Angel91805

I LURVE SFIC's bases. BTW...SFIC stands for Soap Factory In California. Donna

http://www.essentialwholesale.com/product_p/580.htm No clue how it is...but I saw this the other day.....I thought about getting some samples to try someday. Hugs, Donna

How about Tropical Days (or Dreams or Sunset) for the coral one? I always think beachy when I think of coral colors. Or what about Tropics. For the burgandy....I think of rich elegant victorian bedrooms, so why not Boudoir? I really suck at names though. Hugs, Donna

FINALLY! <pshew> The third time was a charm! I had two batches get tossed since the FO wasn't playing well with other, but once I changed FO's, everything went smoothly. Almost too smoothly, if you KWIM. Maybe it was the Guardian Fairies I surrounded my kitchen in! LOL. They kept the dreaded Soap Fairy at bay. LOL. Anyway...here's my first decent pics to share....in the mold with the three Guardians and cut and drying. I'm even happy with the swirls! LOL. Though the color was supposed to be teal, I can live with this one. LOL. (I collect Faerie Glen Faeries and these are from the Guardian Series...hahaha) Donna

The only non-SFIC M&P I have tried is the Silk n' Shea from Jody's (and I think WSP has it!). I LURVE SFIC's bases. I like the Goat's Milk..the Shea...the Low Sweat White. I haven't tried their clear ones yet, but I have them. I used the Cocoa butter one in a kitchen soap scented w/ coffee and it worked great. I haven't tried Stephenson's yet, but one of their suppliers, Soaper Supplies, is about 3 miles from....yeah, no shipping!...so I might try them soon. Donna

ROFLMAO @ CareBear! Your evil twin and mine must be drinkin' buddies. You know Grumpy.....my hubby may be blond...and he does have his "DUH" moments at times...but I tried that and he didn't buy it. Well, I should say, he started to pick up the soap and then stoped and said "WTF? If that might be a lye pocket, won't that, like, make my tongue fall off?" Wuss. No hair on his chest. Gotta love him though.....all I have to do is screech "SPIDER" and he comes and kills it for me and then proves it's dead by showing me the dead body (so I can climb down off the furniture). Hugs, Donna

Well, I'm going to give my VERY humble opinion.....and I really mean everything with the best intent! I give the disclaimer since, as we all know, sometimes reading words don't convey the true thought. First...your daughter is ADORABLE!! Now....in my opinion, your table has too much on it, it looks cluttered to me, especially since everthing is basically the same size and shape....and it looks like soldiers marching in a row. Don't put everything on the table...have some things tucked away under the table to replace when sales happen. Have differing heights....and some empty spaces on the table so the eye can scan over...and then lock on to the next thing. Does that make sense? And all your product is the same size and shape...very un-appealing to the eye, even though the colors of the candles are great. I went to your website and you have all these wonderful pottery pieces and the uber-cute baby bottle candles....those would make a definate difference. Since they are differently shaped, the eye would get pulled in to the table. Again....just my opinion! I'll be back in my corner now. Donna

Which bases do you use from SFIC? I got their sampler pack and can't stand any of their lotions. The Cocoa butter one was tolerable. From KY, I've tried the soy whip and the glaze. I bought a gallon of the glaze from Candlemaker's Store. Same stuff, different name. I have a few other bases from Candlemaker's now too. I've tried the sampler pack from Jody's and love lots of stuff in there, some things are also the same as WSP. I'm loving the Goat Milk & Honey and the Goat Milk & Shea. I'm having all sorts of loving feelings for goat milk anything lately though! From Essentials by Catalina I've tried the basic lotion and it was very nice. A bit thin for me..but nice. From Soaper's Workshop I have samples of all her bases and LOVE them. All of these are a million times better than SFIC's bases, in my very humble opinion. Your customers will thank you. Donna :::prolly upset some folks...so I'll be back in my corner now::::

But.....but......but CareBear told me to!!!! (I really didn't lick the bar...I licked my finger!) It's not as zingy today. I put the batch on the drying rack...... Donna

So, I'm been plugging numbers in all morning and figured I'd ask the experts before I start snatching at my hair.... I made a batch of HP this past weekend and it's a little drying on my hands. In a nutshell the recipe was: Castor 10% Coconut 20% Lard 30% Shea butter 20% Soybean oil 10% Olive 10% 5% superfat Soap calc spit out these numbers: Hardness: 41 Cleansing 14 Condition 55 Bubbly 23 Creamy 36 Iodine 61 INS 143 I like the bubbly and creamy. Now, which number should go up for a more moisterizing bar? The Condition? I've snapped in all sorts of different stuff this morning and can't seem to get anything above 58. GRRRR. What's a good number for a hard, bubbly, non-drying bar?? Yes, I know, I want it all. LOL. When I find who started this soap addiction of mine, I might just slap her. <sigh> Thanks! Donna

Oh, age aside, I doubt we went to school together! I went in Tampa, FL! LOL. We are near Terrace Hill...on the other side of Kenworthy. I guess I'll go find out how to rebatch this....<sigh> Donna

