Vendor Information That May Save You Time

[Guest guest]

Hi:

This listing was sent to me by a member of the Handcrafted Soap

Makers Guild (HSMG) at my request.

In this busy pre-holiday time, I thought I'd share it with you.

I have not, personally, used many of these vendors, but other

quality soapmakers have.

Some of the soapmaking hints at the end of the listing might save

someone a lot of time, effort and money.

Enjoy!

INFORMATION REGARDING VARIOUS VENDORS AFFILIATED WITH SOAP MAKERS

http://www.forsoapmakers.com/directory/suppliers.php - Directory of

Soap Maker's Supplies and resources. Please let the webmaster of

this site know of any broken links at this site.

http://www.candletech.com/hpsoap - Hot Process Soap Tutorial.

http://www.aromaweb.com/articles/howtobuyessentialoils.asp -

Information telling about essential oils.

http://www.millersoap.com – This page tells about soapmaking.

http://www.teachsoap.com – Another information link regarding making

soap.

http://home.exetel.com.au/lozniz/Whipped/index.htm - Want to try

your hand at whipped soap? This is the link that will give you

information about that.

http://www.bayousome.com/index.asp - Containers, supplies,

miscellaneous items for soapmaking and other bath and beauty

supplies.

http://www.betweenfriendstoo.com – Several different supply items

from raw materials to containers. Very friendly people.

http://www.blessedherbs.com – Herbal products for use in your

business. Very fast and friendly service.

http://www.the-buying-group.com – A discount membership program.

The higher your level of membership, the more of a discount you

receive.

http://www.essentialoil.net – Florida based raw materials for your

soaps and other supplies as well. Tends to be a bit pricey on

shipping/handling, and sometimes slow on service.

http://www.essentialoil.com – Aromatherapy grade Essential Oils.

http://www.essentialwholesale.com – Lots of premade bases, raw

materials for use in soap making as well as other body formulations.

http://www.freiscavell.com – Having problems with product labels?

Pam has templates for almost any application you may be wanting. If

she doesn't have it, she'll be happy to create it for you for a

nominal fee.

http://www.glorybeefoods.com – Raw materials, essential oils,

carrier oils, and lots of products for you to choose from.

Excellent customer service, fast and friendly.

http://www.kangarooblue.com – Lots of different items to choose

from.

http://www.libertynatural.com – Excellent prices on raw materials,

essential oils, and lots of other great items to choose from.

http://www.thesage.com – Packaging, carrier oils, essential and

fragrance oils, perfumery supplies, scales, lots of great stuff for

soap makers. Great recipes and tips on their web site.

http://www.oregontrailsoaps.com – Lots of different oils and things

to choose from.

http://www.scenterstage.com – Fragrance Oils and Essential Oils.

http://www.snowdriftfarm.com – A wealth of information on this web

site as well as tons of different products to choose from; Essential

Oils, raw materials, you name it, and they've got it. Bill and

Trina are very good to answer any questions you may have.

http://www.tonysfragranceoils.com – Fragrance and Essential Oils.

Great company to work with.

http://www.uplandsoapfactory.com – If you are looking for Silicone

Lined Wooden Molds, this is the place to go! will help you to

choose what size mold you need.

http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com – Debbie May has literally

hundreds of different products for soap makers whether you are M & P,

hot process, or cold process or something entirely different, they

have something that you'll want to see. Great information regarding

soapmaking on their site as well.

http://www.sfherb.com – Need herbs to put in your products? San

Francisco Herb has a great selection with excellent prices.

http://www.boxcoop.com/index.htm - Packaging supplies.

http://www.sks-bottle.com – Several different options for packaging

containers.

http://www.containerandpackaging.com – The best prices on containers

anywhere. Good selection, fast and friendly.

http://www.soapcalc.com/calc/SoapCalc.asp - Lye Calculator

http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php - Lye Calculator

http://recipes.herbalsoapsbyrj.com/calculators/preservative-

calc.php - Preservative Calculator

http://www.rainbowmeadow.com/infocenter/calc_eoblend/blendselect.php

- EO Calculator

FDA Sites for product labeling:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-lab1.html

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-218.html

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/98fr/102298b.txt

For Finding Craft Shows:

http://www.craftshowsusa.com

http://festivals.com

http://www.artandcraftshows.net

http://www.craftsfaironline.com/region.html

http://www.craft-show-dates.com

http://www.craftfair.com/esearch/searchformevent.cfm

http://shopguideusa.com/crafts/craftshows.htm

http://www.craftsreport.com

https://secure.webcom.com/festival/affilenter.html?fn12889

www.onlinelabels.com Laser and Inkjet Labels for your printer! Many

different colors and sizes. 25%-75% lower than office store prices.

