowls to color. But I have found that in most of my swirling batches I need to add the fragrance towards the end. I also only do swirls in certain recipes that take longer to reach trace. Oils and fats that reduce trace time are olive, lard, sunflower, grapeseed. At least those are ones I am sure of. Brambleberry has a recipe blend that is perfect for doing swirls in. You can get some good ideas watching videos on Soapqueen and Youtube for swirling recipes and techniques. I always use a stickblender when I first blend my batch together after I add my lye. I want my batch to emulsify so I know its well blended and won't seperate. I use short bursts on my stickblender to emulsify my batter. For swirling, I want my batter emulsified but just at a very light trace for most swirling. For a 'drop' type swirl where I drop my second colored batter high above the first one I need my batter ready before light trace or at very liquid state. I was reading somewhere about how you don't actually have to have your batter reach trace to still make soap. So I never worry about reaching trace for swirling. I only want a light trace if I need a firmer batter for some techniques or untraced batter for techniques that need a more liquid or fluid like batter. I have found that a batch that has not reached trace will still saponify just fine. The only thing you need to be concerned about is seperation of oils or fragrance. You will only learn this from practice. Hope this makes sense.

I tend to use citrus types in blends so I don't have a problem with fuel smell. Come to think of it I have only smelled it in paraffin and soy waxes but not the palm I use. Maybe its just a coincidence as by the time I started using palm I already learned to blend my citruses.

I noticed they were out the other day. Is SGS still open? They sell in bulk or did and might have some. I think I have enough for a 5lb batch then I'm out. Customers like it well enough but its a so so mover for me so if I don't get any too soon I can live with that.

Glad to see you back and making soap again. I have to make some olive oil/bastile soaps too. I have a line of bastile soaps that sell like crazy. Seems everyone wants a high olive oil soap thats super gentle. Gonna start tomorraow on goat milk, coconut milk, and lullaby baby bastiles. If I have time I also need to make my sunflower and silk soaps; spring daffodils, some vanilla with allspice, and rebatch my cool water. Can't find a cool water that sticks in CP. May have to just HP cool water from now on.

Since we can't post questions/comments in the reviews thought I would put my questions here. You reviewed Sweetcakes Strawberry in the review section and I was wondering how your soap turned out? Did the scent stay true? morph? fade? Did the soap discolor? Its so hard to get a true strawberry to work in CP.

Oh I forgot! They are the only place I can think of that would have something that different.

Poinsetta Pine does sound good. I was looking for a nice poinsetta for the holidays.

Thanks Trappeur. I'd try them but I'm out of spearmint and I have the wrong sage. I need the clary sage.

My bad. CS has apple and clover... which sounds good too. I've got Peaks red clove. Wonder how that would go with CS Macintosh apple?! Actually, I'm saving the clove for when I get some more orange cause I want to mix those together.