SherriLynn

I too get scads of these emails,,,, they usually hit the delete pile in very short order. The flag with this email is the 915 area code on the phone number , asking to have the candles shipped to FL..... Hmmmm.. 915 area code,, is Texas.. Big heads up right there, it was probably not a legit email....

I ordered some pumpkin flakes also,, crushed them up finer with my rolling pin, then added them to some SFIC Shea Soap, fragranced in Sweet Pumpkin(Peaks).... Awesome smell and a great little exfoliant soap. Has been selling like hotcakes for the last few weeks. Did you try yours yet Candy?

My M & P is slices cut from logs. I'm add the little swirlies, herbs, do two tones etc,, to them. I purchased some of those cute little cardboard boxes to sell my soaps in, but decided the cost was too much. I make my own cigar bands from standard resume paper,, wrap my soaps with saran, then put my cigar band around them. I always wrap soap. It's a cleanliness thing for me. Personally I wouldn't purchase a bar of soap that hadn't been wrapped, and who knows how many people before me, had touched and left their hand oils on. ewwww...

I've heard tha many send out samples with fundraising kits. I don't.. personally I think it's alot of material to haul around when trying to sell. By time you have the brochure or catalog, writing untensil, order form, then add samples.. etc..etc.. Just seems like alot to drag around. I remember taking my kids out fundraising years back, couldn't imagine them carrying so much stuff,, heck they had enough trouble keeping track of a pencil... LOL...

Thank you all for your help. Love the pic...

I've been wanting to try some mint or rosemary in M & P soaps as an exfoliant. When added, do those herbs change the soap to a green color or do they just look like little green flecks in the soap(which is more of what I'm looking for) I add poppy seed and coffee grounds to some of my soaps now. The poppy seeds keep their color, but the coffee ground dyes my soap a nice tan color, perfect for the mocha scent. I was worried that the herbs would dye my soaps all a green color.

Great idea... will have to try those..

I make M&P, mom makes CP,,, we wrap all of our soaps. MP needs to be wrapped because of the humidity factor,, but we wrap our CP soaps too. We wrap our CP soap in sarah wrap, then put our cigar band around it, to keep them clean from other customers. Lots of customers like to touch and smell. We like to keep our soap free from body oils, that could be picked up on the soap, when customers touch them.

The chances of it are slim...and when found..is investigated. It doesn't go unwarranted like it did with the person who made the tainted lotion that we bought. Who do you report the incident to, other than the lotion was made in someone's house. There's nothing regulating them, no place to report it except to public health. Which we did, however, because there were no regulations about it.. nothing was done. I'm not saying I agree with everything in the proposed bill, but I do think some type of regulations are needed.

The bill your referring to has been revised many times from the original document,, and it will continue to be revised throughout the process of putting it into a bill. I saw the same thing happen when the food handling laws came into effect. I am licensed in food, and yes I do agree that lotions,soaps,balms.. etc.. all need to be made in an inspected, licensed kitchen, just like food products do. I mentioned a while back about our experience with purchasing handcrafted lotion a show a few years ago, only to find hair in it. Ewwww!!! Who knows what pet or person was wandering around that house with hair falling out. That was reason enough to start making our own lotions, balms and soaps. Clean kitchens are not only important, but so are the utensils your using for mixing. Are your bowls stainless steel, so they dont' absorb and retain bacteria like plastic and ceramic does? Are you wearing plastic gloves when packaging body products, so your body oils are not contaminating your product? Are you washing your hands, your counters your utensils before starting to package lotions? Are your body products packaged on wood tables, counters, cermic tile, all things that can absorb liquids and create bacteria from them? Are you using a plastic spoon or spatula for mixing? Even cleaning those surfaces on the top with bleach does NOT make the counter or utensil clean,because they're made of absorbant materials and the bacteria is held inside, under the surface. Thus the reason for using stainless steel certified kitchens, with stainless sinks, counter tops, utentils etc. Stainless does not absorb. As far as fees,,, heck, these bills always start with out of whack and high fees... I'd venture to say you'll see the same type of sliding fee scale that you see in food producing. It's usually determined by amount of sales by the company. I know in our state, it is. As far as labeling ingredients,,, ABSOLUTELY!!! and it should have started a long time ago. We have become an allergen world. When I started packaging my gourmet line, you didn't hear of many allergens. Now your required , by law, to list transfats, soy allergens, dyes used, milk allergens...because of the huge amount of people allergic to those ingredients. In my opinion every lotion, balm, soap, lipstick, cosmetic or anything applied to your skin, should be listed by ingredient, to protect those who have allergens. For those worried about stainless kitchens,,, ask your church, the American Legion or VFW, local banquet halls. I lease a kitchen at a banquet hall, for $75 a month for up to 5 uses. They take care of all the state licensing requirements, etc. They have all the stainless steel utensils I need and many of these places rent their kitchens for very cheap. Testing, making sure products are safe, ABSOLUTELY and something that shouldn't be taken for granted. I realize most people disagree with this type of regulation,,, but you'll be darned glad you follow it, should you be sued for someone using one of your products, that doesn't have ingredients labeled,that might contain ingredients that could cause an allergic reaction, hospitalization or even death Be proactive about this,, keep your customers and your business safe... Just my 2 beans for today....

