RNSandSCENTS

PurpleHippie, your avatar is just darling! CP, wipes brow man I have so much to learn! I think my nail tech skills could help abit with the swirl technique but I haven't gotten over my fear of lye enough to try! I just keep opening this post....its so pretty.

I purchased some safflower oil at the market. When I got home and read the ingredients, it says Expeller pressed safflower oil, tocopheryl acetate and dl tocopherol (vitamin e). In all my MANY hours of reading here and couple of other places, it has been said that vitamin e retards oils turning rancid so I am thinking its just in here to extend the shelf life. Is this ok to use in b&b? I am figuring yes but just thought I'd ask you first. The bottle was $2 for 32oz, its being discontinued.

How in the world did I miss this post???? Oh well....I have my mixer now but....how did I miss this post??? Ugh!!!

Just in case anyone is still looking for a KA, they are on sale at Macy's for their One Day sale tomorrow. The 4.5 qt is on sale for $239 reg $300, I bought the Artisan 5 qt. I was excited because it is normally $399 and I was able to get it for $299! Too bad I could not use my coupon but I am still happy! Edit: Looking back at my receipt, they did let me use the coupon so basically I it was 15% off, but, they gave me the coupon back????

I wanted to first start by saying that, I am really glad I posted this thread. Although some of the responses were, in my opinion, a little harsh, they were truthful and I have to respect that. That is exactly what I came here for. I don't want anyone to just hand over to me years of blood, sweat and tears that they dedicated to perfecting their business, just looking for direction and making sure that I am on the right track. My intent truely was not to make it seem like this business is at all easy and I can see where some took it that way. For that I apologize, sincerely. Now that I have had time to take it all in I have made the decision to keep candle making purely as a hobby and stick to testing my b&b, which is allowed by my insurance. Candles are not and to add it would quadruple my insurance rate. So again, I am glad I posted this thread. Thank you everyone for their input. To those of you who have so kindly emailed and pm'd me, your words moved me to tears. Somedays it just seems like the world is so cold and mean and harsh. It is nice to know that there are some really kind hearted folks out there....even if the words posted on this forum are a little tough to swallow. I cannot thank you all enough.

I guess that chair was made for a little princess and not a full grown one, huh?

Ok so please share whats wrong with that throne???? I love it! If I thought my wide load could fit, I'd be paypaling you right now for it! I love the girlie colors and the whole country feel of it, you made it work really well. It just says sit on me...very nicely done.

Candybee, I just really did not think about it all that much, until today, the risk I took. That's why it is great places like this are around to keep anxious crafters like myself informed. The information that I read in my research did not tell me alot of what I heard today. So I guess, I'll have to ask more questions BEFORE I plunge next time. Kimberly, I'll contact my agent to be sure...again, thanks for the concern. Can you tell me though, if melts and m&p soaps would fall under a Crafter's or B&B policy? Now off to play with new fo's!

I think the replacement policy does vary. I've looked on CraigsList and see that they KAs have sold for pretty reasonable prices. In the long run I think it would be better to have the KA and I am a little closer to what I need to buy one. Probably by the time the co op money is due I should have the rest. Thanks for all the great responses. I guess I should get ready for lots of product testing now....

Wow I did not expect to see so many responses. Let me go back and clarify some things. RingofFire-I was told that these were body oils. They were purchased by a friend who was trying to push me a little. I had been toying with the idea of b&b for a year now. According to the packaging, they are manufacture's grade oil that I was supposed to use in an unscented cream base that I used for pedicures. Yes I am also a licensed nail technician of 17 years hence my curiosity with this craft. About 15 years ago, I took some workshops at a community center. If I can figure out how to post pics, I have my seashell pillar candles that I made all those years ago that I never burned. As for the story sounding 'weird'.....well I kinda walked into this $10 slab with my shopping cart. The only reason that I can't keep using the same wax is because it was discontinued hence the deeply discounted price. It was regularly $25 bucks. Sometimes truth is harder to believe than fiction. Greeneyedney-This particular craft store is a specialty store and not a chain store like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. The clerk could not be sure if it were pillar or container wax but reluctently said it could be container wax because it had been discontinued but she could not be for sure if it had gone on clearance. There weren't any more in the store, just that one. Debscent-Thanks for the information. I have not quite decided yet but leaning towards a Apothecary type jar. Because most of the jars I looked at are larger containers than I am used to working with, I think I may start off smaller like with masons or jelly jars until I test them. Yes, I plan on testing them as I did with my hex jars. I will definitely rethink my wax choice for my containers. Kimberly-Thanks for the information. I can most certainly appreciate the time and effort put into making a product. I am pretty used to reactions like this on other forums with newbies to the site. Again, I am not completely a novice to this, just in need of refreshing. I will be doing melts as tart is a trademark of YC. But I plan to call them something else. Insurance is taken care of but thanks for the concern. Grumpy Girl-Stepping around a part of your post, I will address the issue with the jars. Ok....according to my notes here....I used 4 oz hex jars as Antonia stated hold 3.75 oz of wax. I only made 40 jars and what I sold them for is not important but Antonia is on the right track but I was just slightly off on my numbers as well. HeavenScentU-thanks for the concern....I never said that the store did not know where it came from BUT that they were not sure if it were container or pillar wax. I invite you to go back and reread my initial post. PamW-Yes! Apparently this store did carry container wax at some point. Flutterbye-They were not body oils but a manufacturer's grade fragrance oil. I mispoke there. But of the 10 only 6 of them burned clean with out smoking and had a nice scent throw. 2 of the 4 that I did not use smoked and the other 2 I could not smell too much. Again, I am not new to the business arena so I know all about first impressions. I hope I clarified everything that I ommitted.

