cbv1

I needed those hugs... thank you. I guess I just wonder if what I am feeling, others have felt also... and it is OK and "this too shall pass". I haven't felt blue like this in such a long time. I am not sure what triggered this. I need to make more baby soap today, so I know once I get into that zone that I always get into when making soap, all these doubts will subside... at least temporarily. That zone is such a wonderful place to be... zen like. Coleen

There are so many of you out there that have so much knowledge and wisdom. I don't necessarly need advice, maybe just someone to say they understand my feelings and that it is OK. My website has been up and running for just a few months. I work a full time job in software technical support and make my soap bath/body products on the weekends. I just went to my first craft fair a few weeks ago and I got great feedback from customers and did pretty well in sales. There was one other handmade soap vendor there. She sold only goats milk soap, which I don't, so I don't think we were in direct competition. I felt awkward knowing there was another soap vendor there, I hoped she wasn't upset I was there too. I have been trying to find other fairs where there aren't any other handmade soap vendors but that seems like that won't happen. I am finding others that don't have a website or store, they just travel around to fairs or farmers markets. Working over 45 hours a week at my fulltime job has me beat and now I am wondering how in the world do I get my product known out there. It seems so overwhelming and I feel very down right now, like this is a pipe dream and what was I thinking. But I love making handmade soap. It gives me such pleasure and I feel so rewarded just using my own product. I think I may need to wait until I retire before I would be able to do the things I need to do to promote my product. I guess I am just blue and exhausted today and in need of a hug.... so I came here. Coleen

Thanks for the info Karen! I see from your profile that you have a small soy candle business. I have relatives back east who love soy candles, the pillar kind, but they say they have a hard time finding them. If you PM me and let me know if you make pillar soy candles I can send them your way.

Karen, how do you like allwhitecandles.com diffuser fragrance oils? The fact that they combine the additive to the fragrance oil seems like a big plus.

I haven't been in business long enough for this to happen to me yet, but I can see how a neighbor/friend could take advantage. I do have someone that asked me to send them some samples so they could consider putting in their store. I sent them a nice professional package and when I called them 1 month later to see how they liked my products, they were like, what products? I sent UPS and they were delivered but the owner said she was out of the store for several weeks and her employees just threw packages in a back room. Then she says, send me another package, instead of looking in the back room for it. I couldn't believe my ears, but I am new to the business end. I take such care in making my products I was offended she didn't think anything of asking for more. I am not a big business and I didn't know how to react to this. After I hung up the phone I figured, no way, I don't think I want to deal with a person who doesn't respect the businesses she deals with. I may give her another chance but if I do, I will hand deliver the package! Sheesh!! Coleen

This looks like a nice storage rack. I use large tupperware under the bed storage boxes from Walmart but I ran out of room under the bed. Now I have them stacked on top of one another and having to move them is a pain. They hold a lot of soap though. How big are these drawers in this storage unit? Do they hold a lot of soap for you? This looks like it would be easier that having to lift storage units to get to the soap you need!

I have used Titanium Dioxide in my lye/water mixture to get my soap really white, then I swirled in a green foam Ultramarine which made it a light green and the fragrance oil didn't discolor for me. I had a nice white soap with light green swirls. I have also swirled in a red with a white soap but my red didn't turn pink, but then again I used a lot of herb coloring for a dark red, and it stayed pretty dark. I would think if you colored your white soap with a pink colorant it would still be pink but maybe lighter?

I have heard that goats milk soap is good for sensitive skin. I have never made CP soap with goats milk but maybe someone out there has a recipe.

Thanks for the tip!

A few weeks ago I tried my hand at making loofa soap in a PVC pipe. I got some caps for the ends of the PVC pipe, then put saran wrap around one capped end and poured my CP soap in. Things looked like they were going along beautifully for the first minute or so, until the soap started oozing out the bottom end cap and starting filling into the sara wrap. What a mess! I was scooping soap out of the saran wrap and putting it back in the top of the tube hoping it would stop at some point, which it did. I learned I should put the saran wrap over the end, then put the cap in. Duh!

Letting the reduced liquid soap sit overnight didn't make it more clear. It has a lot of air bubbles in it from what I can see, probably from boiling it down. I can't figure out how to get the jpg files small enough but include enough detail to post here. The first one shows the air bubbles. The 2nd one you can see it isn't clear anymore.

