rebeccajo99

Yes, I just love it!!!! I have done a couple of batches now and it saves so much time. It doesn't have a spicet in it. I decided not to put one in to save some money (plus I would be afraid to do it wrong and it would leak and be useless) I'm currently using one of my old pour pots to laddle it into my larger pot, but i'm afraid to scratch up the bottom of the presto, so i'm going to have to find something different, but it is at least working for now. Eccolight, just do it, you won't regret it. I wish I would have looked harder for one and probably would of had one months ago.

All I can say is WOW. I have a show on Saturday (first one in a month). Debuting my tarts. Only have a few scents, but its a start. I was hoping to get more done, but didn't happen as planned.

thats great!!! I would not have thought to do a pumpkin scented room spray. Great idea!!!

It was great. I got all my tarts poured within 2 hours (how long it normaly took to melt 1 lb of wax in my double boiler) I should have, however, just not even attempted to pour them today with everything that has happened within the last 24 hours. I couldn't pour into my molds if my life depended on it, so I lost a few tarts from my spillage. I also knocked over an open bottle of FO, I couldn't pour from the presto into my pour pot without spilling, and my blue dye exploded and I got dye EVERYWHERE. At least it did distract me from everything going on for a few hours.

I am so excited. I finally found a presto pot locally!!! I am so excited to give it a try today. I still want a few more yet (1 for each wax and for my soap), but I have at least 1 right now!!! :yay::yay::yay:

Thanks. The Cotton Blossem website was looking the best, but they are out of stock . I found another website Pendergrass, but they have a $100 minimum. They mention that a $5 surcharge for orders under $100 may be applied, so I am asking them more questions about it. They are the cheapest per item (without shipping) so far. I'm going to wait to see what their response is to my questions and then start calculating out prices with shipping on things to see where my best option is. How well do they hold up?

I agree that we do have to be selective. I'm more open to the people here than I am to people I encounter at shows. At shows I tell people I start with this and add this, this, this, this, this... and they are like, "wow didn't know it took so much. How did you decide to make this" I just tell them a lot of trial and errer until I found what I liked. I don't know of anybody yet that has copied me exactly and I don't care if people take my recipes and formulate them to what they like and works for them (I do that all the time when I look for recipes for new products, tweek them until I like them). The hard thing on this forum is that posts come up in search engines (that is how I found this forum in the first place, trying to figure out why something wasn't working), so being open to members is being open to the world. At least if people find it doing searches on the web, at least they are looking for it and will hopfully continue reading. I hate to have it that we have to have after every post, "this is what works for me, it may or may not work for you" I'm sorry you had a bad experiance already

I'm looking for an item like the Sisal soap bags. I have found a few websites that carry them Essentials by Catilena, WSP, cotton blossom. They didn't have a whole lot of reviews on them and the information on here, the newest i found was from 2007 (i think). Does anybody use them? What is your experiance with them? Also, where do you buy them (if you don't mind sharing) I had a few people attempt to make me soap saver bags, but I didn't like how the worked (mainly, how wet they kept the soap between uses). I would like to get some to start testing and possibly add to my soap accessory line. Thanks in advance

are you talking about like making it a base? I'm sure that would work fine since I have remelted soap that I didn't like how it turned out (didn't get mixed up good, forgot to spray out air bubbles or what not). Mine has always turned out fine, but mine isn't excatly like PA's since I adjusted it for my likings and base. Try a pound and give it a try. Worse case, it doesn't work and you wasted only the small portion you cut off. The rest could be left for unscented soap.

The liquid soap will add bubbles to your soap. Adding these ingrediants will "kill" the bubbles that your soap currently makes. While it will still clean without the bubbles, people think it isn't cleaning unless they see bubbles (an sometimes even a lot of bubbles). If you are just making this for yourself and don't care about the bubbles, give it a try without the liquid soap. If you are hoping to sell someday, you will most likely want to get the liquid soap to make your customers happy. I find mine at my local health food store. You can find it on Amazon.com as well. I even think that it is part of the free shipping program. Have fun!!! but be warned... It is very addicting

I agree with everybody else. That just raises a lot of red flags in my book and I wouldn't want to sell another item for fear of not getting paid for it. Plus, I wouldn't want people to tell me how to "run" my business (raising/lowering prices). I don't mind constructive critizism, but not telling me to do something.

Thanks guys for your comments. I think I will just go ahead and get them. Hopefully they see the same point of views if they ask about them.

Thanks for the info (even if it is the shortened verson. I always hate when I do that ) I checked out that sagescript website. I got a little confused on the pricing, but since I'm not near close to even thinking about sending anything, I will have some time to e-mail them for clarification. I was trying to figure out if it was $500 for the first test and then $60 something for the second. Its late, my brain isn't working 100% I think I'm going to wait until I get my workshop set up (which should hopefully be within the next month!!!) then I think i'll give my first recipe a try. My space is limited, so I'm going to have to be making it in the same area as my soaps and candles. Waiting until I get my workshop will inable me to "lock" out my kids so I don't get them touching my newly disinfected area. I feel like lotion is a whole lot more senstive than soaps and bath bombs.

