SoapCon 2016 - Cathy McGinnis 10/1-10/2

[Cindy2428]

I've been busting to tell you guys but I couldn't until Cathy posted first. $155 includes

Attendee registration includes:
- Two day all access pass
- Breakfast, lunch and snacks for both days
- Attendee Program with Speaker Notes
- SoapCon goodie bag
- Participation in all giveaways
- Event parking
- And as many surprises as we can throw in!

The speakers are all wonderful including Cathy herself on LS, and Kevin Dunn. But drumroll please.... Clyde Yoshida will be speaking about color theory. To the color challenged (like me), this will be worth the price of admission alone.

I'm helping Cathy with the vendors so Cosmo.... Carrie from Nurture, I hope you are planning to attend or I will be stalking you!

The location is Mt. Sterling KY, so totally doable for mid-westerners. Last year the venue could only support 100 people; this year I think 200?? - don't hold me to that, but it will sell out if you are interested.

 

[snappyllama]

I'd love to go, but I'd have to wait to sign up until my life insanity diminishes (hopefully this month).

You'll have to keep us posted on when the spots start running out.

 

[TeresaT]

That sounds like a lot of fun. Is it open to everyone or just a select group? How does one get to go? I'm in Chattanooga, so pretty much anywhere in KY is driving distance for me.

 

[Cindy2428]

Registration is open now. I spoke to Cathy this afternoon - only 100 tickets! Last year it sold out in 30 days so I wouldn't wait. Mt Sterling is closer to Louisville, so hopefully that plans out your journey Teresa.

I already have interest from 4 vendors, (including Nurture), and Cathy only opened up registration 48 hours ago.

Brandy from soapequipment.com will also be there - I love checking out the high dollar equipment she carries.

 

[Cindy2428]

Sorry T - I didn't answer all of your questions - The event is open to everyone. On your browser search SoapCon 2016 and you will find the site with all of the speakers, registration and hotel info. BTW - both hotels are next door to one another. It is planned that all of the speakers and vendors will be at the Ramada.

 

[earlene]

I just bought my ticket! Thank you for posting this, Cindy.

 

[TeresaT]

Sorry T - I didn't answer all of your questions - The event is open to everyone. On your browser search SoapCon 2016 and you will find the site with all of the speakers, registration and hotel info. BTW - both hotels are next door to one another. It is planned that all of the speakers and vendors will be at the Ramada.

Cool!! I get paid Saturday. Guess what I'm doing?

 

[Cindy2428]

This is awesome!

We will all have to get together at the end of the day for dinner one night. We already have 6 vendors lined up. Cathy and I are on a mission in 2 weeks to rope in a company that has never participated in anything soapy before. Registration is going very well.

A little surprise info. Mount Sterling is Cathy's hometown. She has a store there called The Soap Deli. It is pure Cathy- you will have to check it out. She has also leased the storefront next door which she calls The Tub. It is her classroom and she teaches there. We are working on an event for the evening in which attendees will be able to make something..... It's going to be simple - something start to finish we can do in an hour. (It's only an idea at this point but I think we can make it happen).

 

[TeresaT]

Ticket purchased. You'll recognize me because I'll be wearing the weird-a$$ clothes!! I'm so excited!! Now I've gotta go put in a leave slip for work so I can actually attend the event and change the opening of the shop to October instead of September. No sense in opening the shop then taking off for a week. Not very professional.

 

[ngian]

I am a little jealous as it is impossible for me to attend the specific event.

I would be grateful if someone could inform us here any new information the speakers will present around soap.

 

[Cindy2428]

Not a problem Ngian

 

[ngian]

Not a problem Ngian

Thank you in advance Cindy. I'm also writing here once again a private message I had sent you 7 months ago but without having any reply from you, hoping that this time you will see / you can answer it.

Hello Cindy, I came across today an old post of yours:

=========
Quote:
Oh my goodness, Kevin Dunn is so wicked smart and he can explain things so well. He shared some of his new research on gel phase that is not in his current book. When I'm not brain fried I'll transcribe my notes because he basically gives a formula regarding water % and temp control to determine if you want gel and how you can control it.
=========

--> http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?p=471851#post471851

and I was wondering if you have posted somewhere the specific research on gel phase.