I don't know how it could have zap either. I'm so frustrated right now. It went through all the stages...I quit stick blending it (after about 7 minutes) when it got so thick I could hear my SB bogging down. Then it got so thick I couldn't stir it...then we had the fizzies around the sides and the island in the middle...then applesauce, mashed potatoes and then vaseline. Maybe the crock pot was too hot. Maybe I did scrape the sides when taking it out. Maybe a butterfly flapped it's wings in Tokoyo. I knew there wouldn't be air pockets in the mold cuz DH was slamming it for me after I'd plop some more in. The white botchy looking spots are definately zingy. Small world, Brat. I live in Northeast not far from Rushing...we are off Kenworthy. Gotta love El Paso. I have mountain peak views from my living room windows. ETA: It's a damned good thing I ordered some soap from Grumpy. Otherwise I'd never get to have soap!! Hugs, Donna

YEHAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW I'm gonna quit doing that when you all tell me to go lick it. Blech. Man, CareBear...you got my hopes all up.....and now they are all crashed again. I did the "lick finger...rub on spot...lick finger" thing and my tongue just about crawled out of my mouth. Definate zappy. So, I licked another finger, rubbed on a non issue area and no zap there. Guess this will be another batch in the trash. I swear I need an icon of the head banging on the wall. Could high altitude do this?? Man.... . I don't wanna play no more. <sniff> Donna

I swear, she's been living here for two weeks now. I've had two batches of salt bars with scorch marks, one CP batch that I forgot the FO on and it's still sticky 3 days later....and now I've cut my first HP batch and I have LYE POCKETS! Shoot me. Please. Put me out of my misery. I took pics...figured I'd try to give Grumpy some porn....NOT! Can I chunk this back into the crock and rebatch it?? I got no tongue zaps. I just don't see how this damned thing could have lye pockets! GRRRRRRRRRR. I stood there and stick blended forever. Could it be because I lifted the SB a little and some air got in there?? I was just trying to get the top part blended in too. I was going to go try the salt bars again...but I think I'd better wait. GRRR. Can I be Grumpy today??? Better yet....I want to be one of the other dwarves today....I want to be Bitchy. GRRRRRRRRR Donna

You know...I'm liking the faster gratification of HP! LOL... Let's see....I used 40 oz of oils and 1 1/2 oz of FO. It was more steamy than smoky now that I think about it. Wooooo....I'm gonna go wash the crock pot and maybe have another go at this! Hugs, Donna

So I gave up on salt bars for a few day................ So, I unearthed the extra crockpot and gave HP a go. I'll admit...I'm the Nervous Nelly type...had a bar stool pulled right up to the counter and perched my happy ass on it. And it really sucks when the glass lid frogs up and you can't SEE. You might know....I had to go to the bathroom and almost missed the applesauce stage. LOL. Damned bladder. So, I got it to a vaseline-y type stage, stirredd in my FO (Peak's Green Clover & Aloe)...pulled some out and colored it...blopped it back in, folded twice and plopped it in the mold. You know, a credit card (or in this case, hubby's debit card) is a perfect size for the Mr. DoRight Molds. SO....now I have questions.....of course (did you really expect anything else?) I have to wait 24 hrs to unmold, right?? Why did my FO smoke like mad?? It has a >200 flashpoint. It doesn't smell like much at the moment....will the scent come back? Woo hoo! Soap tomorrow! TIA! Hugs, Donna

PMing ya, Lindsay!

Thanks, Lindsay! I copied your post over to Word so I can save it. I'm fairly "anal" too. :embarasse In fact, I'm taking a Business Math class and this week we learned about markup percentages based either on cost (to make) or selling price (if you got it wholesale and don't know the cost to make). Really interesting. Lots of wicked formulas too . I should preface that by stating that I am one of "those" math type people. Drives DH bonkers. Now...ask me how many times I failed chemistry in school...ROFL! That's probably why my salt bars won't comeout right.... HAHAHAHAHA Hugs, Donna

Oh geez.....I gotta go lick the salt bar? The things I do for you all!! (insert picture of cow w/ a salt lick.) OK...what's a lye zap supposed to be like anyway???? YEEHAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW....that's just evil. Sort of a soapy, salty, 9V battery-ish?? I swear I've licked everything (my tongue is threatening to leave me)....ok, not everything, just the salt bar from Sue (ok, the nub that's left) and the ones from Kris...and mine are a bit zingy compared to those. GRRRR. So, the FO rices and the lye gets clumpy and doesn't go and play nicely with others? (We really need the animated icon of the head banging in the wall....) Sue....the lye is little crytally balls...no clumping ...sort of static clinging to everything. A real PITA. I made a batch of straight soap today (so proud, I made up the recipe! And then forgot the FO! GRR)...and it doesn't have any polka dotted issues. At least not yet...so I wouldn't think it's the lye.... and my pot is stainless steel 18/10. All my utensils are metal...got a few silicone spatulas, but didn't use those today. I'm mixing my lye in one of those heavy duty plastic pitchers...could that be the beast? The NON-Green Clover and Aloe batch today was mixed in a pyrex cup. Man....I love this FO....but I could use it in scrubs if not a salt bar. <sniff> Off to fire off an email and beg shea butter off of Soaper Supplies tomorrow...I used my last today in this batch.......I did, however, buy extra coconut and extra salt today....just in case.... Hugs, Donna

