IndulgentCreations

I bought some cute little shamrock sprinkles to make St. Patricks Day bubble bars and I'm hitting a wall on coming up with a good scent. Any input? I'll even post pics when they're done!

Any clue how to get in touch with them? I saw on the website that it does say colorants are still available but not finding a way to get ahold of them. I did email through the retail soap side....hope it's the same but have yet to hear anything back. Thanks in advance for the help!

If you use soap calc, it will tell you all of that. Spend some time getting familiar with it, it'll be your best soapy friend. Olive pomace is different but that's what I use all the time. http://www.soapcalc.com/

Here's an article on anchoring EO's. http://www.pallasathenesoap.com/articles/EssenOil.pdf

I've done that too. Was a great soap but I needed the lather. Just not something you can get much of without changing your recipe around. As for the OP, I've never tried PKO instead of coconut. I'd maybe tried use the PKO for 1/2 of your coconut in your recipe and go from there.

OK. Here's my best guess with the info you gave. Where are you getting your scents/EO's? Are they from a reputable company or oils from Michaels/Hobby Lobby type place? I've never had a problem with EO's sticking other than the orange (any citrus) that you mentioned. I'd look there 1st. As for orange, the only way to get them to stick is to use an anchor EO like patchouli, etc. I make a patchouli/orange and it's fab. Vanilla extract I wouldn't recommend. Too much alcohol. As for your peppermint fading...once again look at your oil source. Your mints are the strongest...should not fade. As for crayons for colorant, there's a ton of info online from Crayola explaining that crayons are not skin safe for B&B use. You can find so many herbs and spices that are skin safe without using crayons. Other than that, watch your temps. If you are CPOP or working at too high of temps you can cause your scent to "burn off". Hope this helps and have fun with the addiction.

Does anyone carry this now? Soap Silly doesn't do supplies anymore, right?

Good, I just ordered it, LOL!

OK, I bought a couple of pounds of Spring Rain from ICS (I believe it was a Snowtop scent) and this last year it has become a best seller for me. Problem is, that scent is discontinued now. I've tried Peak's Spring Rain, it's too heavy on the floral, not the clean. My question is...does anyone remember this scent and is there something close elsewhere? I know ICS's site says you can order discontinued scents in large quantity...I'm sure it'll be more than I'm going to want on hand. Thanks in advance for any help!

I agree with rustic. I'm 3 years into my business and have put every dime back into it. It takes a lot of money to have a B&B business, there is just so much testing to do. My business plan shows that after year 5 I should actually be able to start paying myself some.

If you're going to get into soap, you're going to spend money. If you get into CP, you're going to spend a LOT of money, there's no way around it. Oils, lye, colorants, FO's, EO's, molds, packaging... If I gave you the dollar amount I've invested over the last 3 years to build my business...well let's just say it makes my head spin! LOL But to me that's any business you're serious about. M&P may be the way to go but a good M&P base still isn't cheap. HTH

Where I on the other hand gel all but one of my soaps which is a milk soap

Sorry to hear about your wife having difficulties and the loss of the baby. I saw your post about you taking time off but I'm newer here too and wasn't familiar with your molds. Can you fill me in more what type of soap molds you make as I've been looking into getting a log mold (currently use slabs)? Thanks

Crud...that stinks doesn't it? I just had that happen to me a month ago. Put a batch in the oven, went and made dinner, sat down to eat then watch TV...hours later it dawned on me...OMG my soap!!! Over an inch of oil sitting on top. I dumped it into a pan, scraped the rest out of the mold and cooked it. I think I saved it, it tested out OK after the cure. Such a dunce, I never do that!

I like Mountain Elegance.

Just thought I'd show pics of my new bubble bars. I'm having fun playing around with them. Birthday Cake Polar Express Chocolate Covered Cherry

Have you tried spritzing with alcohol? That has worked for me As for the chunks...no it doesn't have to be the same recipe. HTH

I get a nice pink with pink ultramarine.

Never heard of them crackling either but there are a lot of color choices out there for this technique. http://www.saratogascents.com/soap_paint.html

You always see people trying to dupe B&BW, Body Shoppe, and Lush. A company comes out with something that sells (or a darn good sales pitch), someone will try to hop on the coat tails and ride along. It just happens. ...I'm just as guilty as the next...fragrances included.

From experience & a soapmaker, you will cost yourself many valuable sales by not having them listed. It makes you look like you are trying to hide something.

Yes, don't shy away from canola, I use it often and also have never had DOS. It's great in soap!

You don't have to wait 8 weeks to cure the recipe you listed, I cure all of mine for 4 weeks...just didn't want you to think you had to wait that long. As for the OO cure question...were you planning to make an all OO soap? If you are planning to make a castille, it'll have to sit in the mold probably close to a week (at least mine have). But this is only for recipes with all OO or very high % of OO. You may want to get a couple of batches in before making castille, it takes forever to trace, might help to see trace and get a feel for it 1st. As for FO recommendations, what company FO's do you plan to use? They are not all the same results. A few unisex scents that I make are Waterfall Mist (ICS), Cool Citrus Basil (KY Candle), Salty Sea Air (ICS), Emerald Sea (Tradewinds) just a few off the top of my head. These all behave very well.

I've been watching the classies for a log mold too. I have always used slab molds but would like to get a log mold to try a few things I can't do in a slab.

The main tips that I can give you are start simple! 1. Go to the Miller soap site and find a recipe you can try, just to get the feel of soaping, nothing fancy...one with oils you can buy at your local grocery store. 2. Use a GOOD scale. Accurate lye measurements for small batches is very important. 3. Always tongue test you soap, sounds gross but you'll always know if it's OK or not that way, if it's not you'll get a zap! 4. Be safe...remember your safety...gloves, goggles and snow falls on the lake meaning always add your lye to your water not the other way around. I always recommend to new soapers, keep it simple! I can't say that enough. Just get the feel of soaping, there's a lot to pick up on. If you're not worrying about coloring for the 1st batch it'll give you more time to study trace and get the feel of it. The FO is up to you but some of them can give you funny results sometimes so I'd even suggest to do a completely plain unscent/uncolored batch to get the ture feel. HTH