candlemama

Beautiful! I love them all. Very pretty. You should have no problems selling your stash so you can make room for new batches!

Hee hee... not so great with the candle making -- definitely no where near being able to sell them, not even close to just giving them as gifts (can't be responsible for burning a friend's house down). I think all of these addictions are just going to be a money pit for me -- but that's okay. It's gotta be better than gambling or bar hopping or collecting Coach bags... At least I'll be clean and smell good!

Thanks, everyone! Yes, it was fun and I keep checking on my batch to see how it's coming along. I see many more batches in my future... Already planning my next couple recipes! Quick question... I unmolded one of my silicone loaf molds just now, about 24 hours after I poured it. I'd say the soap (if it's actually soap -- I have my doubts!) is about the consistency of a stick of butter from the fridge, maybe a bit softer. Definitely too soft to cut right now. Also, when I washed my mold, I got no bubbles or lather, just an oil slick in my sink. I'm hoping it's still early, but I'm beginning to wonder if this stuff is going to turn into soap or if something went wrong. Reading the tutorial on Peak's site made me expect to have some bubbles and lather 24 hours later, not just a loaf of butter. What do you think? Is this normal? I used 3lbs of oils: 50% lard, 20% OO, 25% CO, and 5% castor, 193 grams lye and 517 grams distilled water (used ratios from SoapCalc.net). 5% superfat, no water discount. I soaped when my oils were about 95 degrees and lye at about 100 degrees. Poured when I thought I had a medium trace, covered molds and bundled in towels. I'm kicking myself because I forgot to check temps before pouring. I did note the molds were just barely warm to the touch. I expected them to be hotter. And I never saw any type of gelling. I do have a bit of ash on one of the loaves today, so I guess that means some sort of chemical reaction is taking place! I hope it's just taking longer since I have no water discount -- what do you think? Thanks again!

My first CP batch is currently sitting in my molds as I type this! Just like everyone said, it really wasn't as crazy as I first thought. The only unexpected issue with the lye happened when I opened the bottle. There seemed to be some dried lye inside the child proof cap, so when I opened it, some fell out. Luckily, I had decided to open and weigh the lye in my kitchen sink just in case some spilled so I could wash it down the drain. I'll let you know how it turns out. I didn't add any FO or color, so it's a pretty boring batch... But I did it!! Thanks for all the help and encouragement.

Just in case anyone was wondering, I checked out these boxes at Ikea and decided against them. They were too small to be worth it, and the wood seemed a bit on the flimsy side.

Tooth soap?!? Too cool! I am sooo in love with this craft! Okay, someone needs to PM me with their website so I can try this stuff out!

Are you sure I can't eat those?!? They look so yummy! Beautiful job. I hadn't thought about dusting the cubes with sugar before. It makes for a really nice finishing touch. Love it!!

I'm testing a new one right now, and it smells fantastic. It's Sugar Cookie from Miami-Erie Candle Supply, but it smells exactly like vanilla cake frosting -- the kind you get in a can in the baking aisle at the supermarket. Yummmmmyyyy...

Haven't tried this yet and not sure if this is what you mean, but LuminousBoutique posted a recipe that is similar to Lush's bath jellies. http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89078&highlight=jello Also, there is a recipe for making something similar posted here: http://www.pvsoap.com/recipe_bath_jelly.htm HTH!

Hmmm... thanks! If they're a decent width and height, I may get them. It might actually work for me since I will be making smaller batches. I may take a trip out to Ikea tomorrow and will let everyone know the actual dimensions.

I understand the Ikea 9-drawer organizer units are no longer available, but I found these online that I thought could be used for soap molds. Not quite sure on the dimensions. It comes three to a pack, in different lengths. The nice thing is they also have lids. Although I haven't yet made my first CP batch, I think you're supposed to cover and insulate your soap as it sits in the mold, right? Anyway, just wondering if anyone had taken a look at these in person. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50149353

That looks great. Beautiful job! Wouldn't mind having those in my house!

Those look great! Can you use them in CP soaps, too? I have some liquid Pop colors from TBK. It would probably be cheaper to buy the micas and make them myself!

Last night, I made my first ever lip gloss in a tube using TKB Trading lip balm base, liquid lip colors, some mica for sparkle and castor oil to thin the base out. I love the color and was quite proud of myself... until I started thinking maybe this needs a preservative?!? Even though there is no water, each time I apply to my lips, could I be introducing moisture or other ickies into the tube when the wand goes back in? I searched through the forums and got conflicting info. This is the balm base ingredient list. I don't see a preservative, but I'm still pretty new and may not know what I'm looking at! Castor Seed Oil, Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol, Olive Fruit Oil, Beeswax, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Glycine Soybean Lipids, Lauryl Laurate, Carnauba Wax, Candillia Wax If I need a preservative, what do you recommend for lip products? Thanks!

