adillenal

I love both A and B. For my in state customers it is great shipping up to 10 pounds for around $5.00 Love it. That is the A size.

I believe it is due to a high water usage in making the soap and perhaps cut too thin. Had that a few times when I first started since I used full water er milk till I built up some confidence.

I started with an EZ up with the sides. Used it for 4 years. After replacing most all of the cross pieces and repairing the rest, I retired it after I bought a cheap First up from Wal-Mart. Starting my second year with the first Up and no broken cross pieces yet. Much easier to put up than my EZ up and the EZ up sides work on it too.

I also have PVC and concrete weights. Had to add additional weights last weekend though. I used the round weights from my son's weight set. Added 35 more pounds per leg and the tent did not blow away like some others around me. But boy do I had lugging all of those weights around. The First Ups have a vent at the top of the canopy and the wind blows out instead of lifting the canopy up like my EZ up.

For CP soap I love the following:

Chamomile

Satin Sheets

Sandalwood

Tropical Fruit (work fast)

White Tea

Wash Day

Lavender

Denise of full moon herbs has been doing prebuys for a long time. I buy from her and have excellent service. She took over Lillian Newman's prebuys. She is my sole source for Lavender and Violets FO that I love. Not sure why she is the one taking over for SS but I am sure there is a reason.

The SS prebuy prices are a lot higher than the prebuy prices for lesser known FO's apparently. I have already found replacements for the SS fragrances I was using so I will not be buying SS scents.

She has a yahoogroups for her other prebuys.

I use a very thick bottomed expensive (to me anyway) stock pot and I put it directly on the hot plate. I do not turn the hot plate on high. I start lower and turn it up as I go but never all the way. Still takes awhile to get the temp up but I can do it without scorching the liquid and I also use goat milk.

Well, my soap and lotion prices are a little higher online than at my shows so that isn't a problem. I do have a way to change prices though. At small cheap rent shows I include tax in the purchase price. At bigger more expensive shows I add tax on at the end. So in essence I have two price structures. Been doing this for years with no problems.

So the soap is always retails at $5.00 a bar but would be $5.41 with tax. I display my "all prices include tax" as required when I include tax and have signs that say "plus sales tax" also.

If it is a big indoor show I get electricity for my cash register and lights to show off my product. Overhead indoor lighting can be very poor. These are usually 2 or 3 days shows.

For one day inside and outdoor shows I use a deep cycle marine battery to run my cash register and laptop that has a slide show on it showing my goaties and soap making etc since I keep running into people that won't believe I actually raise and milk goats and then make soap. The battery is great. I have it on a little dolly and just roll it wherever I want it and I use an inverter and plug everything in. When I get home I just plug the battery charger in and charge it back up. Deep cycle batteries are the only kind you can do that with over and over.

I think I will stick to the old fashioned method I am using since reception is poor at many of my shows anyway and I work alone. The old knuckle buster works and I am trustworthy and own a cross cut shredder so I won't be upgrading my technology anytime soon.

Call me behind the times but so be it.

I only make goat milk soap so I may have different results than someone using water. GM does strange things sometimes but I am game to share my results.

I just got my order from the conservatorie but I have not tried any of them in soap yet. That is on my agenda for this weekend.

I soaped Bert's Tropical Fruit day before yesterday. It moves fast but I did get it in the mold just in time. Soaped cool. Cut it last night. Already very dark brown but smells delicious. I used 1 oz per PPO so I was pushing it anyway. I used a whisk (I never use a stick blender on soap anyway)

I go to shows where even cell phones have no reception unless you go into the parking lot, so I cannot count on wireless anything. Just a caution.

There are so many people trying to make extra money with party plans that I run and hide whenever someone mentions party that involves buying a product. Competition is fierce in my area.

For me personally I find coconut oil to feel dry to my skin. I love Rice Bran Oil though with shea butter for a lotion.

All of my mess is not in the house. It has it's own home out back. Love it.

And then there are those people that just lie. I have an employee who pitched a little fit about our secretary burning candles cause she is allergic to scent. Now I am just amazed that she has a SCENTED candle sitting on her desk and uses SCENTED lotion.

Either they just don't like the fragrances you took or they just are being a horse's behind.

When you buy labels from onlinelabels you get a code to use their program or you can also purchase.

The more labels purchased, the longer the code is good for.

I started with GoDaddy but after awhile advanced to having someone build my site and host it. Gone Country Grpahics was my designer and host. I have been there for 3 years with perfect service. I have a template where I add , edit or delete product so I can do this whenever the mood strikes.

There are many many hosting sites as well as templates available for do it yourselfers. I just reached the point that the time factor was the deciding factor.

Really?

Really and it is kind of sad since when I started doing the local area small shows there were always a couple of booths with handpoured candles. Now - just Scentsy every where I go.

I make lotions and facial lotions and creams along with soap. The specialty oils fill my frig. They are expensive and I do not use them as fast as the soaping oils. That said, I also keep my shea, cocoa butter, painya butter and other butters in the frig too.

I also have a chest freezer for stockpiling goat milk and larger boxes of shea and cocoa butter. I do not want to milk my goaties year round thus the freezer.

Well, I use a lid on my stock pot and that sure helps. After making the same lotiion over and over, I know how much evaporates so I add that much extra at the beginning.

And I sure never had half evaporate before. You mention boiling. You don't boil the liquid for 20 minutes. I can see why half would evaporate if you are boiling the water.

I make B&B and got the bright idea I wanted to make candles too. I spent a LOT of money and I have supplies galore. Found out after testing for a year that I do not like making candles except for rustic looking pillars and I hate wicking so only make the forever pillars for gifts.

Work on those candles and see if you even like it after months of pouring and burning. I found out I did NOT.

Plus, I am also in Texas but central. Over the past 5 years going to shows I have noticed that there isn't even a candle booth at most shows anymore, only Scentsy.

Good luck in whatever you decide to try.

For once I listened to my DH and bought a fullsize frig for my soap kitchen. And it is getting about full.

I started with a little one which is still in my soap shop but empty.

I have Adobesoapworks Rose Geranium EO and it is very nice, For a FO I use Aroma Haven's Rose Geranium. Yum.