Angel91805

Well, you all have done it. I'm gonna take the plunge into CP soap making. I swear, I just need a t-shirt that says "Addiction just waiting to happen".

So...now I'm looking at molds. I've been looking at Creekside, Kelsei's Creations, Misty Creek, For Craft's Sake, Brambleberry and I think the only other one was Upland.

Now, we have wood, plastic, log, slab, with dividers and without, with liners and without.....and if that wasn't overwhelming enough, DH has now offered to build me one. <sigh> This from the man who wasn't going to allow me to bring lye into the house. A phone call from his momma this past weekend solved THAT little problem.

SO.....guide me.

Which is better for a newbie? I'm thinking a log mold. No more than say 4 pounds. Is it easier to swirl in a slab mold or a log mold? I'm so confused!

What's your favorite and why....if no one minds my asking.

Thanks!

Donna

Yup, you're right, Eve....I see that now. I looked at Peak's site, which said 10%. I didn't even bother to look at IGI's site! LOL. If it works for you, I say run with it! If you do sell your candles, it may get cost prohibitive though.

Oh weeping or seeping or seepage...I don't know, I'm sure there is a "proper" term for it...is when you put in so much oil that when your candle sets up, the oils separate or like sweat out of it and puddle. Ew.

Donna

Thanks for the reviews! I only have a few oils from WSP and have only tried two of them. Pure Rain is a winner! The verdict is still out on Coconut, Lime, Verbena, though.

I was wondering about your usage though. I've only been doing this about 5 months or so, so I definately don't know much. But I do kow 2 oz per pound is a lot. The specs on that wax say it will hold a load of 10% or up to 1.6oz of FO. Are you having any weeping oils? Just wondering. I use IGI4794 and 4630 and only use 1oz per pound. Most of my oils come from Peaks, NG or SW though.

Just curious.

Donna

Was the $20 because of next day air service or what??

Their website says standard time is 3-4 business days to process your order, and if you order after 11am, add a day to that. So, 5 business days. That's exactly what it took mine to ship, 5 days. Then Fedex Ground took another 7.

Maybe it's me. HA! But then again, I have "requested approval" three times to join their Mailing List and still nothing. Here's what their site says....

"Again, thank you for your interest in The Scent Works. We will process your application as quickly as possible but, needless to say, we cannot guarantee either your acceptance to the List nor, if accepted, whether it will be timely for any particular promotion existing at the time of your application."

Must just be me......I'm already scoping other suppliers to replace them....

Donna

Ha! So it wasn't there! I'm not a dolt! (at the moment) That's good to know!

I'm off to see the pretty soap now. I do have Miller Soap's site bookmarked, thanks for reminding me! I'll look at that too. I do have one advantage (eek, I hope!), Soaper Supplies is about 1 mile from me....I guess if I get desperate enough I could throw myself on Felicia and weep. Maybe she'd have some sympathy for me.

Extra goodies?? You ARE the best, Sue!

Hugs,

Donna

So I'm feeling another addiction starting.....

I went over and clicked on Bath and Body along the left side there....cuz I remember seeing a CP Tutorial there awhile back. I see a lovely picture of swirled soap using Peak's Rose Boquet supposedly done all nicely by Water's Gulch, but I'm not finding a link to actually *start* the tutorial. Am I missing something?? Is it there and I'm an utter dolt??

I wanna seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the pretties!!!

Help me.....

Donna

Sounds like a great haul! Glad they got them to you so quickly.

I placed an order 1/24 and and just got it yesterday. 2 weeks for mine. Shipped on 2/1, so that took a week to get here. I'm guessing that is their normal order process time?

Donna

*warning* I suck at describing scents!

I LOVE Peak's Ocean. It is very clean, almost salty air like. Very fresh.

Not really sure if I helped or not!

Oh and I use it in 4794 paraffin.

Donna

Hi Lindsay!

MMS has them here: http://www.thesage.com/catalog/ShrinkWrap.html at the very bottom of the page....$3 for 100.

Donna

My girlfriend called last night and told me she had used a Lemon Frosted Cupcake tart that someone gave her and could I make her some. She said there was a distinct cake scent and buttercream scent; either of which is lemon.

Anyone know of a supplier? I looked on the Fragrance oil finder and on the Fragrance oil listing and nada. NG has a lemon pound cake that mentions buttercream.....anyone try it?

Man....there are too many FO suppliers and not enough time or $$!

BUAHAHAHA

Thanks!

