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If you have lemon eucalyptus consider other uses. I mix with alcohol and water for a personal mosquito spray. Works great. I don't add an emulsifier so it is a shake and spray for my personal use only. I use 50% alcohol, 25% water, and 25% EO. I have seen it sold with up to 40% EO.

What will your packaging be? I think how they look is the most important thing for wedding favors. I personally think shrink wrap is pretty unattractive and commercial. So, unless you have a way to hide it in a box or bag I would think CP will allow for much more attractive look.

Its hard to know how many items the magazine edited from the instructions. Susan Ryhanen had a business, I think Creekside soaps, for many years. Her husband made molds and soap dishes. I purchased my wooden log molds from him about 2006 and still use his soap dishes for my displays. To...

Keep your plastic bags for your first show. They are the norm and cheap. Plastic takes up less room behind your table and the loop can be safety pinned to your tablecloth. Reconsider for your 2nd show after you see how easily it is to pack and unload. I wouldn't want an extra box just for...

Have fun and realize this is a big learning experience. Pay attention to other booths and get to know other vendors. Decide on your first attempt what your booth should be on your second attempt. Consider using an apron for your cash box so there is one less item to keep up with. It...

I never really enjoyed dyes; I remember being so surprised at how bright a color became once the soap went through gel and how hard it was to predict the color from looking at the liquid dye. Some I thought were too bright and artificial looking. Of course, I was a new soaper in 2005 and...

I have been fortunate to live in an area with some large craft fairs. My retirement hobby of selling at fairs I have thought ideal in seeing what people like. I do what Alioop suggested; my tables have sections of fruity/bakery; florals and feminine, herbals, clean, earthy, "hippie". It is...

No; I don't think so; Were they micas? I seem to remember some dyes with a similar name; I mainly remember that the manufacturing issues with POPs caused their ending and a lot of angst until new ones and new companies brought out more.

I have been soaping since 2005. I started using micas when the POP micas were sold. You could purchase the set and got a yellow, orange, reddish (I have forgotten but was more pinkish red), green, blue (similar to Nurture's blue vibrance) and a purple. I think soap makers fell in love with...

Probably my high percent of hard oils may make it harder. You are closer than you realize to getting it to work. I think that pouring the FO into the pot in a very small stream while whisking helps the most. The larger the whisk the better; a large whisk helps incorporate it faster and...

Beach is a favorite and it is difficult to soap. I soap at about 90 degrees with a recipe that is 60% hard oils; After I weigh my FO I add about 3-4 tablespoons of my base oils to the FO container; thinning it out a little. I do a single in the pot swirl of white with TD in a blue soap. I...

I think micas are the easiest for a newbie. They mix easily in batter and you can blend micas for a new color. That allows you a large variety in colors with only a few mica purchases. Most micas will result in soap the color of the mica when dry (which is harder to predict with oxides...

You were given a good advice and recipe by Alioop. I would just adjust it to use the coconut instead of babasu and to use lard rather than palm. This should produce a hard bar with creamy lather and enough bubbles. My favorite bars use 60% hard oils which is what this has. 35% Olive 40%...

I still use wooden log molds. They insulate so well I always have gel. I soap with oils about 90 and my lye/milk around 80 and use 100% frozen goatmilk for the liquid. Most of the time I have no problem with milk soaps gelling although they will always be more ivory/tan than white. If my...

This isn't a beginner mold but an adaption. When buying electronics sometimes the foam insulation in the box is more plastic like. I cut some of these out a bit wider than the width of my mold. If I want to make a smaller batch I wedge them in the part of the mold I don't use. Works well...

My favorite mold as a beginner in 2004 was a Velveeta box. The two pound cheese box lined with freezer paper was a good beginner size and sturdy. I used it for many months; it allowed me time to decide if I wanted a log or slab mold for my first purchased mold.

Do you know why you were not accepted at the craft event? Many times organizers limit the number of vendors in specific categories. For fairs I attend jewelry is almost always limited to a specific number and soap is often. It really doesn't help anyone to be a vendor at a venue with 8 other...

If you already own these oils then definitely use them. If you don't own them yet then on your first batches consider Coconut (rather than babasu), lard (instead of palm), and olive oil. The advantage is that you can purchase all at the grocery store and keep your costs reasonable. They make a...

Sometimes I think non soap makers find soap "fancy" because of the number of colors or the contrast of colors. I think a bar in any design where all colors are in various white/ivory/tans seems soothing and not "fancy"; likewise soaps with low contrast between the colors.

Your samples surprised me because they are so similar to my test bars. When testing a fragrance I like to make about 8 ounce batch per fragrance. They are always confetti like yours with a different color top layer so I can tell them apart. I like a 2.5- 3 oz bar as a way to give a regular...