Umm, yeah, that was my thought, too, several hundred dollars ago... and now I'm trying to "save" money by making my own soaps and B&B, too... :laugh2::laugh2:

I know you've given this advice to new soapers for their first batch from other posts but am not sure why OO is easier to soap for beginners? I wouldn't mind doing an all OO soap for my first batch since I planned to make one of those, too, at some point because they are supposed to be so mild (good for my kids), although I also read I will have to let it cure for 6 months. Just wondering why all OO is easier. Thanks.

Looks beautiful!! Post some cut pics, too.

Hmmm... I should have realized that the Castor oil shouldn't be so high since most of the recipes I looked at had it between 5-10%. Definitely don't want sticky soap on my first try. I think I will increase the lard and OO as suggested, leave out the Canola oil, and lower the Castor to 5%. I'm going to pick up my supplies and safety gear today. My husband comes home in the morning, so I may give it a go tomorrow night! BTW, I know he's going to think I'm nuts since I have about 70lbs of M&P base already -- no one in the world needs as much soap as we have in the house right now, and I'm about to make more... What's wrong with me?!?

I've been playing around on SoapCalc trying to come up with a recipe using grocery store oils for my very first CP batch. I'm not going to use any FO or color on this batch and am trying to stick to five oils. If it turns out, I'm planning to rebatch it with FOs and color. But this go around I want to keep it simple and not have to worry about any FO accelerating trace or doing any other funky things. I'm thinking I'll probably do about 2.5lbs of oils because that should fit in my log mold nicely with a little extra leftover for my round molds. I'm trying to go for a creamy, bubbly bar with decent hardness and conditioning. I have a super fat of 5%. This is what I've come up with. What do you think? CO 76 degree: 30% Lard: 30% OO: 20% Castor Oil: 15% Canola: 5% According to SoapCalc, these ratios should yield a bar with Hardness 40, Cleansing 20, Conditioning 54, Bubbly 34, Creamy 33, Iodine 55, INS 159. I don't really know what the last two mean so don't know if those numbers are okay or not. Also, I know it is critical to get the exact ratio of lye to oils. Every time I play on SoapCalc, I get a lye amount in ounces or grams with two or more decimal places (i.e., 5.712 ounces or 161.919 grams). My scale measures grams in whole numbers only and ounces only to a tenth of a percent (e.g., 0.0 ounces or 0 grams, etc.). Given the lye numbers above, can I just round off to 5.7 ounces or 162 grams? This particular recipe calls for 15.2 ounces of water. Thanks for any insight you can offer!

Wow, great set up! And your candles look awesome! Love the colors and mottle. Beautiful job!

That looks beautiful. I tried making a whipped shea butter a couple of weeks ago and scented it Very Vanilla from CS. It smelled and looked just like frosting -- I kept wanting to take a bite. But now it's starting to revert more to a butter consistency than frosting... Bummer. Wish it looked like yours!

Those look so great -- I want to take a bite! I bet they are wonderful in a bath! Great job.

I am using their plain white base, which is what I'm pretty sure PA is using as well. I'm hoping to pick up some of their clear base tomorrow, not sure which one, and a sample of their natural white base. I'll let everyone know what I think of the natural base once I get to play with the sample. The ingredient list for the natural base looks great. I've tried their lotions and really like their body whip. At some time in the future, I'll probably pick up a gallon of the paraben-free with butters version. I don't sell my stuff, so it's just for me and gifts. I wanted to try making my own lotion, which I did last week. Turns out making my own lotion is WAY more expensive than just buying a base from EBC since I only make small amounts! And it was a mess (although the lotion turned out really nice in the end -- not sure I want to go through that again!). I think I'm also going to pick up a pound of their fizzie powder, too, to try it in bath bombs and fizzy salt recipes.

Thanks everyone for the replies. You've given me a lot to think about. I think I will give CP a shot this week, after I get my supplies and put together my plan. I will definitely either wait until the kids are asleep and guarded by my husband so the older one can't sneak downstairs, or have my husband take them to the park for a few hours. Just as long as they are away and can't interrupt me. I'll also mix the lye outside in case a stray pellet gets away from me. I just know I need to use common sense and be very careful. I watched a lot of videos and see it's not as crazy as it sounds. For my own peace of mind, though, I think I am going to lock the lye in some kind of small safe and place it high in my kitchen cabinet! It's actually pretty funny to me that I'm being so paranoid because my full time job is in law enforcement, so of course I have loaded weapons in the house as part of my job -- and that's never made me nervous because I make sure they are always properly stored! Anyway, I blame all this on LuminousBoutique -- I tried her CP soaps and am crazy about them. Probably would have been happy with my M&P if I hadn't tried her soaps out!!

I was poking around on the internet trying to find more info about SFIC's bases and came upon their website. For those interested, you can buy a sample pack of all 17 of the M&P bases, one pound each, for $39.99. I thought it wasn't a bad deal and may order some in the future after I get through all the base I have now. Here's the address in case you want it... http://www.sficcorp.com/samplepacks.aspx