chuck_35550

I used petrolatum for adhesion problems when the soy was very brittle due to drought. I didn't notice any change in fo quality. I still have a block of "Stickum" as it was called by the distributor. HTH Steve

I didn't! Thanks Carole. Steve

Oh, just bought 10 pounds of cocoa butter and shea butter BUT I would love to get in on a cube of no stir palm, as well as, some tallow. Their tallow is not as pretty as AAA but oh well. Its also a real pain to deal with tallow in anything but a pail. IMHO. Steve

Poured up a new recipe and used Honey Patch fo. The bars are a golden lemony color and smell out of this world. Sure hope everything sticks and this recipe works out. I'm gonna lay off swirling for awhile. I just can't get the pops or any of those other colorants right. The soap suds are colored too and that's not cool. Steve

Sounds like a clogged wick. Cinnamon and vanilla based fos are really tough on any wick/wax combination. I think its a change in formulation and the supplier didn't give cs a heads up. Never cared much for eco wicks anyway. Steve

6 pounds with 7% fo load. Yes, about 5 oz. I usually pour a case or two at one time.

Oh but $11.69 for a quart. Yikes. Check the price per pound and see what you think. Wish I had ordered pko too. Darn. Wish they would offer the no stir palm in smaller amounts. heheheh. Steve

Soapers Choice is now offering tallow in 7 pound bottles. It's pricier than a 50 pound cube but I don't think I can use that much tallow. Steve

Just make up a one bar batch and test it but sounds dicey to me. Are you thinking about sprinkling on the top or incorporating into the batter? HTH Steve

Good news. My customer stated that "Eastern Star" smells just like "Christmas Presents". She and her mother bought out all that I had on stock. Her mother said she has friends who are members of the Eastern Star organization and they will get these as gifts. Steve

Called my dw and asked her to stop off in B'ham and buy a couple for me. WooHoo I have been sweating what to do if mine kick the bucket. Hope they have some left. Thanks Carole, I owe you big time. Steve

After several days of cure, the evergreen notes and the spicy orange notes have become predominant. I named it "Eastern Star" A blended fragrance of eastern spices with blah, blah, blah that shines like the star in the east. Should I apply for a job with JS or AH/RE? Or quit while I'm ahead? Steve

Yup, its like getting sticky stuff on one hand and then you have it all over you. I hate the look of a retread top. It looks like what it is and the other blemish looked more natural in its appearance. Hand made products should look hand made and not totally perfect IMHO. Steve

Sounds like the fo separated from the wax and did not stay blended. You might need to pour at a hotter temp, depending on the type Mason jar. HTH Steve

I used to take a cleaning wipe and run it through the assembly with a piece of wire. I've also gotten it stuck and like to have never gotten it back out. The best way is to take your heat gun and heat up the assembly and then clean with whatever you like to use. HTH Steve

How about Bayside Berry and Colonial Tea Party? Evergreen Berry and Lemon Overboard Tea? Oh brother. Steve

This one is going to have to cure a while. I thought that Christmas Past and Plumberry Spice shared similar evergreen notes and the Mandarin Spice would add a bit more of the spicey to balance it out. It's kind of light or maybe I have such a bad case of candle nose; that I can't really tell what notes are going to be most prominent. Good name ideas Babs. I haven't made any moves yet until I get some testing done. Thanks a ton. Steve

I mixed 4 parts of KY Christmas Past, 4 parts KY Plumberry Spice and 2 parts of KY Mandarin Spice. It is most yummy but what do I call it? I am a new convert to KY so bear with me for the time being. I am a full-blown mixologist now. Lol. Steve

I've got about a half dozen pound bottles of fos that smell nothing like the original. Some tout all their products are pthalate free and others note which are not. Eventually, the perfumers will make the adjustments and everything will be ok until something else rears its ugly head. There is just no quantifying scientific evidence to support any of these theories concerning air quality and how that quality is affected by burning a candle in a room. I suspect that most of the products we consume and or put on our skin or breathe would not meet a pure standard. kwim? Steve

Well said Care Bear. I think if you read posts over any length of time, you're going to observe reports about which fos stick, morph or disappear altogether. It is always different from oob to actual application in whatever medium. Everything becomes transformed once it is applied to the intended purpose but temps are very subjective to the different methods, environments and the differences (however slight) by which we change the formulation. You will always be ruled by what works for you in your given environment not by a general law of the universe. Stella has some great threads about tempering wax; why not search those out and see what you think? HTH. Steve

Try True Lavender from Tennessee Candle Supply. Steve

Then how would you explain cpop? I have soaps that are now several months old and still smell pretty stout (pumpkin spice). Fos have different formulations that are not affected by the chemical reactions that take place in saponification. Soaping at cooler temps or room temperature for the purpose of avoiding the gel phase is a totally different subject. Even so, the outcome is the same; fragrance oils or essential oils are within the mixture and not openly exposed to a flame or heating element. Oxidation causes the weakening of fragrance over time not heat. If you were boiling your soap or candle wax; then I'd say stop but pouring at higher temps only means that the wax is going to cool faster and shrink more. That's the reasoning behind placing candles in a box and insulating so the cooling process is slowed and there is less shrinkage (think George Castanza). HTH Steve

Arguably, you could say that you make the soap in the pioneer fashion by using lye made from the ashes of a fire and dye from berries and fragrance from tree sap, blah, blah blah. You still have to light the wick and you still have combustion which still emits cancerous fumes into the atmosphere. Just smile and say, "Oh how wonderful for you". what else can you do? The average customer is not overly concerned with emissions; I mean really they aren't. Thank goodness it's a diverse market place out there. Steve

I keep a thermometer (oven kind with the silver wire/probe) in my pour pot on top of a one burner electric element. The candles are placed in a large covered box far enough apart to insure slow cooling and then I cover the box with a quilt. HTH Steve

Yup. I think that's correct. Jump in here anytime Stella.