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2:37 pm
September 20, 2010
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Your soap is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! I also made some almond coco soap this weekend hot process, but yours look's so pretty, I love the swirls!!!!
3:18 pm
September 30, 2010
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Sooo sooo pretty!! Way more adventurous than I am….yet.
9:30 pm
January 21, 2011
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Thank you Lizzie and Carrie! Lizzie, I've been tempted to try hot process so I don't have to wait for the soap to cure. I dunno though, I'm on the fence, which do you prefer?
Thanks,
10:08 pm
April 18, 2011
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That soap is sooooooooooooooo pretty!! I want to try cold process but I am such an impatient person. The waiting would just kill me! LOL
12:31 am
September 20, 2010
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Window On The Prairie,
I have only made Hot Process soap!! I really have been wanting to make cold process, so I don't know which one I would prefer. With cold process I know that you can do so much more in terms of swirling, and colors. The hot process method is just so easy for me, I don't have to worry about oil temperatures when adding the lye, and the soap can be used right away if you want, I do prefer to let it cure a couple of weeks so that the soap can get nice and hard, lasts longer. The other thing is that you add your fragrances at the end of the cook, so you don't need as much and don't really have to worry if the lye is going to react funny with the fragrance or essential oil that you are using. I have been making soap for over a year now and there is so much to learn!! I also am a little bit scared of cold process soap making because of the lye situation. Hot process is much more contained " CrockPot" but I have had a volcano experience only ONCE, yes is was climbing out of the crockpot and running down the kitchen counters! NEVER again! the weenie dogs were barking, my then 13 year old was yelling, you can only imagine. I only walked away from it for FIVE minutes! never did that again! but I like how the soap looks rustic, and I do use color in mine. I wanted to tell you that the recipe for the Almond Chocolate soap you made was the same one I used, but your soap is beautiful! with all those swirls, I have tried to do this with the hot process method, but it just does not look the same. You should try it some time and see which one you like best. I am also very impatient! so that's probably why I use the hot process method. 
1:35 pm
April 18, 2011
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I did my first craft show yesterday and even though the attendance was low at the festival I did fairly well I think @ 4 times my booth fee. The one thing I wasn't counting on being asked for was PLAIN JANE lye soap. So that's what I'm going to be making today. I'm going to use the beef fat I rendered a few weeks ago because it makes a beautiful hard white bar.
I want to thank you guys for all the wonderful information on this forum!
1:41 pm
February 10, 2009
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Hooray for you Nana Sandi! Thank you for sharing your good news, it's so good to hear you did well with something you enjoy.
I hope you got a chance to network with a lot of other crafters there too, I always love that at craft shows.
6:22 am
October 17, 2008
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Glad it turned out well for you, Sandi!
LOL! You think you've got it all covered and then they just want plain. I've had several people ask me if I had lye soap….as they're looking at a whole table full of soap.
12:34 pm
April 18, 2011
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CindyP said:
Glad it turned out well for you, Sandi!
LOL! You think you've got it all covered and then they just want plain. I've had several people ask me if I had lye soap….as they're looking at a whole table full of soap.
That is exactly what happened, Cindy!! One lady said "I don't know what 'handmade lye' is … but I would love to try your soap." I just smiled that 'bless your little heart' smile and said "Yes, Mam … just let me know if you need any help". LOL
Solid lotion bars were the other item that I had quite a few requests for. A vendor at the Texas Renaissance Festival had them last year and evidently they were hot sellers. I found a recipe for them so I'm going to give it a try - if I like the results then I'll order some round tins to package them in.
We're doing another show on Nov 19th. It's STICTLY handmade crafts … this one had quite a few vendors that were reselling things they bought in bulk. But I did meet some really nice handcrafters and they are the ones that gave me information on the next show.
I was also the ONLY booth with soaps .. which I was loving .. because I had customers that were sending other people over. The only bad experience I had was with yellow jackets. They were drawn to our booth by the soap scents. I'm very allergic and had left my Epi-pen at home so my husband kept giving me THAT look every time a bee came into the booth … so I just stopped looking at him. LOL Our 7 year old granddaughter started calling him Nanapaw The YJS (yellow jacket slayer). She's so funny.
4:13 am
February 15, 2011
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I'm so glad you had a great time with your Booth, Nana Sandi. It sounds wonderful! I wanted to let you know that if you wanted to formula your own lotion bars with the oils you love, try using the lip balm formula posted in the recipes section. That is what I use for lotion bars as well.
I guess you'll have to remember to bring your epi pen next time you do a show. 
