Kaylors Kreations

I shrink wrap mine, so I usually offer in 6, 9 and 12 packs. I love the way the look personally, though if the plastic packaging weren't so spandy I might do it that way. I also buy big packs of the plain tin cup lights, and package them 9 for a $1.00 or free with the purchase of 4oz of meltlets. ---- Libby

Cornmeal is basically a rough ground corn, the kind of thing used to keep pizzas from sticking to the peel and in hard taco shells and one of the main ingredients in a hush puppy. Here in the states its usually right along side the flour n such, but you might have to look in a shop that maybe specializes in Hispanic foods.:undecided Good luck finding some. ---- Libby

oohh... I like the crates idea... will have to ponder that one, I may have to hit the 'wood shop' with some craft balsa and mess with it... And I think a trip to Michael's is calling, maybe tomorrow if I'm feeling better, this cold is kickin butt n taking my name... ---- Libby

Did someone say StoneHenge or is it more like SoapHenge? Love the Neon, my kids would prolly stay in the bath and try to use the entire bar in one shot...

Very Pretty, I love embedding, just haven't tried any yet.

I wouldn't be struggling with the packaging is I were planning on selling them singlely, but rather, they are a 3pack thing, one in each color. I was going to mess with it this past weekend, but got in the grips of a killer cold, I sounded like a dog that swallowed a squeeky toy and just could not get any sleep or be comfy. But thats the way the mommy world goes... I've considered using a stiff card stock across the bottom and shrink wrapping them, or maybe just trying to put them in one of my gift bags turned sideways and tied with ribbon to match, but I have a feeling I'm just going to have to mess with it till I can figure it out. ---- Libby

I ended up buying 30 of them and only had a leak in one of them. The enamel was a little thin at the seam near the bottom. I got a little of my gel super glue and filled the gap let it sit and air a few days before I refilled it, and the leak was gone. I went back a few days ago, and they were all gone.. just my luck... ---- Libby

I wanted to see if I come up with a better way than the lotion in a tube standard application of something similar to IcyHot, so I went searching for a lotion bar recipe and got my hands on a couple roll up tubes to mess with. Hubby hates it cause I wont touch the lotion stuff cause I can never get it off my hands, and when the sore is in the middle of your back, it ain't that easy to apply yourself... By looking at the ingredients on the original IcyHot, I figured I needed Menthol for the Hot part and some wintergreen/peppermint EO for the Icy... My recipe reads, for a 2oz. bar: 1oz Soy Wax .7oz Cocoa or Shea Butter (I'm using cocoa) .2oz Olive Oil .5oz FO Now, since I'm not using an FO, but going to use the EO and Menthol Crystals, and figuring from the percentages on the original cream, 30% wintergreen and 10% Menthol... I ended up with instead of the .5oz of FO that i would need .6oz of my EO and .2oz of Menthol. This seems a bit much to me, but percentages don't usually lie... I added up my base ingredients then found 30% for the EO then 10% for my menthol... I made a test bar today with just an eyeball of about 1/2tsp (my scale only measures to .1oz so i couldn't get a weight, got one that will measure to .01 or in grams for B&B on my shopping list) that i combined with some OO to .5 and when i put it on I can definately feel the warm. Looking for opinions if ya got em. ---- Libby

Even if its not exactly what you wanted, I think it looks Fab and if I saw it in a shop, would definately have to buy a bar or two or three... ---- Libby

I did a search online one day for the stuff that's in Febreze and the like, it was called something like Neutroleum Alpha, its most common use is in commercial skunk remover.. like what you would use if you got sprayed.. not to make skunks themselves disappear... Soap Scents has some here: http://www.onestopcandle.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?page=OSC/CTGY/SOAPSCNP I've seen it in a couple other places too... I've considered getting some to try it out.. Not sure about what kind of scent it itself has, though sure it could be made into a custom blend with a more appealing FO if wanted. ---- Libby

OK.. so I've made 'em, burned 'em and made 'em again.. now how to package them...:undecided I found these on the Dollar rack at Michaels a few months back and had to have em... I poured em in Daffodil Fields from NG n love the way they smell.. light and flowery not too strongly either. ---- Libby

I'm going to do some more testing of my Footsie Fizzers and bath bombs... oh what horror, I have to sit and soak my feet and take a nice soak in the tub I need to check my stock n see what more I have to pour to have at least a couple of each of my scents for my upcoming booth And I'm going to print more name labels, size labels, find my green curling ribbon to finish packaging my Irish Cream candles, and try to figure out how to package my Easter candles... will get a pic of those up here in a bit...

I use those large sheets of paper that some places wrap your glasswares in when you buy em to cover my work surface and the floor under my presto... dunno about y'all but I hate when that tiny lil bit of wax from in the spout warms up and drips EVERYWHERE!! I just started using all those disposable chopsticks as wick holders, A silicon spatula that was just too hard to use for food to stir my wax, baby food jars and votive jars that just would not cooperate and be nice candles to hold my repour wax. The Glade candle jars to pour my final leftovers into. I let it cool then put in the freezer to get it to pop out, then use my cheapie 4/1$ paring knife to write the scent, type (pillar, container, votive, meltie), and weight. I keep those bits in a different recycled ziplock and when I make my next batch, I look in the bag to see if there was any left from last time... usually chuck it in the PP between cooking my additives and addiing the scent. but otherwise not too much new stuff...

