Candybee

It does have some getting used to but once you start figuring things out you will realize you can do quite a bit with it and make a really nice sharp looking website. They also have upgrades if you want to pay a fee for it. But their basic website builder is enough if you need a decent website that is attractive and functional.

Thanks. Will check it out.

I did look into Wordpress briefly a few years back and started an account but ended up never using it. Yes Square does charge a % and small trans fee per transaction. All carts do. But the cart and platform itself is free which is huge. You only pay the small fee when you make a sale. There are no monthly usage fees as Square is free to use.

Nevermind. Got my website up and running again and its better than before. Just have to finish editing it. But at least it publishes again. What a nightmare. I guess Square may be one of the only sites that allows you to have a free website with their shopping cart. Its a Square platform using their payment system which is why I want to keep it. Its totally free and they have updated their website tools so you can make a pretty nice website now. But their customer service needs work. They do answer through emails but don't expect it on the same day.

Looking for a new website solution. Currently I am using Square with a square website and can't get any customer support. My website changes quite publishing so I have no control over my current website. I am tired of not being able to contact customer support or get responses from them. So I have been out of a working website for a couple of weeks. BTW Square uses Weebly and I can't contact them either to help. It's a nightmare! So looking for another solution. I need a website that is easy to build and user friendly. I also need a shopping cart to go with it and don't want to spend money on it. Don't want to do Etsy or Paypal. I don't care for those platforms. Any suggestions? What do you use and why?

I am on the east coast and buy mine from Candles and Supplies in PA.

Same here. For candle residue and smaller amounts I heat gun the wax then use paper towels to wipe off the surface of my equipment. Works great. If needed I can follow up with an alcohol wipe. For larger wax deposits or cleaning out old wax from glass candles I put on a tray and set them in a warm oven. After a few minutes the wax is liquified then I can pour it out into the trash. Then wipe out with paper towels. I never wash my candle equipment like I do dishes in the sink. I always use a heat source to liquify the wax then wipe clean with paper towels. I buy paper towels by the pak always so I have plenty on hand for candlemaking days.

Sadly, our expert cut 'n carve candle expert moved on years ago and never posts anymore. Hopefully someone here now can help you.

Are you scenting the wax? Or using any additives? It looks like frosting.

The IFRA rating is 5% in bar soap. I think I used about 6%. Sigh.... just another one of my favorite fragrances I may have to replace or blend with something else that has a higher usage rate. This is a pain because ever since MW closed I have not found the equivalent to Autumn Embers. Nothing comes close. I was so excited when PFO started to carry it and got a lb. But haven't used it until recently and was disappointed that it now accelerates so fast I can't get it into my mold on time.

Wow! That's an interesting read and test to try out on my lye. I usually don't worry much about the purity when I am doing most bar soap unless the lye is pretty old. I only tend to worry about the purity or think about it when I am making something like liquid soap or shaving soap. It's nice to know there is a way to test it. I am not clear on anhydrous citric acid though. Do you generally buy it that way or make it? Or is it simply water free citric acid. Told you I was unclear on that.

They popped right out of the mold. They look a ton better than before I rebatched them. All I really needed to do was plane the bottoms so they were even and smooth. BTW-- the fragrance oil that started this whole mess is Autumn Embers from PFO (formerly from MW). I love this fragrance but its obviously been reformulated and accelerates like the dickens. Will just have to crockpot/HP each time I want this soap.

Have you ever rebatched a failed soap just to have another disaster during the rebatch?!!! Argh!!! Not to mention what a mess it was. I wanted to rebatch some soap that accelerated on me and I couldn't get into the 12 cavity mold I had. There ended up being holes and empty spaces in the individual soaps so decided to rebatch. So I shredded the mishapen soaps and added the shreds to a big batch of soap I was making. As soon as I added the lye I got an instant volcano. I managed to tame it by turning the crockpot off and continuously stirring the molten soap that was threatening to spill over the top and run down the countertop. Anyway, after the volcano stopped and the soap was saponified and ready to put into the cavity molds I had... well the same thing happened again. The batter wouldn't behave and I am not sure I got it to fill each cavity correctly so there were no empty spaces, air pockets, or sides that weren't filled. This all created a huge mess for me to clean up and was frustrating beyond any expectation. I am exhausted. But I got the clumpy soap into the cavity mold. Will have to wait til it hardens up and I can take it out of the mold. Which reminds me I forgot to add the SL for an easy release from the mold. Hopefull the soapies will pop out of the mold without me having to pry or drill them out!!

