Fire and Ice

When I actually get rolling in the soap making, and have several molds to work with, I will buy lye in bulk. (50lbs) What is the best way for storing that much lye. I don't have a garage. Right now I have threee two pound jars stored in a Rubbermade tote in my basement, which is where I'll be making my soap.

Fire

JMO~ I wouldn't sell anything until I know I will like the new job and I would work at least a year before making that choice. Knowing you have a business to fall back on if things don't work out WILL give you a great deal of comfort.

Scale back the wholesale accounts some and don't accept any new ones but I wouldn't liquidate a business like you have until you KNOW that you will be staying in the new job until retirement.

Besides which, many wholesalers will not like someone else making their candles and knowing they are newbies to it. You can get the orders out because YOU have the knowledge and experience to do so. You have a system because it IS a business!

If you decide to retire from candles, you could sell your supplies here on the boards.

Fire

No offense, but have you ever heard of anyone getting hurt from these. If they are done and labeled correctly then you should have a problem. Of the several hundreds I have sold I have never once heard of anyone getting hurt. So when you say dangerous are you saying thatin general as a regular candle can be dangerous as well. It just makes me wonder all these people bashing this probably have never once tried it

I can understand where you are coming and respectfully disagree. Please let me reiteraste that there was NO Label with instructions on how to use this candle. It WAS sitting on an unpluged warmer but there was ALSO a wick! The candle was colored an odd dark pink and scented,the one I looked at, Candy Cane. The label had the name of the company on it but NO phone number or name of the person who made it but it did at least say the town the maker lived in.

As I been in the local show loop for years, I see tons of newbies come and go. These women hadn;t been making products for a month or two before showing up. They certainly hadn't been researching properly or they would have known a label for ingrediants was manditory. They are the ones who can give respected chandlers and B &B people a bad name!

As I make soy candles myself, and am venturing into soap and B & B, I'm learning that anything a customer is going to put on their skin, MUST be properly labeled with ingediants.

I have had to disswayed hundreds of customers from trying to CLAIM they can use my candles on their bodies for lotion!:rolleyes2 I have made soy candles for 7 years and I NEVER allow customer to think my candles are soy lotion candles!

For one thing, my candles are colored with WAX colorant not soap colorant.

Another is that 90% of my scents are skin safe and can be used in lotion but that is NOT the way I measured out the F/O. Too much F/O, even body safe F/O can be irritating and cause a rash or worse!

So yes, IMO, her product could indeed be dangerous. But it's JMO

Fire

Those are very neat! I LOVE the colors!

Fire

Those swirls are GREAT! I love the sounds of your soap! Congrats!!!:highfive:

Fire

Try you local Lowe's. It will be in the plumbing section. It will be on the top shelf in a white plastic 2# bottle. The brand name begins with an "R" and it will say "Pure Lye" on the label. Welcome to the soap section of the boards!

It's where I found and bought my lye.

Fire

Do a search for a Crafters Guild in you state and read their web site. Chances are, they have an insurance company that they go through for candles and soap makers. They generally get better rates because of so many members. But be aware, you have to pay in up front once a year generally and you have to keep up your membership with the guild in order to contiune the same discount rate.

My insurance will have to be updated when I go to sell but that won't be for over 6 months at least.

Fire

I'm very sorry this happened to you but please understand we've all been burned in this way or something similar. I hate it when people I love and trust burn me where my candles are concerned but I haved learned my lesson. No matter who it is, get the full amount for the order up front in cash and no custom colors or scents!

Fire:lipsrseal

Yes, at the last two shows I did there was a chandler there that was selling B&B products that had the scent and no other information! No ingrediants, no contact info or anything. There wasn't even an amout of the conent of the bottle on the label. Just the scent and the price. She was also maketing a soy lotion candle as well but she wasn't warming or lighting those.

I didn't ask her any questions because she knew who I was! I was selling candles like crazy and all so could do was sit back and watch! She did come over and ask why I didn't have soy lotion candles. I explained that they were DANGEROUS and a law suit waiting to happen! She quickly left my tables and didn't return! :laugh2:

Fire

I so glad you had an awesome show! Your tables look wonderful!!!:highfive:

Fire

I buy most of my oils from Columbus. As far as the lard/tallow issue....I have a line of Veggie that I make using Soy Milk for the liquid and I have a line of Tallow (buffalo) and my Tallow line outsells my veggie line by far!! There are some people that won't use anything with animal fats and that is why I keep the veggie line also. We had our tallow lotion custom made and the soy lotion just doesn't even come close to it!

Maybe the thing for me to do is to ask the cutomers this weekend at my two day show what THEY would like! The soap is not for me but for my customers.

The soy milk sounds interesting but I won't be doing the milk until I have the lye water and basic full understanding of the soap calculator down fully. Maybe by mid summer, I can sub out real goat's milk. I have a very close friend who has a goat farm and can get fresh goats milk!

But that's 6+ months down the road. I really don't want to get ahead of myself as far subing out GM for water and the like. When I have the basics down firmly, I will explore other options! But the GM option has me excited too.

