Carol M

Thanks, Katshe; I just now saw your reply. That's good to know that the plain white can liners will hold up to the heat from the raw soap and oven. I wasn't sure; I thought maybe you had to use a Reynolds oven bag or something like that. I'm very "liner-challenged", so this sounds much easier

San Francisco Herb has them at good prices; of course shipping has to be taken into account. But they have a variety of useful things in bulk, so I try to get several things when I order to make the shipping worthwhile.

It's been several years since I had a Circle E BOP candle, but I think I remember it being similar to Bitter Creek's Pomegranate oil.

Too bad; the Sugar Creek crates are (were) an amazing value and top notch quality, too. I thought she wasn't doing them anymore; then, when the link was given, thought maybe she had picked it back up. I still have several dozen that I ordered years ago; use a few here and there for donation raffles for the fire department, etc. Always a big hit.

Sounds like a good recipe; I'll have to try that one. Wonder what kind of plastic is used to line the mold in the ITMHP article from the link? I usually use parchment paper, but if I could use plastic that would stand up to the heat, I'd do that instead. More flexible and fewer crease marks maybe.

Very, very classy, Eugenia! Plain to see you've not lost your touch. Hope your husband is doing well.

Looks like there's one on there right now for $200 shipped; no cartridges included, though. I've been curious about these, but didn't really understand exactly what they can do. I was looking at the cartridges and the cutouts seem to be one color with white outlines and details. But the finished samples sometimes show multi-colored things; do you have to color with markers to get this?

Not Stella, but I do about the same thing. I take a skewer when a thin shell has formed on top and basically bash in the whole top of the candle, stopping 1/4" or so before I reach the outer edge; looks like a rabid woodpecker has been at it:cheesy2: Don't wait too long to do this, or it won't work. Since you aren't going all the way to the edge, it doesn't affect the crystallization pattern that you see; only the interior and top are affected. I then hit it lightly with a heat gun to make sure the wax runs down; not too much, though, or you'll melt the outer edge and you don't want that. Sometimes I repeat this process a second time just to make sure. At the end, top off carefully (if needed), pouring only up to the original level to avoid a band of wax with a different pattern from showing on the outside of the jar. Sometimes no top off is required, just depends upon how much wax had to run down to fill in holes; in that case, just lightly smooth the top with a heat gun. This is time consuming, but in the end you don't have any caverns to worry about.

How about High Maintenance? Starrville had this one, but I think they've sold out now to someone.

To me, this is the ultimate holiday scent; a lovely mix and wicked strong. I'm out and don't really need anything else from there right now. I thought maybe if someone else's version was the same, I might be able to locate some on classifieds.

Those are beautiful! Very festive looking. Does the scent contain any peppermint? If so, it's perfect.

Those are drop-dead gorgeous, every one! If not for the wicks, you truly wouldn't know them from the real thing.

Soapy Clean from BB is a great light and fresh.

Those are downright gorgeous! Yep, she's got the bug alright.

I use the glass bowls, as well. My DT has two sizes, there are slightly larger ones in packs 3/$1, but the smaller size works well for average 1 oz tarts. I was a little hesitant at first, because they don't say 'oven safe' on them anywhere (they're sauce bowls), but they're a very heavy Pyrex-type material. I have used a few here at home for going on 2 years and they're still fine; I use an electric burner and sometimes leave it on 10-12 hours at a time. Another plus is that the spent wax is much easier to get out than in tins, which is what I used before; also, the glass doesn't get as hot as the tins.

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you mean, but if oil is separating out and collecting at the bottom, it wouldn't be just in that one spot. If I have a heavy oil that I didn't get mixed in good, I can see it all over the bottom. Turn the candle over and look at the bottom; you should be able to see the liquid smushed against the glass by the wax if you have seepage. The ones I have had trouble with have been mostly vanillas, so they are yellowish and really show up if you're looking for it. I've heard of some people having droplets of oil seeping out onto the top surface of the candle, but I've never had that happen.

Thank you, April; the colors in your soap are lovely. I mostly have micas here, and I understand they are colored with fd&c, too, so they probably wouldn't work reliably. I do have a couple of oxides, a purple and a mustard yellow color. I'll find a scent that would "match" with those colors and try them out. Haven't tried any ultramarines at all yet, so I'll have to look into getting some. So, the colorant systems I see mentioned here sometimes: Select Shades, Peacock Colors, etc. don't always stay true either?

I've always done hot process, so I was used to 'what you see is what you get'. I've branched out into some cp now, and it's a whole different ballgame:rolleyes2 I did a batch over the weekend and used some green fd&c color; it turned purple. I thought a thread about how different colorants behave in cp might be helpful; wonder what color I should have used to end up with green? Is there a particular line of colors that stay more true, or does it depend upon the individual color? I see now that I probably need to invest in one of the more expensive colorant systems for use in cp, but don't really know which one to get.

If I'm not mistaken, she was just using the heating pads to ensure gel, not to actually cook the soap. I'm afraid they wouldn't generate sufficient heat to replace the oven or crock pot for hot process soap. It would be interesting to try a batch, though, and see just how hot it would get. The worst that could happen is that you'd have to consider it cp and cure it for a few weeks.

Wow, those are incredible! The first thing I thought of with the blue was the van Gogh painting, Starry Starry Night. I agree with Soapmom that it would be a perfect name for it. Gypsy fits the first one to a tee.

Has anyone tried this in hot process? If so, how did it do? She no longer sells this one due to formulation problems, but I have a bottle from a couple of years ago and thought it "might" be perfect for a swap that I'm in. The Scent Review board says it morphs in cp and the peach part fades entirely; was hoping it fared better in hp.

I was thinking the same thing as Ducky. For veg waxes, maybe, but for 1343, an 18 sounds very large. When you get down to the bottom of the container where it gets real small, looks like the heat build-up in the glass would be tremendous. I would think something along the lines of a 44z, CD8, or HTP 60-whatever; when you burn down some and glass is exposed, the hang-up on the top edge will usually melt down. JMO.

I've heard of people folding it, but it was hard for me to get a sharp crease. I use a combination of Mylar and freezer paper to line my log mold. I cut Mylar squares to exactly fit the end caps of the mold and cut a strip of freezer paper the exact length of the mold and line the long sides that way (one strip wide enough to cover the bottom and sides and hang over the top edges a little). My mold doesn't come apart for easy removal, so I use a "sling" made of soft, thin fabric as a helper handle. I cut a strip off an old pillowcase about 4" wide and run it across the bottom center of the mold before putting in the freezer paper. That probably sounds confusing, so visualize the piece of ribbon you sometimes see in the battery compartment of remote controls, etc. to help lift the batteries out; works the same way.

What a dumb butt:confused: Did she think it was a lifetime investment? It's the same principle as tarts, and surely she wouldn't expect them to last indefinitely. For sure don't send the oil; once it's out of your hands, you don't know what she will do with it. She could dump the whole bottle in, use a tealight burner, and set her community on fire.:rolleyes2

At Wix End had a good banana. I haven't shopped there in a while, so not sure if they still have it. But it was strong and their prices are reasonable.