Help me Spend my Money Wisely

[8-GRAN-ONES]

I have about $300.00 to spend on Bath & Body Supplies..I have never make soap or any thing other than candles..I want to spend it very carefully..

I have 2 of the #4 Do Right Molds. I want to made Salt bars, I want the thick and chunky bars,.. the Shortening & Shea Sudsy Soap recipe that was posted on this forum, & the Emulsified Body Butter..that was also posted on this forum..

Now my question...to you that has experiance,,do you think these recipes are to advanced for a beginner?

What would your advice be for a supplier that I can get most of this in one place.

What type of mold do I need for these large size soaps..

Hope I am not asking to many questions..lol

But I really want to get off on the right foot...

Thanks in advance..for any and all help...

[tychels]

Awwww, I want $300 to spend on supplies!!..lol

OK, well, there are a ton of great suppliers out there.. Where do you live. If possible choose one thats fairly close to you to save on shipping..

What exactly are you wanting to buy? Oils and butter, FO's, colorants? Thats might better help us better to direct you to a good supplier..

I made both of those recipe's when I was pretty new to B&B.. I thought they were easy.. The emusified body butter recipe was my first ever body butter and it turned out great!

Sharon

[8-GRAN-ONES]

I live in Calif..I do have some FO's that might work..But I need everything else...I have been doing alot of checking on different websites, for supplies..But just wanted opinions of what would be best..I know $300. sounds like alot..but when you have to buy everything, that money has to go along ways.

[tychels]

Ya, I know $300 goes fast!! ..lol I love Oregon Trails FO's and their colorants for soap.. If your needing oils and butters There is going to be a coop running with great prices! I'm on Oregon and I like to order from OT, BB, MMS, Peaks, Lotion Crafter is awesome, I think they are in WA. .. If your wanting lotion and lip balms bases. I can't say enough good things about soapers workshop!

I ordered a couple of the #4 Mr. Do Right molds but haven't used them yet. I have a 16 bar Misty Creek mold and that makes really big chunky salt bars! HTH..

Sharon

[Angel91805]

I'm with Sharon, in that I use my Misty Creek slab mold for salt bars. I would think it would be very difficult to use a Do-Right mold for salt bars. You need to cut the salt bars about 1 hour after you make them or they get too hard to cut. If you use a log mold, you'd have to remove it from the mold and then cut...but you'd have to hope it was set up enough not to moosh. (Does that make any sense? It does in my head, but I think I'm rambling!) You'd definately have to break down the Do-Right to cut the soap, and that may not be an easy thing since the soap would be damp-ish still. OK...I'm gonna shut up now.

I'm assuming you want to have the lowest shipping so you can get more goodies. MMS rocks. You can probably get just about everything from there. They, and Soaper's Workshop, are in Utah, so shipping to CA wouldn't be tooo bad. Peak is in Colorado, so, not shipping from the other side of the country.

It'd be really helpful to know what it is you are needing to buy, specifically.

Donna

[ShoogieScents]

Hello Gran,

I am kind of new to Soaping as well. I would definetly recommend getting all the OILS you can from Walmart to save on Shipping. You can get the following from Walmart and then order whatever else you need online

Coconut Oil

Olive Oil

Peanut Oil (I think there are only a couple that use this though due to so many nut allergies out there)

Corn Oil

Canola Oil

Castor Oil (Would be cheaper to get online though)

Cocoa Butter (Also would be cheaper to get online)

LOWES Hardware (You can get your lye and a Mytre box to cut your soap with - Both VERY good prices)

As for Molds, I started out using a shoe box for my slab molds. I did purchase two Log molds on ebay that works GREAT. Below is where I got them from...

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZslinky077

You can also use the drawer organizers from walmart for slab molds too...Those work pretty good!

HTH,

[8-GRAN-ONES]

Thanks for all the input..

I hadn't knowticed the co-op..I'll check that out..

The other sources too..

I had stated I wanted to make,

Emulsified Body Butter

Salt Bar Soap

Shortening & Shea Body Soap

and I need everything

from the stick beater to the mask..and everything

inbetween:D So that is the reason I have

to spend wisely..

[tychels]

Your very welcome! Just get yourself a $20 stick blender from Walmart, As a matter of fact the last one that I got I think was only $15 at Walmart and the the "stick" comes off for cleaning! nothing fancy because you will go through them..lol

Def get in on the coop if you can.. She is shipping from NV I believe, so that won't be to bad!

Good luck and hollar if you need anything else!

Sharon

[salli]

For your oils and butters that you can't get locally check out Oils by Nature or Columbus Foods online.

[Tereasa]

where is the cocoa butter at wal mart?

[BLSoaps]

where is the cocoa butter at wal mart?

I'm not sure about it being at Walmart, but I know the drug stores like Walgreens carry them. They're 1 oz tubes, intended as a final use product, not an ingredient to use in something else. It's been years since I bought any this way, but back then they looked like big lip balm tubes, bright yellow. In with the lotions.

(ps, thanks for the recommendations!)