amillion3147

I guess it can go either way. I just think I feel more comfortable preserving the total formula. Afterall in my directions for use of the preservative it mentions using it at 1% of the total formulation. Thanks all.

Thanks. I am still trying to determine if there was a reason why.

Okay I am still quite confused on this. I have heard that when making a scrub it's best to preserve it based on the total oil amount in the recipe. I was going by the theory that it's best to preserve the total weight of the formulation(oils including sugar). What is the correct way of thinking here? I just can't understand why you would only want to preserve the oils and not the sugar since it is included as part of the formula and one where water will most likely get introduced into it. I have a formula that I have been working on for months and want to get it right as far as assuring it's preserved correctly.

Thanks to all for your fine adivice and wisdom. After giving it careful consideration I think this venture will end up costing me more money than I may bring in due to those wacky booth fees. I still will try to work out a better agreement with her as it can't hurt to ask. I still wonder how any of the other merchants are really making money with this venture with her. I guess they are not dealing with items with low profit margins.

Thank you. I wanted to be sure someone else besides me thought this was a bit out there.

I was contacted recently from a woman who owns a gallery type retail store in the arts district of my city. It features handmade items from many different artists from my local area. It is more on the vibe of the store Anthropologie at least that is what it reminded me of when I got there and looked around. She is not looking to do wholesale but what sounds a lot like consignment to me. Vendor places product and displays it in store and the owner of the store recieves a 12% comission on all sales. They cut you a check and so on each month with weeklys report on sales etc. She claims she gets a lot of foot traffic and does monthly gallery crawls twice a month which draws a large crowd. The only downside is that there is a montly rental space of at least $75.00 from up to $615.00 depending on your space. From some reason this just doesn't sound feasible to me even after crunching some numbers quickly. I can understand the commision but the rental space sounds a bit too much on top of that. The only good side is that it has the potential to really get my name out some more and could lead to other opportunities. I don't have any exisisting wholesale accounts now and was thinking since I had time off from school this summer to work on obtaining an account with someone.

Good lord woman. Those are freakin georgeous. Note to self buy some pop micas.

Wow great job with those. I love the middle cp soaps. They look so natural and creamy. Great start with everything.

Of course. I am not risking my sight due to a batch of soap. I love making soap but I love my ability of sight much more. Anyone who doesn't well that's on them. I guess I have a better appreciation for the eye since I understand it's physiology. I refuse to wear gloves though but that is my choice and I understand the implications of not doing so because it's hard to work with them. I do use them to unmold to avoid getting fingerprints on the soap.

Interesting I have will have to check for this the next time I go to Sam's. I like Bertolli that I get from there but if I can get olive oil for cheaper I am all there.

I prefer to let my soaps gel because that is what works the best with my recipe. Not letting it gel means a longer time I have to hold up my molds because the soap is too soft to unmold.

Thank you. You can bet I won't be doing that one again with this recipe:) I thought something funky was going on with my lye. Thanks again everyone.

Yes and no. The recipe was for a salt bar with a high content PKO, PO, CO , OO. The only thing I did different was drop the PKO a bit and added some CO. NO FO was even added when this happened. I didn't bother with adding that in until it smoothed out first. The salt was added later on when it appeared to be emulsified.

Thanks. I was wondering if this may have contributed to this problem.

I can't help but reflect back on a batch I made a week ago. I had planned to make a batch but decided against it because it was very late. By this time my lye had been sitting on my counter tightly closed. I figured I would just do my soap the next day. Anyway by the time I got around to making the soap the lye had been out for at least 24 hours. I measured out my oils and all and proceeded to stick blend. As soon as I started to stick blend things started proceed a little different. The oils started turning to a slushy like state and simply refused to smooth out. I had to agressively stick blend this for several minutes to get it smooth out. The oils were also at room temp. Any ideas on what caused this in the first place. I have never seen this before but I always use my lye the same day it's made up.

I do this all the time with this method. It's a challenge to figure it out at first but it does take a few extra seconds to figure it out.

I cleaned out what was left of lowe's stock in my area. I know I will have to buy some online at some point but damn it was good to at least buy one supply offline.

I seriously hope these ladies have a hefty liability insurance policy. How embarassing and stupid situation to find yourself in. Testing should not be skipped.

I got mine online at the fathers healing herbs place and got free shipping over the summer on it. A little truly goes a long way. My bars never come out pure black but more on the deep gray side. I know I got one from someone on etsy and it was pure black. http://healingherbs.biz/products/charcoal.html

And what a wonderful job you have done. I love the swirl and texture. Light years ahead from my first attempt which was a mold full of raw oils.

I agree with fast. I ordered with them for the first time last month and it was unbelievable at how quick the order came.

Donna at Dovestudios does some really fabolous work. I love my logo she did very much. I doubt it if she's on etsy though.

I would love to come but need to google where in the world Benson NC is. I am way out in Davidson, NC. If it's not too far I may be interested in joining the group.

Hmm I just did this last night on my own site with adding a clickable banner to my blog. After I created the banner I just went on photobucket to host it there and got the tag for it. I had to end up changing the link for it to direct to my blog instead of photobucket.

Thanks for the additional tip.