TallTayl

The only one i have used is Matricaria Chamomilla. Not because i have a preference, it is just readily available on herbalcom.com and MountainRose where i buy quite a few bulks.

Yuzu would be great. The best one i found (fresh clean scent, no A, no D, sticks, affordable, works in all b& is from TSW. Scented.

Bergamot will fade faster than grapefruit in CP. both eo's fade fast. But a nice grapefruit FO has a chance of going some distance. I thi i used NG ruby red grapefruit way back when. An anchor of a touch of litsea if eo helps, but too much will smell like pledge.

Happy to help... You can get chamomile flowers locally at most ethnic stores. I have seen them at Wallyworld in the Latin foods aisle. (They make a great tea by the way). You can also use chamomile tea in the bags. No sense buying a ton until you decide if you like it. I make infusions one of two ways. If i have nothing but time, i add abut 1/4 cup or more of the chamomile into a quart mason jar and add enough oil to nearly fill the jar. I tend to be heavy handed with dried herbs in the infusion jars. shake it up, Then just let the jar sit in a window or on the counter or in a cupboard and shake when i remember for a few weeks. I like looking at infusing oils and always have a few dozen things infusing at any given time. Use a long shelf life oil, like Olive as you would use in your soap. For a quicker infusion, add the chamomile and oil to a crock pot. Let it get warm for a couple of hours and you will smell some heavenly aroma. Strain the chamomile well through nylon/cheesecloth/tea bag material, etc. when you are ready to use it. Use it in place of all or part of the olive oil in your soap recipe. That's it. I do this for just about every herb and spice you can think of. To add more aroma to tour soap make a chamomile tea in your lye water. Remove the staple from a tea bag (unless you are using loose flowers). Add the tea bag/flowers to your water. Add the lye. Let it steep. Strain well and use in your soap as you would normal water. This will add more natural color to your soap. Let me know if this makes sense.

Chamo and grapefruit sounds wonderful.

Grapefruit and Champagne was a huge sensation out this way over Christmas. Several custom orders for it in soap, lotion, scrubs, perfumes, etc.

The price of chamomile is far too high to (waste) use in soap. To get a nice chamomile scent in soap and not break the bank, infuse some oil with chamomile flowers and use chamomile flower in the lye water (making a tea). Loads of chamomile scent comes through with more depth than any synthesized fragrance I have ever smelled. Camomile infusion with no additional scent is one of my best sellers.

It does look more tan in the photo. Still not that ebony of most vnaillas though. And three cheers for no brown lather!

Sorry.... But the jar will burn different at the top, middle and bottom. The only way to really know how long or well it will burn is to burn it from start to finish.

the EO test I have done in my waxes were not impressive. Many EO's stink when ignited. Others just plain didn't burn right in my waxes. Not to mention EO's change from year to year based on growing conditions (like grapes for wine). For a repeatable candle product that performs the way it is supposed to, I prefer to stick with FO's that were designed for burning in candles.

The hardest thing for me to remember when troubleshooting candles is to change one variable at a time. And sometimes the variables change without my realizing (different batch of FO, wick, wax, temperatures, alignment of the stars , etc.) Good luck!

I have never had the retained scent possibly left on a mold overtake the scent of the newly poured product (candles, melts, soap, etc). Both of the scents you used have a strong vanilla component. Could that be what you're smelling? To remove residual scent from silicone, I have had some success with soaking the mold baking soda and water (or baking soda and vinegar) removing residual scent.

I'm with ChrisR on this. Did all the early experiments and found CO did little to nothing in my candle systems. It "may", depending on the % used, slightly lower the melt point of some waxes. Maybe that is where some people are finding coconut oil improves throw. But I can't say it would be a blanket statement since we have so many variables with waxes, FO, color, wicks, etc.