Donna

I can add a few that I love to your list!

(I pour parafin wax, M&P soap, liquid soap and have started to dabble a bit in lotions.)

Coconut Banana Blast

Cucumber Melon

Downy Fresh (I'm a clean/ozone foho!)

Green Clover & Aloe

Hyacinth

Jasmine

Ocean

Pink Sugar

Stargazer Lily

Storm Watch

Sweet Pea

Yup....I have started a new addiction...and it's coming along nicely.

Donna

I didn't see Fragrance Factory on the supplier abbreviation list. Has anyone used them with success? Their prices seem almost too good to be true...though I'm not sure if they are just bath & body/incense or if they are candle safe too....

www.fragrancefactory.com

Just wondering!

Thanks!

Donna

Oh my! I ordered two flavor oils from WSP so that I could make lipbalm this weekend.....and nope! Not gonna happen! I don't dare taste them. The smell alone has already gagged me.

Toasted Coconut: Smells like burning tires.

Cafe Latte: IF you can get past the smell of skunk, you can barely smell one lone coffee bean.

The cafe latte flavor oil had to be physically removed from the house. Yeah, it is that bad. I kept looking at DH and saying "but maybe it has to warm up and gets mixed in before it behaves nicely with others!". When his eyebrows hit his hairline, I gave up and put both in a heavy ziploc and put them in the garage. Anyone else have this issue??

Guess I'm off to scope out BCN, BCS and MMS and make lipbalms next weekend!

Donna

<adds Goo Gone to the grocery list while picturing red splattered walls.....>

Thanks for tips! Always handy to have cleaner-uppers around. Hehehe.

Donna

ROFL! Actually...the coffee and yellow were just as full...when I did those, though, they were on wax paper in the kitchen! They were so full (how full were they?) that I had to syphon off a dropper full into a dixie cup. The others I just sucked some into the dropper and all was well.

Hehe...I did get most of it off my skin. Enough so that I *probably* won't get any strange glances tomorrow in class.

I did not know that about the FO! See? You learn something new every day! Though after making 6 different scents of tarts today, I don't know if DH could have handled another scent! Oh well...anything is better than nail polish remover when it's ad nausem.

Donna

www.levinegifts.com You have to sign up for as a wholesale customer. $100 minimum order and 2 of each

www.jackelus.com Again, you have to sign up....$125 minimum order and 2 of each. I've only just gotten a catalog from them and haven't looked at them too much yet.

Donna

I too ordered from Jody's and I hate to bash anyone. My order was in a box that the tape was all falling off of it and was partially open. I ordered deodrant containers and quality was good, but they smelled like mold. They were in plastic trash bags so I didn't lose any. I counted! The fact that they stunk so bad I was concerned that my product would smell so I had to air them out for several months. They still have that musty smell. I emailed with my complaint and heard nothing. I too will not order because quality is everything from a supplier.

Yeah, being new to the forum, I didn't want to bash either. My box was also falling apart. They reused a box from somewhere else. I have absolutley NO problem w/ reusing a box....saves the environment....I do have a problem when they have cut that box into pieces and then taped it to make a new one and it's falling apart! Yeah....the Walmart bag....the garbage bag....so un-professional. I also got her lotion base sampler...and those were packaged very nice in a ziploc. I also ordered two B&B liquid dyes....one came with a label and one did not. Hmmmm. LOL.

Sharon (I replied to your PM!)....You know, I didn't bother to email Jody's with a complaint. I had placed the order on Thursday night....and the website and auto responder email said 3 business days. On the Wednesday (the 18th), I emailed to see if it had shipped, since it was 4 business days later. No reply. On Thursday early AM, I get an email that it shipped Thursday. Well...YEAH!. And then I get an automated email that it shipped on Friday. Huh? First you don't reply, then you reply and say one thing but do another? Yeah....even if the items had been fantabulous....she lost my business right there!

I did get the SFIC bases today....and they aren't sticky at all. At least not the ones I unwrapped and fondled.

Donna

I have that problem too with the Reddig diamond dye chips. I swear I stir until my wrist is about to fall off....pour....and then have little sprekles in the bottom of my tarts. GRRRR. I'm just got a bunch of the liquid dyes to use. So much easier!

Ian, there is a bit of a fuel smell, because they are so concentrated. The scent seems to have gone away on the one I've tested so far.

