SoapDiva

Why wouldn't you mention something?

One of the retailers that carries my items also carries some items by a lady who sublets a small area of the shop to do massage therapy. The problem is that she is not consistent with labeling. Well, actually most of her items just have the name of what the product is like "Shower Gel". She has no business information and no ingredient list on anything. Just some bottles with names slapped on them. Now, I am very clear on labeling laws, because I take the business side of my items very seriously. If someone bought something from this store (which happens to be a health food store), used it, had a reaction (there are also no dummy labels) can the owner of the store be held libel? I don't want her to think I'm jealous (sooooo far from it believe me, my stuff looks professional) and just being catty, I'm concerned for both her reputation AND her clienteles safety.

LMAO! Lyndsey that is what I thought. My husband didn't understand why I ranted about this all day yesterday, I tried to get him to realize that idiots like this hurt MY business because those that get burned won't try handmade again. But yeah, I was thinking....hrm....raw milk...room temperatures...water....dirty fingers....I started to itch! Dolphin- I use pre-made bases as well, I don't think I'm ready to start making lotions from scratch. The ones that I use have ingredients that I would definitely use if I made my own. I make a SheMango butter, but nothing that requires phases and emulsyfiers...

Yesterday I went to a farmers market, a very well known one a few hours away. I love this market and I go when I can. They have 3 B&B makers in there. The first table I came across had some truly beautiful stuff. Lots of original and fun ideas and scents. With labels even! I was impressed and told her as much. The second table had someone selling various items, labeling was good, but he tried to tell me that his 100% all natural, unrefined shea & cocoa butter lotion was made from boiling the roots of the shea and cocoa plant. Um. Ok. I told him that he must have some great sources, that I get my unrefined shea butter from suppliers because shea comes from the Katrite nut that grows on a tree in Africa, and boy his lotion is so white and, gee, I can't even smell the normal woodsy scent that natural shea carries. He started to stutter then. He was also slinging his M&P soaps as "all natural". To give him credit, he had some awesome scent combos and a few fragrance oils that he was pushing as EOs The NEXT table really burned my ass. And this is where I have a question. He was selling goat's milk lotion. He had NO labels except for the name of the product. He tried to tell me that everything was scented with essential oils (including the PEACH lotion - he had several others that I went "huh?"). Anyway, I asked what was in it, and he said goat's milk and glycerin. I said "thats it?", he said yes. I said "what about emulsifiers or preservatives?" he said nope. Is this possible? I don't make lotion from scratch, but from what I've read here, and my limited understanding, um, thats impossible. I tried the 2nd guys shea and cocoa butter, and it was nice, but there was no way in hell I was sticking my fingers in that goats milk lotion.:lipsrseal

Holy moly....I was expecting some hummina hummina in here. My husband likes a spray.

WOW. I have GOT to practice my swirling.

Oooooohhhh! I like! Can I ask where you get your tins. Are they susceptible to rust. I`d like to use them for my shaving soap and my massage bars. (I`d add proper punctuation, but my question mark has been taken over by a french ɨ)

I'd stick with a Canadian supplier if you are going to try a base. lyndenhouse.net and newdirectionsaromatics.ca are both in canada, so you won't have high shipping and customs. I believe there is even a supplier in BC, but I can't remember the name. Lyndenhouse is in Alberta. You can also try micheals, I've seen it in there. Nowhere near the quality of course. Lyndenhouse also has a nice LB recipe. I used hers as a guideline and have since played with it to make it my own. Its a very simple recipe, and may even be cheaper to buy the ingredients and put something together on your own.

Ph geeze, I'm making salt bars, a peppermint, tea tree and lavender and, well, I used 2 oz of peppermint for 4lb batch. I'm guessing that would be a bit strong eh?

I cut to size as well with all of my lables. It makes it easier in the long run.

You guys are making me laugh my butt off here.... My "hobby" is taking over the basement. Literally. I used to be a squirrel when it came to food. I grew up poor, on welfare and there were days when we ate one meal, so that's where I chalk the squirrelly factor to. Anyway, I USED to have flats of soup, canned meats, toilet paper (seriously. when you have to ration toilet paper as a kid, you learn to hoard the precious stuff) boxes of pasta....the whole gammot. I kid you not, I had a huge shelving area stuffed full of this stuff. If there was ever a siege, or we lost our jobs I was prepared, I probably had 2-3 months worth of food down there, easy. Maybe more. I got much worse after my first baby was born. Yeah, my soaping stuff started taking over one shelf at a time. Then it startd to encroach on Glen's work space, and storage space. He's getting annoyed with me. In fact, the husband complained to me last night that the coffee filters were buried at the back of the shelf and it took him a long time to find them because I have all the food shoved into just a few shelves, and "good lord woman you're taking over my basement!" *snicker* I said "well, you'll notice that I've stopped stock piling food". That shut him up.

I used them in a muscle rub I am working on. So far so good. I added at about 5%. My supplier told me I could add to 15%, but I started on the low side.

That is an awesome idea! I wanted to add a bit of functionality to the "icing" and that is brilliant! I wonder too, if I could cut the icing sugar with a bit more baking soda to add more skin softening properties to it?

Oh man! I feel your pain! Hopefully it will all work out nicely!

And yes, it's soap.

Its a royal icing, and yep, it dissolves.

I love the NDA one, I've tried a few different ones. I had been using EL-1 multibase, but then the owner got very sick and they shut down. IN my desperate scramble for a good replacement, I went through a few different bases. I love the NDA one, I get a TON of compliments on it. I also really love it because of the ingredients. If I get brave enough to make my own I'd want a recipe very similar.

Soapbuddy: I was originally thinking of doing that, but the husband pointed out that it would turn to mush. The air bubbles in the "lid" would absorb the water pretty fast leaving a mushy floaty thing. Although, I would love to hear from any expert soapers on it vs my husband. LOL!

Kinda creepy but fun... Here is where it came from. I think its pretty cool. I guess as a soapmaker, I can appreciate how much work this would have been to put together. I am very impressed!

NG has an awesome Yuzu (japanese grapefruit), its really divine.

Oh, and just a word of advice. Get a copy editor to look it over. I can put you in touch with her if you'd like, she freelances. Shes a friend of mine so I can bribe her with Canadian chocolate. I'm not sure what her rates are but I was extremely happy with the work she did. She really added some umph to my brochures. My grammar isn't the best, so she tweaked that as well.

Id see what they mean by that. It is more than likely a deterrent so that you don't have 15 candle people and others selling stuff that should be found at a flea market. Also, if you indicate that your candles are handcrafted or that you are a artisan chandler, it sounds better eh. Ive been turned away from sales because there was already a B&B person there, and they only had 20 tables. Id rather that then show up and have 10 other tables with B&B stuff.

Oh wowowowowow.....I want to smear it all over me....er...um....TMI eh.

I tried one last week and LOVED it! I wasn't impressed with the bubbles, but we have weird water here and it takes a ton of bubble bath to get decent bubbles. The scent stayed and the icing needed a little help to dissolve, but otherwise, it was a wonderfully scented bath that left me nice and soft and smelly.

I've never ordered from SOS, but I love the service from NG. They were VERY fast to ship and invoice. I'm in Canada and the shipping can be pricey. I ordered 140 dollars worth of FO's and cost me 22 bucks in shipping, they charged me EXACTLY the postage cost, unlike some other companies I've dealt with that mark up their shipping costs and call it "handling fees". So far I love each FO I got from NG, especially the Yuzu. I made some body butter from it and I want to lick it out of the jar. Yummy! Their Pink Sugar and Black Rasp cream (which I previously got from another company) are very strong and true O/O/B.