Starr

Oh I know the soap isn't going to be super beneficial, but I feel bad that I keep sending mom all these fun soaps to try and my step father can't use them. So this is sort of a "Hey I was thinking of you and maybe this will help a bit" sort of thing. I've done lotions, LOVE doing lotions actually, but I haven't tried any balms yet as DH has mostly forbidden me to add to the line right now, I'm taking over more and more of what was supposed to be the "Man Cave" with the candles/soaps/lotions. Whipping up a balm just for this though wouldn't require too much of an additional take over... I might have to consider it.

Ok, seaweed power is on it's way to me. Looking at emu and coal tar. Thinking about a few drops of tea tree oil as opposed to lavender as they both have those nice skin properties (and similar ones at that). Would REALLY love to get my hands on some cucumber oil for added benefit and hopefully some scent. I'm loathe to throw FO into this knowing that I'm making it for skin conditions.

Rosemary kind of surprises me as I always find it kind of... harsh. Lavender I had considered but since I was making this primarily for my step-father, I figured I'd avoid making him smell flowery. I haven't tried working with coal tar or emu oil yet, any suggestions you have for working with those materials?

I always appreciate willing testers. I was trying to make up something for my step father. I know he can be kinda miserable with it. I've been sending tons of stuff for mom to try out, but I know that my step-father has to be all too careful with what he tries. I will certainly keep seaweed in mind though. Thanks!

I'm looking for a recipe that would be good for someone with psoriasis. I did a little digging around on the web and found that a lot of sufferers like a soap with cucumber and green tea. So I'm thinking some essential oils are in order. I'm having a TERRIBLE time finding actual cucumber essential oil or even green tea essential oil (but I'm thinking about steeping some strong green tea and just adding some of that). Anyone ever done anything like this or know where I can get my hands on cucumber essential oils?

We're getting closer to success! Attempt 2 yielded nearly perfect uniform color and just a couple of little speckles. The speckles aren't bothering me in the least, there's just a few of them and I think it gives the bar a very "handmade" sort of quality, I do wish I could get the color just a tiny bit more uniform. It seems that the top of the bar is a little more vibrant in color then the bottom.

Well, that was a slight bust. It seems that I didn't get all the oxide mixed into the alcohol and ended up with some powder that settled to the bottom. I was able to cut it off and remelt, luckly, this is mostly for me, I might let some of my testers give it a whirl. So we're going for attempt 2 with more alcohol and MORE MIXING. Will check on it after I run to the store, it's still liquid and hot.

Well, I had a bit (read: A LOT) of a restless night last night so I gave it a shot with some Jasmine FP that I didn't particularly like very much so that if i blew it again the waste would be minimal. I've got to run upstairs in the next little bit and see how it came out. I ended up going in the middle between watery and pasty, I'll let you know how it comes out.

So should i have a somewhat pasty consistency or something more watery?

*bleary eyed* I just finished a 4 hour label making session for body stuff. I've designed the labels for everything I do with the exception of warning labels, those I've been buying but will likely start making the next time I feel the need to put my fist through a wall. Anyway, a few things help if you're going to design your own. Microsoft Word, Avery Wizard for Microsoft Word, and paint. I haven't found much that I can't do between those 3 programs thus far.

Better yet... I knew I would remember that I'd seen something like this. http://newcart.candlesandsupplies.com/Store/Products/Candles/Containers%2c+Jars/Ball%2c+Mason+Jars/Default.aspx

I know sure as I'm typing that I've seen something like that in the not too distant past. I'm going to page through some of my bookmarks and see what I come up with. The picture makes it kind of hard to tell, is it round or sided?

What's the size of this jar?

Ya know, I've tried individual bagging.. I HATED IT! Right now I'm using display boxes and stickering "shopping bags" with contact info and logo. If this works well, I'm going to "GO GREEN" so to speak and have a stamp made up and stamp my bags. This seems to be working okay for votives. For containers, I've been doing ribbon and hang tags but want to switch over to some type of label in the near future.

It might sound silly, but check flea markets and antique types of stores. I LOVE mason jars and usually find some in places like that. Usually I find stuff that isn't exactly your standard Ball or Atlas jar that's so readily available. All you need to do is give them a good soak and wash in a water/amonia rinse then you can either boil or bake them (bake at about 225) to steralize.

