Carol M

I may end up with the Moonlit Honeysuckle myself. That one came as a real surprise to me. I had gotten one of the little sniffies of it last year, and oob, it didn't seem like it would have the impact in soap that it did. That bar smells amazing!

I have about six from there and haven't found a bad one yet; maybe you should call them. Don't know about the toasted coconut, but I have the cafe latte myself and it is very good; nothing "skunky" about it. The lip balm flavors that I, personally, was disappointed in were Sweetcakes; very weak and ineffectual. I also got three in this week from Oregon Trails. They are supposed to be naturally sweetened, but only one (Champagne Bubbles) seemed sweet at all to me. Overall, I've had the best luck with Bitter Creek and WSP. Meant to add that the OT ones were good and strong, though. I just have trouble getting flavors sweetened right, so I was hoping to get around that.

The thing is, she didn't knock those surplus prices back down, even though the flat rate shipping was eliminated on surplus.

You'll like them, Jane. I ordered 168, too, and got my order on Friday. I also ordered some coconut oil and tacked 144 of those little red bows onto that order. They just barely fit around the neck of that little jar, and really look cute. I was thinking of them for Xmas, but I'm also going to pour a couple of Valentine's Day scents in them this week and see how they do. If the wicking isn't too hard to figure out, I may be able to use some of them for that.

And the unfair part is that, if you were to order now and have the cousin pick them up, you'd still be stuck with the higher price; even though no shipping was involved. How messed up is that?

Unfortunately, it didn't last long; the flat rate shipping is still there, but some prices have been raised to subsidize the shipping. For instance, the cute little 4 oz jars that are on surplus were 96 for $13.50 and now are $19; 24 were $3.50 and now are $6. I got three good orders in, though; hope I receive all of them.:rolleyes2

KJ, I've got some of these bands. If you didn't really need the castor, I can send you 10 or so to try out. PM me your address and I'll send them first class no charge. This way you can see if you like them before you incur such high shipping charges.

Was the rate quoted UPS or USPS? If it was USPS, then I agree that they should make the flat rate box available to their customers; there would be an additional small charge for insurance, but delivery confirmation is free when the label is printed online. If it was UPS they were using, this is par for the course. They have a large minimum charge, so it is not worth it on light packages. You probably could have added on several more pounds of oils and it would only have increased the shipping by a buck or so.

From what I've seen others post, the Peaches & Peonies is wonderful. I've got four ounces of that one on the way to try out.

Would you believe I've never ordered from OT? I was there poking around tonight, and I've got to do that soon; they've got some terrific-sounding oils and lip balm flavors, too. Thanks so much, Malinda; I'm off to pm you now.

Malinda and MA, is it better or comparable to SC Lime Margarita? Or another type of scent altogether?

My husband made this one for me, and I didn't know about the wing-nut thing when I placed the order. So I had to come up with some way to get the soap out easier, and the fabric trick really works well. The next mold is going to have a removeable end, or a drop-down side for sure, though.

I wasn't impressed with the CS version, either. There were some good reviews on here about it, but I was disappointed. They do have some wonderful oils, though, just not that one.

I do hot process, so I don't have as much of a leakage problem, but I still had trouble getting the block of soap to come out of my 3" high log mold. Of course, when I would try to pull it up by the paper liner, it would tear.:undecided I solved this by making a thin fabric "sling" to use as a helper to get the soap out. I just used an old pillow case and cut a strip about 8" wide. I put it across the bottom and sides (long sides) of my mold and tape it in place on the outside, making sure it is perfectly smooth with no wrinkles, then line the mold with paper as usual. When I get ready to unmold, I take the tape loose and pull the soap block out with the fabric. By using thin fabric, it doesn't leave any indentions in my finished soap. It is so much easier now!

I understand what you're saying, Bruce, but the trouble is that wax isn't time-released. If you could take that extra oil and tack it onto the end of the burn time, it would be great. But my experience is that 'loading up' primarily makes the initial burn stronger, and that can be overwhelming or even obnoxious. As a matter of fact, I first started making a few melts as a way to use up some "dog" oils that I couldn't get to throw in a candle; I figured I could add as much oil as I needed, since no wick was involved. To my surprise, I found that I didn't need to increase the scent load very much, if any; I think it is the difference in the melt pool temperature that makes them throw better than regular votives, rather than more oil being used. Just my opinion, of course.

e, I had trouble finding a knife big enough, too. Home Depot website has a 24" one for $18.99 and that's what I ended up doing. They have free shipping over $49, so I just added on a couple more things; that at least saved a little.:rolleyes2

I'm not sure if Dimethicone could be substituted or not, because it's more thick and syrupy; cyclo is thin and watery. I personally did not care for the Fusion Magic; the end product had a stickiness about it that was disagreeable to me. I'm sticky-phobic, though.

Lime Margarita; that is my favorite new scent. Wicked strong. I just love it!

I'm sure a round label on top looks nice, but I've also seen them done with a narrow (about 3/4") cigar band label glued in place around the top edge of the jar. That looks really nice, too, and very classy imo. Probably wouldn't have room for contact info on there, though, so you'd need to put that with your warning label on the bottom.

That's imcredible! You'll be a soapin' fool now.

I like Oils by Nature. You can get it for $3.70/# if you get 10#, even a little cheaper for larger quantities. They have natural and white.

I like Coconut Cake from AWE. There's very little bakery in this one, to my nose; mostly sweet, strong coconut.

There is a cold process method which I think is called CPOP; with this method, you do cold process as usual, then put your mold into the oven for a time to ensure a gel, but this isn't a true hot process method. I do oven hot process, and my mold never goes into the oven. With hot process, your soap is cooked completely before you mold it. While you don't get as smooth a product as with cp, it does have some benefits. You color and scent at the end of the cook, when all the lye is neutralized, so you don't have as much trouble with colors and fragrances morphing, and also not as much risk of acceleration. Also, less scent may be required, and the soap is ready for use sooner. I would not recommend a water discount with this method, though; the soap "batter" would be too thick to be workable. If you watch it closely and only cook the minimum time necessary, the soap will still be mostly pourable; you can't get the really beautiful swirls like with cp, but you can still get a very pretty bar.

PM me your address and I'll send you a little bit. You only need about 1/2 tsp/#.

You'll need to add some Vybar 103 or Universal Additive to improve oil retention and scent throw, but I have used it before for tarts and votives. I was at a close-out grocery store once and they had it for $.39/#, so I bought about 20 boxes of it. I opted to mix it about 70/30 with 4627 instead of adding Vybar, and the scent throw was very good. But it will need additives if you're going to use it straight.