I dumped wick stick'ums all together several years back.... they just don't perform consistenly... too many bad batches from various suppliers. so I use High Temp glue sticks from Walmart... Even in power burns, I've never had a wick let loose on the bottom. ~S~

We tried a line of uncolored, "eco" friendly candles a while ago... as well as sold our regular colored candles. I sold maybe 1 uncolcored candle, to about every 20 colored. Our customers like color,, it's a powerful suggestion tool in selling. Our wholesalers also like color. They felt even in decorating a shelf with greenery, ivy, flowers or signs... that uncolored candles were boring.

Total payment due along with the order, when it's turned in. I don't produce a thing, until I receive payment first

We ventured out on the farmers market side this year... still took our candles, soaps and things, however, in the market we can sell our fresh veggies,, plus canned jellies,salsa's etc. ;So the summer months have remained very profitable with our business.

I love Peaks SFIC soaps.... I've tried brambleberry, bcn and nature's garden and peak, they all perform basically the same, However, I selected the SFIC bases for my line, which I order from either, peaks or ky. In researching M & P soaps over the years, I found that many customers complained of itchiness, dryness and breaking out. The SLS, sodium laureate, used in most M & P soaps, is a foaming agent and is extremely drying to the skin. SFIC bases do not have SLS, or SLES or alcohol in their bases. My skin is very sensative, even to the point that I can't wear nickle. The SFIC bases make my skin smooth, and I've experience no problems with the base.

I use rubbermaid cheese keepers... Makes a great 3 lb loaf.. perfect for cutting into 9 bars, plus a little off each end left to make an assortment of "end of the row" soaps....

Thx everyone... I've made several logs of M & P since;, cut back on the beeswax to 1 oz in 3 pounds... and everything is back to normal... I was trying to get real hard soap... probably not possible with M & P... Thx everyone for your help!!

Oatmeal Honey, reminds me of colder months, with the suggestion of the oatmeal. Also, mocha or coffee. Frank and Myrrh.. is another good one. Peppermint,,, swirled in red and white...

I use BCN geltones and colorants,,, also a few from peaks. Have had great success with both.

Something I wouldnt' attempt. My booth is too full as it is with buyers,,, there just wouldn't be time to cut, wrap etc.. and still make a good days profit. You need both hands to rake in the cash.. LOL!! When your making $2,000 - $3,000 a day, there's just not time to cut soap... If you take someone with you, who can only hand cut soap, that might work, but it will still backlog people, waiting in a line.. Instead of moving buyers through allowing others to get in the booth and purchase. Just my two beans...

Thanks everyone!! I'm going to cut back on the beeswax but 1/2. I've never had this grainy feel before, so perhaps it is too much of a load. Intersting point yoyo.... I'll watch for that...

I made some M & P from the Shea SFIC base. I added 1 oz of beeswax per pound and 1 tsp of castor oil per pound. It's the first time I've tried this blend. For some reason the bars of soap feel slightly grainy... Did I heat the base too warm, or are some of these elements not compatible with others?? Hmmm.. first time I've ever had this type of grainy soap.

Thank you Pixi,,, I might be pushing the process along. I've read several suppliers post that the M & P soaps can be used right away. I've been googling cure times on M & P this morning and many suggest, like you, to wait about a week before cutting, wrapping etc. Thanks much for your help. ~S~

I'd like to learn how to make hard M & P soap. Yesterday day I added 1 oz of beeswax to 1 lb of SFIC Shea. Took it out of the mold this morning,,, feels rubbery when cutting. Does it take a while for this type of soap to cure, or will it get harder after it's wrapped? I left it molded over night...Hmmm.. Is it too warm, or humid perhaps at this time to make this soap? I had hoped this M & P would be the way to go to add soap into my line. I don't want lye in my home, so no CP or HP... Does anyone get nice hard soap from M & P?

I am so glad to have looked at this thread today. I currently DO have a website, however the maker of my site no longer is available to update the shopping cart and a few other things. I had taken out a trial version on net solutions and have been working with it for the past few weeks, thinking I could design and build my own website, using their templates. Wowwwww!!! What a costly error that would have been, after reading all this information. My thanks to this board, who have people on it, that are concerned about others.....