JacquiO

Just an FYI - The Lou Ann brand coconut oil at Walmart or other grocers is 76 degree. I'm not sure if it says it on the bottle but it is. No need to order online.

I just wanted to chime in being a newbie myself. I love soaping with crisco. I haven't tried lard. (I'm vegi soaper) but I really love working with crisco. The soaps I've made are very mosturizing. I would definitely recommend trying small batches of both so you can compare. Also I alway run my recipes through soap calc. So far it hasn't steered me wrong and I've gotten a great batch everytime. If I find a recipe in a book or online I want to try I first break down the oil measurements into percentages and run it through the soap calc to calculate water and lye.

Even when I had short hair I used a bandana or ball cap. I never cared for the look of hair nets.

Yeah in Maui -- Can I come too?

Hi Shane and Shantille, Welcome to the forum. You're gonna get a lot of advice and mixed opinions on this forum but it'll still help your learning curve in the way of making candles and avoid a lot of pitfalls. Yaley supplies to a lot of retailers like Michaels and A.C Moore. If your buying retail your going to pay top dollar but it's a good way to get your feet wet so to speak but eventually you're going to want to find a reputable supplier - the closer to you the better. And believe me when I tell you that Yaley products just don't hold a candle to a lot of the wonderful waxes, dyes, wicks and fragrances you can find at other suppliers. Soy wax is picky but there are additives you can use to help it behave better. My favorite is 1 tbsp 76 degree Coconut Oil per pound of soy - I use the LouAnn Brand that I get at Walmart. You should never heat your soy above 180 degrees - it oxidizes when over heated and can discolor. Pouring temps vary. I usually pour between 150 and 120 degrees. Some people wait until it's slushy. I don't but again the coconut oil really helps with this so pour temps isn't a big issue for me. Cracking - Soy cracks almost no matter what you do especially around the wick. Some techniques are hitting the sides of the jar when it's still liquid to get the air bubbles out and/or cooling the jars slower by putting in an oven that is off but slightly warm or putting a cardboard box over them. Personally I don't bother with either - I used to but now I just let them crack and then smooth out the tops with a heat gun. A heat gun is a necessity in candle making. Don't try using a hair dryer - you'll really regret that decision. Invest in a heat gun. You can use the embosssing ones from a craft store or the paint stripping ones from the hardware store. I've seen them online for as little as $15 or you can ask around. Someone you know may have one gathering dust in a garage. As for making soy pillars. There are especially formulated soy waxes for pillars. Ecosoya Pillar Blend is my favorite. I've experienced the least amount of cracking with this wax and I've tried a few others. With the pillar wax I do have to heat my molds and cool slower by putting a box over them. Also you need to lubricate your metal molds in order to release your candles. The best lubricant for me is Silicon Spray. One coat can do about 50 candles before having to spray again. You can also use a cooking spray like PAM (don't use ones with flour or butter flavor) but with cooking spray you have to coat more often. Silicon Spray is worth the investment. I've had the same can for over 8 years. You cannot use the silicon or cooking spray on polycarbonate, rubber or plastic molds. Silicon molds are the best (also the most expensive) and need no lubrication. You cannot use soy container wax for pillars. These waxes are designed to adhere to the sides of the jar. In pillars and even tarts you'll have a bitch of a time trying to release from the mold. What I have done is blend container soy with pillar paraffin. I haven't made big pillars with this. Mostly just tarts and decorative embeds. But they do release at about a 70% pillar paraffin to 30% container soy. I wouldn't try using more soy. You can do 50/50 blends with soy/paraffin container waxes and get the best of both worlds in regards to scent throw, adhesion, no cracking, no frosting, creamy look and cleaner burning. HTH (Hope This Helps) Cheers, Jacqui

I agree the Ecosoya CB Adv is the one of the best soys waxes. Very creamy and just a pleasure to work with. I do still add a tbsp of coconut oil per pound to help with the throw and I think it helps with the frosting issues too.

