BLSoaps

I've made quite a few batches of natural liquid soap (LS), I use the Cold Process Method, and superfat at 1% (and weigh very very accurately). I use very fresh oils. There's a reason I prefaced with all of this.... I have a gentleman wanting to buy some LS from me to sell. All of the batches of LS that I've made have this not particularly attractive smell to them. To me, it just smells like oils. And I guess since I'm around that smell day in and day out, it doesn't bother me, and I pretty much don't notice it anymore. However, this gentleman did, and he's asking about it. I've talked with someone else that I know makes a lot of liquid soap, she said this smell is normal. All LS seems to have it, and no one has ever done anything about it, as far as she knows. Knowing this is always the place to get the fastest answers, I figured I'd ask here. It's not rancid oils, trust me, I know that smell. It doesn't smell bad, at least to me, but it's not pleasant either. I know it can be covered up with FO/EOs. He also came back saying they've used LS from other places, including B&BW, and they've never had this smell. I'm guessing these weren't true natural liquid soaps. I admit I haven't been inside a B&BWs in years, but I've never seen NATURAL liquid soap from them. But I'd still like to know if there's anything that CAN be done. Or get the final word, even if it's "Yep, the smell's there, deal with it." I know every batch I've made has had it, and I honestly never thought anything of it before this.

Make sure you get the 2600n. There is a printer that is identical (the 1600, I think), but the ink cartridges are only half the size. It's worth the extra $100 to get the full sized toner cartridges. It also adds networking capabilities. Something we didn't think we'd need, but are actually using.

We had a lousy HP InkJet for a while, so we too were concerned buying an HP laser, but we love ours. We had our laser labels bought and waiting before we brought the printer home, and we tested the heck out of it the first few days we had it. The return policy on ours was either two weeks or 30 days, don't remember. But by the time it came around, we knew we were very happy with our purchase. There are a few quirks I'd rather not have, but from my research, it's something I would fight with on any laser printer. I use the weatherproof vinyl labels and the crystal clear ones from Onlinelabels.com. LOVE them! They work awesome! But since Laser Printers work on heat, they don't always play the nicest with these "plastic" labels. When I print labels, I have to use the transparency setting, and feed the labels from the outside port (single sheets). It's a pain, but it still works. I have found that if I'm printing a bunch of labels back to back, the heat build up from the machine can sometimes cause some of the labels blur slightly as well. So I just plan ahead, and make sure if I need a lot of labels that I'm not printing them all off at once. (hope that makes sense) My project for later today is brochures. I picked up the glossy brochure paper yesterday, and I'm almost done designing a little booklet. I just need to take two last pictures then I'm ready to go on it. I've been having people bug me nonstop for brochures lately. But the difference in brochures printed on that nice glossy paper with a laser...wow, it's nice! If you're still hesistant about purchasing, and would like to see some samples of the labels or anything, let me know (send a PM), and I'll send you some samples. Even a brochure if you want, when I get it done!

The heat could be warping it, so this is a good suggestion. Most tubes will tolerate up to 160 degrees for pouring temps. I spoke at length with my manufacturer about this when I saw another company advertising "Hot Pour" Lip Balm Tubes. All lip balm tubes are hot pour. The temp they were advertising is the same temp for all lip balm tubes. Basically, they were just using a marketing tactic to make it seem like their product was superior, when in fact, it was the same. Not a marketing tactic I personally like, but it's unfortunately proven. As for freezing, you should do this either. It can cause the lip balm to fractionate. Once mine are cooler, I place mine in the fridge to help stiffen them up a little more, because this helps me remove them from the pouring trays with the little lip intact. If I don't, I've found I'll often nick that edge. But I don't put them in the fridge until they've set up, and then they're only in there for 15-20 minutes. So if you're pouring too hot or cooling too quickly, this could explain why the lids that fit prior to pouring suddenly no longer do.

I have only had one set of lip balm tubes with the loose lids. Unfortunately, if a company ever buys a batch of discounted tubes, there's usually a reason for it. I'm guessing this is what happened with the bad batch I got. I was able to talk to the owner, and had my money refunded for them. For me, I couldn't use them. This was the first large order for a very big wholesale order. Everything had to be perfect. I know purchase directly from the manufacturer and have never had a problem with any of them. Talk to the supplier. When something is wrong with a product you receive, you should always get a replacement or a refund.

