Carol M

Those are some absolutely beautiful candles. Love the colors and the way the layers softly blend into one another.

It was stunning. Unfortunately, the picture is no longer visible; can only see a red x now. But the bar was a deep midnight blue with the gold running through it, like veins in marble. I had never seen anything like it before.

Robin, that is really gorgeous soap. Very creamy looking and the mica swirl adds a beautiful touch. I did a search at the Dish and the Whisk and found out what I needed to know about the soap I was asking about. The gold vein was made by blending gold mica into clear m&p to allow the light to show through. The base soap was hp and trenches were made in it and the m&p poured in, then more hp, etc.

Wow, maybe I WILL use it for color. Even though I didn't get the effect I was going for, I can't believe how this soap feels. Just that small amount of mica made the lather feel very silky, almost powdery; I love it.

I got some mica samples to try and was wondering how to get the effect I want. Last night, I mixed some copper mica into a little glycerin (thanks to a thread I saw a few days ago) and then into a small amount of soap and swirled into my batch. It was okay, but I only got a dusty pink color; it didn't sparkle. Mica is expensive, so I wouldn't use it just to color a product. How do you use mica to get the look of metal veins in rock? I see some soaps that look like real gold swirled throughout the bar. You don't just sprinkle it on dry, do you? It seems that it would just drop off when the soap is cut if you did that. Any help is appreciated. My parents' golden wedding anniversary is coming up and I would love to be able to make some gold swirled bars as favors.

Thank you, Connie for the Dishcloth Boutique reference; they have some really neat patterns. I prefer to crochet, so think I will try one of theirs instead of the PV one.

I have it, Connie. However, it's on my computer at work. I will try to pm it to you tomorrow if you still need it. I see you posted this on Friday, but I just now saw it. Edited to add: btw, that's a great soap recipe, too. I recommend it if you haven't tried it already.

Thanks for the information, everyone. What I was hoping to use them for was to make soap decals for favors at my parents' 50th anniversary celebration. That's why I was interested in making my own decals, so I could personalize them. As I said, I have to go to Staples anyway, so I'll check there and WalMart first, but I really don't think they sell them. Although when I did a search on the Dish, I saw where someone said she had found a version of them at WalMart in the toy section where the model cars are. But they were selling 6 half sheets for $6 to use to make decals for the models, so they're very $$. To make the shipping more "worthwhile", I'll probably just go ahead and order one of the larger packs and sell off the extras. It sounds like you all had good luck with them, and I thank you for answering.

That's an idea worth trying. I needed to go to Staples for printer ink anyway, and WalMart is right next door to them. Michaels is 25 miles away, though, so hope I can find it closer than that. Thank you.

I did a search in the archives and found several threads about this, but then was unable to open them. I wondered if anyone has tried printing their own water slide decals on the special paper and if anyone has seen this paper for sale in stores? I went to the decal paper website and was going to order a pack to try, but they only ship UPS and the shipping on one pack of paper (20 sheets) was going to be almost $9. Wanted to get some opinions on it before I invested this much $$. Thanks.

How about a currant scent; it's a fruit, but not sweet-smelling. Also, Black Canyon (or peppercorn); you could rename it to something that "sounds orange"

The cucumber facial one sounds very good. I may try that this weekend; my face needs SOMETHING!

Thanks for the link. There is some good stuff, but some of it seems a little flakey. Check out the "recipe" for Homemade Soap 2 - just beeswax, oils, lanolin, etc. Says to heat and pour into molds and add ground peach pits or something for exfoliation; no mention of any lye at all. How is that soap?