I was wondering that too if I could just put together some gift/combo packs which includes a warmer. My only hesitation on that is that I don't want to have 1 for each scent (with only have 5 it isn't a big deal, but as I add more, that could get costly). Unless I had a "starter pack" option, where they pick out so many tart packages and you can get a warmer for so much. I'll have to wait to see what they say.

I have 5 scents in tarts that are now marketable, so I'm designing my packaging and will hopefully be able to start taking those 5 (plus any more I get done between now and my next show) to the craft shows. My next show is for crafts/art only and has to be made by you. I was was wanting to order some warmers so I could have them for those who may not have a warmer or may need a new one (or may just want the design I have). Do you know if those are still permissable at these types of shows because they are a necessaty to use your product? I have an message into the organizers about it, but have not heard back yet. I want to get them ordered soon if I can bring them. I'm not smart enough to make my own warmers... I would have a lawsuit coming at me for sure if I had to make electrical stuff:laugh2: Thanks

I've been doing A LOT of research on making lotion. I was thinking about using a base, but cannot find one that is either 1... contains the ingrediants I want or 2... one that i can add the ingrediants I want. So I have gathered a few recipes, but have a few questions before I even think about getting the ingrediants to try them. I have done a search, but some of the posts are old, so I want to get more up to date info 1. What do you use to disinfect the work area? I have been using the clorox wipes when I do my soap and bath bombs, is that enough for lotion, or do I need something stronger? 2. Do you do home kits for testing or do you send it away for testing. I do plan/hope on selling it someday. How often/much should the product be tested for the mold, bacteria before it is determined that it is preserved enough? 3. Last question, isn't it required that your ingrediants have to be on the bottle for lotions? I was at a show a few weeks back and one of the booths I stopped at said my hands and arms felt really dry and proceeded to put her lotions on my hands and arms to try. I tried to stop her so I could read the ingrediants first, but fail. When I picked up a bottle to look afterwards, I didn't see them. I didn't say anything to this person, but now I'm very confused. (fyi, I will be putting them on no matter what, but I'm just wondering if it was a requirment or not, I thought I read that it was) My plan is to make my own base so then all I have to do is add my color and/or fragrance to it as needed/want. Thanks in advance

What if you change the specs of the label? mailings- Labels- details When I ordered from online labels, I used one of thier custom design sides. I got the information for all the specs on their website for the label I was ordering. Worked great. Also, I had one of my labels would print a little on the top/bottom (as in i was missing the top half line of each label. Went to the Page layout tab and put some spacing before the top line. Moved everything down a little to put it nicely on my label. Hopefully one of those 2 things will help. If not, let me know and I will see if I can help more.

I too have never tried it, but have heard simular stories as doglover. I hear more stories on getting the hits, and not the sales than the other way around (now that I think about it, I don't think I ever heard of people getting sales from it). As a person who is on facebook (way more than she should be), I look at the ads occasionally and if one pops out at me, I click it, but its more to see what they have/prices. I normally only visit the candle and soap ads.

I found websites that talk about how to make the tassels, but cannot figure out how you could attach a sachett. It will take some playing around, but a great idea. Item has just been added to my list....:embarasse

is that cyclo stuff really as easy as it sounds??? mix in the fo and pour into a bottle???

Does anybody know where I can get some clear acrylic display stands? I just need 1 level (so i would have 1 row sitting on the tabel and then the row behind it above the first row- for a total of 2 rows) I found this website. http://www.misterplexi.com/risers.html; but the 1 level displays only come in squares (unless I missed them somewhere) but won't be able to make them work with the depth and hight that I want/need. Thanks in advance

I am nervous listing them as additional insured as I did not interview these people and have no idea if they are going to randomly start picking fights or leaving cords around for customers to trip on because the vendors are the ones providing insurance for them. I will contact them and find out exactly what they are looking for. It's a higher show fee, so I'm confused on why the vendors need to provide insurance for the workers. Here is how the verbage goes on the application... what do you think? "Each vendor must supply the Festival Committee with a current certificate of insurance, which provides general liablity coverage and which identifies the city of Walker and its officers, employees and volunteers as additional insureds. The insurance must be in such a form and amounts reasonalbe acceptable to the city and each vendor must maintain such coverage during the dates of the Festival as well as at all times during which the vendor or its equipment are located or operating on City-owned property"

Thats a cool system. do you then put the tealight into a tealight cup?

I was "invited" to a craft show next month (I say invited because they just sent me an application without inquiring about it) and I have a question. I says that I need to provide a copy of my general liablity insurance (which isn't a problem), but the insurance has to identify the city and its officers, employees and volunteeers as additional insureds? This is the first time that I have been asked to provide evidence of insurance. Is that normal to have to have it show the additional insures and how would I do that. Do I have to get a new policy for the show dates? Thanks

wow... I wasn't even thinking that. Now that you mentioned it... that is all I see.