Thanks for the info E, with that in mind, it sounds like maybe I should boogie into the kitchen n whip up another batch of these babies... I didn't get them moist enough and they're just a little too brittle, even after 24hrs of sitting. Though I did give them a test soak. I'm thinking a need to add a little oil to em, so I guess off to look for something nice n conditioning but not greasy. ---- Libby

I'm using Tea Tree EO in my Footsie Fizzers (thank you Vio... what a clever name for bombs for a foot soak ) and made up a batch of it last night... Today my chest is all congested and its just kind of uncomfortable to breathe... I've always been a little congested, side effect of being a bit bronchial. What I'm wondering is could the 'fumes' from the straight EO be the culprit, or is it more likely I'm just catching the cold everyone's been passing around? I've used products with tea tree in it before, and never had much trouble with it... figured it might be easier to ask around than sit and wonder... ---- Libby

I like C, but like others think it could use a little tweaking.. maybe use the leaf as the O in soul maybe? would be just that much different and standoutish personally...

ok... silly not yet soaping person question.... What is zap? I've seen it mentioned a few times, and even did a search, but never any real explanation for what the heck it is. :undecided Is it possible to get an explanation? ---- Libby

Footsie Fizzies I LOVE it.. and think I might totally steal it... too good not too. My last package did finally arrive, and man the straight Tea Tree is STRONG.. nearly ran me out the kitchen... but I managed through and got a tray of em made up, now they're resting happily in the molds. Will see how they turn out here in a bit. I added a little Candy Cane FO along with the EO, I hope the little bit of vanilla will help mingle with the minty smell of the Tea Tree, make it smell really nummy while ya soak your toes... I used 15 drops in what is essentially a half batch of my fizzer mix.. so 1 whole cups worth of dry... I do hope that isn't too much, especially since you'll only need 1 or 2 fizzies for a dishpan sized soak. ---- Libby

They aren't as dark as espresso roast, but then i prefer a way mild roast on my beans anyway... I made a batch of like 1/4lb or so of wax and tossed in a couple drops of my Spectrum brown. dunno why but it seems to me all my colors look lighter than they are in pictures, they have a nice cocoa powder color to 'em. ---- Libby

I love love love osCommerce, its a strong utility... its open source and the community is great for helping you tweak your site. I've tried other site/cart combos but they've all killed me. I personally like the look of the basic store layout it gives and is paypal and just about any other payment gateway friendly. If you have cPanel access through your hosting company, you more than likely have access to osCommerce, and its easy to install through there. More shops than you might think run on it with anything from just a css sheet tweek to major major code changes. Sorry went on a rant there, but after many failures when I come across something that is extremely successful for me I just have to should it out!! ---- Libby Kaylor's Kreations

I'm using a lip shaped mold for my bombs, just like this one from NG: I leave them in long enough to firm up and hold the shape. I think its something a bit different, and it's cute. I'm thinking that if I do continue to develop a B&B line, that I'm going to aim at what I call the Sofisticated Child. Basically more or less us adults that are still kids at heart and want all the goodies that kids get, but with a grown up twist. I'm loving the Kama Sutra FOs from NG. and with names like Dr. FeelGood and Misbehavin' how can one resist em in the first place!? ---- Libby

oohhh.. all this soap porn make me soo jealous... summer needs to hurry up so i can try my hand at it.. i want some soapies to call my own! You creative ladies make me almost want to scrap my candles... almost...

Yeah, it was kinda weird. I didn't think anything of it at the time when i was actually making and molding them... but when i went to check on them to unmold those suckers, they were puffed like what i can olny describe as risen bread.. so I stuffed em back in nice n firm, and left em another 10 minutes. I unmolded em then, and by that time the washer was finished with its cycle. I looked at em after dropping the kids off at school.. and wow!! those little risen bread bombs. They are still cute, but just like i said earlier, you just can't tell they're supposed to be a set of lips. I'm thinking I'm going to aim my B&B at what I call the Sofisticated Child... Adults that are still kids at heart, but all grown up and want something fun but kinda sexy... thus the reason for the lip shaped bombs. I'm waiting on the UPS guy to bring me my box.. i have some tea tree coming to make foot soak bombs in the shape of little flip-flops. Fun and special! ---- Libby

I see what your saying, its was about the mix time not the amount of FO... I always 'cook' my wax for 2 mins after all my additives have melted, to insure that my FO doesn't bind with they vybar, and then another 2 minutes after adding my FO. Though some FOs do take a little longer to blend into the wax, like my Acorn Harvest from NG. But who knows.. we all probably have a million different ways we do our thing.. but in the end if it *stinks* its a good thing... ---- Libby

Well, now that they've had a chance to sit and dry out over night, I poured ameasure cup full of bath warm water from the spigot into it and dropped one in.. oohhh... it fizzied for quite a while. And this was one of the lips ones, we used all 4-5 of the rosette ones in lil one's bath last night. So I'm pretty sure its cause they weren't dry last night. On a side note to self... dont make bombs on the counter over the dishwasher while its running, a second little batch puffed up on me... turning from lips into funny little puffy diamond shaped things... but they still smell awesome!! I have no problem taking a bunch of sweet smelling baths while i get used to the process and learning how to make *perfect* bombs... ---- Libby