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Before I got into the housecleaning (yesterday was a total-day-off; I donated platelets in the morning, napped when I got home, then binge-watched the show Baptiste on the PBS/Masterpiece channel) activities I have planned for today, I looked on YouTube to learn a little about how to swirl soap...

Right? I crave more sleep, but if I try to sleep more than about 6.5 - 7 hours, these dreams start (they also start if I have a deadline, an early morning appointment, a big decision to make... yeah, fun times...).

I'll have to try the wet microfiber towel idea. I hate how many paper towels I've been using to clean my soap equipment. I learned most of my techniques from this forum, so it's not surprising that my work approach is similar to those listed, but that won't stop me chiming in, will it? So...

Does 'anxiety dream' count? I tried to sleep in this morning, and of course my subconscious decided to punish me. I started thinking about my first table coming up in April, and it occurred to me that I would need to be ready to make change if someone offered to buy with cash, so I tried to...

I wondered if I had made that mistake, but then I was too wrapped up at work to double check it. It figures that the errors would cascade wouldn't it?

I looked this up, and the package seems to be eight pounds, not gallons. If I'm calculating right, I think that's about 4.3 gallons, which would work out to about $29 US per gallon, which isn't bad, but Amazon has it for ~$28* and you only need to get one gallon at a time, so less risk of it...

Thankfully, long ago my wife and I worked out a pattern that won't have to change much once I'm retired: She cooks & grocery shops & does half the dishes. I do all the cleaning and laundry & handle all of the household bills. Sadly, with her back issue, I may have to take on much the...

I don't need to be at the $500 mark in three years! I just have to be heading that way; as I said, supposedly I have enough to retire on. My first table is scheduled for the end of March, and my wife and I are working on it already. If I need to, I can work until I'm 67 easily (my work doesn't...

My goals are broadly similar to these; my retirement is looming, and the retirement forecast software my employer uses claims I have enough to retire on, but... I want to have a little cushion, so my goal is to build up to a soap-biz 'take home' of ~$500 per month by around 2027, but the real...

One of the common questions that I've seen about superfat is; "can you control which fat is left un-saponified?" People try adding the 'lux' oil at the last second in the hope that it will survive the transformation into soap. For instance, if someone wants to have shea butter as the...

I suspect that it's because coconut oil is considered a very drying oil... but as you know, I've only been at this for a few months, so I'll be watching for replies from folks with more experience!

Do you have to leave them in the cold garage after the first 24 hours? Do you have something like a hot pad or growing mat that you could leave under them for the first 12 hours? I'm guessing that, with all the water in the batter/bars, that freezing them to those temps would end with the bars...

I'll be watching this thread carefully! I am just getting started, so I don't have a ton of history to account for in my bookkeeping, but tracking raw material cost is a new thing for me, so I'm certain to learn from this.

What sort of raw materials do you typically buy? I get a lot of things at my local 'big box' stores... Walmart, BJ's Wholesale, Lowe's, and grocery stores like Publix. I also buy online at Bulk Apothecary, Bramble Berry, and Wholesale Supplies Plus, and Amazon among others (I need to trim that...

Hi, Minnie! Welcome to the forum!

Yup, it's like hollering 'FIRST DIBS!' but in a workplace-acceptable tone.

Today I unmolded some of my second batch of salt soap. I liked making the first batch so much that I grabbed some salt and coconut oil at Wally World Sunday morning and started weighting and melting and mixing. This time I went with a 2.0:1 water:lye ratio and it was pretty thick batter by the...

<holds up hand> I'd like Right of First Refusal, please! :)

I went through this with a wintergreen-spearmint blend, going with the 3% default on SoapCalc, then learned that I should have checked it against the scent calc. I'm going to keep it for myself; I have no reaction to it, and I'm hoping that over time as the EO evaporates, that it might be usable...

I had a binder clip fall into the oil on a batch on Tuesday; I just stood there and stared at it for a moment in shock before fishing it out.