I agree. GM Lotion is VERY VERY hard to preserve. I made a few custom GM bases for some customers, but have since stopped, because honestly, it's one of the few things that scares the CRUD out of me. I haven't had any reports of the batches going bad, but the havoc it wreaks on my nerves isn't worth it. However, before I agreed to make the first batch, I sought advice from someone I highly respect in our field. It was recommended to not go above 10%, actually to stay closer to 5%. After letting her know which preservatives I had and used, she recommended a blend of Optiphen and LiquaPar Optima, and they HAD to be used at their max amounts, no matter what. And even then, absolutely no guarantees. It is possible, but do lots and lots of research, and have it tested before you sell it. Good luck! It can be great stuff, but it can be very scary to make!

Micas and Oxides aren't soluble. Try liquid dyes. I don't know if you'll need to use oil or water based ones though. I've never tried to color cyclomethicone before.

LiquaPar Optima is about as broad spectrum as you can get. It's only the water formulas that it doesn't play nice with. However, you should be able to simply get ONE other preservative for that, and have pretty much most of your products covered. And just wait, you're just starting! It will overtake your life, your house, everything! But at least you'll have beautiful, soft and sweet smelling skin!

I store them in boxes, one scent per box. They're stackable. I keep the boxes on shelves, but keep the shelves set up so it's only 3 boxes deep per shelf. Keeps me from having to pull a bunch of boxes off the inevitably needed bottom box! Once they're cured, I usually have the in their shrink bags inside the box, but I usually don't bother shrinking them until I label them for sale. Sometimes I'm on top of them, and I get them shrunk and labeled before they've been sold, but I'm busy...sometimes way too busy!

I definitely recommend the book by Failor on Liquid Soapmaking. I actually found my copy several years ago on clearance at Michaels. I have seen it in other craft stores since then, so you might be able to get it locally. The process is VERY different. I don't see a "Castile" recipe in there, but I actually don't use her recipes exactly as they're written. Hers are lye heavy which you then need to neutralize. She does this to keep them crystal clear. That's not quite a crucial to me, so I "superfat" at 1%, and weigh very accurately. Some come out clearer than others, but none are crystal clear. But I don't have to worry about neutralizing, and I've found it's also more gentle on my skin. However, I also have switched to the Cold Process for it. There was a thread in here previously in which I gave a quick rundown of the process. It's easier for my time demands. But the book really helped me understand the whole process. I still read through it frequently, even though I don't use the two methods that she uses. I use the soap calc on MMS. It has an option to click for liquid soap. The process instructions that they list are always for CP Bar soap, not liquid. Just an FYI if you see them and wonder. Good luck! It's fun, very different, but fun!

If you're just wanting to update your website, then you'll basically need access to your webfiles. If you don't have access to them, then you'll need to talk to the people who designed it. If you're looking to completely redo your site, that's a completely different thing. You'll basically be looking for a new hosting company that has the web builder programs built in. I've been working with Sharon Henderson of Hand Craft Market these last few weeks to redesign BOTH of my websites. Neither, unfortunately, are available for viewing yet, but Sharon and Frank (her husband, the "geek" side of the equation...don't worry, I got "permission" to call him that!) have gone above and beyond in helping me get my website exactly how I want it. Frank has even gone so far as to rewrite a bunch of coding for me, and then making those changes available to everyone else. Sharon has worked with me to design some new logos, and she's been great at getting everything visually where I want it. They've been wonderful to work with, and I can't wait till our sites officially go live. I'd recommend for anyone to work with them (although just by posting this, I know we'll have Sharon's 'nemesis' come out of the woodwork and start in on her relentless bashing...you know who you are). You can view their hosting site at http://www.handcraftmarket.com/site/ If I totally missed the mark on what you were looking for, then let me know, and I'll see if I can help!

This would be one of those ideal jobs to hire someone for! The obviously don't have access to any of your proprietary info, so no worrying about secrets being stolen. If you're like me, it's probably a part of the job that you absolutely hate (my PITA is wrapping soaps, and shrink sleeving lip balms). So rejoice! And pass the job onto someone else! The time it would free up for YOU to pour more candles will be invaluable! I'm glad you're working things out. And keep this in mind...many of us would LOVE to have these problems!

