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A tack shop is definitely a good place to look, although I don't think many people use it straight up these days. It's painted onto horse's hooves to help keep the horn supple and prevent cracking. You could also try looking for 'pine resin' which is the same thing.

I haven't bought from them, but I cruised around their website and I didn't see anything that raised suspicion. Pricing on the dilutions of the expensive oils seemed about right, with some variation. You could order sample sizes, and do some simple checks for yourself, like evaporation...

I worked with a dermatologist for a couple of years, so I got to see lots of dry, cracked fingers and feet. His remedy: dampen hands (plain water) at bedtime, coat with a THICK layer of vaseline, put on plain cotton gloves, and then latex/nitrile gloves over the top, and sleep like that...

Well now. Don't you just learn something new each day!

I have the Canon Rebel 350. An old model now, but an absolute workhorse. I rarely use my little old Kodak P&S, although that can take an awesome pic when you tweak the settings and don't just leave it on the default. Most P&S cameras have a major tendency to overexpose (pictures end up washed...

You could try looking in a craft store for raffia string. My only caution is that (like sisal) it comes from Madagascar which has suffered deforestation in order to grow "recyclable, biodegrable" products for the western world ...

Unfortunately the bleeding is very slow, and therefore very subtle. Add that to the fact that the soap was stored away in a box and I only occasionally looked at it, and it made it hard to tell. I didn't go back and look at the photo's either for comparison--otherwise I might have been able to...

I just melted down a 4L container of Refined Palm Oil because the book I've been using (Complete Idiot's Guide to Natural Soap) warns that if you don't the stearic acid can separate out and leave chalky white veins all through the soap, so that's the first thing I thought of when I saw the...

Finally have an answer to the original question Hi: I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to know the answer myself i.e. had anyone experienced bleeding over time with Labcolours. I think I have an answer. Here's my experience: Fresh cut bars from December 2010: Same batch...

Great info here, thanks to all for sharing. I have a cupboard full of herbs of one kind or another, and now I have a head full of ideas! Wonder what star anise would do ....?

Thanks both of you! The residual paste does appear to be "dissolving" slowly. Fortunately I don't need the pot for anything else right now, so I'll try adding a bit more water and just letting it sit.

Hi All: I made a batch (my first attempt) at liquid castile soap over the weekend (it was mostly OO with a small amount of PO). It took a lot longer for the paste to melt down into the water/borax solution than I had expected, and as it was past my bed time by that point, I turned the stove...

Love the blue one in the middle!

Thanks for the kind words everyone! To answer a couple of questions: When it reached a light trace (stick blended), I put a portion into another pot that had the colourants already in, and hand stirred. I added some Lavender EO to the uncoloured portion and briskly hand stirred, hoping it...

Sorry, I should clarify. This was an in-the-pot-swirl. I meant that I didn't mix the actual colourant enough, before I added it to the soap aliquot.

It's rapidly become apparent, that should I succumb to the soap-making bug, that I will acquire a substantial number of large, empty, screw-capped wide mouth plastic containers and tall, dark amber or clear bottles, eyedroppers etc etc etc. In an effort to be environmentally responsible and...

Problem is, I refuse to have anything to do with FB, especially as Windows OS's and other utilities become more interlinked with social networking sites. (Note: I'm not looking to sell my soap. Maybe sometime in the future, who knows, but I might still be interested in a guild etc).

I used an NDA colour - don't know who the manufacturer is, as they re-label. I'm thinking I didn't mix it quite enough, too, which might explain some of the colours "graininess" in places. http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.ca/ro ... -1042.html

My first adventure with colour. I had no idea how much to use ... now I have some idea!! Um .. not so much! I'm not big on colour, but thought I'd play a bit. This is only the third batch I've made (CP), period. It was a purple liquid soap colourant with a smidge of black liquid colour thrown in...

Guess I'm going to have to play the wait and see game. I just made my third batch (ever) - CP, into a wood log mold. The first two I made were in shallow plastic tray molds, and definitely didn't gel but seem to have come out just fine. I'm mixing at about 85 deg F oil, lye somewhat cooler. I...