Tips and Hints Page Five           Bath Bomb Hints bath bombs are my specialty *s* (but then i still have the odd gooey explosion... *L*) tips i can give are mix the bicarb with the water/oil/e/o/f/o parts (ie all the liquids) then add the citric acid bombs wont fizz up all straight away and to add cocoa butter i mix little chunks of cocoa butter through my mixture, when the bomb dissolves the chunks melt leaving a nice bath oil type effect in the water *s* hope this was helpful *s* P.S. i also dry my bombs in my bathroom with a small heater on sometimes they dry within 20mins doing it this way, but humidity is relevant to the whole issue, im still undecided on if its a good thing or bad. i made a batch im my kitchen with the clothes dryer on, it made the room quite warm and steamy, but seemed to keep my mixture moist enough to mould......so i think moisture in the air before molding is a good thing then a dry environment to set Charli  Shipping Helper   We've found that when weighing our packages and going online to UPS site, logging onto the quick cost portion, that after we input all the information, we need to add 2 pounds to the weight of the package to get the amount that we will be charged at the customer counter.  Duane Herb and Oil Properties Mick   REFRESHING                           RELAXING Rosemary                                   Hyssop Juniper                                    Chamomile Ginger                                       Orange Clove                                        Rose Cinnamon                                  Neroli Patchouli                                Ylang-Ylang Myrtle                                       Myrrh Lemon                                   Sandalwood Yarrow                                    Melissa Mint                                        Lavender Thyme                                    Sage Pine                                        Cedarwood Geranium       Suggested Blends (Target Effect - Opposite) Pine/Juniper/Lemon/Rosemary/Myrtle - Lavender Lavender/Neroli/Orange/Rose - Pine Thyme/Rosemary/Lemon/Pine - Melissa Melissa/Lavender/Neroli/Rose Mint/Rosemary/Lemon - Lavender Sage/Lavender/Orange/Sandalwood - Geranium Yarrow/Myrtle - Chamomile/Sage/Hyssop Sandalwood/Rose/Ylang-Ylang - Lemon Lemon/Juniper/Pine - Lavender Myrrh/Lavender/Orange/Sandalwood - Juniper/Mint/Patchouli/Pine Myrtle/Lemon/Rosemary - Sage/Lavender Neroli/Chamomile/Sage/Lavender/Rose/Ylang-Ylang - Geranium Patchouli - Cedarwood/Lavender/Neroli/Myrrh Rose/Chamomile/Lavender/Sandalwood - Patchouli Cinnamon - Myrrh/Orange/Ylang-Ylang Orange/Lavender/Neroli - Lemon Clove - Lavender/Orange/Rose/Ylang-Ylang Chamomile/Lavender/Sage/Neroli/Rose/Orange - Patchouli Ginger/Patchouli - Cedarwood/Sandalwood/Orange/Neroli Hyssop/Lavender/Melissa - Rosemary Juniper/Rosemary/Lemon - Sage/Lavender/Woody Oils Rosemary/Juniper/Myrtle/Pine/Thyme - Lavender   Karen Hope you don't mind me passing this along, it really said something to me...   The following was written by Audrey Hepburn regarding "Beauty Tips". For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anybody. Remember, If you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, And the beauty of a woman with passing years-only grows! Web Page shopping Carts/Credit Cards I met some folks up here at a trade show in Maine who have what seems to be a nice service to offer.  Basically, you set up your web site (or pay someone to do it) and sign up with this company to use their shopping cart program.  They charge a one time set up fee based on the number of items you list and send you the code to build into your web site.  Add their code to your site in the approriate areas and you have not only a nice shopping cart, on THEIR secure server, but they also will handle all credit card transactions for you through their merchant account.  They take a 4-10% commission on orders and send you a check for the credit card transactions, less their fee, I think they pay weekly. They also handle sales tax for you I think.  They do not HOST web sites, but you link your site into their secure server for the shopping cart, it is seemless and unapparent to the shopper that this happens.  Nice thing is you dont have to have your own merchant account, which can be tough to get sometimes. Now, I have not used their services myself yet, but did check out their web site and there is all the information you need there as well as links to some sites using their program so you can check it out or contact people for references.  I have had e-mail correspondence with them as I am considering setting up one of my clients who makes furniture with them.  Fast response to my inquiries from very friendly folks.  So, if you are interested, check out The Bag Boy at www.thebagboy.com Hope this helps someone! Jenoli Layered Soap Directions I just took our basic soap recipe and divided the oils into thirds, then ran it through the lye calculator to make sure I had the correct amount of lye and water (usually discounting the water a little if using Majestic Mountain Sage lye calculator) for the oils. I measured out the oils for the first layer into the pot and placed on the stove to heat.  Measured the water into the rubbermaid pitcher, then measured in the lye (remember add the lye to the water), stirred and covered, setting aside.  Measured and set aside the fragrance for the first layer (plumeria from Dave Sundeen's recent co-op). While the first oils were heating, measured out oils for second layer and mixed the lye/water.  Removed the heated first layer oils after mixing pink oxide in, replacing the 2nd layer oils on the stove. These don't take to long to cool down, so by the time I got the 2nd layer batch heating, the first layer was ready to go.  Followed standard procedure for mixing lye water into oils.  NOTE:  Added plumeria (I believe Dave's co-op was from IFT) and immediately had pudding. Placed into mold using sort of a frosting maneuver with spatula to spread out. Covered mold with a board to help retain heat. Left right on table next to where each batch is being prepared. (same thing happens with Sweetcakes sunflower and Sweetcakes pear glace' for us).  