I agree that there is A LOT of very very good advice in here. We're finding ourselved coming up against this very hard wall as well, except we're looking forward to it! I understand your husband's concerns about hiring someone, training them, and then having them run off to start their own candle business. We have very similar concerns. HOWEVER, as someone stated, the proprietary parts of your business can very much be "hidden". As for the creation techiniques, the pouring, well, if your workers are really that interested in learning so they can make their own for their own business, well, it's not that hard to learn it elsewhere. After all, we all did! But the more proprietary parts, such as scent blends, well, take precautionary steps to make sure they stay "secret". Even if it's simply a matter of relabeling bottles so they don't know where they came from. If you do bath and body, keeping stuff proprietary may be more difficult, but it's still doable. If you're still concerned, then look into hiring help for the rest of it. Labeling the candles, packaging, and packing orders. Heck, if I could have someone come in to simply pack my orders, and deal with the shipping, and the paperwork involved with that, I'd be in heaven! Depending on my order load, packing and shipping orders can take half my day. So hire someone for those jobs. And then, when you keep growing, and you have employees that have proven their worth to you, promote them, and teach them some of the more proprietary parts of the business. AFTER they have gained your trust, and proven their worth and their loyalty. As for taking a week or two off, I view it two ways. Yes, I think you can benefit from it, IF you actually take some time off in there for yourself. So if you work the entire "break", you'll still be burned out. Also, make sure you actually shut your website down. Don't allow orders to come in while you're gone. Simply say you'll re-open on whatever date you decide. Otherwise you'll come back to a nasty backlog of orders, and you could very easily end up buried again. And two, I definitely can see the point one lady made about the pros of not closing. Yes, it can hurt momentum, and momentum is very important in business. I think the break is something you'll need to decide for yourself. In businesses like ours, even the bigger companies, I frequently see them take a week or two off, especially in the spring. And it's frequently to restock the next season's line. I would just greatly encourage you to take at least several days off completely for yourself. Get out of town if you can, make sure you ignore your computer, e-mails, and everything work related. Spend some time with your husband and your son. I hope things work for you. If you want to grow though, you'll need to hire help. But you don't need to grow. There are a lot of moms who got into businesses like this so they could spend time at home, and then the business grew beyond their dreams. And they had this exact decision you do. Grow, or hold the reins in on the growth. Both are possible. And only you (none of us), can decide that for you. Go Pow Wow with your husband. Since he seems to be a very integral part of your business, this needs to be decided with both of you, or someone is going to end up miserable and angry. One last thing (I'm long-winded this morning!!!)... Make a list of anything you think you can possibly outsource. There's probably more than you think. A lot of your e-mail and paperwork can be delegated, often online to a Virtual Assistant. It sounds like your Mom (MIL? don't remember) has the B&B line covered. If she doesn't, let me know, I could probably help. Have someone else print your labels, so all you have to do is apply them. I even know some soapers who delegate orders to other soapers when their workload is more than they can handle. Granted, a lot more thought has to go into this, research, and a lot of trust. But it's simple. You can't do it all yourself. I wish we could. I've frequently wished for about 6 more hours in my day. But make a list of ALL the tasks you do. See what can be delegated, or what you'd be willing to hire someone to do for you. Include everything, including cleaning jobs. There are even companies who basically work as a warehouse for you. You store your completed stock at their warehouse, and when the orders come in, they pack them for you, ship them, etc. You'd most likely want someone local for this, and I have no idea how to go about finding these types of companies. I only know they exist because I was solicited by a local company last year. There are tons of ways you can outsource and delegate. You just need to commit yourself to doing it.

LiquaPar Optima is basically oil based. It's oil soluble, which is why it can be used in scrubs and other anhydrous formulas. It can be used in lotions and creams because there is oils in there that is can "dissolve" in, and it also has the emulsifiers to help solubize it as well. In an all water solution (such as a room spray), it will need something to help it blend with the water. That's basically what they're saying. Although, if you're making something that's all water, you should use a preservative that's better suited to that medium. There really is no catch-all preservative (one that can be used in every formulation). That's why it's so important to research your preservatives, and make sure they're appropriate for the formula, and that you're adding it at the right time (many are heat sensitive, and will break down if exposed to high temps for too long). I hope this helps!

That's awesome! I keep intending to look into that sometime! I hate the fundraisers the schools do around here. My son brings them home, and I usually toss them into the garbage with a sigh of disgust. But I simply don't have time to even consider it right now. So that's awesome! Let us know how it goes!!!

I really like your logo, it looks very nice! I would agree with a previous post about your logo not being the main picture on the home page. Put a really good product picture in there instead, or if can, a picture that shows a variety of your products would be even better. Basically, when someone comes to your site, they decide to browse or leave within 10 seconds. So basically, there is a 10-second rule for your home page. It must load completely, with all pictures, in less than 10 seconds, and your visitors must know within those same 10 seconds exactly what your website is about. I had no idea what you sold (but figured candles or soap products since you're here on CT!), until I started digging through your product pages. Most people, if they don't know what you're selling from your home page won't bother to click anywhere but away from your site. It sucks, but it's a fact of life with websites now. It's an excellent start. I know how overwhelming it can be. We're redesigning both our websites right now. The retail is mostly done, I just keep forgetting to call the post office to find out why my account isn't linking up live with them. And then we'll publish. And I just got my temporary template to start putting together our supply site. Websites are definitely a labor of love, a ton of hard work, and hours upon hours of research if you're interested in it being anything more than an online catalog for your current customer base. But it can also be a lot of fun, and it's so rewarding when that first order comes in... You will be dancing with joy! :highfive: Keep up the good work, and it's awesome that you're already keeping an open mind to suggestions.

