Fire and Ice

Looks great!

I generally use 1oz pp no matter what it is unless it's Peppermint. Then I use 3/4oz per pound of oils.:tiptoe:

That's great if the oil hasn't been cut with soy oil. That's only found when reading the very fine print on the bottles! But I hope it's actually Pomace OO instead of grade A OO. You'll certainly know when you soap it.

Well in a pinch you could probably put up and Esty store pretty darn quick! At least your customers would be able to buy!

I respecfully disagree that zinc wicks and soy wax perform poorly together. I've been pouring soy candles for eight years now and have tested all kinds of wicks but always return to the zinc wicks because they burn the best with my waxes. I've been through lots of waxes as well and they all performed excellent with a zinc wick. Fire

One year at a craft show, I had a neighboring crafter who brought her four children along! The kids were all under 7 and the woman wasn't a very good mother because she was there to socialize but was forced to bring her kids! I'm not a kids type person so I was rather ticked. When her kids broke two candles, I had to FORCE her to pay for them! Then, on the second day, she left her booth to go socialize and asked me to watch her kids while she was gone! Now, I have a very busy booth with lots of glass and I refused! I told her: "If I'd wanted children, I'd have had them. As I didn't want any kids, I didn't have them!" I also didn't want hers even for an hour! She was pissed but so was I! How dare she ask me to watch her kids. She didn't sell a thing at the show while I kicked butt and cleaned house! She had nice things but the screaming, fighting kids caused shoppers to steer clear of her booth! She never returned and I'm glad! Fire

Congrats on the fund raiser, Kimberly! You guys look like you had a great deal of fun but I's still like to see a picture of our fearless leader, Mystrical Angel! :highfive: ! Kimberly, you proberty sorta looks similar to mine except that the hills, around where I live are much steeper! Fire

I LOVE the Tonic in my soaps! I made a two pound batch and it was very strong at 1oz per pound! I want to get a pound of it and I want to get the SS and try that. I know to be ready for it to move quickly, even with a water discount but I will not use a stick blender either when I do it. Fire

What size Jar are you pouring? I have yet to see a one pour wax. I do Pint mason jars and have NEVER found a wax that was a single pour for the creamy tops I demand. Fire

Well, luckily, I still have 200lbs of the very last of the C-3 they carried. With the holiday season coming, I'm not looking forward to testing a new wax. Why is it that every time something huge goes wrong with wax, it's at the holiday time? GRRRRRR. Dawn, I get mine in Dover, Ohio. That local for me! Fire

I worked with C-3 for the last four years and now I'm forced to switch. How different is 444 to C-3 when pouring and curing. I've always used 1.5oz PP FO too. C-3 I aways did two pours for smooth tops and poured at 170 180. I still plan to do two pours for great tops. I need a fondation of instruction for a spring point in pouring and testing. Fire

Carmel Cinnamon Latte and Chestnuts and Brown Sugar are both best seller in my soy! 1.5oz per pound! Fire

Thank you very much for the site! I will be contacting them in the fall! Fire

Agreed on the shink wrap and Dans's bands. Don't like them! I'll place a small order for some of those boxes and if they don't work, I know the cotton bags will! Fire

My bars are 3.5 long x 2.5 wide by 1 1/2 inche deep. I fill the mold to the very top! If I can find boxes that will fit, my problems are solved because the Misty Creek Molds and similar molds are what I'm wanting to use. They are so easy to line and cut, I'd rather just stick with them! Well I just went to Sunshine container and still find nothing that will fit the depth of 1 1/2. Everything is 1 1/4 deep. I've tried pour less into the mold by almost a pound and I don't like the look at all. They look skinny and horrible. I use 5# of soap in the 16 bar mold. Fire Just cruising my sopaing link and rediscovered these. ..... http://www.packcoinc.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=51 Now these would certainly work but I'd have to think about how to add the name of the company as a well as the ingediants list. Card stock with a hole punch maybe?

