Carrie

I can send you some, I bought 4oz and it was 4 big containers. I've only used about 1tbs. They are a little scrubby. Here's a link to my soap made with them. I sent a bar to someone she said that it was too scratchy for her sensitive skin. It's my very first soap. http://www.candletech.com/cgi-local/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=bandbgallery;action=display;num=1115593587;start=19#19

Well, if it's an oily mess you can assume it isn't lye heavy. I'd double bag it and toss it.

I've used vanilla bean seeds, very little scratch. What about jojoba beads?

There are three great sources of FO reviews that you should always check before soaping a new FO. The first is ScentReviewBoard Then, if it's Peak FO try this thread in the Archives Then there is the Search feature on this board. Unfortunately, I checked the scentreviewboard and the archives and didn't find Peak Mac Apple. You might try a search of the fragrance and soap categories.

I use the Bulgarian Lavender from MMS but have heard others say the 40/42 is good in soap.

At Oriental Trading.

LOL...They are not ink stamps, they are supposed to stamp a design into your soap, not onto your soap.

I had some of that coconut FO in my cart this morning but I took it out before I finalized. Wish I'd have seen this and waited a couple days.

oriental trading has both.

What brand is it? You might want to search using the brand name. I've seen this stuff talked about before. You could also search meat shortning.

I'll get one in the mail to you this coming week. They are huge, just keep your toes out of the way if it slips out of your hand. I haven't been using a poof or anything, just hands. I really would like you to try this with the babassu because that's really the only difference between mine and yours. I did use uniodized salt and sea salt in mine.

This bar just gets better every day. The first day it had bubbles, then big bubbles and today the big bubbles are turning into lots of creamy lather.

I googled "tea ball wholesale" and tons of places came up.

I think handmade soap are beautiful. Each one is a piece of art. I take a lot of pride in the soaps I make, the swirls I create and the color combinations I choose. This is my art.

Responding to the preservatives. Preservatives work at about 1% of the recipe, she is using 10%. That is excessive, more is not better when it comes to preservatives.

The FO soaped like a dream. No problems, even with the hot oils and lye. I'll send you one Meridith.

Well, I just unmolded my first salt bars. I don't really care for the Shaw Mudge Ocean scent. It is floraly, to my nose. Not oceany at all. I soaped kinda hot and used my 9 bar kelsei. I put the soap in a preheated oven at 170* then turned the heat off. It sat there for about 10 hours. It is hard but not rock hard. I can kinda cut it, it will cut a little, then break. The bars are massive because I used 2lb of oils and 2lb of salt in my 9 bar mold...LOL The bars came right out of the mold which suprised me. Nothing slides out of that mold that easily. Lorrie, You will not pay for my first attempt at a salt bar. They are an ugly color and I don't care for the scent that much, I couldn't possibly charge someone for them...LOL Thanks for the offer though.

I don't think they have to be whipped but you'll probably find that the same thing will happen if you don't. I think that the more you mix it, the less chance the butters and waxes have of hardening up separately or re-combining.

I decided to try the babassu because of the lathering but also because it's other properties. I have no idea how it'll turn out, I'll send you a bar also. Let me know what you think of the lather/bubbles compared to no babassu. Off to make soap, I'll update in a few hours.

She didn't use any shea butter. Do the gritty things melt into your skin? Could it be the beeswax. You might want to remelt and do it again without using the freezer. I use a KA mixer and in my opinion, stopping the mixer and cooling could give things like the beeswax a chance to harden up and become grainy. Not cooling the mixture definately make for longer mixing times but I don't get grainy textures when the KA never stops.

You might want to read thru this thread http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1215&highlight=%22oil+cleansing%22 Very good info on the "Oil Cleansing Method". Many have tried it, RobinInOr does a good job of explaining it.

I'm going to make a batch today using 24oz coconut, 4oz babassu and 4oz of shea. I'll use sea salt and uniodized table salt. I'm going to fragrance it with Shaw Mudge Ocean. Hey Lorrie, if they turn out, I'll send you one with your swap box.

I emailed Alabaster and they said they are oil butners, not tart burners. Just FYI

I've found distilled at walmart but I usually just pick it up at the regular grocery store. It's always in a gallon jug, just like milk, here anyway.

http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/BLUE-PlasticBottles.html for blue http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/GREEN-PlasticBottles.html for green HTH