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Lisa_1

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    Poulsbo WA
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    Admin. Assistant

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  1. You'll never know how good the show might be for you unless you try If you can afford the booth fee and have enough stock to take to make it worth your while, it might be a great opportunity for you. You mentioned that they often put the "newbie" vendors upstairs - even if that happened - you can advertise where your booth will be located prior to the event - and if the show went well, next year you wouldn't be a "newbie vendor" for the show and would be in line for a prime spot! Doing the show may put you into contact with customers who will be repeat buyers; you will have the opportunity to network with other vendors to find out about other show opportunities in your area and you will be getting your product out there where the public can purchase it! Good luck! Lisa
  2. That is just adorable! I'd love to know where to find those too. They would make great Christmas gifts! Lisa
  3. I've never tried oxides or ultramarines in bath salts, but I have had a lot of success using various micas You have to test each one though - 'cause not all of them are tub friendly. Some that I have tested end up floating on top of the water or leaving an ugly ring around the tub no matter how little is used. hth, Lisa
  4. On the few occasions when I've overheated the m&p while melting it, I've never had it turn brown - the over heated soap almost always sweated like crazy though once it was out of the mold. So I'm not sure that would do it My guess would be that the fo used had a percentage of vanilla in it and that's what caused the browning. The fo's that I use that have any vanilla in them always turn the m&p anywhere from tan to brown (even when using a different soap colorant). Takes anywhere from a few days to several weeks. I had a great raspberry fo that I used to make a raspberry embed soap (embedded raspberry soaps in a clear pink soap bar) Had them for a long time and the color never changed on them as far as I could tell. The raspberry fo was (at least it smelled like) a straight raspberry fo - no vanilla. Last weekend I was at my sisters and saw one of the raspberry soaps on her bathroom counter - it was the ugliest horrid brown I'd ever seen :undecided Lisa
  5. Wholesale Supplies Plus Peaks Bittercreek North
  6. The shelf life of your end products (bath salts & milk baths in this case) will depend partially on the shelf life of the different ingredients you use. For milk baths, I've made milk baths for personal use that smelled fine for months, but these were fairly basic milk baths. I've made others that had more goodies thrown in that smelled a little off to me after a month. So for shows, I make & package these the week of the show to ensure that they are as fresh as possible. Bath salts - I don't know if these even have a shelf life if you don't add oils or other goodies to them The only problem I've ever had with bath salts is the fragrance used in them. I've got a few "tester" jars here that are well over a year old - some of them smell just as good as when they were first made - but a few don't smell so great (they stink!) - the fragrance mutated in them after sitting for too long. Lisa
  7. Lisa_1

    M&P ?

    How long has it been sitting in the mold & what's the temperature in the room where the mold is? The heat is the only thing I can think of, since you didn't mention adding any other oils or liquids other than the .5 oz fo. I've mixed various bases frequently and it's never affected the bar's hardening ability. If the m&p base was okay (the right hardness I mean) prior to melting it down & adding your fo - then I would think if you put the mold in the fridge for a little while the soap should harden up enough to come out of the mold. The downside to this though is that putting the soap in the fridge for awhile can sometimes encourage the soap to start sweating when you remove it and bring it back to room temp. When I've made large m&p bars in really hot weather it's sometimes taken overnight for them to harden up the way they are supposed to. hth, Lisa
  8. For small items that won't sit nicely on shelves, like lip balm tubes, I put them in small, cloth lined wicker baskets. hth, Lisa
  9. I've never tried this, but I would worry that the glitter or mica would clog the fine mist sprayer head Would be awfully cool to have a "glitter body spray" if it worked though! Lisa
  10. Spearmint Orange Grapefruit Peppermint Lavender Litsea Cubeba Eucalyptus Clary Sage
  11. You could make a solid lotion - or body balm - these contain no water (just oils, butters & waxes) and don't have as many preservation issues as lotions made with water. The solid lotions are what I make - I'm not ready, business wise, to have to deal with preservatives, testing, etc. Lisa
  12. How much oil you use will largely depend on how soft or firm a butter you want to end up with. The more oil you use the softer the butter will be I don't know what the standard is, I just played around with my recipe until I figured out what I wanted. Nowadays I use 75% shea and 25% liquid oil then I whip it up with my hand mixer (not the stick blender) until it's really fluffy. hth, Lisa
  13. Absolutely! I've never tried safflower oil in whipped shea so I can't comment on this one, but I have tried both olive oil & sunflower oil. Of the two, I preferred the one with sunflower oil in it. This was all during my testing phase. Nowadays I use jojoba with my shea but during my testing I tried olive oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, apricot kernal oil, grapeseed oil & sweet almond oil. Lisa
  14. I loved reading this! My first lye mixing adventure was very similar! I was so afraid of the lye mixing process the first time I did it - I had on long pants, long sleeved shirt, shoes, goggles & gloves. I measured everything out in my kitchen and then took each individual ingredient out on my back deck for mixing. Set the water pitcher in the middle of the patio table, quickly poured the lye into the water and then ran! I ran back into the house and watched the pitcher from the backdoor window Not sure what exactly I expected the lye & water to do - but I didn't want to be anywhere close when it did it! After I figured out it wasn't going to jump out of the pitcher and do anything nasty - I went back outside and mixed it all up. That was several years ago. Nowadays I just mix it all in my kitchen on the counter. I still wear the gloves & goggles though. I never make soap without my goggles - after getting little splatters of the soap mix on my goggles more than once - no matter how careful I am - that convinced me that my goggles are a must. If you mix it outside, just make certain that it's in a place where kids & pets can't get to it and as Mystical Angel said "if you respect the lye you won't have any issues" Have fun! There's nothing like unmolding that first batch of soap! Lisa
  15. In cp soap or m&p? I haven't tried swirling m&p with mica but I have done it several times in cp soap. For cp soap, after bringing my batch to trace, I remove a small portion (the amount will depend on your total batch size) of the traced soap - usually 1/2 to 2/3 cup of it - and to this little bit I mix in my mica - making sure to get all the mica lumps out. Then I dump this mica/soap mix back into my larger pot of traced soap and with my rubber spatula I make 3 turns/stirs in the pot. Just 3 or else I end up mixing it in too much. Then I pour the entire mix into my mold. There are other ways to achieve the swirl - but this is what works for me. Lisa
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