doris

There's also a newdirectionsaromatics.com, and I think a .aus, I think they're originally australian. I agree, great stuff.

I saw Sweeny Todd on my one and only trip to NYC in the early 80's. Absolutely loved it!

Pity!

Doesn't the consumer have ANY responsibility? I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but I have never seen any pan sold for the purpose of filling it with oil and putting it on the stove and leaving it. All manufacturers have a responsibility; however they should not be expected to be responsible for incorrect usage by a consumer. The candle set curtains on fire; likely the candle was near some blowing curtains. The pan caught on fire while the woman was out of the room; I have known since I was kid, and I am now 50, that you DO NOT EVER leave an unattended pot of fat on the stove. In fact, aside from soapmaking, where the temps never get very high, and the very occasional pot of sausages or bacon, we never have fat on the stove. I am that scared of overheated fat that if we ever decide to deep fry again, I'll buy a deep fryer. I know how important it is to produce a safe product and to test etc., but the safest candle on earth is going to be a fire hazard if it is used incorrectly. All I'm saying is that it is high time that consumers started being responsible for what they do, and stop sueing everybody for their own stupidity. I've seldom heard of a candle maker being sued, but it only takes one or two really messy cases to make everyone's life a misery.

As sad as that was, there is no indication that it was the candlemaker's fault. Why would anyone allow three kids that age to have a candle at a sleepover? We just recently had a fire in our town, someone was making fries in a pan of hot oil and left it on the stove while she went out of the room for a few minutes. We've all been told a million times about this, but people still do it. I can't imagine that the frying oil company or the stove company would be sued. Why would a candlemaker? This person did something really stupid, and while losing your house is an extremely high price to pay for being stupid, it was no one's fault but her own. Those poor families, though. I can't imagine losing a daughter.

Dough ornaments can get mouldy in damp environments, I hope you're not expecting these things to last very long? I can just envision a pile of mouldy crumbled dough in someone's drawer.

Well you know, she isn't really asking for much, just how to make candles, where to get supplies, where to get the packaging, how to do the labels and where to get them... Is there anything she's figured out for herself? I personally like the answer about just pouring some wax in a jar and adding a wick.

I know this happens all the time, but I still wonder at the nerve of people who decide, seemingly at the spur of the moment, to make candles or whatever, and expect everyone to help them out with absolutely everything. There are very few jobs on earth that do not require some learning and work; why on earth does she think she's exempt. Please refer her here; there are a few people who will set her straight really fast, and rightly too.

This is slightly off topic, but I can claim part of my household expenses on my income tax, the % is dependant on the % of the house that I use for business. My husband said, "why don't you just claim the whole damn house, you've got stuff everywhere".

Just buy a decent product to begin with. Some of the cheaper lotions and bubble baths etc can be pretty bad.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but does it really matter if one heads out to shovel out the barn in snowy-white clothes? My gardening clothes get dirt-stained, and I use them for all sorts of unpleasant tasks, including shovelling out the barn. The sheep don't mind. They are washed usually after each wearing, so are clean, just stained. I would never wear them in public, and it saves me lots of time and money and I'm sure it's also more environmentally-friendly not to pour all these heavy-duty cleaners into my septic system on a regular basis.

Have you come across the people who can't use "lye soap"; they can only use soap that isn't "made with that lye stuff". My sister also made m&p and didn't know the difference between it and cp.

I use a hot plate, a fairly cheap one, for both soap and candlemaking. It works as well as my stove.

There's been some debate on them; some people think they could be dangerous, as some have been known to shoot sparks.

I use tin tie bags, with a lb in the smaller ones, and 2 lbs in the larger ones. The scents will last for months. I have a problem with "single serving" packaging; I have a 6-ft tub, and I like a lot of water, and would need more salt than a smaller tub. Also, some people like more salt, and some people like less. I usually tell people to try out different amounts, and remember what works for them.

Zim's. We have it locally (NS) in the pharmacies.

You can also go to soapdishforum and ask there. I suggest you do a lot of online research first though.

If it's not the chlorine, maybe start with a basic cp soap with no EO's, no FO's, and made with maybe only 2 or 3 oils. If there's no problem with that, keep adding things till you find out what it is. I know someone who says her mother can only tolerate soap made with only lard and nothing else.

Looks really good. The only negative thing I found is that you are not consistent with capitalizing the first words of sentences. Good luck.

I'd say it depends. If it's the same water he's washed in forever without a problem then it's probably the soap. If it happened while travelling, then it could be the water.

www.mannlakeltd.com has silicone(?) taper molds of different lengths. They're usually easy to wick.

I've heard the most beneficial salts are epsom salts.

I REALLY like the sound of yours. I made a balm a couple of months ago using beeswax, oils, lanolin & EO's. Today out of curiosity, I melted a bit of it in a tart warmer, and tried rubbing it in. Felt really good. I also get these really deep, painful cracks on my fingertips, and have 1 on my thumb now. I dipped my thumb several times, letting it cool between applications, and left the balm on my thumb for about 20 mins, then rubbed it into the rest of my hands. The dried skin around the crack has completely softened up, something which never happened from regular and frequent applications of the same balm, as well as other creams I have used. I can see mine as being a fire hazard, being beeswax and oils inches above an open flame, but the flame was put out a few minutes after everything melted, and the melted balm stayed melted for a little bit after that. It is a pity that the insurance companies are making so many lives a misery, when the main responsibility should fall on the consumer. I know that dangerous candles are made, and do cause fires, but so many more fires and accidents are caused by the stupidity of the consumer. If every dangerous substance was removed from the home, we wouldn't have any homes, or any lives either, since water can kill as well, and I'm sure that most food can kill you if ingested in sufficient quantity. There are still constant fires caused by overheated fat, amateur wiring, neglected candles, dried out Christmas trees, as well as all the accidents caused by household poisons, water in bathtubs, falling in bathtubs etc etc etc..., yet as far as I know the makers of cooking oils, stoves, old wires and Christmas trees are not usually sued by the consumer. And insurance companies are a little odd at the best of times: the previous owners of our house had 2 propane appliances, a wood stove, a wood furnace and an oil furnace all hooked up to the same filthy unlined chimney. Their wiring pre-dated WWI, and we fixed all of this. Yet the same company cancelled our insurance because we had sheep (7), and maybe they would get loose, and maybe they would go on the road and maybe a car would hit them and maybe we would be sued. Go figure. Expecting candlemakers and soapmakers to have god-knows-what insurance because many people are stupid and ignorant just seems to me to be targeting the wrong people. Yes I do have insurance and always will as long as I am in business, but I just feel that the consumer has a reponsibility too, to become informed about the product they are buying. And the courts who are awarding damages to people who bring in all these trumped up cases should be sued.

There are fine and coarse sea salts. They are not supposed to be iodized, but sea salt is increasingly available from local stores. I buy mine from the health food store: they order me a large (50 lbs?) bag and give me a discount. I pay about .60/lb. I wouldn't be able to tell by sight if it's sea salt or table salt, unless it's the coarse stuff.

There are "plastic" votive molds that I think are also safe for burning. I have trouble finding snug fitting holders, it would be good to include the holder with a votive.