Jeana

I have an issue with the farmers markets in my area. I finnally got to the point where I am ready to get my products out there, only to find out another business has monopolized all the farmers markets around me. She has two store fronts and sets up at the farmers markets. When I talk to the market coordinators they tell me they already have someone who sells soaps, candles, and body care items. They say they will not let two vendors sell the same items. Even though my products are different from hers. I think this is a monopoly and shouldn't be allowed. It isn't like there are several different people that are set up doing candles and body care, it is all the same woman's business. I have tried telling them I sell different items, but they always say "That sounds like what we already have." I would love to hear some opinions about this. There are some that are much farther way that I have not called yet to if they say the same thing. But I shouldn't have to drive 30 miles or more away from my house because one lady has dibs on all the markets around me should I?

I used cocoa powder in a cp batch. Its called chocolate macaroon - or course with chocolate and coconut fo. It turned out good. It has some air bubbles that are easier to see because of how dark it is but it's not frothy looking. Maybe your froth is just soda ash, maybe the cocoa didn't get blended thoroughly, or it could be just air bubbles. Is the froth on the top or throughout the entire bar?

when i have recipe I want to make up, change, or modify, I run it through two or three lye calculators. Is this a good idea? Some of them seem to recommend a lot of water. Or a large range to choose from - like use between 13 an 17ounces of water. I have been taking a middle range of what various calculators recommend. Is this what other soapers do too? Plus my scale doesn't register to the hundreds place, I can only do 5.5 period.

I wish my pictures could be attached but it keeps telling me they are too large of a file to attach. If you squeeze the soap the oil comes out. And the top has a thin layer of oil that looks like what you would find on cold meat. I didn't add glycerin. I may try the coconut milk. Was this canned or was it fresh from a coconut?

I tried doing this with soy pillar blend and I got a couple of candles with cracks and holes in the middle. I added 1 oz per lb of soy pb. Could this have cause this problem?

Rebecca you have a good point about overheating. I don't know if the FO had anything to do with it but I did cover it, oops! I forgot about that, seeing how I don't use milk typically. I think it has enough lye because it suprisingly has a nice lather. I rebatched a bar of it. I totally stink at rebatching though. I can't stop it from being gloppy. I would expect having a consistency that can flow into a mold would be better than glopping. I didn't want to add more liquid so I just did put it in thick. After popping it out of the mold, I found it did much better. It is not excesively oily anymore, just rough and ugly. And I can tell it would be a nice soap, if I can rebatch the whole thing. Can anyone suggest how I could get it to a consistency that I could pour it and not have it so chunky? I have enough oil, so should I add water to it? Maybe I'm not getting it hot enough to make it thinner, could this be an answer? This must be "do over" week for me, almost everthing I have made has needed to be redone, or it didn't turn out the way I wanted. I sure am learning how to troubleshoot stuff.

It is very pretty but it takes a while to see the crystal ball and make out what it says. I like the purple font better.

everything looks really nice! I am big fan of pink:smiley2: . I bet it smells great too.

It's not hard to do your own. Just melt the wax, dip the wick in, pull it out, and let it cool. You can do alot at one time then just cut what you need as you go. I think you save a lot of money buying wicks unprimed, by the spool. It is only $8 or $9 for a spool of LX wicks - you get like 500 or more feet. That is a lot of candles. If you are doing pillars, you may not need to prime them. I stopped priming for my pillars a long time ago and I haven't noticed a difference. I figure the wax gets soaked into the wick as it cools anyway, so it has wax on it in the end. This has saved me alot of time. I stopped priming because I noticed many pillars I saw in stores didn't do it. So I tried it.

But if you keep letting it burn or the next time it is lit the bulging part melts away, right? I didn't know bulging was wrong if it ends up consuming the sides most of the way. Now, am I making sense? And with no margaritas, lol Murry Hill, a little bit ago I was thinking the same thing. I liked the flame better on the shorter burn candles but I felt safer selling the longer burning one with smaller wicks. Then I changed my wax formula and it has become very clear which wick to choose. I think I would go for the longer burnand smaller wick as long as you have a nice flame. I would expect most people not to pay attention to how long their candle is lit. Before I started making candles I rarely thought about burn times, especially if I was trying to have the aroma fill my house.

can this technique be done with vegetable wax?

