mountainmadness

They are both nice... I would pick the purple ones. The reason being that they are more "neutral" and would appeal to all potential customers- JMO. Great job!

I don't either. I was just curious. I am a regular in the bath and body section but have not tried candles yet. If I ever do one day I will make soy.

I am looking for a good creamy soy lotion base. I would love to make some like I saw posted but I do not have the time!! I wanted to get ideas from other people that have ordered it.

One other thing that I just thought of but have never used it for lotion.... why not buy ketchup bottles (the red plastic soft bottles that they sell to fill with ketchup for outside) I bet you could get a lot of lotion in that and the diameter of the top is pretty small.... you could always enlarge the hole if you needed to. That would fill them up really quick and I think the bottles are a couple dollars if that. Just a thought......

I have been in that situation many times before.... trust me, it will all work out. Make sure that you don't go to bed too late. You will regret that in the morning... Have fun!

Do you dip bears?

I love the plastic syringe method... you can get the ones that hold a lot from your local pharmacy.

Tasmine- you could call it. Part tangarine and part jasmine. That is going to be an awesome blend! Be aware that the jasmine FO that I have always used does make the soap an off white color... more of a beige. I just wanted to give you a heads up because I am not sure what you are doing with the color.

Jasmine is an unbelievable FO to mix. I have a Blackberry Jasmine that is one of my best sellers. I also have a friend that makes soy lotion and she blends melon and jasmine. I have always used equal parts when blending jasmine with another FO. I do not care for jasmine by itself but blended is a different story!

I am the one that posted a pic of Cranberry & Sugar soap. I used dried cranberries. It turned out good. Week number three and no problems with the fruit in it. As Robin said I did not use a whole bunch. I added at trace. I think that if you add them to the lye water then it might get ugly! When I was a newbie I tried to add chopped strawberries.... yuck! I added it to the lye water. It was the most rancid thing I have ever seen. Have fun!

Why don't you find a local print shop? You should be able to send them your artwork in Auto CAD and they should be able to do that for you.

Soap lesson #102- When oils are mixed with lye/water the oils saponify (a molecular change that turns the oils into soap). Oils saponify at different rates (in other words, each oil takes a different amount of the sodium hydroxide molecule to turn it into soap) thus the lye calculator. The type of oil and the quantity that you use determine the amount of lye/water that is needed. Lye calculators will normally give you a range of lye to use. What this means is that if you use the max amount of lye suggested than all of your oils will have a sodium hydroxide bond. If you use the least amount of lye suggested than your soap will contain oils and that are not bonded with a sodium hydroxide molecule (otherwise known as superfat). It is important to know how much lye to use. If you use too much then your soap will burn your skin and the soap will appear dry (too many sodium hydroxide molecules and not enough oil to bond to). If you do not use enough lye than your soap will not become hard and sometimes remain a pudding-like mess (too many oil molecules with no sodium hydroxide molecule to attach to). If you understand the chemical process than it makes more sense..... I hope that I explained it well.

Good luck to you!

I have not had the time to try these yet- it is on my list when it slows down after the holidays. I love the mold that you chose. Perfect!

Good ol' Walmart! LOL

It looks like mine did when I first tried to swirl ! LOL This is what you do... it looks like you are using MP? 1) Have your mold, FO and colorants out and ready. If you are going to swirl than have an empty glass container (pyrex) ready. 2) Melt your soap base. 3) Once it is melted add your FO. Stir well. Pour about 25% of the fragrances soap base into your empty container. Add your colorant. Stir well. 4) Take the colored soap and pour it into the middle of the uncolored soap. Then pour it into the mold. You will get a very marbeled look to your soap. It looks really cool and is very easy. I have posted a pic. of my soap that I have done the same way. The only difference is that mine is CP soap. HTH.

I like your website but read over it for grammar errors. Something as simple as that can make or break your presentation- IMO. It does look very nice though. i.e. "Sugar & Spice and scents that are nice, that's what Sisters~N~Scents ARE made of."

I think that it is very simple. Are you actively marketing this website or are you using it as a catalog for your existing customers?

My experience is that cranberry does seize. I end up using a low temp and about 1/2 as much FO that I normally use when I make CP soap.

Clove is a tricky one. I have had successful batches but I do an orange and clove mix... I have never used clove by itself. The cranberries although they are dried when you soap with them they soften up. They are not rough at all. I did not put in a whole bunch though. I have a bar at the kitchen sink now and I just pull the cranberry out when I come to one in the bar. Believe it or not, the cranberries do add a sweet, tart scent to the bar. This is not soap that I normally make but I really liked the idea of it being a Christmas tradition. I love antiques and history! I couldn't help myself!

There has been numerous posts on this frequently asked question. The answer is No, you cannot use the same name because it belongs to the company that made the product. Some people choose to use the name but put 'Type' next to it. IMO- I like it better when people come up with a name on their own. You came come up with something close to the type and most people will figure it out. Or you can always tell them this scent it a duplicate of ......... when they ask what the scent it like. HTH.

It depends on my mood. I have noticed no difference in either method. It all turns out the same.

I did not do the fair. I did do the farmer's market and did not have the inventory to do the fair. Plus, I work full-time and did not want to take time off for it. You should send me a PM when you come to town. I'd love to meet you! 18 months and this will be my full-time job!

Our Walmart does not carry it but Fred Meyers does in the organic section.

I am selling them in a three bar stack. It is 17-18 oz. of soap. I will sell it for $15.00. I will let you know how they sell at my show next weekend. My mom came over and I gave her a stack. She called last night and said that her kitchen smelled so good because she put the soap next to her sink in a wooden bowl. I plan on making 2 more primitive batches: 1) Christmas Pine (with goats milk, honey, brown sugar, oatmeal, real pine needles, and pine EO and 2) Orange & Cloves (with goats milk, honey, brown sugar, oatmeal, orange peel, ground clove, orange EO, and clove EO). I am the most excited about the pine because I have never seen anything like it before. lindsaycb- I sent you a pm.