Soap Makers Help!

[Morgaine]

I kinda have a sliding scale too. For my normal bars I'm charging $2 wholesale, 3$ discounted to certain people(family and the teachers at ds school) and 4$ retail. Salt bars add .50-$1.

chiknwhisperer- I put a little baggie in there for ya. Sould be plenty for a couple of batches. I would start out with a small amount and see if that gets you the color you are looking for. The clay doesn't change color much from pour through gell. Remember that too much will make the soap drying.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Thanks Morgaine. I'll make note of the drying effect so I don't forget. I can't wait to try it. I finally got a person to come and check on my animals once a day while I'm in Florida during spring break. I will still have to board my dogs though

But at least I don't have to put a stop on my mail. The lady that was supposed to tend isn't able to anymore because her husband got the same days off so now they are going to go to Utah that week. If she would have tended I wouldn't board my dogs at all. I always tend for her whenever she has to go anywhere. Sorry for the rant I'm just a bit perturbed and stressed out by it all. I really didn't want to have to board my dogs anywhere. And plus I really really didn't want to have to leave my pop door open on the chicken coop for the week but the person tending can only be there once a day. I really need to stop stressing.

 

[NanaKat]

chiknwhisperer: Have you set your page up as "landscape" ? That's what I had to do to get the longer strips for the labels.
Some programs call it 11 x 8.5.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I'll have to take a look at it. My DH got me a lap top a while back and I have been using it for ALMOST all of my soap stuff and related things. But I made the mistake of putting the labels on the family computer

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I set my page to 11 x 8.5 but it still isn't long enough. I have to fiddle with it some more. I've never worked with the word program this much before I started soaping so I'm still learning a lot.
DH isn't to bad with the word program but he is home so little that he doesn't have time to work on it. I'll work on it some more later tonight and hopefully I'll get it.

 

[Morgaine]

I'm using print shop. I set up a grid and then use text boxes. Now that I have the hang of it, it's much easier. I use a paper cutter to cut them apart.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I'll have to look into print shop and see how that is. I use a paper cutter for the ones that I make. I printed some off a little bit ago and they were better but there are still some small things to be fixed.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Well sad news here. That lovely looking chocolate soap I made,,, lye heavy

It looked so beautiful

I have to make more today so I don't have upset folks asking for chocolate soap.

Not sure what happened. I have never had that happen. So this is my first failed batch.

I did unmold a Castile soap last night that has rose petals in it. I have never seen all four boys and DH so impressed with any of the soaps I have made by just looking at them. And the funny part is, I don't even like the soap. It didn't turn out looking the way I wanted it to at all. They just absolutely love it. I'll be posting pictures up later today for all of you.

 

[NanaKat]

Sorry about the chocolate soap.
Could you rebatch it into a Vanilla batch ....like a chunky chocolate?

 

[Morgaine]

Aww chiknwhisperer, sorry to hear about your chocolate soap. Maybe you could rebatch it? Do you think that you forgot to add one of the oils or added to much lye?

I make sure to make notes on every batch I make now. I include what recipe I used, fragrance and amount, any extras I added, what temps I soaped at, my superfat %, how strong my lye solution is, how the soap behaves while soaping, did it gell all the way, discolor, accelerate trace. If there is anything I don't like about the soap, I make a note of that too. If anything goes wrong I write about it, what I think caused it and what I can do to prevent it. I think they the notes have already helped me in two cases. First was the cinnamon swirl. I now know to soap cool, use full water and do not insulate.

I can't wait to see your Castile soap with rose petals!

I wanted to share this really cool article I found that really informative about discounted water cold process.

http://www.rivercitysoaps.com/dwcp/dwcp.pdf