Carrie

Not Carol here but 415 pure soy is...pure soy. No additives. It is sold by many suppliers under many different names but it's still 415 pure soy. What wax do you use? I'm a little confused by your advise to flyspeck. You said "I always use the maximum amount of fo recommended on the bottle by the manufacturer!" The max fo load is an amount of FO the wax manufacturer says the wax will hold, not the max the FO supplier says you should use. I've never seen a bottle of FO say how much to use for any application. Flyspeck, the max fo load for your wax is easy to find. Go to the supplier website and see if it's written in the wax description or email the supplier. It is very important to know the max FO load for your wax. Do not add more FO than your wax can absorb!

Yes, 3.5lbs oils is perfect. I use to use 4lbs but the bars were too thick for the soap boxes. I cut back 1/2lb and the bar fit the boxes but are still thick enough that I can use my soap planer if I have to.

Maryann, I did that once. I used a Pringles can and did an in the pot swirl. Reserve some unscented soap for the swirl. When you're ready to pour add the unscented to the bowl and give it one or two swirls with a spoon. Not a stir, just swirl it a bit. Then pour. It will just do it that way. As you pour into the round mold (Pringles can) the soap goes down and then is forced to the sides while more soap is added to the middle, and so on. It will creat the rings. Good luck

Yes, when making unscented soap. I typically use a 33% solution. That's 2 parts water and 1 part lye, or 1/3 of the solution is lye, hence the 33%. When I'm making a batch of soap with no FO to speed things up, like Castille, I've used even higher percentages. Thinking about the "lye heavy" statement. It makes me wonder...How much water does lye need to fully dissolve? Will it fully dissolve in a 50% solution or is that what you mean by a 40% solution being lye heavy.

I'm about 500 road miles north but I have to get some continuing ed this summer so I may be forced to make the drive anyway.

I've been putting soap scraps in muslin bags. I use them just like a bar of soap and rub directly on the skin. They are gently exfoliating and I get to use up all the little scraps from trimming bars.

I've been thinking about it. There is a class that I want to take on the 20th and 21st for work. The timing would be perfect. I still haven't decided, though.

I have been soaping for 2 years as a hobbiest. If I start selling all of a sudden this spring, do you think the other soapers in town will think I've only been soaping for 6 hours?

LOL Steph. I don't use butters in soap but I do love cocoa butter for just about everything else.

It's getting to be beach season. Sell it by the ounce to the sun worshippers.

Did you do a zap test? Does it lather? I'd either toss it or make a cleansing salt scrub for personal use only.

Are you using the lye beads? If you are, they are about the size of salt grains. I imagine the lye flakes would be worse.

I used to have the problem of lye jumping everywhere, that's when I started to weigh it into the water instead of an empty container. I've been told that this isn't a good idea because I could dump too much into the water. As long as I know how much lye is in the water, I can change my recipe to compensate. I've never needed to. Another way to contain the jumpy pieces is to lay down damp newspaper, then set the scale on that. If the lye jumps out it lands on the newspaper and soaks in. Then just throw away the newspaper.

Did you order SLS or SLSa. It is quite important that you know which product you will be using. There was just a thread a week ago about SLS and I posted about 4 links with information. Maybe you should try a quick search with SLS to find it.

Sell it on the classifieds? Bahahahaha

It's not in your candle cupboard? Hope you find it. I am not aware of a substitute.

When I offer co-ops from Agbanga Karite I sell the golden shea, AKA Painya, AKA Kpangan butter for $3.75 a pound. IMO, $7.50 a pound for the Painya butter is very expensive. I'll be running another shea/painya coop in a couple of months, if you're interested.

SFIC is in Concord, near Oakland, CA. They have several B&B products besides soap. SFIC

Which golden shea are you using, Robertal? I am talking about the golden shea from Agbanga Karite. If you are talking about the shea from the company that adds color to make it "golden" disregard my above post. Jadryga, the shea butter and the golden shea butter from Agbanga Karite are entirely different butters and have nothing to do with whether it's refined or not. The shea butter is soft and buttery at room temp and the golden shea is hard at room temperature.

I have started using it and haven't gotten any grainyness. Just remember that it is way harder than regular shea so it will affect the texture in your recipes.

It will still need to cure. The water will still need to evaporate. The lye reaction should be finished but there is still moisture in the bar, especially if she adds more. I was looking thru a swap box I got in December. I put it away and forgot about it. All of the soaps that had cigar bands are way smaller than the bands now. All the soaps slip out of the bands easily. CP is usable after a week or so but just gets better the longer it sits. She'll be fine to use it in the shower tomorrow but will like it better in 3-4 weeks.

If this is fresh CP and is being rebatched, I would let it cure. If it was HP and is being rebatched, it should be fine to use.

I did some searching and I found these threads. http://www.candletech.com/cgi-local/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=bathandbody;action=display;num=1117892773;start=3#3 http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16211&highlight=sls http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32500&highlight=sls http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22596&highlight=sls http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18241&highlight=sls There is a lot of confusion between sls and slsa. These threads looked like they might have some useful information. HTH

Sherri, I don't know the answer to your question but wondered if you got SLS or SLSa? I have seen very very few posts about SLS.

OK...LOL You know you want to.