Thanks for looking. I got one of the nicest compliments from a fellow vendor friend of mine. He said when he walked into the booth that it felt 'refreshing'. I even had an ocean water lights projector and sea lanterns that all light up and the projector also plays music. But the sunlight was so bright you couldn't see the lantern or water images from the projector so I had to turn them off. If only you could see them they look so cool. Will wait to see if they work in an indoor venue.

Here are some more pics...... this is my body powder. I had the shaker bottles pictured here along with sealed powder refills, and a box with a tin canister of powder & powder puff not pictured. some of my soap boxes I hand painted and applied feet, corners, hinges, locks, filligree appliques, etc. It took me weeks to do all the soap boxes. Plus the white trays I also painted and applied feet, corners, appliques, and of course real dried shells, starfish, etc. In the center is my whipped body butter. You can barely see on the left my can of coconut oil bath pearls. I also hand painted and decorated the can, lots of glitter, feet, applique, etc. On the right is a tray full of bubble bath and bath salts. Here is a close up of my tent and booth. I had the tent top custom made. The pic doesn't do it justice, it's much prettier in person. The design is on all 4 sides of the tent. Here are some of my children's bath poufs. I also made matching sets of the poufs with the bubble bath as gift sets (not pictured). A close up view of the inside of my booth setup. Every single box and tray Ihand painted and decorated.

So this past Saturday, May 1st, was my grand opening of my revamped soap biz. Here are some pics of my booth. I feature sea ingredients in my products so I have a sea/ocean theme. The banner pic is just a mockup of the real banner. The pic I took didn't come out so I used this one instead. BTW-- I bought 3 mermaid logos with the swimming mermaid as my main logo and the other two as her backup for various things like labels, packaging, signs, etc. Here are some sea sponges.... and a couple of my soap boxes. BTW, all of my lettering/signs, etc. are in ocean type fonts I found online. I downloaded a buttload of different fonts so I had several to choose from. my booth...

Making fizzy bath salts today and will package them in the stand up pouches I bought. Will let you know how the sealer does. Also thinking of repackaging my foaming milk bath in the pouches. I put them in plastic PET bottles and honestly they look like spice bottles you get at the store. Don't like the look and maybe the pouches will be the way to go. You know you can get a 100 or 50 count paks of the pouches for just a few bucks compared to the cost of using bottles. With bottles you have to buy the bottles, lids, plus lid seals if the lids don't have seals in them, plus shrink wrap to keep it sealed and keep customers from opening products. That's a lot of money to bottle something and the costs add up and the customers pay for that.

After all these years... always avoided packaging that needed sealing and used something else. But with the costs of packaging and shipping going up using packaging that seals is a good option and can save me money. Just got some heat seal stand up pouches to package my refill powder into. Made sure I got the right pouches that can be used with powders and are water resistant when sealed properly. I am rethinking my bath salts, milk bath, and fizzy bath powders too. The packaging can help keep the prices down on some of my products and my customers will like that.

Yowzer! No thanks. Guess I won't be buying from the either.

Which? White, pink, or ruby grapefruit? Also, what colors are you using and what wax? Colors can vary with the same dye depending on the wax. Personally I would go for a pink for grapefruit.

I have a discoloring (in CP soap) fragrance oil that I would like to put in my lotion but am worried it will discolor the lotion. Asking if I can use vanilla stabilizer to keep it white or should I forget about doing that. It doesn't seem like a good idea but thought I would at least ask.

I was just reading on their website how that oil rices badly in CP. They even say that themselves and many reviews confirm this. Not something I want in a CP soap. How are you handling the ricing?

I have been using their Patchouli Honey, Juniper Aloe, Tuscan Lace, Honey L'Occitane, Rocky Mtn Pine (Flickers), Sea Island Grapefruit, to name a few, for years. Many of them are my best sellers! Remember Olive Blossom that they dropped? That was one of my best sellers many years ago until it was discontinued. I hate when new owners drop some of the FOs from the company they just bought out. Makes it a terrible pain in the patootie for us customers who use them in our best selling products!!! Grrrrrr!!

EBB is one of my best FO suppliers. They have good FO prices too. I do use WSP a lot but generally not many of their FOs due to their high prices. I just hope we don't see them dropping some of their FOs during the transition. I have some best sellers from EBB. 😒

How does it sell for you? Also, does it discolor? I have a sea themed soap & B&B biz so looking for beachy and ocean types... hopefully ones that are good sellers.