chuck_35550

The University of Alabama trade marked their scripted A and will come after you for any infringement. I sell the scripted A in melt and pour soap (ice cube tray mold) and call them "Mascots". So far so good. They even went after a local bakery that made cupcakes with the A on top; a bakery that regularly supplied the team with goodies. Go figure.

I use nitrile gloves too. Other gloves were about the same and more expensive, but my shame is wearing flip flops while soaping. Yes, I admit it. Flip flops are a really bad idea. I really have to have my gloves when unmolding soap but always wear gloves and flip flops. Please don't kick me off the board! Steve

Try the extra virgin tasting olive oil which is almost colorless. I like RBO in small amounts but have never cared for canola. I have a good white soap formula that doesn't require td to whiten it. There are several good formulas on the net for "white" soap. I use regular olive and its pretty green but my soaps are nice and white (I hate td)and they don't have that greasy feel you can get from too much rbo or canola. HTH Steve

What else would you do with 24 can shaped tumblers? Test one out and see what you think but I'm guessing that design is going to give you a super hot jar midways down.

If you want a pretty much guaranteed gel, wrap your mold in a heating pad on low in a box full of blankets and turn the pad off after a few hours and don't look until the next day. I don't gel and my colors are nice and my bars are plenty hard. I've used Soapcalc for years and my results have been just fine. There are several good books out there for reading up on the art of soaping and a ton of Youtube videos that are from horrible to great but the best teacher is experience. Take a class, find a mentor in your area to soap with, but just take your time and learn what you like. I would be interested to know how the different batches behave in the shower and whether or not any of your soaps develops the Dreaded Orange Spots. I enjoy soaping but it can be a very harsh mistress and remember that soap fairies can show up at any time.

I haven't tried that Creme Brulee from FB but just saying that so far so good. I cp soap. Any good Creme Brulee which is safe for soaping should do the trick.

I love Creme Brulee in my goat milk soap. The vanilla is rich and very realistic. It discolors to a dark chocolate on the outside but is a creamy color inside with no bubble discoloration. I see that Fragrance Buddy has a soap formulation with 4% vanillin. All of their fos have been really perfect for me and haven't had a problem so far with acceleration or discoloration (love Karma). I may have to soap some this week-end. Customers do get a little confused by a bar of soap that looks like a chunk of milk chocolate. HTH Steve

Congrats! Buy a $30.00 respirator at Home Depot and wear it when you pour. No more candle nose and easy on your lungs.

I'm not positive but she may be stoned. Otherwise, a person would have to be brain dead to use this as a for-real tutorial. The woman gives no specific information about how much color, fragrance or wax to use in the video. The end of the video gives a pretty quick glance at the finished product for obvious reasons. I hate to tell her that Hobby Lobby is ripping her off on the cost of raw materials but that's not really the point of this vid. "You can make your own" is the hallmark of a craft project. Someone just needs to leave her the info about this board and let her find out for herself; if she's interested in a business. Her mom probably got a really shoddy candle that didn't have any fragrance and wouldn't stay lit, oh well. I mean, she is stirring the "burns longer" soy wax so it won't burn and her label is really home made and too cute. Write Hobby Lobby a hate letter. HTH Steve

I list tallow as "tallowate" and customers haven't made the animal fat conection, so far. Nothing looks sweeter than pearly white fresh beef tallow in the bucket. Premium tallow is odorless, pure white and creamy. The veggie game only gets more complex as many people are now anti-palm and ask for organic only ingredients (oxymoron)that have heavy price tags. Upper scale customers may be able to afford the costlier ingredients but are often the worst cheapskates when it comes to fair price. Hand crafters are partially responsible as a result of marketing an "all natural, organic, no artificial sweeteners" approach to customers. Lye is an equal opportunity employer in the business of saponification and makes no distinction between the cheap or expensive ingredients. I do have all veggie formulas for babies and cancer patients. Harsh palmitic and lauric qualities can't be tolerated by sensitive baby skin or chemo sensitive skin(no fragrance either). Viva la tallow! Steve

I have a counter top two burner unit with seperate controls. I put my wax in a glass coffee carafe and stick a thermometer in it. It gets to the temp I want and stays there (monitored with thermometer). Bought it at wally world for under $30.00 and had several coffee pots in the cabinet.

