doris

And just imagine what the neighbours would say!

My cocoa butter has always come in usable chunks, but I put my 10 lb slabs of beeswax in a large box, get a mallet and a big screwdriver (the type with a slot end) or a chisel, put on my goggles, and chop the whole thing up into smaller pieces. Only takes a few minutes, and then it goes into a plastic container.

As someone who likes my soap etc as "natural" as possible, I have issues with products made from bases and M&P, dyed and scented with fragrance oils, listed as "natural and environmentally friendly".

Thank you so much, I LOVED your post!

I'm not a make up person, but even so, it's totally nuts. Plus, it has to be about the worst and least informative website I've ever seen. $250 and you can't even see a picture of what you're getting? I wonder how many suckers she'll take advantage of.

Wow, that's scary.

I have a dumb question. Why is it necessary to glue the wick tab down in a container candle but not in a votive or tealight? I've never burned a container candle, but I've burned lots of votives and tealights, and I've only had the wick start to float once. (one of my first ever votives) Why is it not an issue with the votives and tealights?

I find that votive wick pins fit in tealight cups. I use those and add the wick later.

I've done one batch of salt bars and used sea salt. Meredith mentioned not to use dead sea salt, and I've heard that as well, and I've also heard not to use epsom salt.

Couldn't you insert a thin metal wire into the stem to help support the weight? I used to dry flowers with silica gel, and the stem always gave out, and needed to be replaced with a wire.

Aluminum shouldn't rust, but if you're worried, you could always rinse them with boiling water (the little bit of water left should evaporate almost immediately), or stick them in the oven to dry.

Just my opinion, but... 1. The blue (BTW, I love blue, but not that one) is the colour that my husband calls "the blue screen of death", when your computer goes blah and you don't know why and all of a sudden there's a blue screen... 2. You only have a few products, lots of scents in each, but still only a few products. I feel cheated when I click on "Candles" and there is only 1 choice of candle. I click on "Soap" and there is only one soap: different colours and scents, but only 1 soap. Etc. Unless you have more choice, I would just stick with "Products", and then maybe have the scent list at the bottom since it probably pertains to all of them. I just find that it is too busy for the few products you have.

Isn't that always the way it happens.

I've never made a tart in my life, but I've used silicone molds for candles. If the molds are like ice cube trays - the top of the mold/bottom of the candle or tart - is the widest part of the mold, then you can remove them as soon as they release from the mold, which could be while they are still a bit warm. However if you have to wrestle them out of the mold, you might want to wait till they are fully cooled, or else you will damage them.

The business should eventually fund itself, that is, after all, why people are in business, but if you're expecting it to happen anytime soon with a .75 "profit" per candle, it might take a while. To invest only $300 in something and expect a return on that is being pretty hopeful. It will likely take years. Why not bite the bullet and buy larger amounts of at least something right away; with an immediate drop in costs, there will be more "profit" coming in sooner.

I find that bashing is pretty common these days, whether it is fast food, politicians, or whatever. Pretty depressing.

As far as I know, it is possible to make perfectly safe lotions etc without preservatives. However, the products would have a very short shelf life, and would probably need refrigeration as well. They would not be good candidates for sale as there is no guarantee that they would be treated properly after sale.

You should be able to at least double your costs, otherwise, why bother? I love making stuff too, but not so much that I will make it to give away.

I think the problem is with the owners. If someone brought something back to me, the first thing I would do is try it myself to see if there is a problem. Also, their refusal to include burning instructions is also not too good. They don't seem to be making any effort.

I use a Rubbermaid plastic juice jug, and have used it for years. Mind you, I don't make a ton of soap, but probably 40 or 50 batches. I've never used pyrex, but have heard that the lye will weaken it and at that at some point it might shatter. I'd sooner put up with iffy plastic.

This thread started in April, and they said then that they would re-open in 60 days. I just looked, and their website still says 60 days, and it's almost 2 months later. If there was any truth to their re-opening, I think they would have updated their website. I'm pretty sure they're gone for good.

A lot of places will not ship to PO boxes, why, I'm not altogether sure. I've also lived in places that only had PO boxes, but moved away from the last one in 1994, so definitely was not online shopping then. How people get around that, I'm not sure, because online shopping is such a boon to people who do live in smaller, out of the way places.

Couldn't you just slice the offending parts off with a veggie peeler or a knife? I try to be pretty scrupulous about where I put my soap, it's not worth the added aggravation.

I'm glad it wasn't too, too bad. My first, and BTW, ONLY, big craft fair was a disaster. First of all, the friend that I was sharing the booth with, her husband had a big medical test scheduled for that weekend. He had been waiting for months, but of course it fell on that weekend. So I singlehandedly had to unpack and set up etc. Then we had a huge storm, tons of snow in Halifax in early November. Very unusual. I wear sandals till the snow hits, and in this case I had little warning. I was walking through a foot of snow, endlessly back and forth, in sandals. Then the power went. So in this big arena, they opened all the doors, and we froze as well as stumbled in the dark. In spite of being advertised as a CRAFT fair, they had all this unbelievable junk. The booth opposite us looked like a yard sale. The one next to hers had all these ugly resin santas. Handcrafted?, yeah, right. Sales stank. It was like a flea market, with people wanting bags full of stuff for nothing. Then a friend of mine came up crying. She and her daughter had been doing this fair for years, always had a double booth (about $750), and she had come in that day to find that 2 quilts, total value over $3000, were gone. The security guards had taken them. The people running the show refused to do anything, pointed out that the contract stated that theft was not their problem. I can see that, but when you're hiring some low-life scum as guards because they're cheap and they're stealing like crazy after everyone else had gone, then I would think it would be their problem. A lot of other vendors also lost some stuff, as did we, but nothing like $3000. NEVER. AGAIN.

If you have a recipe that you know traces quickly, you're better off stirring by hand. It will give you more control. But for recipes that take forever, the SB is a godsend. It can cut 35 minutes of hand stirring (with 2 bad shoulders, no less) to a few minutes.