jonsie

Thank you Luminous! I appreciate that. And what is a B&M store? I've seen pictures of your products and displays and I can only imagine you will do fabulously with whatever you pursue. Good luck! I also thought I'd come back here and give some updates and photos. The pressed bar of shredded soap has held up very well in the shower so I have been pleased with that. No falling apart, even now that it is only 1/2 an ounce now, and flat as a pancake. Very flexible, but not crumbling apart. The fragrance has held up nicely and I am pleased with that too. Other bars that I made and left out to dry still seem soft. I can press down on them with my thumb and leave an obvious indention. So that bothers me. The shredded bar seems to get used up faster than a solid bar, but since I haven't done any kind of ROC on any of my soaps, that's a hard one to confirm right now. Here are some pictures I took of a pressed bar made from shreds from three different bars. Top bar is Oatmeal, Honey, and Goat's Milk (ungelled), middle bar is Oatmeal, Honey, and Goat's Milk (gelled), and bottom is a basic CO, palm oil, and OO bar at 33% each. These are the soaps shredded with a cheese grater. Looks like coconut to me! It's about 1.3 oz of each type of soap. Here it is pressed together, having been spritzed with a little vodka to bind it together. I must admit, it isn't all that pretty. Reminds me of the old Gainsburgers for dogs I'm imagining you could get prettier results with other colors. And I didn't add FO to this one since it had such a wonderful scent already from the oatmeal and honey. Alright, so I just wanted to take this full circle and document my results. To summarize: Very easy to do Tools used are common kitchen items Allows you to create a custom soap on the spot, with no need to cure (assuming the shreds come from fully cured soap) Allows you to use FOs, EOs, additives like lavender buds that might not normally work with rough processes like CP Pressed bar of soap stays a bit soft, might be impractical as a gift Holds up well in the shower and won't crumble Appearance may not be appealing, again not likely a good gift, but I'm terrible with dressing up soap! Happy soaping! Susan

Thank you lsg and Steve. I appreciate the link, and I wish I had a reliable source for Crisco with palm, but it isn't easy to find here in Perth. You'll laugh, but one of the few stores I can by Crisco shortening over here is a Macy's-type of department store! And it's wildly expensive, of course. It sits on a shelf along with Jif peanut butter, Pop-Tarts, and other exotic, highly processed American goods :rolleyes2 Steve, I really like your idea of the kettle for palm oil. Unfortunately, my space is limited and I'm not quite ready to make a spot for it. But who knows, the time may come to do so. How should the palm oil look when the stearic is completely mixed in? Is it still cloudy and grainy? Or should I warm it up until it is clear? At what temperature do you usually warm your palm oil up to? Thanks in advance, Susan

I bought a 4 kg pail of palm oil, and I don't know if I will ever do this again! I don't make huge batches of soap (yet) so I'm only needing maybe 1/2 pound at a time. If I've read the right stuff about palm oil, it needs to be melted and stirred to incorporate the stearic back into the oil. If this is true, how can I tell when it is melted enough? About what temperature should I melt it to? What might be too hot for palm oil? I buy my palm oil at the same place I buy my palm kernel oil, and the PKO is maybe 10% more expensive. So except for the price, does palm oil offer any benefits to CP that PKO doesn't? I guess I'm considering dropping palm oil if PKO can do the same thing, only better.

Gorgeous cat! Thanks for sharing pictures of her. And so sorry to hear about the glass. I've done a couple of things like that. Aluminum pour pots are expensive over here, so I've been using glass coffee carafes that I've picked up from the Salvation Army. For the most part they work very well for me and I'll continue to use them, just I'll be a little more careful about what shapes I use due to my experience below. One rare time I had to shut down my candle pouring after I had added the FO and color to my coffee pot of wax. The wax had completely cooled so I set the coffee pot back into the skillet of water to slowly warm it up. I heard a pop and soon noticed blobs of light-green wax floating in the water. Ugh. This particular coffee pot was bell-shaped, and when the wax heated and expanded only on the bottom, it had no where to go, so it blew out the bottom of the pot. The picture I've attached shows the coffee pot sitting in the oven to melt away the wax. What a mess. Even my stirring spoon was still stuck in there, lol. But you should be able to see where it broke along the bottom.

Thanks, Luminous, and I had completely forgotten about how it wasn't easy to find ghee back in the U.S. Back when I lived in Texas I was trying to make some Indian food recipes and I needed to find some ghee. I didn't know I could make my own so I went to Walmart, Krogers, Super Target, etc, and couldn't find it. Finally went to Whole Foods and bought some there, but it was in the refrigerated section. My Indian friends laughed at me! I've since learned the shelf-stable kind can be purchased at places like Indian grocery stores which aren't exactly common throughout the U.S.