But we overcome this by mixing to light trace, making sure any additives are added before fo.  Then add the fo and stir just two/three times and pour before it thickens.  (gotta move fast) Pulled 2nd layer oils off stove, set aside.  Measured out 3rd layer oils and put on stove. Measured water and lye, setting aside.  2nd layer ready to go.  Added the pear fo (SC) at light trace and immediately poured on top of 1st layer.  (the liquid pear scented batch fills in all the crevices of the spatula spread first layer) Pulled 3rd batch oils off stove after adding blue oxide and set aside. When ready, mixed lye water and oils, adding fo and pouring over first two layers. Then, I placed the mold inserts into the soap, being careful to push them down evenly to avoid displacing the soap.  The inserts push into the soft saponifying soap very easily.  The only problem we've had is the one layer we had to spread with the spatula.  It was much firmer and took more muscle to get the inserts down through that layer, but just be patient and even handed. The fun thing about this 3 layer (or you could do a 2 layer), is that you can do different colored layers.  Yesterday, I made a green layer (cucumber), and yellow layer (sunflower) and a cream layer (white pine).  The blue, pink and white layered soap sold like hotcakes because people liked the colors and layered look.  It is also a great way to use up those small quantities of fo or eo when you don't want to use them in blends.  Just use complementary scents (and colors) in each layer.  (I want to do a red/white/blue for July fourth, scented with Brambleberry's Red Apple for the red layer, Sweetcakes Blueberry for the blue layer and still thinking about the middle cream/white layer. Enfleurage I have read 2 ways of extracting from jasmine flowers . 1: 2 aluminum pie plates , enough white coconut oil to cover the bottom of one . place blossoms onto the coconut oil & then top w/ the second pie tin . Leave on counter , ( out of sun ) check every day & when petals start to turn brown , replace w/ fresh . This process may take weeks before you have any noticable scent imparted into the oil . The scented oil is then used for lotions , lotion bars , solid perfume . 2 : involves taking a thin layer of coconut oil and spreading it thin into a clean glass cake pan , then placing the freshly picked jasmine flowers onto the fat. Removing flowers as they start to turn brown and repeat as many times as is needed , which you can then use as is, or dissolve in pure vodka to let the essential oil float to the top . There will only be a few small yellowish drops & the easiest way to harvest is to use an eyedropper . If, you choose this method , it's nicest to use it in a solid perfume! Medievil Scent Ideas (Mary G.) "Floral Waters" were really big at this time... Rose Violet Cinnamon Clove Mace Nutmeg Lavender Lemon Thyme Mints (in blends only;  they were ocnsidered too strong or harsh on their own, so I read) Jasmine (I think?  I don't have a note for it, so I could be wrong) Orange blossom Sage Chamomile Marjoram Rosemary Bay leaf Sandalwood Dragons blood Frank Myrrh Musk Kathy's Yogurt Tips Question-Gotta 'nother quick question.   On the suggestion of a carton of yogurt and a bit of cream after the cook in a 64 ounce batch of soap (I think), have you kept any of this soap for an extended period of time?  How does it age?   Kathy's Response-Let me start off by saying a carton is a bit much, I think. I make 67 oz. batches and substitute less than that with the yogurt/cream mixture. I use less water than the MMS lye calculator suggests for this size batch - they say 25, I generally use 21 (based on Camille's formula for calculating water). So Camille is not inundated with "What is the formula?" posts, I believe this is it:   amount of lye divided by .3 = x x - amount of lye = liquid   So, for example, in my Emu Oil Soap, the lye amount if 9.05: 9.05 / .3 = 30.16 30.16 - 9.05 = 21.11 (rounded to 21 oz. of liquid)   When making the "fruit and cream" soap, I used 23 oz. of "liquid." Sometimes I'll add the bit more water back in when I'm making a soap that calls for holding some out (the yogurt/cream) so the cook isn't too dry. I almost always just use the 21 oz. figure for a 67 oz. batch, but the 23 worked just fine. So: 10 oz. water 8 oz. fruit 4 oz. yogurt (or 5 oz. yogurt, no cream - I don't always have cream) 1 oz. heavy cream   If I am making a regular yogurt soap without fruit, I use 21 oz. of liquid: 16 oz. water 4 oz. yogurt (or 5 oz. yogurt, no cream) 1 oz. heavy cream Let me also say that I use 6% excess fat almost exclusively. 5 oz. yogurt/cream in a 67 oz. batch gets blended in very well, plus, the heat of the soap "cooks" it a bit anyway. I have not had a fruit and cream soap longer than 6 months because people scoop it up so quickly. I have had a yogurt soap (no fruit) for about a year and have had no problems. Also, my soaps are all kept on shelves in my home office, which is climate/humidity controlled 100% of the time (usually air conditioned), even in the winter because my office equipment throws quite a bit of heat when I'm in here working and everything's on. The soaps get just as hard as any other soaps I make without it. Maybe if you use more yogurt than I have suggested, the soaps might be too soft and more prone to rancidity. I hope this answers your questions.  :) - Kathy B. Next Page Copyright Notice! All content provided on this Web site, excluding button icons,  graphics, images, noted original author's works is the copyright of Rebecca Erisch, and is protected by applicable U.S. and international copyright laws. Information may be used for personal use only. Any other use--including display, distribution, modification, republication, reproduction, or transmission--of the content on this Web site is strictly prohibited. Copyright (c) 2005 Rebecca Erisch. All rights reserved.