You could possible replace the SLSA with epsom salts. No bubbles but you get the therapeutic value of the epsom. I use epsom straight in my foot bath. Some menthol crystals might be nice to add if your not going to use any other fragrance or you can add menthol to any fragrance that would go well with peppermint - like vanilla or chocolate.

I mix patchouli if I want my fragrance to be more earthy. You have your straight patchouli lovers granted but I think it adds a woody earthy base to a lot of fragrances including vanilla, citrus, and flowery scents. I would keep the ratio low on the patchouli when blending and add more a little at a time if you feel it needs it.

The shipping is high especially if you buy just one item but if you combine a bunch of things I think it's worth it. I ordered from them about a month ago and I actually got a call from them because they were out of one of the items I ordered and I was able to sub before the order went out. That I really appreciated. They get a thumbs up from me.

Egypytian Musk is lighter than the regular Musk. It's powderery to me. The perfume that really smells like it is Windsong which my grandmother wears. I think that's why I like it so much because when ever I smell it it reminds me of her. I haven't used it in B&B. I just sold it as a straight body oil and I did cut the Ultra with DPG and didn't get any complaints about the strength. Sometimes when you cut the ultra and extremes they smell nicer. HTH, J

My friend candledungeon got some Egyptian Musk FO on sale at http://madinaonline.com/index.asp. She said is was the best she has gotten. I like Egyptian Musk and it sells well as an incense and roll-on. I also quickly sold out of the tarts and votive candles I made with it. I used the SOS Egyption Musk which I liked but I had to get it in the Ultra Concentrate - the SOS concentration wasn't strong enough.

SOS doesn't have bacon yet. I'm tempted to order some sniffees of these just to satisfy my curiosity. Saturday Night Live did a commercial spoof on MANDLES the candles for Men. Add these 4 scents plus some OutDoor BBQ and Locker Room and you can start your own line of MANDLES.

I like "Lethal Mood". How 'bout Mood Adjustment Feeling the Flow

... and grilled ham and cheese sandwich are a few of the new FOs at SOS. I'm curious to know how spot on they are...but what kind of applications would you use them for? - Bear hunting maybe.

Or unless it's unwrapped and smells like chocolate. (although who would eat a chocolate bar they found in the bathroom - yuk!) I'd love to be the fly on the wall when that happens.

They look really cool. My only fear would be that someone would try to eat them - and you know someone will.

I caught this How to Video on YouTube. I haven't tried it yet but I want to.

Candlewic is running a special on their soy-125 for $49 for 50lb case plus 200 wick assemblies. http://www.candlewic.com/store/Product.aspx?q=cSoy,p677

I don't believe it should take 4 to five hours to get a complete meltpool. 1 to 1-1/2 hour tops. It's not even reccommended that you burn a candle for more than 4 hours at a time.

I especially like the gingerbread houses but they are all impressive.

For a long time I used candlewic's CBL-141 custom blend. Other than a UV inhibitor for bright colors you don't need any other additives. It holds and throws fragrance really well and has a smooth glossy finish everytime. It's a few dollar more than the 140 but in IMHO worth it. If you request samples from Candlewic definitely add some CBL-141 to that request.

I like that Target one that's all one solid piece. Believe it or not I found both large and dual head mini silicon spatulas at Dollar Tree. The also had the silicon basting brushes. All for $1 each - can't beat it with a spatula!

I use the Germabin Plus but I have no problems with smell. I've read with some perservatives that you have to add it when your emulsion is cool. When I make my scrubs I heat the oils and butters then whip in the sugar. After everything has been whipped several times and has cooled down I add perservative - whip some more then add in color and fragrance. If the perservative is overpowering the fragrance you may try upping the FO to 2%.

I think I'm going to have to go back to Lowes and buy what's left. I've been checking internet prices and not so good especially when you add shipping plus hazmat fees. I though Alabaster carried lye pretty reasonably priced but I went back to their site I could not find it.

I was debating using she/he cause I really didn't know. Next time I could try a s/he. No offense to the opposite sex but soap and b&b hobbies tend to appeal more to the ladies so I figured:confused: my odds of it being a she were good.