I have found that the chalkiness appears with only some sources of TiO2. So far I really am liking Brambleberry's the most right now. For whitening, has anyone used TKB's pearl white mica? I really like the shimmery effect in some soaps, preferring it to the matte look of traditional TiO2

(= whispers... It is a sticky... =) I figured it would be useful as a sticky in this section. If you have any other insurance sources, or ideas for business links please let me know. We're building more into these business pages to (hopefully) help a bit.

I have that one in black. In the 5 years I have had it in pretty heavy use I have never needed to calibrate it.

When you begin to sell your products, it is often recommended to obtain Product Liability and possibly other business insurance coverage to protect yourself from potential law suits. At first the project of finding and selecting a carrier seems daunting. Depending on your sales levels, insurance may even seem out of reach at first. You have several options, some dependent on your total sales in a given calendar year. This list is not all inclusive, but gives you an idea of places to start your search for a carrier that fits your personal business needs. Popular Insurance Carriers for Indie Businesses (Soap, Candles, Cosmetics, etc) Name: Brower Insurance - sold to Marsh & McLennan - Sold to ZN Creative Product: Artist and Craft Artist Program Web site: http://www.mma-mw.com/business/specialty-programs/artist-program https://zncreative.com Products Covered: Speak with agent. No specific products are listed on the site. Extra Benefits: none Note: insurance coverage only. No memberships to guilds or networks required. Name: RLI Product: Product Liability Insurance Web site: http://www.rlicorp.com/Products/pl.asp Extra Benefits: none Products Covered: Speak with agent. No specific products are listed on the site. Note: insurance coverage only. No memberships to guilds or networks required. Name: Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetics Guild Web site: http://www.soapguild.org/ FAQ: http://www.soapguild.org/membership/benefits-chart.php Products Covered: Extra Benefits: some supplier discounts. http://www.soapguild.org/membership/benefits-chart.php Other Notes: insurance is a member benefit. You cannot obtain insurance without accompanying guild membership. Name: Indie Business Network Web Site: http://www.indiebusinessnetwork.com/products/ Product Info: http://www.indiebusinessnetwork.com/product-liability-insurance/ x Products Covered: Extra Benefits: some supplier discounts. Note: insurance is a member benefit. You cannot obtain insurance without accompanying IBN membership. Other: Check with your own insurance carrier(s) and compare options and rates. It is useful to have coverage charts from the popular specialized industry options to compare apples to apples.

I wouldn't mess with making the cord hold tighter. Wax fires are baaaaad. I can use all the safety features i can get.

Funny you mention those at Tractor Supply. I was at a local TS a week or so ago for about a hundred other things, and caught myself in front of their wax product display. I remember picking up the pancakes one. Did you see their cute bags of wax melties? Our store priced them at $8 and change for a decent size bag. Adorable!

You have several options, some dependent on your total sales in a given calendar year. For instance, Brower has an artist program that provides several pick and choose options. RLI, Soapguild, Indie Business Network, and possibly even your own local insurance agent are options. Look for, at a minimum, product liability insurance when you begin to sell your product. The search seems daunting at first, but it gets easier.

It's truly a bonus if your product is actually better. How many people do we know that have outstanding, Best In Class products and packaging, but cannot reach their ideal customers? The most difficult part is marketing.

Absolutely possible. You don't even have to have a "better" product. You need only to be better at appealing to, reaching and selling to your niche market.

I did see her pics. Every Vs i have used is only a temporary fix. The soap still darkens over time. And every one i have tried morphed the FO leaving a very unpleasant scent i could detect. I would rather embrace the brown, or use pearl white mica than add more "stuff" to the scent.

Nice! I have tried TiO2 against darkening FO's with only limited success. Would be nice to tame Pink Sugar! It will be interesting to see how that color fares over time.

If they held an order for an OOS item, i wonder if if the order was placed before their policy change on the checkout page. It used to give an option of holding an order for a backordered item. Now it reads it will ship without the missing item and a credit will be given. Imhave has whole orders canceled due to backordered or OOS stuff that appeared on the site. Frustrating, but they have things i truly need. So when i test the waters and find things i use are in stock, i buy extra.