Thanks for the heads-up, Judette. If my soap is gonna smell like vomit, I'm glad it'll be with something intended as a test I see lots of soaps advertised as made with ghee, so I wonder if there is a difference between the types of ghee used. The ghee I have is commercially produced and shelf-stable, with no need for refrigeration, and I honestly don't know if that is any different from what you can make at home. But I do like the numbers ghee gives on SoapCalc so I'd like to give it a few more tries before giving up on it.

I absolutely love gadgets and use any excuse to get something new. I almost bought the item I linked above but the idea of paying more for shipping than the cost of the item completely turned me off. I think I would have had to pay $8. And without hearing any feedback from y'all, I'm even more hesitant.HOWEVER... I got to thinking and remembered my potato ricer, which I believe would do an even better job of compressing the slivers and shavings than the above item. For those unfamiliar with a potato ricer, it looks like this: To begin, I shredded a nice, hard bar of unscented and cured CP I made from CO, Olive Oil, and Palm Oil at 33% each. I lined the bottom of the ricer hopper with waxed paper and the barrel insert helped hold it in place. I also lined the plunger with waxed paper and secured it with a rubber band. I filled the hopper with about 4 oz of shredded soap that I had mixed with a few drops of FO and misted with vodka (vodka is easier to find in my house than witch hazel, lol). I applied as much pressure as I could and removed the soap. It certainly looks interesting! Kind of like the way rice looks in a sushi roll. It is definitely soft. If I handed it to a customer they would probably put a few dings in it before they got it home. I washed my hands with it immediately after popping it out and it didn't fall apart. I dropped it to the floor and it didn't crumble... just put a nice bevel on one edge, hehe. I took a shower with it and it didn't fall apart in the shower. So I'm leaving it in the shower to be subjected to our typical shower use. I'm curious to see how well the FO holds up. For the 4 oz of soap, I used about 1.1 g of FO suited for soap and the smell is fair. I'm guessing the scent might dissipate faster than FO incorporated at trace. But I'm also thinking this is a way to use problem FOs and EOs that would normally cause things like seizing or discoloration. I'll have to make a few more bars and keep testing. So at least my first try wasn't a total disaster.

Not off topic, since my original premise was to use the slivers Sounds like your grandmother was ahead of her time!

Y'all must think I'm nuts, and I don't blame you! But I'm actually tossing around an idea in my head that goes beyond saving those few slivers of soap. And my feelings won't be hurt if you shoot it down as I'm gonna test it out anyway at home. But I really do appreciate your input on this. Don't laugh, but I am imaging a setup at a Farmer's Market or Craft Show where a customer can build their own soap on the spot, much like picking out what they want in their smoothie or in an ice cream sundae. Different base soaps would be available already fully cured, but have been shredded into soft flakes, and offered much like different ice cream flavors. Some examples would be coconut oil soap flakes, palm kernel oil soap flakes, maybe some basic soaps superfatted with shea, or cocoa butter, or whatever. Each fully cured and shredded. So if a customer is opposed to using anything with palm in it, they simply choose other base oils. If they have a severe peanut allergy, then they can avoid the nut soaps. Then there would be the additives, like finely ground oatmeal, pumice, loofa, poppy seeds, whatever. Fragrances could be offered, as well as colors. The customer would pick out the soaps and additives to complete a bar, choose the scent and color, and the employee would stir together, bind with a mist of witchhazel or vodka, lol (I learned about that here), and then press into a bar shape. The bar would be sold to the customer with a simple label wrapped around the bar stating any special instructions. Although that may sound labor-intensive at the time of the market, it saves a great deal of time and materials by not having to fuss over molds, planing, packaging, imperfections, etc. Seriously, I know I'm crazy. But I'm having a hard time shaking this idea out of my head. Please be gentle!

It looks like a product that lets you load it with soap shavings and after applying pressure you'll get a whole bar of soap. Seems like a good way to minimize waste, but wouldn't the bar just fall apart in the shower after one use? Has anyone ever tried one of these, and if so, had any good results with it? http://www.magnamail.com.au/Product_Detail.aspx?par=0&Cat=11&Prod=1201

Yup, Ghee is clarified butter, since SoapCalc had it listed as a potential ingredient, I figured it was fair game to give it a try I ended up using it as 12% of my recipe. Although I don't completely understand the numbers at SoapCalc, it helped bump up the INS to the desired 160. I've unmolded it by now and so far so good. I gelled most of it, and set some out to not gel, so I'm curious to see how it all behaves and looks after a good cure. Doh! I should have thought of that, since I had to buy coconut oil there in a pinch. Stores like that are usually closed on Sundays over here (long story) so I might not have had much luck anyway. I had placed a large order with our local supplier but the earliest I could pick it up is Tuesday.