If you check with oilsbynature.com or soaperschoice.com a 10lb pail is only $13.00 or you can use palm kernel oil from the same places and price. They are worth spending the money on. Palm kernel really makes your soap bubbly.

ya, I'm not good at rebatching either, I don't even like it. But if it saves the day I'll do it. Ok I tasted it, Yuck! I didn't get a zap at all,but I did get some very strong fragrance. I'll cut in a couple days.

I don't think it is lye because I tried it - see if it would lather - and it didn't bother my hands or make them feel rough. How can I tell for sure? If I let it cure longer do I cut it. Should I wait the entire 4 weeks to see if the oil reabsorbs? And should I just rebatch it anyway?

I guess it was bound to happen sometime, I got my first bad batch of soap. I don't know what went wrong, and what to do with it now. I have heard that there aren't many things that can't be corrected with rebatching. I hope this is the case with this one. In case anyone could tell me what went wrong I'll give the recipe as well as the picture of the poor hideous results. first the recipe - castor 6oz cocoa butter 2oz palm 6oz jojoba 2oz olive 11oz palm kernel 7oz sunflower 8oz 5.2 goats milk 9.8 water 5.4 lye I had the water and milk together and slowly add the lye as it sat in an ice bowl at about 100 or 110 I put it in with oils. I added rose clay and jasmine/ylang ylang fo and eo. everything looked find going in and seemed to be gelling fine. By morning it was very oily. I gave it an extra 12 or so hours in the mold. Cut it today and discovered it didn't turn out. For some reason I can't upload the picture, it says it is too big. So I will tell you what it is like. It is oily and if you squeeze it oil oozes out. I tested it to see if it lathers and it is fine with that. This is my first attempt with using any kinds of milk. I'm open to solutions and critical reviews. Thanks

Does it matter if it is light or dark syrup? Do you use it at a tbsp per pound and at the water lye phase too? Does it matter what temp you add this to the water-lye phase? And for sugar do you use white sugar or natural?

The wax treatments from the salon are not really special wax. If you go to most beauty supply stores they sell it there. But it is just paraffin wax with some color and "essential oils", most are just scents. On the list of ingredients it will just say "Paraffin, tea tree, Lavender," or whatever scent it is. You just put it in warmer when it has melted you dip your hands quickly, pull them out, and wrap them for like 15 minutes. The heat is supposed to be good for sore joints. When some of the others were discussing this before they were saying people with soy that were informing customers it is ok to put the wax on their skin, would have to label where the wax was from and not use colors either. The paraffin treatment wax doesn't do this and paraffin is not good to put on your skin at all. I don't know why soy users would have to be so careful.

Very pretty. I like squares too.

Your first pictures were awesome and inspiring. I have been using the feathering palm, and I have some of the crystal palm but haven't used it much. I'm going to pull it back out and play with it again. I couldn't get a good burn like you got on your second set of pictures. Does the 4" burn the same as your 3" pictures with the 45 ply wick? Now that I have seen yours I have hope. :smiley2: Do you always make your pillars unscented? Have you ever tried doing a 2" pillar with this wax before? If so what wick do you use with this? I am determind to get the wicking right for this wax on a 2". I have come close but I'm not there yet. They are just too pretty to give up on.

Those look really nice! I agree, you're being much too hard on yourself. I hope you feel better, and come out of your slump:) soon.

I guess I am concerned with the health risks FOs. My lungs feel similar to when I smoked years ago. I am curious if this is just being sensitive or if it is really a hazard.

The more I make candles the more sensitive I am becoming to the FO, from all different companies. I don't want stop making candles. I am going to try wearing a respirator when I am pouring and try working with EOs more. But what about testing and having the candles stored at my house? Pillars are the biggest problem because I can cover the containers when they set up. Does anyone have any tips for FO sensitive people? Does using an air purifyer work at all? How popular are unscented candles?? I'm really concerned with this. I have seen people on candle boards with this problem and they had to give up on candles. I hope it doesn't come to this for me.

wow! Those are some of the best swirls I have seen so far, great job. Especially since the batch started setting up quick.

Those pictures looked like there was a pretty big difference between the old and the new blends. Did the ones on the left (new blend, right?) hold up with the throw and wetspot test? They look pretty! I have to tell you I heard so much about the KY brand container soy that I couldn't resist getting a tester bag. I didn't like it at all. It was so ugly. Even the ecosoya 135 is much nicer than the KY soy. I do like their pillar formula though. Anyway, as far as looks go, ecosoya really looks the best in my opinion. Thanks for sharing the pictures:smiley2:

If you don't mind me asking, how do you use beer in making soap? I haven't heard of that, it is very interesting. What are the purposes of using it in the formula?