Starr

It sounds like sweating, I had that problem with A LOT of my soaps up in the attic at our old place. If you can change locations even just for storing, you might find that the problem goes away or at least reduces.

The other thing you can try for harder bars is Olive Oil. I know that pre-blended Olive Oil M&P is some of the hardest I've ever used.

Hmmm. That is.. umm. Interesting! Was it a plain M&P base or did it have something extra like coco butter/shea/etc... in it?

Those measurements look ok to me, have you tried letting the bars cure for any length of time? I find that I usually get a pretty good result letting the finished bars cure overnight.

Has anyone tried one that is body safe and has a good scent? I've got a request for a special order and have no knowledge of the scent. Help please?!

There really isn't a ratio that I can promise will always prove to be effective. Unfortunately I've never worked with pure beeswax for candles so I can't give you any experienced input on the particular wax you're working with. I can tell you from using soy and a few different types of paraffin wax that USUALLY I use 1oz FO to 1lb of wax. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration though, the type of wax, the type of fragrance oil (not just the scent but the source), how strong you want the scent, and so on. Hopefully someone with a bit more experience with beeswax candles can chime in, in the meantime, can you tell us where you got your Citronella oil from? It might help save time later if one of our beeswax candle makers know that in advance. I hope you enjoy candle making as much as the rest of us do. Starr

I did some growing up in an old Italian neighborhood (meaning that a lot of the people were elderly and some even came over from 'the old country') and there was a festival every year. I remember 2 things about it. The almond candies (hint hint: almond scents) and how all the vendors did their best to nail everything down that they possibly could because there was a lot of theft. Anyway, I would go for nutty scents, coffee scents, I'm not really sure exactly how much time you have left to plan/make but anything with an Italian Horn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornicello and http://www.goldenmine.com/ProductImages/Charms/mini/P0912_m.jpg) would likely be good too as many Italians like that as a mark of their heritage. HTH

I'm always a little leery of getting this kind of stuff from ebay. If all the feedback looks good though, it might be worth trying. You could also contact the buyer and find out what (if any) return policy they have. Also remember too that if you use Paypal to pay for your purchase and there's a problem, they do have a dispute process, one of the reasons you can dispute a purchase for is if the item is not as described. So if it goes south, you still have some options for recouping your money. HTH

Sorry you're having so much trouble with it. I'm rather surprised that C&S told you to try another method instead of just replacing it. When I've had problems with wax from them in the past, they've replaced it, no problem. Hopefully your new slab will yield some better results!

Hmmm. The last time I was at C&S they had a scent called Tomato Basil, that might be something good for a pizza shop. HTH

I've heard of people using shredded newspaper. I haven't tried it myself, but it sounds like it would be easy/cheap to do.

I've started using C&S's campfire and I haven't had any problems with it.

I LOVE using mica's and have had some good results with liquid dyes. I've tried oxides and have never had much success with them.

There's a lot of factors with wicking and it can be confusing. Part of the variable is the type of wax you're using and even the FO/EO as they can affect burning. Your best bet is to test, test, test.

Looks wonderful to me!

My preferences are 1, 9, and 10.

Awesome!!! Congrats!

I've used aloe in place of water. I can't use a full load of aloe though without sticky results. Usually a 50/50 mix of aloe and water is about as far as I can go. I haven't tried almond extract but am curious what properties you're trying to get from it.

For heavy stuff like wax and bases, I always try and stick local. Keeps your costs down.

I do my lotions a bit differently then you do, but I suggest adding more water to thin it out. HTH

Not a one. I'm so stuck on this. It seemed like Arnica was the right answer until I looked at the flowers and they're different.

I was referring to HP. I should've said so, sorry about that. I'm taking a short break from it, will probably get back to in in a week or two and will take everyone's suggestions into consideration.

I found the rose petals that I referenced earlier in one of my M&P books. The author did take silk rose petals and dip them. Presumably you could do the same with leaves.

I hadn't before I was asked for it either. I'm going to try calling the health food stores that are local and seeing what they can do to help.

It actually does have a mild cocoa taste.