I've been bitten by the soap-making bug, and I am almost out of my Palm Oil, and I'll have to wait at least two days to get some more. I have a good supply of Coconut Oil (76), and everything else I might need to make more soap. So I'm guessing I need some additional hard oils to make up for the low Palm Oil, and I remember the pound of Ghee sitting in my pantry. I also see it listed on the SoapCalc as an option. But I don't see much information about the kind of soap Ghee makes. Does it discolor it? Any help would be appreciated. I don't mind going ahead and trying it and reporting back what I get. But I don't have an experienced eye to know what to look for yet. By the way, this is not vegetable Ghee, it is commercially produced butter fat Ghee.

The other ladies already said what I would have said, to contact Aussie Candle Supplies here in Perth. And best of luck to her! Oh and my neighbor just came back from NZ and brought me a cute kiwi-shaped candle there

Thank you both! And Tammy, that is good to know about NG's Sandalwood. I order from them quite often so I'll add that to my list. In the meantime I hope I can make my supply work.

Any suggestions for improving the throw of ACS's Sandalwood Vanilla in soy candles? It is my weakest performer, yet one of the more popular scents I carry. Should I just blend my own? Or does it throw better at low loads such as 5%? Any help is appreciated. Susan

Me too! I would especially like to have some made from local Australian wood and not have to pay a premium to have mine sent from the U.S. Our local candle supplier is supposed to start carrying wooden wicks, and I wonder what his will be like.

Unity wicks are the two-piece kind and the wicks from BCN are the one-piece kind.

I don't use beeswax so I am not sure how that affects the burn, therefore I am not sure what size to recommend. But as I would tell anyone, just order a bunch of different sizes and just start testing. I'd recommend trying either Unity wooden wicks, or Bitter Creek North's wicks, or both, to be honest. You may find one style works better for you than the other.

I've tried reading back through this thread and picking out all the company names to make a single, current list. I visited each website to confirm that international shipping was available (on Southern Soapers it has been discontinued for now, so it is not on the list). Bert's Heaven Scent, Candle and Soap Supplies http://bertsheavenscent.com/shop/ Bitter Creek Candle Supply (North) http://candlesupply.com/ Bramble Berry Soap Making Supplies http://www.brambleberry.com/ Day-Star Candle and Soap Supplies http://www.daystarsupplies.com Elements Bath and Body http://www.elementsbathandbody.com/ Farm View Candle Supply http://farmviewcandlesupply.com Nature's Garden Wholesale Candle & Soap Supplies http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/ Save On Scents, Inc., Wholesale Fragrance Oils, Body Oils & Supplies http://www.saveonscents.com/ The Scent Works! http://store.scent-works.com

Shame on me for not thinking more clearly! I made it sound like container candles were a bigger challenge than pillars, when the truth is I am terrified to trying pillars! Sorry for that, I sincerely believe they are difficult to master and therefore I'm not even dreaming of working with them. Best of luck with the containers, though I'm sure you'll conquer them with no trouble. You already know that simply aquiring the glassware over here can be tough at times, and it may end up being your hardest challenge with the containers I am extremely curious to find out what David is planning with the wooden wicks, although I haven't asked him about it yet. I don't always see him when I pick up supplies, and at the moment I am so well stocked, I probably won't see him for months, lol.

I'm bumping this as well. A friend is requesting Henri Bendel's Firewood fragrance. WSP has something called "Crackling Firewood" but is it the same? I haven't smelled the original to know if this is a decent dupe. Thanks, Susan

I think this is the best way to design the burn. If I remember correctly, Bart, you don't do container candles, however, that is all I do. So I'm going to focus on keeping my candle from drowning out in the second half of the burn. Which may mean a hotter burn at the beginning, but... so be it.

If I could keep my candles here in Australia then I think I would be just fine But like it or not, most of them end up as gifts in other areas of the world. The reason behind this is that most of my friends are not from Australia, but are expats, and they like giving local gifts to their friends back home (i.e. my homemade, handpoured candles). It's not a complaint, because it is a very nice spot to be in. But I worry over the idea of a candle made for a Perth summer being burned in a U.K. winter.

Normally I use a stainless steel stock pot but I had switched these out recently. Thank goodness I have a big stash of old glass coffee carafes but I prefer the volume of the aluminum pot.

Thank you Stella, that is very helpful!