Donna

So of course.....AFTER I order 14 of Peak's Liquid Candle Dyes (they carry 15), I find out there's a Co-Op. So, I get the dyes today, and while sitting at the computer reading the message boards, I decided to remove the "in-transit" cap and screw on the glass dropper pipete thing. <cue mystery music> Did the first one, no problem. Did the second one, really without looking...and wouldn't you know it! That darn Peak's! They filled that bottle SO full that when I plopped in the dropper pipete, the dye all squished out the top of the bottle! This is the only freakin' time in my life that I'm gonna bitch about something being toooo full! And was it the pale Golden Honey/Vanilla color?? Heck no! Not in my house! It was the teal/aqua! And it was alllll over both my hands, all over my desk and my mouse! And was there anyone home that could run me a roll of paper towels real quick?? Hell no! Not in my house! Oh my...it was not a pretty thing. By the time it was all over and done with....My mouse and desk were green, the kitchen sink was all splattered green and the kitchen and bathroom counters were all green! :tiptoe: I just knew DH was gonna FLIP. BUT...with the help of Watkin's Organic Cleanser....and most of a bottle of nail polish remover, I was able, at least to get all the kitchen, bathroom and office surfaces cleaned before DH got home. Of course, my hands were aqua from my wrists to the tips of my nails. ROFL! DH had a real belly laugh on that one.....

Note to anyone getting into the co-op....order the liquid dye remover just in case!

GRRRRR....off to find some ultra mega moisturizing lotion for these hands. Nail polish remover is rough on the skin! LOL!

Donna

Oooohhhh those are very nice looking! I think I may need to re-look at Peak's molds! LOL.

Donna

You know, I wondered the same thing! I'm really new on the M&P circuit and ordered (what I thought was) three 1 pound blocks of Silk & Shea M&P from Jody's Soap & Creations.

Now, I fully understand M&P comes in larger (24lb?) blocks and they may or may not be cutting off my 1 pound hunks. What I got, however, was a 3 pound wedge of something. There was NO label on it and it was in.....get this....a white Walmart bag! And not even a clean one either! There was dirt and what I think was grass stuck to my wedge o'soap. I was not a happy girl. But what threw me was that it was sticky. Or moreso....tacky. (Of course the dirt stuck to it well!)

What's a girl to do? So, I took a tater peeler to the entire outside of that wedge. :lipsrseal Still tacky. I tried to grate the soap....just cuz I wanted to... and that didn't work well either. But I did get my Green Clover and Aloe soap made and while I like it....it still seems a bit tacky/greasy, even the un-tested bars.

I have ordered the sampler pack of soaps from SFIC....should be here tomorrow or Wednesday...and if those go well, I'm just gonna order from Peak's! I will not, however, order M&P stuff from Jody's again. Live and Learn!

Donna

Well, this is how B&BW describes it:

Fragrance Top Notes: Pomegranate, Sparkling Citrus, Dewberry, Anise, Cinnamon, Nutmeg

Fragrance Mid Notes: Cassis, Black Berry, Iris, Jasmine, Raspberry

Fragrance Base Notes: Musk, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Tobacco, Patchouli

I ordered Misbehavin' from NG based on my friend's description of "pomegranate with very distant green notes; almost piney". :rolleyes2 Not the wisest move. Misbehavin' is described as "A flirtatious, fruity, sexy fragrance. A tantalizing aroma of sweet juicy candied apples and pomegranate, with nuances of fresh ivy and oakmoss", so, we'll see how that goes. I absolutely ABHOR the mall and will avoid it like the plague given the chance...so it may be a bit before I can compare scents.

Donna

Anyone know a supplier with a good dupe of B&BW's Midnight Pomegranate? I've never smelled it, so I guess I'll have to make a trip to the mall now! :tiptoe:

Thanks!

Donna

Ha! There must be several of us on the same wave length. Last week I got samples from KY of the glaze and whip AND from EBC the whipped body frosting (amongst other things)!

I just like them all!

Seriously....I think I like KY's Glaze better then their Whip. And I like EBC's Whipped Body Frosting better than KY's Whip. Still doing the not-so-scentific testing. (Read that as: back of left hand gets Whip every day a few times and back of right hand gets Frosting a few times every day!)

Donna

Soaper Supplies (www.soapersupplies.com) just had a pre-buy/co-op running for this. It is still up on their site under Pre-buys. I want to say the email I got from them said they might have extras left over for the website after the buy. I've heard great things about them, but haven't used them myself.

Hope that helps!

Donna