Though it will be next summer before I before I begin selling, I do need to decide on my molds for producing product by the end of this fall Though I love the Mysty Creek mold I have and can find the same mold for production, I can't find boxes for selling that size soap. I gel all of my soaps. Even my GM soaps gel full so I need a tops on the molds. What I want is a soap that is chunky but will fit into a soap that is easily found. I thried cigar bands and those just are way too time consuming. Even after a four month cure, the soap continues to shink and so band have to be reapplied or retaped. Is Silver Moon log mold the way to go with the molds and a tank for the cutter. I'll have to have a special order on the Tank because I want them thicker than an inche. No, I'm not selling yet but it IS time to begin getting my ducks in a row because people really are enjoying the soap. They want me to sell but I'm not going to be pushed. I'll sell when I'm ready and not before. I've bowed out of three smaller shows due to my local supplier not carrying my wax anymore. One more big show in October and the candles may well be done for good. Fire

Favorite mold~ Misty Creek 16 bar mold. My only problem is finding boxes that will fit my soaps. I fill the mold with five pounds because I really enjoy the bigger bars. Because I use a Misty creek, I use their knife too. And lining is a breeze with freezer paper. colorants~ Select shades when I am not doing a goats milk bar. Fire

I totally agree with you E! And I agree with Carrie too! I am NEW to making CP soap as well but I've been making it since Feb of this year. I have over 40 batches under my belt and I have experimented with all kinds of recipes and oils and still~ There is NO WAY I would ever sell to the general public yet!:embarasse I researched for nearly a year before ordering all of my oils and beginning the love affair too! Yes, I've given away at least 100+ fully cured bars of soap and people LOVE them but that doesn't mean I can just start selling. There is too much to know when a customer ask some questions to gage your experience If you go to a craft show and set up, some of the first people to hit you with these questions will be other soapers. Can you answer their questions?They are the ones who will ask the hard questions. Knowledge is power and experience is manditory for sucess. At some point, next year, I HOPE to sell soap but only if I have a passing grade by other soapers in several soap swaps! That's the true trest! Fire

Hey Scented, I did my Pumpkin soap last night. I took Crafty's basic Goat Milk recipe and added the Spicy Pumpkin scent from Peaks and a little of a regular pumpkin scent and combined them! I soaped room temp with no water discount and threw the Misty Creek Mold in the freezer when poured. I didn't bother coloring as I don't color my GM soaps. I cut it when I got home from work and it's a very pretty light pumpkin color. I'm sure it will darken as it cures but it smells great. The scent accelerated some but not as much as I was expecting. Can't wait to try this one in a month! Fire

I'm doing a Goats Milk Pumpkin soap in about two hours. I need to think of other Fall scents to soap as well. Fire

I LOVE the Tonic in soap! Yup, Buy a BIG bottle of it because it WILL be popular! Fire

I have lots of candles and clamshellsto pour for a show in two weeks! I have very little poured and need to go pick up jars today! Also, I want to soap either the combo of Patch and Sandlewood or a pumpkin scent. I know I have to soap really cold for the Pumnpkin.I will add GM to the Pumpkin as well. Fire

Mine is VERY slow too and I've cut the candles WAY back. My one wholesale account has pretty much died and I'm not going to try and bring it back. I have one show next month and I've hardly poured any candles because I've lost the excitement of candles but am having a great time with the soap. Still, because I'm not insured for soap, I can't sell it! I'll pour candles this weekend. But the prices are just killing me. I will be buying wax tomorrow and jars too and I'm sad because I'd rather invest in soaping oils!:undecided Fire

If your wax only went up $ 18.00, count yourself lucky. Mine has gone up more than $35.00 a case and it Soy wax. I am now paying almost double what I did 6 months ago. Pres. Busch also had many of the farmers convert to growing corn for Ethenal and so the crop is much smaller in soy so the prices are hiked. My suppier also said their shipping on the pallets of wax have almost tripled. I have a full time job and still can't afford to by wax at almost $80.00 a case! This will be my last year for candles but I will keep my clamshells as they sell great! Venturing into soap which I hope to sell next year when I switch over liablity insurance. I'm paid up for the year strictly on candles. Fire

I buy my soy wax locally and we've had 2 price increases in in 6 weeks! Needless to say, I'm quiting the candles. Customers are upset but they don't understand until I pull out the recepts to Prove to them that I'm telling the truth. Wax prices for me locally have nearly doubled! from $ 40.00 a case to $ 73.00 in less than 6 months and wax is still climbing. Not only that but who going to make the choice to buy a candle when they havve to buy gas and food first?:embarasse Fire