The main drawback to a high coconut formula is cost. The holy trinity of soapmaking is coconut, olive and palm. I don't care for lard but love tallow in my soaps. I don't like botanical or plant additives because you're left with a mess in the tub, on your skin and you need a preservative to keep out the dreaded orange spots. I really hate the way fresh plant ingredients discolor in soap as well. Now that's just my personal preferences and nothing more. I have two types of soap in my shower. One is for when my skin feels dry and the other for when my skin feels oily. I use 100% pasteurized goat milk for my liquid in all my soaps and love micas for coloration. I heartily recommend Quiet Girl's recipe, as most of the ingredients are in the grocery store and it makes a great balanced bar of soap IMHO. I have a good tallow formula, salt bar formula, shampoo bar formula and a problem skin formula. The pko I have is flaked not solid. I test my soaps about a week after production (yes I know they should cure for thousands of years) to get a general idea of the fragrance, slip (feel), bubbles and skin response. You can always go back and try another bar after more time kwim? HTH Steve

Download Avery's free program and make your own. It's simple and cost effective for a small budget. Customers think my packaging looks very professional. I have a ton of templates for my products and am always updating or changing the look for more customer appeal and information. Labeling has never been a problem for me but keeping costs down is a constant challenge. HTH Steve

It's really noticeable in the bulk jars. You see lots of wavy glass with some pitting. Little nicks in the glass is a red flag for sure and should be replaced IMHO.

A good deal of glass now comes from China. Make sure the glass your're buying is top grade and not seconds or cheap glass. I bought some heavy juice glasses from Dollar Tree and they all broke when exposed to heat from an open flame. You can usually count on Anchor Hocking, Libbey and a few others to be reliable, well made containers. HTH Steve

Kringle rarely has wet spots. I cand stand a wet spot or two but not that speckled or completely pulled away look. I would say that customers first concern is cold throw. They have to be able to connect with the fragrance before buying and then they expect the same result in the hot throw. It's a difficult balancing act because of temperature changes and other factors but that's the nature of the beast. I don't spaz out over wet spots but its nice when a batch has that nice uniform appearance. Seems like heavy bakery fragrances are the worst (creme brulee) but bottom line for me is to remember that hand crafters depend on everyone making their best product. Hand crafters or artisans need recognition for providing well made, beautifully crafted items that aren't mass produced copies of the same old thing. Steve

Try a cdn 10 and trim the wick close with toenail clippers. You may need a 12 with heavy bakery fragrances.

I don't know what has changed (wax or fo) but I used to be able to pour perfect candles that rarely had wet spots. Pour at 185 to 190 degrees into room temp jars, uncovered. I have candles from several years back that look as good as the day they were poured.

Mineral oil is of no value in candle making and might be toxic.

The only time I use wipes is with color, otherwise, what CB said.

You're welcome Tom. Hot weather and 3022 don't mix. I had to keep my candles in insulated boxes with those pouches that you freeze packed around them and still had some melting. I rotated the display candles to keep them from totally melting and kept direct sun off my with a canopy. This is not a great wax for heat gun fixes either but I have never have issues with poor tops. I try to order my wax during the cooler months, as it gets pretty messy in the summer. Good luck. Steve

I'm guessing that you're asking if vybar or some other additive would help with the hot throw and not currently adding anything to the 4630? If you're satisfied that you have fully incorporated the fo into the wax and the testers are reporting the same results; then something is going wrong with your system toward the end of the container. Test a larger wick and a larger fo load. I'm old school when it comes to the 2 minute rule of stirring color and or fo into wax. You shouldn't need any additives with this wax, pouring temp should be fine between 180 to 190 degrees. I continue to stir my wax until its all poured. I've only encountered a few fos that sank to the bottom and they contained a lot of musk. HTH Steve

I use 1 oz fo per 15 oz of wax for two 8 oz candles. That's almost 7% and it works out quite nicely. I used to use 1 oz per 16 oz of wax and got a little waste (leftover), so I came up with that formula. I use .5 oz of fo per 8 oz of wax for one candle (testers). The little more seemed to be just right for the application. It doesn't change the cost equation and there's no waste.

Sometimes but most of the wax exits through the bottom if you go slow. I get through in a couple of tries without breaking or leaving droplets. When I push for a one shot hole is when it backs up and is forced out through the top, or at least that's been my experience. Its a pita, kwim? Steve

They are pretty close. The cdn wicks are specifically designed for vegetable waxes and ususally produce a solid flame that burns a tad hotter in my experience. The difference is not extremely noticable IMHO but it appeared to produce a deeper melt pool in a shorter period of time. Not always but ususally. HTH Steve