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Happy New Year! Life happened and I haven't made soap for quite a while...I have missed soaping and the creativity that it inspired, so here I am. :mrgreen: Lots of familiar and new names, and of course lots of great photos and tips to try out. I am looking forward to getting re-acquainted...

The only thing that comes to mind would be any impurities in the water, but there a few soapers who use sea water with no issues. You might want to run it through a filter first. Give it a go and see how it turns out. I just made a lovely salt water brine soap and it lathers ok but it needs a...

Oops, I didn't even see the 3rd one! I like it but not as much as the first one. What I like is the word handcrafted instead of natural. Just my preference.

I like the clean, fun look of the first logo and the wording in the second logo. Not much help, sorry. The second logo is more 'sophisticated'. Either way, both are well done.:thumbup:

I modified a regular recipe and HP'd my Orange Spice shaving pucks with 10% stearic acid, scented with orange 5X, benzoin, amyris EO's, then added nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and allspice dried spices. The lather is extremely stable and creamy and the bar is hard, conditioning and no DOS despite...

The orange scent will stick well with HP. The key is to let the soap cool down a bit. If you are adding anything like citrus peels or clay then soak them in the EO as well.

There are none in Ottawa or the area that I know of. Saffire Blue, NDA and Voyageur are all decent suppliers. Dahila--I order my BTMS 50 from Voyageur Soap and Candle in BC. When NDA introduced their $100 minimum Saffire Blue's volume likely shot up.

They are my favourite supplier. Now if only they would stock BTMS-50 like they keep promising. Happy soaping when your order comes in!

Looks great. Any kind of swirl with HP is more challenging.

Anyone who can use shampoo bars is very lucky. My hair took a looong time to forgive me for trying one out last year. There are a few shampoo recipes floating around in the forums--just have to search them out and modify the oils based on what goodness they will contribute.

Try mixing the EO with clay or cornstarch and let it sit for a while. If you are adding anything like citrus zest or calendula you can soak those as well. The alternative is HP (the scent will last if you let the soap cool enough and then add your EO's with your superfat oils), or blend your...

I buy from Ebay and most times the shipping is free. Sometimes it takes up to a month to receive it and sometimes it takes a week. I find that dealing with sellers from Asia are hassle free and no different than buying from North America except in price.

Wow Cara those are beautiful!

In one of the beeswax threads someone mentioned that she actually melts the wax and emulsifies it with some of the oils first, then adds it to the batch. I thought this was a great tip and it would cut down on the waiting. I too like using some beeswax in soaps but only at about 2-3%.

Mmmm. I'll bet it smells delish.

I made a coffee soap with Turkish coffee last year and the smell was there for about a month (faint, but there). I'm not sure if the coffee contributed at all but the bar is quite hard, long lasting and very bubbly.

Too funny.

I almost always use SL in my HP soap while it's cooking and sometimes I will add stearic acid if the hardness numbers are not where I want them to be. SF oils get added immediately after the cook, then I let the soap cool a bit and add the FO/EO. Like Seawolfe mentioned, it loosens the soap...

I will take bad, cold winters over hurricanes any day. But I will take southern hemisphere winters over bad, cold winters any day too, with the exception of the Antarctic. :D

I would like to make pine tar soap, aloe soap, improve on MP, soaps with exfoliants (got pumice and loofah bits), pureed veggie soap recipes...lots of stuff. Not a whole lot of time though. :(