doris

We have tons of very fragrant wild roses growing all over the beaches. Many people think of them as weeds. I've dried quite a few batches of buds and petals this year.

I'm a compulsive knitter and have been for years, with jugs full of needles of all sizes and lengths and shapes, and a ton of yarn and binders and bookshelves full of patterns and books, so I won't give you my opinion of the knifty knitter, it would not be suitable for most people's ears. But before anyone decides on what to use depending on the price of a knifty knitter versus the price of a set of needles, decide what you want to knit. If you are looking for something simple to fill in some time and don't really care what you do, then a knifty knitter is probably fine. If at some point you want to go beyond round things, for example, and make lace shawls, patterned socks, cabled sweaters, baby booties of all shapes, mittens, shrugs...a friend of mine found a pattern for a "little nekkid man"...then go for needles right away. Starting with a knifty knitter and planning to go on to needles makes as much sense as starting with a sewing machine and working your way up to a loom...they are 2 totally different things. There are tons of yarn shops these days, many of them have classes or are willing to help you learn. And supporting your local yarn shop instead of Michaels or whatever is good anyway.

I've lived in a few small towns in Canada, and we always had to make occasional shopping trips to "civilization" to pick up the stuff we couldn't get locally. If you do that, you could look then. Ask at your local hardware store if they could order it in for you. It's a pity you haven't got a Home Hardware, they all seem to carry it. If you have a local feed store, you could ask there as well, apparently dairy farmers use it for cleaning. Good luck.

I cannot stand most of the noise generated at some of these events. My personal feeling is that they should let you know ahead of time if something like that would bother you. I would have gone insane putting up with that for several hours. Now go and have a stiff drink, you deserve it.

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I really have one hell of a time seeing the flame move in a bunch of still photos. I mean, you REALLY have to have a desperate need to criticize if you will sit there and analyze a bunch of photos to see if there is a slight movement in the flame. BTW, in a perfect world, all candles would burn in a completely draft-free environment. In our world, however, even though I try to keep my candle out of any obvious wind tunnels, there are still time when a small draft will cause a flame to move. As in when someone walks around, or opens a door for a few seconds. I'm sure that if silvermoon's flame was in fact guilty of moving, maybe it was becuase she had to move her arm or something. Sheesh!

Six years+. I'm at the point where I find the smell of most commercial soaps offensive, and have even taken to washing my hair with my own soap. I finally found one that works for me.

Not sure where to get the petals, but lots of soapmaking suppliers carry dried flowers and stuff for soap and potpourri. It has been my experience, however, that most people hate having thingies floating in their bathwater, it makes cleanup a mess and has a less than desirable effect on the plumbing.

I'm not sure, but I think you use tons of fresh, cover with water, simmer, let cool, strain carefully, add more petals and repeat till you get what you want. It does take a lot of petals.

The soapdishforum and the soap dish (store) are not connected. The store has its own forum.

Natural clay litter should work. A friend of mine, a potter, makes sachet shells, unglazed clay shells onto which you drip some esential oil. They hold the scent really well. I'm sure kitty litter will work as well.

I had seen it listed for sale somewhere, and was just curious. I did find a lye calculator that listed it, but couldn't find anything else on it. Thanks for the replies. I guess I won't be making any mustard soap.

Has anyone ever used mustard oil in soap? I've looked around a fair bit, and can't seem to find anything on it.

You sort of wonder how stupid people can get. Why anybody in their right minds would light that is beyond me.

knittinghelp.com. There are also tons of patterns at knittingpatterncentral.com. Both of these should be of some help.

I've made some BW ornaments, and to hang them up, I just pre-cut decorative cord, folded it so the cut ends were together, dipped the ends in beeswax to join them, and then I poured the ornaments and added the cords as soon as the wax started to set a little bit.

Well, I can't see charging much less than wholesale pricing; you wouldn't make anything. The more steps it has to go through between manufacturer and consumer, the higher the consumer's price has to be, otherwise no one makes any money. Good luck.

I'm not sure if this is what you want, but I've heard of people highlighting candles with acrylic paint. Just a bit on a soft cloth, wipe off the excess, and you're done. I don't think the tiny bit of paint would affect the burn of the candle.

I find that there is some fading of scent from freshly cut bars to fully cured bars, but I always find I still have a nice scent.

I can see your point, but in my opinion, if you start selling tacky stuff, people won't take you seriously when you sell anything else. I honestly for the life of me can't see myself dipping toilet paper and selling it. It would likely go over well here, but if it is something I couldn't bear to have in my house, it certainly won't go in my shop.

By the time the soap has cured, I don't suppose there would be enought EO left to do much damage, unless it is a very toxic one, which I wouldn't use anyway. There is just as much chance of a reaction to an FO, BTW, and I personally would sooner stay away from FO's if I were pregnant thatn EO's.

A friend of mine does a ton of seed bead jewelry, she will sometimes loosely braid three strands of seed beads to keep them together. You can also make the dangle on the earrings as 3 separate dangles, or braid them as well. If you buy them strung, you can just slide them onto your needle right off the strand; strung seed beads are usually more expensive, but in some cases well worth the expense. It makes counting them easier as well.

I just use epsom and sea salts, grated cocoa butter and eo's, and I never have a problem, in spite of the fact that I live on the coast. I also believe in the KISS principle in many things, bath salts being one of them.

I just made a batch of salt bars, and used 70% of the oil weight I usually do, and it filled my molds perfectly. I would suggest 60-70% of your usual weight of oils, just have a couple of small plastic containers handy for any overflow.

We had one here several years ago (small town in NS), they charged 125/month for a space about 4x4. I was horrified. Also the person at the cash had her nose stuck in a book, and anyone could have walked out of there with anything. Needless to say, they didn't last long.

Wow! Please don't use them in soap either.