I started out trying to boil this over diluted batch down in a double boiler, nothing was happening so I put the soap pot directly on the burner and let it cook for over 2 hours. A thick white foam appeared on the top so I skimmed that off and tried to zap it in the microwave but it doesn't ever melt down, not sure what the heck this is. Anyway, it seems a lot thicker now but I have half of what I initially had. I poured this thicker liquid soap back in pint mason jars, I have 5 filled now, and I will let it sit. Now watch, this will now be too thick!! I had 11 pint mason jars initially. Live and learn! Next time I will add a lot less water initially, I can always add more if needed. I will need to get some foamer bottles like Hibiscus!

Well, my soap has been sequestered for 2 weeks so I added 33 percent solution of borax, 3 TBSP per pound of soap and I had a little over 8 lbs of dilute liquid soap to thicken and emulsify but it isn't getting thick enough. I must have diluted it too much because it isn't thick at all. I added 1lb of water for each 1lb of paste when I diluted it. I guess that was too much water. I am so disappointed... after all that work! It does lather very well but it look like water when it comes out of the pump. So, I have put the soap pot back in the double boiler and I am going to try and boil it down to a thickness I like. It is worth a try anyway!

I love the herb blends offered at Emporium Naturals. I got a beautiful purple color for one of my soaps with one of their herb blends. I did an in-the pot-swirl with one of the herb blends for red in a peppermint soap around Christmas time, so the soap was colored red and white like candy canes. I also use paprika, rose hip powder and annatto seed powder. Others I just leave natural and put roughly chopped flower petals like lavender and chamomile flowers, calendula and safflower petals.

Create ideas! Powdered Milk, Oatmeal, also Baking Soda along with flower petals and EO. I just need to track down some sealable tea bags. I know I have seem them on multiple sites! Thanks everyone!

Very nice! You must have a wonderful business to have your own retail store. When do you plan on opening up for business in your new location? I wish you great success in your new storefront!!

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! I am thinking of maybe going with the shrink wrap on MMS where the ends are open, but before I shrink them I can put a label that is a business card size on top of the soap, then put the shrink wrap over the label and soap. Now, I just have to figure out how to make the labels. I haven't had any experince with making business cards or labels so I guess I better get cracking! Thanks again everyone!

I read this post wrong.... sorry! It is just the PUMPS that you want colored. Sorry! I haven't seen any, only the PET bottles that are different colors but I will keep my eyes open! :embarasse

Thank you for the suggestions. Samples are great. I always like when I order something from my suppliers and they stick in a free sample of a coloring herb or fragrance oil. I don't use too many fragrance oils in my soaps, but I do make room diffusers with the fragrance oils. I may make some bath teas up for my first craft show in June. I am a bit nervous as well as excited treading into unknown waters regarding craft shows. I think a free tea bag with a purchase is a good idea. Then I can discuss with customers how to use and see what they think first hand!

I get mine at MMS: http://www.thesage.com/catalog/Bottles.html

I never purchased anything directly from China but I found this: http://www.ecvv.com/tradeleads/P1T0V1IY0CZ0K/Cosmetic-Jars.html Here is another one, looks like they are in the US but they don't have as many colors: http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/P2.html MMS has now added the blue jars, at the bottom on page: http://www.thesage.com/catalog/Jars.html You would think there would be more options for colored jars out there! I don't color my body cream and it is thick so I have to put it in a jar. Bottles come in more colors but my cream just won't come out of them! Another option is colorful labels but I understand your issue. I use clear jars but white product does look boring sometimes, not as flashy, but my product is good so I try not to worry about the color issue too much! If you find any fantastic color jar suppliers keep us updated!

That is a good thought. I will have to experiment!

Thanks, I will give that a try! This packaging is making me crazy. I think I dreamt about packaging soap all night long last night.... I woke up exhausted!

Most of my soaps will fit in these boxes, if I slice them from a log, or slab. There is one mold I use that makes chunkier bars so they are 1 1/2 inches thick. I can't find any soap boxes to accomodate these bars. The info on these molds: http://missionpeaksoap.com/equipment.htm#mold_slide_show says each bar measures 3" x 2 1/8th" x 1 3/8th" but mine are more like 3" x 2 1/8th" x 1 1/2" because I make a 12 lb batch and pour into 2 molds. I am not always exactly accurate in making both molds even so one may be a little thick than the other. I have looked at all the soap box vendors and their soap boxes all seem to be 2 3/8" X 3 1/4" X 1 1/8" or less. I may have to go another route if I can't use the soap boxes for all my soaps. If they are in a store I want to be consistent in the packaging.....

Thank you! Now that I have gone to all the suggested sites I remember these soap boxes on Scent Works. I just couldn't remember where I saw them before. They are all very nice and I thank all of you for your help!