The only time I used beeswax in crafts was when I was a kid. My mother bought me this "make your own candle" type of kit that came with lots of sheets of beeswax in a bunch of different colors. A lot of the "recipes" that came with the kit involved cutting the sheets and forming shapes then pressing them onto your rolled candles. The cut shapes do have a funky texture to them because the beeswax is commonly found in a sort of honey comb texture (or at least I think that's what it's supposed to be). There might be some appeal in that regard, not only do you have the honey comb texture but you have the difference in the texture between paper/plastic/etc and the wax.

Ah! That I did not try. I tried doing a straight add into the base (HUGE MESS) and tried to mix it into oil (slightly smaller HUGE MESS) and neither worked. The alcohol doesn't dry out the soap any? Should I look at adding some extra water or carrier oil?

Has anyone does this successfully? I tried Iron Oxide once for leather soap and it was a DISASTER! I still have some left that I didn't throw out figuring maybe I'd find a use for it elsewhere. I have a fair amount of Purple Oxide too (I think it's magnesium) that I haven't even bothered to try yet because of the horrible experience I had with the iron. If you've pulled this off, can you give me a head's up on what you did/how you did it, I'd be more then grateful. Thanks!

Ok, I'm not much of a soy fan, but I have tried it and have tried it with square jars. I LOVE the squares I get but there usually is some wax left in the corners that doesn't get melted completely. I could probably tinker with my wicking to fix the problem, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

I use resealable cello bags. The 3x5 size holds all the different types of bars I make and looks better to me then saranwrap which is usually what I see most recommended as it's so readily available. If you shop around, you should be able to get a whole slew of them for a good price. I typically buy them on eBay and get somewhere between 300-500 for under $10 shipped. Then I stick some labels on the bag, have fun with ribbons, bows, etc...

Goat's Milk base can be much fun to work with, you can buy the powdered Goat's Milk from a variety of suppliers. I get most of my stuff from Candles&Supplies here in PA and i know they carry it. I think the place I get my lotion stuff from, Therapy Garden sells it too. If you have lots of other bases and really like the Goat's Milk, you can always add it and get those benefits.

I think I'll give them a try... Thanks!

Just to add to the list of things that FO eats through: Contact paper. I recycled an old desk by covering the top of it in contact paper so that the little nicks and digs didn't get filled with soap/wax or where the digs exposed wood that FO didn't seep in. I've got several "rings" where the FO started eating through the contact paper. Luckly, it seems that rubbing alcohol cleans it enough to stop the melting and I use an all-natural degreaser after that to kill the oily residue when I make spills.

I've tried food coloring and didn't much care for it. I had memories of my mother using it for sugar cookies when I was a kid and running around for days afterwards with reddish-pink or pale green colored hands. Whereas this didn't happen with the food coloring when I tried it, I used tiny amounts because I was really afraid of it happening and didn't get a good enough color from it. I LOVE using mica's, they're really easy to mix in and give a fun little sparkle type of effect, the problem is I can hardly ever find them for affordable prices. I have contemplated using some of my mineral make-up stuff (as I went on a shopping spree once and bought some that I never used) but am kind of freaked about doing that too. FD&C color is great! It's a little more expensive then some of the other liquid colorants that are available (I started with Oregon Trail's liquid crystal stuff but had to use tons of it to get a good color, ultimately, it just wasn't cost effective) but you use the smallest amounts. Also for easier coloring, use clear M&P soap. It takes color easier and uses less for the most part too.

Weighing is the way to go, it's pretty easy to do and gives a more uniform product. I bought my digital scale on eBay for under $20, but I know that places like Wal-Mart have them for about the same price. This is a good practice for your wax too, though admittedly I don't use a digital scale for my wax as I use mostly granules and am always afraid that a few stray granules might somehow get INTO the digital and mess it up. I bought a standard dial kitchen scale from Wal-Mart for under $10 and use that for my wax. Just to be on the safe side, I check the scale with a standard sized 1lb weight from time to time to make sure my granules haven't effected it.