leashaann

Plain white elmers glue should work too. I use it instead of modge podge.

I ordered lye from them and was pleased with service. They offered to ship DHL instead of way over priced UPS.

IF you melt the wax, the water will stay on bottom. I freaked out over water in a new box of wax that I bought and got tons of advice on hear. Some said boil it out but that was time consuming. I just melted it in my pot and carefully poured the wax out, leaving the water at the bottom of the pot.

My friend has a pretty nasty spider bite that is responding to EO's. The doc quoted $120 just to walk through the door. So a friend of hers recommended EO's so she figured why not just try it.

I kinda like it and "get" it ('wicked' meaning 'awesome), but I'm young. I'd imagine quite a few people over 30 (maybe even younger) wouldn't immediately remember 80s/90s youth slang and might be put off by it.

Of course, you could be in that age category and still like it, but I think you have to get out of yourself and think how most people might perceive it. Would their interested be piqued enough to go to your site/store or would Totally Wicked sound so bad they wouldn't even continue to read your print ad/etc?

All of this is really dependent on what kinds of things you're selling and what your target market it, but still good things to think about.

I want to add that "wicked" is a regional slang also. I'm in Texas and in my 30's and only know it because my good friend from New England says it.

The batch they are all using is from my first batch. I did a cpop scented vanilla and used cocoa for my swirl. Here is a pic of it http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43074 I had alot of fun making it and now that everyone is actually using it and liking it I am really excited.

Wow! Your first batch looked great. I've only made two so far. The first looked okay but it was plain castille with no FO or EO's incase it was a complete failure. I made my second using a more complicated recipe and I used lemongrass essential oil with chamomille flowers. I poured it in a tube shaped mold and it came out looking EXACTLY like a banana and was about as soft as one. lol.

I learned very quickly that I got better information on the net than in any of the soapmaking books. Even some online instructions tell you to use entirely too much liquid.

I'm learning this. I actually found a lot of mistakes in the water calculations in one of my books. I followed her directions for calculating and a few of her recipes were off. She may have adjusted intentionally but there was no explanation. I returned that one to the library.

I did a search on the topic but didn't find much. I'm just starting my soap making career and I've read a few books and made a few batches of HP soap.

The book I'm currently reading teaches making cp soap but the author makes basic soaps and then mills them. She adds the fragrance, color etc in the milling process.

My question is does anyone know any advantages / disadvantages to this?

I know one downfall would be the extra curing time after milling it.

Benifit would be that more of the FO / EO would last.

Oh, almost forgot my personal fave: "Do you use it just like REGULAR soap?" :rolleyes2

Tell them no, it doesn't work like regular soap, you have to turn around three times and then touch your toes before rinsing it off.

LOL. I've had all kinds of questions about my soap. Not only "Does it lather?" but "What is it?" "Does it work?" "Can you use it in the SHOWER?"

In my opinion, the lather makes it easier to spread the soap out over your body or through your hair. For example, I won't buy paul mitchell shampoo because it doesn't lather and I have a hard time getting it dispersed through my hair.

Thats not bad for what they charge for a pair of jeans, like $200 and up. Its all about designers these days argg:rolleyes2

I'd pay 200 for a pair of jeans if they made me look like I had a butt.

I took a pound of wax and colored it a primary color (red for example). Then I started adding a drop at a time of another color ( Green to make rose and eventually, with enough green, brown.) , poured a sample into a condiment cup and labeled it and added some more color, poured a sample, labeled it and so on. it was time consuming but I have a sample of every color I could ever need.

I personally just like rustics more so, of course, I'm voting for the rustic. I don't think that you need to add more. I think the simplicity is nice.

Okay. This is just my uneducated guess. I doubt that insects perceive fragrance the way we do so I suspect it isn't so much the fragrance that runs them off. I would think it's a chemical or something in the EO that does the trick. To us a fragrance oil may smell like its essential oil counterpart but be much different to bugs.

I bought Sexy as Sin and everyone LOVES it! I too love NG and want to order some more soon. So these reviews are great!

Generally, I LOVE Natures Garden. My fav is Lick Me All Over. Someone mentioned that it was floral but I smell mostly rasberry. (I'm a floral fan though) They sent me a free "sexy as sin" soap sample and I had to throw it in the back of my truck on my way home from my mailbox store b/c it was giving me a horrible headache. Funny how scents can be perceived so differently by different people. I liked their Margarita but it wasn't authentic; too limey. I used it to make Sangarita.

In all, I love NG. I just wish they were closer to me b/c it's just really expensive and slow to ship all the way cross country.

I really want to make one of those lime helmets like Scented has. I think my cat would really like it.

yea, well you shouldn't have to wear a condom to prevent STDs, but it's still a really smart and responsible thing to do...

Life isn't fair -

That's too funny. I know that I can't let her have/buy anymore. I probably wouldn't care if she didn't have a three year old daughter. I'll just have to be brave and tell her no. (i'm a people pleaser and have trouble saying no) Seems like she would have learned.

I was using hot glue and was having problems with the wick coming up. I like to pull the wick real snug and about one out of ten would pop up. I started using the GE Silicone II and love it. Only down side is that you have to wait a while before pouring. I wait about 3-4 hours.

I have a friend who refuses to trim the wicks in candles. She says she shouldn't have to. I learned this when a candle in a tin caught on fire in her bathroom (It wasn't one of my candles) I can't believe how stupid that is. I don't think that I'll ever be comfortable giving or selling her a candle again. I learned this right after I gave her about five of them.

Was it leather scented. lol

I almost always have water in my 223 & sometimes 6006. When you seperate the slabs, just let them dry out & let the water drain. Carole

It was J223 and I was able to work around it. Hopefully it won't be too common b/c it does slow the process way down.

Thanks again to everyone who offered advice. I just needed to vent a little. I melted the wax in my presto and poured it out, leaving the water on the bottom in the pot. Worked much faster than boiling it out.

you should pop the top on that baby and use that under your eyes!!! Talk about a undertheeye moisturizer!!

CB...you may want to hold onto it for when/if your eczema flares up...stop the itching & any pain in one shot! But you only need a drop...1 tiny drop!

Man' date=' I think I have a new miracle oil! Well, new to me. I made my "dog son" some soap w/ emu & neem..yeah, kinda stinky from the neem, but I'm loving the way his coat feels, really soft! And I got real happy & threw together a little Emu & Monoi for my face...love the way it absorbs...and I smell sooo good!

Sorry for the hijack...just a little excited about the Emu [/quote']

Funny that you made it for your dog because I'm planning to use it on my dog and horses. That's why it's so important that I find an affordable supplier. If all goes well with my testing and no-ones' tails fall off or go bald, I'll start trying to get friends hooked and maybe someday have a great product for many of the rots and fungis that horses get.

I completely understand your frustration. I'm not sure how some companies stay in business.

Has anyone considered a co-op for these jars?

For the first year that I was making candles, I didn't know this board existed. After I "discovered" it, I visited on occassion but only recently really started posting and utilizing the information here. It's a great place to start. The moral to my story is that recently I did a few searches on "the best container wax" and realized that the wax one person may love and have tons of success with may turn out to be my worst nightmare. I've finally found one that I think I can live happily ever after with but only time will tell. I suggest that you search the board, come up with a list of viable candidates and then start trying them. It helps if you can find a supplier close enough that you can save on shipping but from my experience sometimes it's worth having it shipped because there are some suppliers out there that just don't understand customer service.

And a word of warning: There is a strange species of bug out there and once it bites you, it will be very hard to stop buying fragrance oils etc. Just stay strong and maybe those teachers christmas presents will only cost a few hundred dollars.