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My customer take great pride when they mention that they are trimming their wicks, lol. I have little faith that they all trim their wicks but the ones who do are repeat customers......hmmmmm. Steve

The first pic are King cake cupcakes with the baby Jesus on the top, the next two are spoon swirls (the second one had been a beautiful white and blue but the white didn't hold) the bundt cake had color problems and was supposed to be purple on top, yellow in the middle and green on the bottom, oh well. The colors held just great on the cupcakes and is scented with creme brulee' and sock it to me cake, the blue and beige one is Amber and Blue Skies, the other spoon swirl has caramelized pecan and creme brulee' (I think) and of course the cake has to be iced and baby Jesus put on top. I have bright yellow, green and purple jojoba bead, silk, kitchen sink, goat milk........oh brother. Oh and the tea kettle is busy infusing calendula flowers in some olive oil, got it at Macys. Thanks for looking. Steve

Thanks Kitn.

Did half dozen Mardi Gras cupcakes, a three pound Mardi Gras bundt cake and a dozen Domestic Violence awareness ribbon guest soaps. All while getting ready for a procedure tomorrow. Got a full gel going in the bundt pan. Keep your fingers crossed. Steve

Found great silicone cupcake liners and metal shakers for glitter and jojoba beads, as well as a cheap little icing gun. Steve

Thanka Kitn. I usually td the entire batch to whiten and then color. The soap looks better every day (I'll try to post some pics) and I think its just the weirdness of adding a colorant that initially doesn't look like lemon-lime or purple until it goes through saponification. I did a spoon swirl with the three Mardi Gras colors and it was a lot of fun but everything looked school bus yellow with a puke green when poured, lol. Steve

Dove products are manufactured in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and United States. The products are sold in more than 35 countries and are offered for both women and men.[1]. Dove is primarily made from synthetic surfactants, soaps derived vegetable oils from palm kernel) and salts of animal fats (tallow). In some countries, but not UK, Dove is derived from tallow (like many soaps) and for this reason it is not considered vegan, unlike vegetable oil based soaps.[2][3] Dove is formulated to be pH neutral, a pH that is usually between 6.5 and 7.5. Your oils need to balance in such a way that your soap cleanses the pores and then the chain ends with emollients that help the skin to be healthy. Soap for you would be different than what my skin needs. Pine tar is a good additive IMHO for problem skin but you would need to research formulations in that area, there are some good formulas for eczema around the net. I bet your soap would feel just fine on my skin. Steve

Actually, I sell combinations of candles/soaps scented with the same fo or compliment each other in fragrance. I have an amber that is really hard to soap, because it accelerates like crazy and you have to move fast to get it in the mold but customers love it in the bath. I use a different formula, soap at 38% water and cool temperature to reduce acceleeration but I love formulas and fos that give me lots of time to play and be creative. I started with a very simple recipe and didnt use many additives or complicated colorants and learned enough to graduate to another level but the learning curve is endless on creative soaping or chandlering IMHO. Steve

I like to take a bar and slice it to a desired thickness and then use mini cookie cutters to make imbeds/cut outs. It's a bit tedius but worth the effort and one way to make use of an unsold bar of soap.

I look for oils that are body safe, no acceleration and no discoloration first. If the fo causes minor acceleration or discoloration, then I'm gonna td and vanilla stabilize it and soap cool. If I'm asked to use, say Creme Brulee' then there's no question the soap is going to be brown and nothing will change that and so no color. If I'm using a really fast fo, its because I love the fragrance and it sells well and I'm prepared to get it in the mold quick. Soap gets better for every day it sits and cures but once I'm satisfied the process is done; I put the soaps in a safe air tight container to maintain the fragrance and protect the soap from getting dirty. Some people have curing drawers on wheels and others line chest of drawers with wax paper and keep the drawer shut or slightly cracked. Read posts and find out which oils stick, fade, morph, or rice/seize. I stick with web sites that have reviews or honest reports about how a fragrance behaves in cp or other mediums. HTH Steve

I'm using the recommended 1/2 tsp pp of oils and the colors aren't real bright or deep (violet, lemon-lime) and used td 1 tsp pp oils and vanilla stabilizer (1 tsp per ounce fo). For those of you familiar with these colorants; how far can you go before the suds discolor? TIA Steve

That's strange, mine is built like a Sherman tank. I guess the acrylic is about 1/2 thick at least but then, mine is only a two pound mold. I'll post some pics of my last several soaps. I just did a very wet and sticky soap that popped out of the mold with no effort and is beautiful to behold and then the clean up is so easy. I have carriage bolt screws through both ends and the bottom of the mold and the lid lightly fits on (the grooves could be deeper) but I wrapped the baby up in blankets and did not get a gel (soaped really cool temp and 38% water). I thought about a heating pad but the results are really nice withouth the gel IMHO. Did you put the mold in the oven for the gel? Steve

Well the game exceeded my expectations and so has the new mold. Wow do I love this design! How is the 5 pounder Bayougirl?