10:14 am
September 20, 2010
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Nana Sandi, SO happy for you!!! you made me giggle with your granddaughter, good to know that yellow jackets are drawn to soaps because of the scents, I don't like them to much! so I will have to keep this in mind. Remember your epi pen! and have FUN selling soap!!!!
3:55 pm
October 14, 2010
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Just catching up here.
Wonderful news Nana Sandi 
Glad you had a lot of fun at the fair and done well too!
Good luck with your next show and hopefully it will be busier since with Christmas not to far away.
Hugs Cheryl 
11:58 pm
April 18, 2011
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Today I had another craft show and sales were 3 times better than the last one. I even had repeat customers! I have to share an almost "foot in mouth" story though..
A young man asked if I had a Spearmint soap .. which I don't, so I showed him the Patchouli & Bergamot, Eucalyptus, and Tea Tree soaps. I tend to be a Chatty Cathy … and told him that those were all scents that you either love or hate … and how my middle daughter hates the Patchouli & Bergamot soap and calls it "worms & dirt" but she loved the Eucalyptus .. and my youngest daughter loves the Patchouli & Bergamot but hates the Eucalyptus and calls it "funeral home soap". He had the Eucalyptus bar in his had and says "Wow .. I like this one .. AND I work at a funeral home". My middle daughter was giving me that wide-eyed 'OOOOOOPS' look and thought sure I had lost the sale but then he reaches over and gets another bar of it. LOL He ended up buying 4 bars of soap and 2 lotion bars!
1:29 am
September 20, 2010
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Hi Nana Sandi,
I just made a Spearmint soap with some spearmint leafs ground in it! glad to know someone asked if you had any because I am doing a craft show on the 4th of December, and I was wondering if anyone would buy it!!! tonight I made a coffee almond chocolate soap and a lemon poppy seed. These are the scents that one of my customers have requested for Christmas gifts. Have fun selling your soaps!!
1:53 pm
April 18, 2011
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Lizzie,
A lady I work with had asked me to make some ginger soap because she has diabetic neuropathy in her legs and her doctor told her it would help with circulation. It was my best seller yesterday and sold out within 2 hours of my booth opening – so today I'm making more so I'll be ready for the next show on the 3rd.
My 2nd best seller was the Patchouli & Bergamot. So I've got to get busy. I am sooooo incredibly sore today though. Our booth was on a steep incline. So I had to stand catiwompered all day! My poor hips are feeling it today!
4:56 pm
November 20, 2011
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Window On The Prairie said:
With the cooler weather I've gotten in the mood to make soap again. For me it's a fall and winter thing for some reason. Who knows why. Anywho, recently I made a batch of chocolate almond soap, the first time I used this recipe, and it turned out great. I'm so excited! Here's the recipe for anyone who might be interested.
http://windowontheprairie.com/2011/09/27/chocolate-almond-soap/
Very pretty soap. Its chocolate it has to be great. I have been reading all the pages today here on soap making. My head is spinning. So much to learn.
10:07 am
October 20, 2010
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I would like to hear suggestions on making labels water resistant. I use brown kraft labels and a laser printer…after handling the bottles and bars I have noticed some smearing of the the ink…nearly 2 months after they were put on…
I can find waterproof labels online, but only in silver or white, and I don't want to use either of those colors.
Is there a way to treat the paper before or after printing? Does an inkjet printer work better than a laser printer??
I read somewhere that Krylon makes a product that you can spray on after printing to make it water resistant but it also stated you have to let your labels air out because of the strong odor…so not sure I want to wrap my soaps in something like that.
Do clear labels work better??
I have a lot of soap to package and would like to figure out a solution before I wrap these batches.
10:10 am
May 6, 2011
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I saw some weatherproof clear(?), white address labels at Office Depot yesterday.
10:16 am
October 20, 2010
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Yes, I have seen them there, but I need to buy in a larger quanity…way too expensive to buy through office depot in small packages. I really want to stick with my brown kraft labels if I can. Thanks though.
10:35 am
October 17, 2008
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I don't understand why the laser printed labels are smudging. I've never had a problem with that…inkjet, yes, but not laser. Is your printer to set at the same thickness as your paper? That makes a big difference of how well the ink adheres to what you're printing on.
What I've done for water proof labels before (not for wrapping soap, though, but for labels on my bottles in the shower)…print out the sheet, hang on the clothesline and spray with a clear spray (cheap from $ General) in a couple coats. I didn't notice any lingering smells so I don't know why it wouldn't work.
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