Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Please!

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mgsantos

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Hello everyone,

I am a new member!
I would love to learn how to make soaps, creams, candles....but mostly to start with soap making.

I am not able to find anything available in MN. Can someone help me??? Do you know of any website where is listed courses or workshops???
How do I find info on soap making in MN ??? I don't seem to find anything on Google :-(

How did you all learn???

Please help me... Thanks
Maria
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

Welcome to the forum. What part of MN are you in? I'm in Eastern WI, just about 1 1/2 hours outside the Twin Cities.

Your local Michaels or Joanns may have some candle and melt and pour soap making classes.

Do you know what kind of soap making you wanted to try?

I've learned everything I know about soap making and candle making from videos online, forums and different websites.

For learning to make candles, Natures Garden Candles has some nice .pdf's on candle making
http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/can ... asses.html

As for soap making, that would depend on what kind you're interested in doing.
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

Thank you!!

I am in Eden Prairie.
I don't even know what kind of soap I want to start with. I am looking to start something from home (I am a SAHM) and looking for some sort of soap making with natural/organic ingredients... I looked at Michaels and nothing. Joaann I didn't yet... will look. Thanks.

Do u do this as a business??

Maria
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

I do sell soaps as a business. Years ago I used to sell candles as well, but decided to focus most of my attention just on soap making.

Cold process soap making is where you decide which oils you'd like to use and add that to lye and water. Not quite as simple as that, but close.
If you're interested in that, here's some good videos:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... ature=plcp

a good information website:
http://www.millersoap.com/

a couple good books
The Everything Soapmaking Book by Alicia Grosso
The Soapmaker’s Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques, and Know-How by Susan Miller Cavitch

Melt and pour is when you purchase a solid soap base that you cut up, melt and add fragrance oils, essential oils, coloring, etc. to.
If you're interested in Melt and Pour, here's some good videos:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5ouJZfluMY&list=PL05E2F1EF0838281A&feature=plcp"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5ouJZfl ... ature=plcp[/ame]

a good book:
Melt & Mold Soap Crafting by C. Kaila Westerman

Some pretty good suppliers that carry melt and pour soap bases:
http://www.naturesgardencandles.com
http://www.brambleberry.com
htpp://www.sweetcakes.com
http://www.elementsbathandbody.com
http://cart.candlesupply.com/ (Bitter Creek North)

If you have any questions, we're here :)
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

Welcome to the forum! I'm glad to see you're eager to learn. Soapmaking can be quite addictive and you can easily spend a lot of money buying supplies. I just wanted to recommend taking it slow and check around for items you have at home or find at garage sales or thrift stores. You can easily start out with a few oils, lye and rinsed out milk cartons for molds. I recommend a container made of either stainless steel or PP#5 plastic to dissolve lye. Start with small batches and experiment with for a period of time with oils, colorants and scents.

I recommend you read this topic if you like soapmaking and someday wish to take the next step and start selling.
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

Thank you so much for your replies ladies!

I am looking forward to learn and experiment and I will certainly watch for over spendings at least at the start and I usually get carried away.
One of the reasons I want to start doing this is to make an extra income, I am a stay at home mom. Is it even possible to make any money selling soap online? I am curious to know (depending on hard work) how much can one make out of selling soap or how easy/difficult it is to sell. I see so many people selling soap online.....

Enjoy this beautiful day!
Maria
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

mgsantos said:
Thank you so much for your replies ladies!
One of the reasons I want to start doing this is to make an extra income, I am a stay at home mom. Is it even possible to make any money selling soap online? I am curious to know (depending on hard work) how much can one make out of selling soap or how easy/difficult it is to sell. I see so many people selling soap online.....

Enjoy this beautiful day!
Maria

It takes years and years, plus a lot of invested time and money to make a profit on selling Bath and Body products and candles. Unfortunately there are too many people out there selling books and ebooks and what not that give a couple recipes or instructions on making things and then tell you how to sell it right away, claiming that it's easy money.
Good B & B and candle business owners will tell you, that it's harder and a lot more work than most every day jobs. We don't say it to scare off possible competition (someone accused me of trying to do that once :roll: ) We say it, because it's the truth and have lived it.
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

Good reply and I am thankful again.

But after how many years you started seeing a little profit?? Do you make now a full salary only selling your soap products??
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

I've been selling my cp soap for a little over a year and I do several markets and fairs a month. As for if I now make a profit on what I'm selling, I do if I don't count how much money I've invested in testing and equipment. When I made and sold candles, I made even less of a profit because testing candles can get very expensive. You have to test waxes, molds, containers, fragrances and then you have to test different wicks with each different fragrance and molds and waxes.


I'm lucky enough to be able to stay at home with my children, but that's only because for now my husband makes enough to cover everything. I definitely do not make a full salary with soap making. I know a lot of soap makers and candle makers and very few of them make a full salary.

I just started selling online last month, but I've been told by many soap makers that sell online and at markets and such, that it's a lot harder to sell online than it is in person.
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

Thank you for your feedback Genny :)
 
Re: Minnesota Soap/candle Making - Please help with Info Ple

Don't be too discouraged though. Instead of starting off with candles you could try wax tart melts, which don't require you to test wicks or containers. With those you really just only need to test waxes and fragrance oils.

And instead of making and selling cp soap, you could try melt and pour soap. Which doesn't require as much testing either. It still does require some testing though.

Then if you want to, you could eventually progress to candles.
 
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