Recent content by meeplesoap

I, too, am done with my holiday shopping. I actually shop all year! :silent: I just finished a loaf of coffee salt soap and some verbena salt bars for gifts as well, so they should be ready by the time the holiday rolls around...

Shop goodwill for some of your supplies too. Stick with stainless steel for bowls, stick blender, and measuring bits, and plastic or stainless for your utensils. I got some stainless mixing bowls for $1 each, scrupulously cleaned them, and they are good to go! You can purchase silicone pans...

According to the salesgirl, they used to just do plant colorants, they have added ultramarine blue and pink, and she thought micas also. That would make more sense.

I stopped in there today with my mil; it is a fun store and I picked her brain. She was honest and very sweet. They make cold process soap and use a purchased natural glycerin base for the accent. They use natural essential oil (though I forgot to ask about Jasmine, it was only available in tiny...

You have to think about the sustainability. Let's say you make 24 bars a day. 24 bars to wrap and label in a cute way definitely takes labor, but is doable. But, two years from now, you land a WholeFoods contract and your etsy site is doing 20+ orders per week and then there's the street...

I like avocado and shea butter, but I use some combo of olive/coconut/almond with it, makes fantastic soap!

Yes, it does. The section that says: Do I have to blend these with water and add preservative to use? We have already preserved the colorants but if you heat the colorants up in the microwave or double boiler, we always recommend adding 1% Germaben II just to be on the ultra safe side...

I am in NO WAY trying to make you feel dumb, but on the first page of results for "Brambleberry lab color" an entire quick start guide came up: http://www.brambleberry.com/Labcolor-Quickstart-Guide-W29.aspx And this...

I hate using cube soap and ball soap. I like more surface area on my skin, I feel it takes forever to wash all over, and it's not a comfortable shape to hold either.

Lemon, cilantro, even tomato vine would be good! I use avocado in all my soap and it doesn't have any particular smell, so really you could use just about anything you want!

Just a pineapple scent would be great! DL pineapple is the best, I don't know what they put in it; some sort of government testing for hypnotically delicious fruits???! Keep in mind that selling anything with the "D" word in the listing is asking for trouble, especially in a character mold...

I soap cool (room temp) so fast trace usually isn't a problem for me. I still hand stir my castor/FO blend in, but rather than a spoon, I use a wire whisk, inserted straight down into the fresh (thin trace) soap. The whisk allows me to get at the soap along the bottom edge of the pot and into...

To avoid buying things repeatedly, stay away from wood or glass items when you can. Stick to stainless steel (especially your soap pot), silicone, and plastic. Glass can shatter under the heat of mixing lye, so the only glass I use is a measuring cup for my initial lye measure - no moisture...

Castor works well because it's kind of thick. With my other oils, I ended up with a layer of FO on the bottom, and regular oil on top, leaving a film of wasted FO on the container, even with scraping. By pouring the castor first, the FO is kind of cushioned and stays on top = less waste! :-)

The Lots of Lather recipe uses Canola oil... very prone to DOS from my experience. I don't use it at all for that reason. I believe she uses it as a beginner friendly soap oil that is easy on the pocketbook, rather than a recipe for someone who wants to cure and sell. Others may have more...