LuminousBoutique

You know... I've achieved something like this on my own but I dont know how long it would store... How I made my "whipped soap" was I took two cups of CP soap shreds (a coconut milk unscented.. I believe it was a 5 oz bar that made about 2 cups when shredded) and I poured 1/2 cup warm water over it in a pyrex dish. Let it set overnight to soften, poured off whatever water was left over, then whipped (in my kitchenaid stand mixer with whip attachment) with another 1/4-1/2 cup apricot kernel oil. Its about as luxurious and creamy a soap as I have ever used- but I use it all up so quickly (shaving, on a bath pouf!) that it never gets stored... This has inspired me to go whip up a batch and set it in a jar for a month and see what comes of it.. I'll keep a bit of a journal on it and let you all know! It has almost a yogurt texture.. not as runny as a liquid soap, but not as thick as say.. a frosting.

I'm glad I read this because I've only ever used EO's.. I'm just beginning to venture into FO and I was a bit lost. My batch of grapefruit came out very nice, but WAY too light. I used .25oz per pound, it smelled strong in bottle, but very weak after cure. Snowdrift farms reccomends .25 on their website, at the top of their FO page.. so thats what I went with. Wasnt enough... Try try again I guess! I'm about to drop a whole lot of cash on a whole bunch of FO's (using some of your faves, ladies... so I am SO GLAD this is here!!) so this is really helpful.. I think I'll aim for the .5-1 next time. I'd rather have it a bit strong, honestly.. that seems to be what pleases my customers the most. Not my favorite to have the scent stick with me all day, but they seem to like it and dont seem to care or know the difference between FO and EO when I try to explain it so... I guess, customers always right!

I use a silicone mold I bought at michaels, its a mini brownie pan. I've used it for both CP and MP.. it makes a .75oz bar, I keep them at my sink and they last about 2-4 days with a family of four washing their hands with them. I think they are 1"x1" squares, about 1/2" deep. Seem small, but customers seem to love them.

I meant coconut milk, blah! So tired.

I've noticed as a seller that it doesnt really affect the customers choice to buy, but it does affect my bottom line! As a customer in the past.. I never much cared about the packaging because I generally ripped it off the second I got home just to give it a try!! I hear you on the round soaps though.. I have the hardest time trying to figure out how I am going to wrap/present those at my next show. I made my first batch of round soaps a few weeks ago and now Im just staring at them going... hm.. what now? LOL

I made some coconut milk soap too... it was a canola/olive/coconut oil mix, I used canned goats milk (12oz) (froze it into a slush before adding it) and disolved the lye in 12oz water, added the goats milk when it had cooled to 90*, and then made sure that mixed well before I added it to the oils. The lye started to almost trace on me when I added the coconut milk, so that was startling, but once I mixed with the oils and used my stick blender it slowed up and turned out great! Mine have been curing for 4 weeks, they are nice and firm, lather REALLY well.. must be the extra coconut in it, but they are more bubbly than my regular bars for sure. I love it! I might use it much more often Mine do not smell like coconut milk though... they dont have any coconut scent at all.. must depend on the brand you use!!

I made a batch of CP soap that unfortunately I cut hastily while my brain was shut off and now I have a ton of left over odds and ends of soap. I was wondering if its possible to whip this... with some water or something? In my mind I was thinking about grating it, adding in a bit of tea infused distilled water, and then adding some mango butter or oils... anyone tried this method or something similar? I'm looking for a really creamy thick "butter" type consistency. I've seen "foaming bath butter" from chemistry store and thats really what I am trying to get to but using my CP soap as the base.. is it possible?

That looks like cool stuff!

Yeah I have found liquid soap bases which are tear free but they are not natural at all.. speaking from experience... getting CP soap in your eyes is NOT FUN lol.

It might, What I would suggest more than that would be to use silicone. I bought some and it works amazing.. its called OOMOO 25, silicone Rubber Compound by Smooth-On. It comes in PartA and PartB, you mix equal parts (best to use our scales for this!) and then pour it over you "item" and it will make a perfect silicone cast. Its also good to buy the "Mann Ease Release-205" There is a video here: this is Martha S using it to make a twig mold... But my method is a bit different. I had a small bird statue I wanted to make a mold from, so I took a plastic tupperware, laid the bird down on its side, and poured plaster about 1/2 of the way up, trapping him on his side, and leaving the side I wanted the mold to be of exposed. Then I poured my OOMOO over. When the OOMOO dried, I peeled it off and I had the perfect 1/2 indent of the bird! Its wonderful stuff.. and its non-stick and flexible so you can flex it to pop your soap out. I've heard of candle makers using it alot too.. this is another video that uses a different form of rubber but you could use OOMOO for this as well.

I would attempt to negotiate with her, and if she will not lower her price, look elsewhere. Here in Utah there is a store called "The Quilted Bear" and it is a consignment type deal, where you pay a booth fee and also they take commission. I spoke with a manager about the fees being too expensive, and she informed me they will negotiate for the right products and for a space which has maybe been vacant for too long or so on... so its a possibility you could get her to work with you on a trial basis, or negotiate her down just to see if it works. I agree with the other posters though.. shes asking too much as is. Foot traffic or not. I have my products in a shop where they pay ME 1/2 of wholesale, then the rest plus 10% when it sells. Works well for me and for them. for example.. if I sell them 10 bars of soap, they pay me $3.00 wholesale for each.. they pay me half up front ($15.00) and then the rest when they sell them for $6.50 each, usually in a month or less, plus 10%.. so I end up making $33.00 off the bars which is less than I woudl sell them for myself or on ETSY but its nice to get "chunks" of money back and I never have to pay them anything.. and cash is tight so thats a huge benefit.

I do a hot oil treatment on my hair... heres my recipe in response to another post on here! http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70469 Rosemary EO is really safe and good for hair.. I use .5oz to every 2oz of oil, and I add in 2tsp of honey. I wouldnt use FO personally.. but thats just a preference of mine to stick with all natural products on scalps.

I don't know of any solid ones but I have a nice conditioning oil mask recipe that maybe you could tweek to make a solid form from. (this is for one treatment) 1 oz coconut oil 1 oz avocado oil 2 tsp pure honey .5 oz rosemary essential oil In a small glass bowl or measuring cup I melt the honey for 30-60 seconds or so in the microwave then mix in my oils and EO. When its all melted and mixed, and still warm but not HOT, I massage it into the ends of my hair and work my way up. I make sure and massage into my roots too, but I do that last. Rosemary EO is good for dry, itchy, or dandruff in scalps. It helps repair damage done by coloring or heat styling hair too. Some people think it stimulates growth of new hair, too. The downside to this recipe is that water alone really wont rinse the oils away so I only use it as a hot oil mask once a week. I let it sit in my hair for 45-60 minutes, then rinse using my shampoo bar. It leaves your hair silky enough that you dont need to use conditioner. I have made this ahead of time before and it heats up in about 15 seconds in the microwave (I take it traveling if I have an event to go to, it makes my hair super shiny) I think it could be made more solid if you used Avocado butter vrs oil, and used a Coconut oil with a higher melting point. I wouldnt use beeswax because it would buildup in the hair.. but Cocoa or Shea butter might stiffen it up a bit without buildup. My guess is that it wouldnt get hard enough to be put in a mold unless it resembled a solid lotion recipe, but maybe could be put in a pot or jar? Hope some of this helps! I'll keep my eye out for any other recipes for ya!