I know lots of people love Harbor Freight, but you may want to call your order in, rather than simply place it through their website. My impulse sealer was actually a birthday present from my mom. My family thinks I'm weird (except my mom), gettting all excited about receiving stuff like this for birthdays and Christmas. Actually my birthday is in less than two weeks, and this year I think she's getting me some new and larger stock pots. :whoohoo: Anyway, I'm sidetracking myself. I researched companies for the impulse sealers, and basically just gave her a few website recommendations on who to buy from. With all the recommendations, I went with Harbor Freight. So she ordered it the very beginning of April (this was last year - my bday is May 1st). When she hadn't received it a few days before my birthday, she started tracking them down, first through e-mail and then phone. The sealer she ordered was out of stock, and backordered. It wasn't going to be back in until June! She had to cancel the order, and simply write me a check, which I then used to order from www.shrinkwrapstore.com. (and then promptly received within several days. If they didn't ship same day, then it went out next day at the very latest) I don't fault Harbor Freight for being out of stock. It happens to everyone. It was the fact that they never let her know about it, and just assumed we'd be fine receiving our order more than 2 months after it had been placed, that totally ticked me and my mom off. And my mom does not get ticked off easily. She's the most laid back, give the other person the benefit of the doubt, type of person I know. I think mostly she was upset because it meant all she could give me at the family b-day party was a check, and she hates that. Anyway, if you order from them, it might not be a bad idea to call the order in, especially if they've been having any kind of a sale. This is what happened to us, she came in at the end of a sale. Anyway, there's the good, bad, and ugly about it.

Hi Lindsay! Some are and some may not be. You'll have to check the labels for each color. If it has that all-important "C" (standing for Cosmetic), then it's safe to use in our applications. If it doesn't, it shouldn't be used in any kind of skin product. A lot of the food approved dyes are also approved for cosmetics. I don't know for sure that ALL of them are. So I always recommend reading the ingredient listing. Some food colorants may also have other ingredients in there as well (such as the infamous wilton icing pastes for bath bombs). Yes, they're FD&C approved, but all those other additives in their product also need to go on the ingredient listing for YOUR product.

Sorry, another thought popped into my head. Jumping back to working with it while it's still warm, but helping you get it into the tubes without making a mess off the collar (which needs to be insanely clean for filling). Do they make canning collars that small? You know those wide mouth metal funnels that they use for canning? It might help things along a bit. I just don't know if they make them that small. They really need something in between the tiny water funnels and the huge canning ones. I'd find tons of uses for them! LOL!

Asked hubby, who used to be a cook, about the pancake dispensers. You'd probably have to do some hunting, but he said you should be able to find one with a small enough dispensing hole. Most will not be small enough, but they are out there. You'll be looking for one that dispenses smaller amounts at a time, so something geared towards the silver dollar pancakes perhaps?

I don't know what type of s scrub this is (oils, emulsified, cream based), so this may or may not really help. I know I personally hate filling lotion bottles. I've tried all the lovely methods that have been mentioned for filling the tubes, but they're still frustrating. Yours, I'm sure, is more so. So I fill my bottles while my lotion is still warm (during creation time), and much more fluid. Could you pour while it's still warmer and not have the scrubby part fall out of suspension? I, too, would love to hear what you end up doing. As I mentioned on the other thread, I've been wanting to try out the open ended tubes as a packaging option. I've got a company close by that will screen print them for me.

I've been wanting to try out the sealer to seal the open ended malibus. According to most of the sites I've read that offer these types of bottles, they should work. But I haven't actually tried them yet. (PS - I look forward to hearing from you!)

I REALLY like how it jumps out at you on the white. It looks great in the clear, but once you start changing the product color (the current light peach/pink tone compliments her coloring), it may start looking really scary if you go with the clear. Try it on a different colored product, like green, and see if she still looks as nice as she does right now.

Sorry, also meant to say they are gorgeous! I love the creativity on this group!!!

I, too, had problems reading the Simplify, but I didn't come up with Pimply! That had me rolling! Even dragged DH over to the computer to show and tell. That is SO not what you want to read on your soap! Thanks so much for the laugh, I needed it today.