SO! A pretty eventful day spent making soap and saltbars today. GRRRR. I made a pretty soap....and forgot the FO. GRRRR. Thought it was going too well. We'll see how that goes tomorrow when I unmold it.... Now...on to the salt bars. If you will remember, I had "issues" on Saturday with my salt bars....scorched chunks. I followed everything you wise ladies imparted to me. I made my lye water up like 3 hours before soaping...and it was room temp, my oils were cool too...didn't use the thermometer, but the shea butter was wanting to go convert back to solid. So, much cooler process. I did have what I thought was ricing....after the FO (Backwood's Sea Salt Breeze)....it looked like it wanted to curdle a bit. So, I grabbed a whisk and whipped the snot out of it. Well....I don't have scorched chunks...but now I have Chicken Pox! Same color as my scorched chunks from Saturday. Is it the FO???? DH thought it may be the lye, but I don't have any scorched marks in my other batch I made today. HELP! Should I just give up on salt bars with that FO? Could it be the non-iodide table salt? Here's info: distilled water, roebic lye (Lowe's), 80% coconut, 10% shea, 10% olive, 40 oz no-iodide table salt Lye was room temp, FO was room temp, colorant room temp, oils room temp And here's some pics..... GRRRRRRRRRR Guidance....I need guidance! Donna Edited to add one more thing.....the "chicken pox" crap goes through the parts that were colored too...and there is NO FO in the colored part....yeah, I know, hard to see it, but it's colored....I had Select Shade "issues" too. So, I don't know if it's the FO or not!

Pam...while I'm not interested in the kit you have, thank you for offereing it by the way (I just don't do kits)....I had to comment on this sentence you wrote. Did you click on the link to the mermaids that I stitched?? Let me break down the cost of it.... $26.00 Hand dyed fabric $12.00 Pattern $16.91 10 packs for seed beads and margarita beads $12.95 4 spools of metallic braid $ 7.20 20 skeins of DMC cotton thread $75.06 total before taxes and shipping (for the fabric) This is about the normal pricing for a design of this size. I have one mermaid pattern that I haven't started yet, where just the beads alone are over $80. Not including fabric, pattern, threads, metallics. Add to that 350 hours to actually stitch it..... Just to frame one of these pieces is between $200-$400. Why? You normally need either triple mats so the beads do not sit on the glass or spacers...and you need to use conservation acid free mounting boards/mats, etc....the fabric needs to be pinned to the boards w/ stainless steel pins, or laced...and to find a framer that laces is like finding a needle in a haystack!... and then all sealed up happy happy so no dust or moisture can get in. It's pricey. LOL I am working on a pattern now (it alone was $28) and the "specialty kit" for it was just shy of $202. (And I have 7 more of those "kits" waiting for me to do!) Why's it so pricey? The threads are 100% pure silk. So, yeah, cross stitching can be an expensive hobby! My DH used to balk at the prices (now I just don't tell him!)...but these peices are heirloom quality...and if taken care of will be around for generations. Hugs, Donna

You know....we really should hate you. Dayum but those are some nice looking soaps! Between those and the soap porn that we are waiting for and the ones on your site....if I just send you my CC, will you send me one of each?? I swear I've almost talked DH into a log of your Acid Trip just because it's a work of art! ROFL. You , Grumpy! Donna

If you are growing that large (YEAH, YOU!)...what about distilling your own tap water? I didn't look too much (it's late and my eyes are crossing) but I found a countertop distiller at Amazon.com for $99-ish. It only does 4 gallons a day, don't know if you need more than that though. Seems to only do 1 gallon every 5-6 hrs though. Donna

You know....I was thinking the same thing Dagwood and I have no idea. I'm hoping Rena will pop back in since she uses these. Actually, I hadn't thought about the label so much as I was wondering about adding 50% and the preservatives not being affected. But, then again, I have one of the bases from Soaper's Workshop and that will hold more than 50% (can't find the sheet at the moment..maybe 120%?) before the preservative is affected....and then again, that is sold as a condensed base. Donna

AJ....I hear you on the glasses....once I switched to stitching on linen and evenweaves, I marched right into the pharmacy and bought reading glasses. Figured I'd save the strain now. LOL. Grumpy...those are adorable..I've seen them at the shop here. I just love the sarcasms. Hehe Tammy! Those are beautiful fabrics! Where've you been hiding all this time? I'm going to PM you in a few... Thanks everyone, for your kind words!! I am pretty proud of my stitchings. I don't mean that to sound boastful, it's just that I stitch one stitch at a time, normally while watching TV...and when I'm done I stand back and go "WOW, that is beautiful!" Not so much because *I* did it...but the designer that designed it. Eh...that probably came out worse that I intended it to...if you all could just step inside my head for a minute, you'll see what I'm trying to type! Hugs, Donna