Fire

I get most of my oils and all butters from Oils By Nature.

I get Babussu from Columbus foods, they have the best price on it, and it really adds to the bubble factor with CP soapmaking.

A~ you really don't need a whole lot of butters to soap.

The standard superfat is 5%~ that isn't a lot of butter in a recipe.

Plus some of them don't have a tremendously long shelf life.

Yes Eugenia sent me to OBN for the butters because I don't need ten pounds of butters. But may I also say that I DO plan to make a great deal of soap. This will not be just a hobby but the mate to my candles.

I'm sure I will make lots of mistakes and crudy batches of soap in the beginning but that will not stop me from moving forward.

As I have very little food in my fridge, I can place the 5 pound pails in there if need be.

Fire

They look awesome, Scented! Way to go!

:highfive:

Fire

Well this brings up another supply that might be good to have. What are the boiling bags called?

I know I will mess up batches of soap so I will need to rebatch too.

So Fire adds a grater( salad shooter to her list of supplies to buy) LOL! :laugh2: :lipsrseal

Fire:embarasse

Okay Gang, I will buy my oils in one gallon jugs from Columbus foods! Eugenia suggested another site for my butters. I checked it out and will be ordering five pound pails of the butters. If I buy ten pound boxes of Mango Butter, CoCoca Butter and Shea Butter, wouldn't they all have to be cut up and tranferred into a five gallon bucket fpr each butter? How long do the butters last if you don't refidgerate?

Thanks again and believe me, I'm paying close attention because you guys know everything I don't about soap making.

Fire

Thank you, Euginia.

Wow, Columbus Foods has some great oils and butters. Still studying the soap oils site there. Hope the shipping isn't too bad. I will definiately get some of my oils there.

Making up the list now! will order after my shows are done! Candles have taken over my time because my wax was 10 days late in coming in! But at least I got it!

Fire:wink2:

Okay. I'll google Columbus foods.

What are the oils that I need? Olive Oil, Castrol oil, palm Kernel oil? Coconut Oil 76,

Sweet Almond Oil,

What are the butters and hard oils I need? I like the sounds of Mango Butter, ultra refined shea butter, what else?

I think I will start by using NO lard so I will need butters and oils that sub out for lard.

Thanks for the advice

Fire

I know I can puchase the basics like Olive Oil and Sunflower oils at WalMart

What are the basic oils and butters I will need for making my soap.? I've got WSP in my state and looked on their site. They have oils and butters but how long they've been sitting around it anyones guess. That's one of the reasons I won't use a local place for their butters. I know they've been sitting around for months and months and are not fresh.

Also can someone explain the pros and cons of lard in soap. I need to decide if I will be using it or making soap that is lard free.

So many people have asked me if I'm suing lard and I haven't fully decided until I see pros and cons of it's use in soap. But I think the public is steering away from lard in their own minds.

Thank you again,

Fire

Than You E! The research and information in these boards is awesome. I am gathering my supplies and waiting until after all of my shows are completed and I can solely devote myself to making CP soap for the winter.

Bits and pieces of the information and process are really starting to stick in my brain now, those I am still taking lots of notes and marking websites. The three tutorials that I've watched over and over really help too so I thank YOU, Grumpy and Robin for those!

Fire

Thank You VERY MUCH! I will go over and join the site you suggested.

Thanks again,

Fire

It might also be a good idea to have a good quality wisk on hand as well. Using a stick blender can accelerate the trace time some.

Not that I've made any CP soap but I've been reading up on it for months now.

A good thing might be to go and look at the CP classes here on the forum. Robin also has a tutorial on her site of Water Gulch as well.

The tutorial the Egenia did will show what happens when the trace accelerates.

I go and study the tutorial at least once a week. Even having read them all three and four times with all the pictures, I always come away with new knowledge and respect for this craft.

Fire

Okay, I been reading and studying information on these boards about CP soap. I've even gon ahead and made some purchases of some of the minor, but important supplies. (No oils or butters yet. That will come last)

However, I've noticed once in awhile, someone will post that their F/O riced in their CP soap. What does that mean and what is the best way to avoid it?

Yes it will still be a few weeks before I jump into CP soap. I still have some equipment to puchase~ my pans for making it in, a good quality wooden mold, an better scale than the small one I have, and the oils and butters.

I want to do it right so I will get the right supplies and equipment the first time. As well as continue to research both over here and on the dish. I will get out of the experience, what I invest into it in both money and research. Many times I get a question and do a search and read to find answers for myself but this one, I haven't found an answer to yet.

Thank you for answers and advice,

Fire;)

It looks wonderful!!!!! I love the dark blue color of the box.

Fire

Wow! Those look really nice and tight! Understand I don't make bath bombs but I must say:

"Dems da BOMBS!!!!!!! "

Fire

Very nice! What type of trays will you use and where will you get them? I'm sure you can fill it with your soaps in no time but we expect to see pictures to ensure that you are worthy of such a nice set up!

Fire;)