I have no experience with soap AT ALL but I was wondering.....would it be possible to 'paint' the side line colors instead of molding them? I know it would be a little extra work but because of the contours of the mold that I see in your pic, unless you did something like put a little in the mold at one resting point, let it mold and move on to the next resting point and repeat, I don't see any other way to do that in a mold that is not completely flat. I am sure a soap master will have better advice but they look wonderful!

Recently, I made some candles out of a slab of wax I purchased at the craft store. I paid like $10 for a 10lb slab because it was damaged and I used some body oils that were given to me as a gift to scent them. Just based on what I read here and on the very many candle making sites I found through CraftServer, I am happy to report, they flew out the door! I made about $300 off of that $10 minus the money spent for hex jars. I cannot tell you what kind of wax it was, nor could the store. The only thing the store could tell me was that it was a 'premium blend parrafin wax' Everyone went completely nuts over them. I sold them at a club meeting and all of my reorders came from just one meeting! Now I am getting phone calls of when the next batch is coming. So thanks to elitenaildesign for bringing me to this site.....you are my friend forever :highfive: and to all of the contributors of great information you all donate. I have been reading on the computer so much to my eyes just hurt...lol. I have made some decisions about the wax end of my supply list and wanted to throw it out there for some of you already in business, just to get an idea if I was on the right track. 1. Melts - I wanted to go with JS's granular wax for my wax melts just for the simple fact that I like that its not a slab and that I can measure out what I need at the time and not have to fight the slab. I have looked for other places that have granular waxes but I did not find any. Does anyone know if there is another company that sells wax in this form? 2. Container Wax - IGI 4627 because it is a one pour (keeping my fingers crossed on that one) and the amount of fragrance it holds @ 12%. Has anyone seen granular container wax other than JSs 50-50? I wanted to stick with parrafin....don't know too much about soys....other than what I've read online here. I have not made candles in so long before this last batch that I can't even tell you what the names of the waxes I used 15 years ago were....if there were any. Thanks again to all of you. I have been toying around with this idea for a while now. I recently had to stop working because of 2 very serious illnesses and thought that would be a good way for me to get started in my own business and any information you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Wedding Day & Tahitian Tiare Flower Y Type & Sweet Pea. I really like TTF because it is a very light florally (if that's a word lol) and powdery, but light, sexy. It also has an expensive quality to it.....but thats just my

I tell you the talent on this forum is just amazing! I said that I was not doing soap but this pic has me seriously reconsidering that decision. It is absolutely beautiful! *getdown* I must ask is this homemade soap or a melt and pour?

A lifetime warranty? Okay, maybe I need to save my nickles, dimes and quarters along with my pennies then, huh?

Thank you all so much for your comments and suggestions. I found a Mixmaster for $110 and I think I will use that for now and graduate to a KitchenAid. I have a feeling it will be really soon!!! Thanks again all....I love this forum. :highfive:

Steph, I have a pretty good hand held. I was just scared a little that it would take so long that my arm would not be able to stand the process. But, I think I will just do the first batch with my hand held and see if I can do it without my arm dying. I am really not one to buy something if its not what I want so I guess I'll just save my pennies until I get enough for the Kitchen Aid. Carrie, I am going to look on Amazon.com and see if they have one in purple....my kitchen is tuscany/grape themed! Thanks for your help and input ladies!!!!

Well I have gotten up the nerve to attempt my first body butter. One thread I read that has me concerned talked about using a stand mixer vs a hand held, for obvious reasons. I have always wanted a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer but I just cannot afford the $300 price tag right now. Is anyone using a less expensive stand mixer with great results? I found a Sunbeam Mixmaster for about $100 but I wanted to see if anyone else is using this one or if anyone had a suggestion of a different one before I bought it....TIA for your responses.*super banana*

I have never used one as small as what you describing, nor have I ever seen one that small. Sounds like something I'd be interested in owning so I'll be watching this thread too. My wooden spoons are actually bamboo and I purchased them from The Pampered Chef.

This place is incredible! I have learned so much over the last few days. Jennie thanks a bunch for sending me here. I can't wait to get started doing this the right way! Thanks everyone for your help! Knowledge is so empowering!

Yes this is your NIMG Tinna.....you found me!!!

Thanks for all the advice and I have made some notes. The one thing I think I did wrong is I did not formulate my percentages correctly and I still don't think I have that concept down yet. Most of the recipes that I tried before did it by cups and tablespoons but the newer materials I have read lately are going by total weight. But I have time and I will continue to read and when I think I've got it right I will start playing around a bit more. Do any of you know where I can find information for the novice comparable to like computers for dummies? Is there like body butter making for idiots?

Chauna, Thanks a bunch. I have lots more reading to do yet but just that one search produced plenty of useful information. Thanks again!!!

Hey everyone, my name is Tinna and I want to offer handmade body butters and sugar scrubs in my nail salon to retail. I have made some body butter and a scrub before but it was for personal use. I made my original batch about 6 months ago but it was just too strong. Reading later I found out that I waaaaay to much FO for my 8 oz of shea butter base, about 2 oz! So basically what I need to know is how to go about researching basic recipes that will keep their shelf life and good suppliers. Thanks for your help.