Thank you in advance, Nikos

 

[dixiedragon]

That's only 7 hrs from Birmingham! Any Alabama folks want to carpool?

 

[Cindy2428]

Nikos - I am so sorry I did not answer you. I was feeling pretty miserable after 2 major surgeries. Anyway, what I thought were good note taking techniques, was a mess. (I knew something was majorly wrong, but I didn't know I had a large brain tumor...)

The crux of the additional research was electron photography capturing the saponification process in low, medium and high water phase. He showed the videos in color and it was so cool to actually see the process. It also confirmed that high water soaps will have a higher tendency to gel, vs low water soaps which do not generally stay hot enough to gel.

 

[ngian]

Thank you for answering me Cindy, and until SoapCon in October and your report, I'm watching an older Kevin Dunn's talk about saponification values and bad lye...

http://fyi101.com/the-balancing-act-part-i-presented-by-dr-kevin-dunn/

 

[amd]

What are the dates?

 

[Cindy2428]

October 1 and 2

 

[ngian]

Wow, I've just enjoyed every video with Kevin Dunn where he talks about issues that he has already written in his book, and by seeing these videos it was for me a lot easier to understand.

It worths for someone to spend a few hours listening to him: http://fyi101.com/?s=kevin+dunn&searchsubmit.x=0&searchsubmit.y=0

I also saw a video with Catherine McGinnis and I was feeling weird to the session that she gave about Lye Calculators. I have seen a lot of her soaping101 videos that have helped me a lot especially in the beginning of my soapy adventures, but after seeing this video I was amazed with some wrong info she gives. It's a pity to give such info to the new soapers, in such a famous event, when there are also other speakers like Kevin Dunn who really contributes to the soaping community.

I'm talking about this video: http://fyi101.com/demystifying-lye-calculators-presented-by-catherine-mcginnis/

where I spotted two points with incorrect information:

at 14:30 where she explains how soapcalc works, she states:

One is the type of lye. Your choices are NaOH, which everyone knows it is sodium hydroxide and KOH, potassium or 90% KOH, which would be 10% sodium hydroxide and 90% potassium hydroxide. You would use that for shaving soaps, shaving pucks, anything you want a cream soap with.

Well I know that 90% KOH only refers to the purity of KOH and not about making dual lye soap. Soapcalc does not support dual alkali soap recipes...


and at 20:20 she amazed me with the below explanation of what is the hardness property in a recipe:

Hardness. When they say hardness, they don’t mean my bar is hard or my bar is soft, it means hardness as it relates to hard and soft water, so if you are looking for a super hard, hard bar, just make 100% coconut oil, that’s going to make a hard bar, but if it’s based on the hardness as do you live in an area or you’re selling to an area that has hard water or soft water and that’s what this hardness means.

Question: So what does the number show, if it is a higher number?

Catherine: It will make a harder bar so it will be better for an area with harder water.

:shock:

I hope that when she talks about LS, she is better than that. I don't want to be mean, but when people pay in order to attend someone, the information must be better than that...

 

[Cindy2428]

As we all continually gain knowledge and experience as soapers, we learn and re-learn information. BTW - Cathy and Kevin are very good friends.

 

[earlene]

SoapCon update

I have been looking at the SoapCon2016 site as well as their Facebook page and see that besides Kevin Dunn, Clyde Yoshida is among the speakers scheduled!

Also of interest are the vendor discounts being offered on soaping and other supplies (bath bomb supply specials, etc.) Not only are the discounts currently active (limited time, so take a look), you can pick up your items at SoapCon if you are attending with no delivery charge. I am currently looking at what I might want to order to p/u there.

And SoapCon is providing two (2) meals each day for registered attendees! See this post for details about the catered meals.

There are still rooms available at one of the hotels in Mount Sterling, so if you haven't booked a room yet and plan to attend, here is the link to that information. Personally I am staying elsewhere, but the hotels listed are close to the venue so conveniently located.

The venue is really quite nice looking. The Gateway Regional Arts Center is on the National Registry of Historic Places, so I expect it is quite as nice as it looks in this photo.