Mnhorsemom

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Is it just the price of soybeans is going up or if its just due to fuel costs! .......The price of soy beans (and most other grains in my area) is increasing due in large part to the explosion in ethanol plants. I know that they use corn but we ahve seen quite a rise in the prices of things like oats etc so I'm sure soy beans will be on the way up too.

When I have done M&P in that type of mold I start to push the soap out, get it as far out of the mold as I want the thickness of the soap to be then hold my cutter tight to the mold and cut. I get pretty straight cuts that way.

I have used the green gel tone from BCN and it's always stayed green for me. I have used the green, red and purple and they are not real dark colors but they are the correct colors.

I use soy wax, can you make the firestarters with that or do you need paraffin wax? Also do any of you put FO in them? Thanks

JMO but I think it's more of a marketing ploy. I did some research on enzymes (I also have 3 dogs and 2 cats that live inside a 1000sf house) and from what I read the enzymes kill the odors by "eating" what causes them. Now, in my way of thinking that would mean that the enzyme would have to come in contact with a surface that has something that is causeing the odor not just float around in the air. But, what do I know. I bet if you have animals and burn one of those candles it won't take long for the smells to come back once you've blown the candle out.

Meridith, I sure wish I knew why this one turned sooo dark. I knew it was a discolorer but wow! I don't know if it was something to do with my recipe (although I have used the same reecipe for tons of batchs) and have had some that say they discolor but they always turn out a lovely tannish color so who knows. I just know that I have 15 bars of this soap that I don't think I would be able to sell :embarasse

JMO but wouldn't it be a waste of fo to put it into a lamp like that? The way you get the scent from a candle is the pool of melted wax not the wick. If you put fo in the oil for a lamp it's inside the lamp so you wouldn't be able to smell it.

I did Peaks Coconut Banana Blast and it turned a VERY DARK brown. I could have delt with that but when I took a bar into the shower even the lather was brown and it makes a big brown mess in my shower when I leave it sitting on the soap ledge. HHMMM...maybe with the brown lather I could sell it as a wonderful after tanning soap :rolleyes2

With gas prices over the $3 mark and the analyists saying close to $4 by summer I think that people just don't have the disposable income they did even a year ago. I live in a rural farming/summer tourist area and I know that businesses around here are pretty worried that with the gas prices the "lake people" won't be able to afford to be up here every weekend, and those of us that have farms and drive trucks are now looking at a $100 dollar bill to fill our gas tanks each week I guess I am glad I make candles and soap and don't have to buy from someone else!

I have infused oils for my booboo balm, it was easy to do. I am not a real patient person so I didn't do mine in the jar/sunshine I did mine on the stove. I put the herbs and oil in a bouble boiler and kept the heat as low as I could while still keeping the water hot enough to keep the oils warm and let it "cook" for several hours. I have always wanted to try soaping with infused oils but I think that the cp process would kill the goodies in the infusion.

I do soy candles, cp soap, lip balm, lotion bars and whipped shea. I started out with the candles but it didn't take long to wanna starat soaping!

One thing that I think is important to have from the get go is a good, accurate scale. Especially if you are starting out with small batches, you need to be pretty accurate when measuring your lye. I know most beginners tend to start out with small 2# or so batches as they don't want to waste oils etc. if things don't go well but the smaller the batch the more precise your measurements need to be. Have fun, it's a very rewarding thing to take your first bar of handmade soap into the shower!!

Has anyone here tried making soap with caffeine in it? I saw some advertised somewhere and would like to try making it. I think To Die For carries the caffeine, just not sure how to go about making the soap.

I am still able to buy Red Devil at my local grocery stores. One of the perks to living out in the sticks I guess.

I make a fisherman's soap with anise but I have always used anise EO, not a FO.

I think candle making sites are a lot like weather sites, if you look at 5 different ones you will get 5 different forcasts/answers! But for what it's worth I also think you are adding your FO at too low of a temp. The wax isn't hot enough for the FO to bind with it so you get no scent throw. I use 100% soy for my containers heat to about 170 add my dye, usually add my fo's at about 160 (I stir until I can no longer see the fo oil swirling around in the wax) then I wait till the wax starts to get slushy to pour into my containers. I have tried pouring hot ( and it would sure make the process faster when I have a bunch to pour) but I don't get nice tops and have experienced other problems as well. I never heard of your FO supplier, I get most of mine from Peaks and I can say that they sell GREAT Fo's. Good Luck!!

I made a batch of soap using a recipe that I have done a number of times and always been happy with. When I went to add my lye water to the oils I noticed that at the bottom of my pitcher there was a layer of hard undisolved lye. Well, at this point there was not much I could do so I just kept on going. Well, everything seemed to go ok soap looked nice when I cut it not soft or mushy or anything. Well, I have used a bar of it several times now and even with a bath poof I just can't get much lather. So I am wondering if this soap didn't come out superfatted to like a bazillion percent since I obviously didn't use the correct amount of lye for the amount or oils I had. And I am thinking that my be the reason I have no lather. Thanks

Gotta agree with comment, I've used Peaks Lilac in 100% soy and also cp'd it and it bout drove me outta the house

I do mine the same way Carebear does, wipe with a dryer sheet and put the scale into the sink. I have used 3-4 different brands of lye and all of the ones I've used have been the salt consistancy. I do know too that it will attract moisture pretty fast and clump up, and last time I soaped I ended up with a layer of hard undisolved lye in the bottom of my pitcher (course I didn't realize that until I had poured the stuff into my 4 pounds of melted oils which did not make me a happy soaper that day)

A smell, a stiff breeze........

I think I have this right, I'm sure someone will tell me if it's not...superfat is the oils left in your soap that don't saponify. It's not something that you add.

I have some that I think came from Royal Aromatics that I have done cp with. I use the JCB lotion from BBW and think that this dupe is pretty close.

Not sure but you might want to do a search for info on the orange FO, I'm thinking it was EO not FO. Besides, we all know that FO can eat thru a plastic cup in no time so I would think that FO would eat thru the finish on any kind of wood like that. JMHO though.