Camay

I agree with you TallTayl, in general, but, 1) lots of petro derived oil products are put directly on skin. Vaseline for one. 2) The viscosities of the oils have nothing to do with saponification*. It's the ester bonds that react with the strong base. As I said in a previous post, there are few ester linked oils in motor oil (<20%), so most of the oil would go unsaponified. * viscosity is dependent on temperature, and the rate of saponification is also temperature dependent, assuming you have oils that can be saponified present

Candle Chem is great for dyes, molds, additives, and some tools. And the guy that runs the place, Arnie, is super nice. He ships fast. However, I have to agree with ChrisR about the FOs. From 2006 to 2008 I tried 60 different FOs, and was not hugely impressed. I would not go so far as to say they were bad, just not incredibly strong, and not all that interesting. They sure do have a lot of them though! They are within driving distance for me, and I really wish they had great FOs...

People use lard all the time to make soap.

I would email Moonworks and see if she (Rhonda) is planning another patch prebuy soon.

The the fatty acids that we use to make soap are joined to glycerol via an ester linkage. The strong base we add (lye) attackes this chemical linkage, breaks it, and makes glycerol and fatty acid salts (soap). I looked up motor oil on wikipedia: "The base oils of some high-performance motor oils however contain up to 20% by weight of esters" Only up to 20% of the oil has esters that are potential targets for the lye. Interesting.

I agree. With gas on the rise again, shipping is only going to get worse. I try to make fewer orders, and make the orders larger so that I am getting more for my shipping dollar.

Wow, that was fast! Those are the two that I am excited to sniff. My order is due tomorrow, but that will still give me time to place another order during the sale.

Oh yes, it is possible. The fragrance will start "weeping" out of the candle. Not pretty. And a waste of FO. Each type of wax has a limit to how much FO it will hold. This is usually posted on the suppliers web page, or you can go to the manufacturer's web page.

It's here, NOW!

If you click on their Newsletter signup link, you will see a list of the emails they have sent out over the past several years. If you read the titles of the emails, you will see that for the last three years, the sale has been the third week of March.

From Aroma Haven's liquid dye page: Tip: To lengthen shelf life if your liquid dye becomes too thick, add a drop of mineral oil and shake well.

I would join their newsletter. They often have sales now that are announced in the newsletter. Sometimes the sale is off shipping, and other times they discount the sample pack. There are other sales, too. I can't remember when the last sample pack sale was, so maybe it is coming up!

Here is a nice calculator: http://www.candletech.com/calculator/

This is the wax I use for votives and pillars. Love it. I would LOVE to be able to get this locally!

BTW, hubby is never getting his thermometer back!

When I first stole my hubby's IR themometer about 4 years ago, I tested it against my tranditional, high-quality, mercury thermometer. I found the difference to be insignificant. Since I am usually stirring something into the wax (FO, dye, additive, etc) a steep temperature gradient does not develop from the surface of the wax to the bottom of the pour pot. Also, I do not think that candle-making is rocket science. The accuracy needed to for reproducing a constant product is not extreme.

This makes sense. Stearate is a saturated fatty acid. It is a chain of 18 carbons, all of which are completely hydrogenated. Its melting point is 71 C. Compare stearate to oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid. All are chains of 18 carbons. Oleic acid has one double bond, and its melting point is 16 C. Linoleic acid has two double bonds (polyunsaturated) and its melting point is -5 C. Linolenic acid has three double bonds, and its melting point is -11 C.

Coconut oil is a mixture of triacylglycerols, which in turn, are three fatty acids linked to a glycerol backbone. This is how the plant stores fats for metabolic use. Now, those three fatty acids can be saturated or unsaturated. Saturated means that all of the carbons in the fatty acid chain are hydrogenated (as CareBear mentioned above). Unsaturated means that the carbons do not have the maximum number of hydrogens linked to them. If the maximum number of hydrogens are not present, that means that some of the carbons have double bonds to other carbons (instead of single bonds to hydrogen). The presence of double bonds is what actually changes the melting point of a fatty acid, or collection of fatty acids. A fully hydrogenated fatty acid (saturated) is an extended molecule with no double bonds in the carbon chain. Extended molecules tend to pack together very well. A consequence of close packing is a higher melting point (it takes more energy - higher temp - to "unpack" the extended chains). The more saturated fatty acids, the higher the melting point. On the other hand, an unsaturated fatty acid has one or more double bonds. This no longer allows the chains to take on the extended conformation; the double bond puts a kink in the chain. The kink pushes fatty acids away from one another, so they cannot pack together as well, and thus have a lower melting point. The more unsaturated fatty acids, the lower the melting point.

www.sfherb.com sells bulk lavender.

It was the first week of August last year.

I cannot find 7 oz tumblers on their site. They have 7.5 oz tumblers, which are not the same as the ones at Peak.

I use ginger peach from Peak, and I love it. Can you compare CC's to Peak's?

Ew is right! I'll remember not to mix putty types!

Hmmm... I have used several different brands of plumber's putty and none of them have been slimy.

I use plumbers putty without problems. It is much cheaper than the stuff that is sold as mold sealer, and you can buy it at Home Depot, Lowes, or a local hardware store. Walmart probably has it too (though never checked).