They let first time customers try a

pack of 20 sheets (3 label styles to choose from) for free!

There is a free software program called " The GIMP " that is a very

capable program. It has many of the same features as Adobe Photo

Shop. The home page is http://www.gimp.org. The windows version

can be found at http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32/ the site for

the Mac OS X is: http://www.macgimp.org/ they sell a CD with all of

the components compiled and ready to install for 29.95. This makes

for a simplified installation.

SOAPING HINTS:

Sugar increases lather. Add the sugar (1 T/2# oils) to the water

before adding the lye and stir it up good.

Salt makes a harder bar

Silk for a silkier bar......it is a protein

Adding some glycerin to your soap will also produce more bubbles.

Lavender leaves turn brown in soap

Shea butter should give you a harder bar than sunflower. Use up to

20% of your total oils.

Mud is a great additive to soaps, but too much can lead to a crumbly

bar or one that is overly drying to the skin.

Litsea Cubea and Patchouli EO help anchor Citrus EO's

Calendula EO is very expensive. Keep it for lotions and creams

Infuse Calendula in Olive oil in a crock pot until the leaves turn

crispy, then strain it and put in the fridge.

Benzoin is a resin that acts as a fixative for fragrances in soaps

and as a preservative. Use it in powered form for soapmaking. Use 1

or 2 teaspoons of powder per 3/4 pound of soap.

Use 7% Ratio of Dead Sea Mud in HP soap

You only need a couple tablespoons of clay and you will have a

very " slick " soap.

To make a " white " base, use Titanium Dioxide. Dissolve it in the

lye water if it is water based.

Lemon EO fades. Citrus EO's are nearly impossible to get to stay in

soap. They need something to help anchor them.

Lemongrass and Litsea help stick in soap.

Ginger makes a hot soap (one that generates heat to the body). So

does Cayenne.

When using cornstarch in your soaps, use 1 T per lb of oils.

Use yogurt in soap. Add it at trace at about 50% of total liquid.

It makes a wonderful soap that is very moisturizing and has a great

texture.

When using Kaolin Clay, use 1 T per 3# batch.

When using pink clay, use 1 T in a 3# batch

If you are using oils/fats/waxes that require high temp to melt,

such as beeswax or cocoa butter, go with the higher temp.

If you are trying out a new FO and not sure how it will react in

your soap, go with lower temp to gain some time before the

saponification gets rolling too fast to pour into molds.

Doing milk soap-go with lower temps.

Doing honey soap-go with low temp. Honey heats up.

Like gel stage-go with the higher temps and insulate

Don't like gel stage-stick with low temps

Want some time to swirl and mold-medium range temp.

Individual cute molds-high temps

Castor Oil usage - 1 oz/lb of soap. Castor oil is for superfatting,

moisturizing, and a humectant. So you will need something that has

a high lauric, myristic, palmitic and Stearic content for a harder

bar.

Long log, rectangular or any wooden mold-med or low temps.

Vinegar in the last rinse has three main purposes:

It's a natural deodorant

It helps get rid of the scum's, and keep the washing machine in good

condition

It's an environmental friendly alternative to fabric softeners

(which you won't need when using handmade soap, anyway). Any

vinegar will do (I use white " cleaning vinegar " which is the

cheapest) and you can add some EO's to it if you like.

When using hydrosol in CP soap, cut the liquid for the lye water in

half (you can use hydrosol for the lye water if you want, just

reserve half of it) and then add the other half of the liquid in the

form of hydrosol at trace. That seems to retain the scent of the

hydrosol better.

[Guest guest]

Edna - Thanks for passing along that information!

I'd also like to remind everyone to check out the generous suppliers

that contribute to the gathering every year:

http://.org

Also don't forget we've got a lot of suppliers that are members of

this list.

Colleen

Handcrafted & Decorative Soaps

http://www.countrymeadowcreations.com