Well, the honest answer for me is that I always peek if gelling and give the mold a feel with my hand. Be sure and post some pics. Steve

For what it's worth. Shipping is bound to increase as the price of crude oil tops $100.00 per barrel. In anticipation of the shipping increase, I went ahead and ordered jars, wax, wicks and other asssorted raw materials to reduce cost. Just a thought. Steve

If you want to avoid having one pound bottles of fo staring at you, buy the 1 or 2 ounce samples. I just ordered samples from several companies based on customer reviews and past experience of satisfaction with customer service and quality of products. Welcome to the board and the wonderful world of spending. HTH Steve

Soapcalc has both Crisco formulas. The palm version does just fine. You may find this recipe a little soft or sticky but it cures into a really wonderful bar. The longer you let it cure, the better. A great sudsy bar. HTH Steve

Mmmmm ginger beer. Lol. Buffalo Rock bottling makes a good one.

My suggestion (for what it's worth at this point) would be to reduce your fo load to 6% and stay away from complex fragrances. Nestle your candles closely together (not touching) and insulate with a box and cover with a heavy quilt, so that the cooling is slow and uniform and hopefully air pockets will not occur around your wooden wick. Probably the combination of a resinous fragrance oil and whatever oils in the wood, as well as any air pockets that might have formed around the wick caused your flare up. Personally, that incident would scare me enough to start selling tarts but it would give me pause to reconsider wicking. Different strokes for personal choice but burning down the house is a little extreme. If nothing else, consider using a harder wax and treating your container more like a pillar. The whole system seriously failed and that should be enough to reconsider using a more reliable system. IMHO Steve

Your soaps look beautiful, very nice swirls and maybe your oxide discolored a little bit on you. Let them cure a couple of weeks and see if the tops or outside corners discolor some and you may have a little overheating (sugar/salt). Just plane the soaps and that ought to clean the bars up just fine. You ought to give Quiet Girl's recipe a try and see how you like that recipe. I've used both recipes and still find Quiet's to be one of the best. HTH Steve

How about using Jamaican ginger beer that you set out and flatten for a couple of days? You could use a nice light citrus fo to enhance the snappy ginger. The ginger beer is very dark so I doubt you can color but you could try some td and see how that works? HTH Steve

I think some people have posted that they use a light coating of mineral oil on their silicone liners. HTH Steve

I'm glad you dug that thread up, cause its a good one. Maybe I just need to buy a King cake and see what it smells/tastes like but my research says it is a yeasty coffee cake with cinnamon and or chocolate/almond. I have a silicone bundt pan and plan to pour the three colors first for the top of the cake and maybe use strawberry or raspberry and then pour the bottom half with the almond cake fragrance. I have kelly green and bright purple medium jojoba beads on hand but not getting the bright yellow beads yet. The white beads look like powdered sugar and then just a little glitter and of course the baby in the middle. I'll post some pics when it gets done and the cupcakes should be fun too. Thanks Steve

Way cool soaping. You do realize that this is the beginning of a serious addiction? My soaping supplies are taking over my candle supplies and there's no end in sight. Great job ladies! Steve

Gasp, lol. Lye is just a pain in the rear. Mix it up outside if you want and use a plastic water jug with a good tight lid and label it with lye in large black letters but don't let the fear of lye keep you from soaping. I found these really great playtex gloves that fit real tight and go up the arm and are cheap. Use and toss. Goggles and a mask put it up out of reach and prepare your oils, get everything in place and then focus. I'm with Stella, no interruptions while soaping. Get out of my lab and forget asking me questions and only answer phone emergencies. Not because I'm afraid but because it takes all your focus to get things right. My goal is to eventually have total control over the soaping process. Make those oils get in line and make those colorants and additives behave when you want them to behave and get a product that is totally expexted and planned from the get go. I love the creativity of this medium. There is never a time I'm not thinking about what soap will be next and running down the ingredients I need. So addicted. Thanks everybody for causing me to live in a cardboard box (jk). Steve