Anyone make their own soaps/candles/lotions

[wheelockhunter]

My GF is interestd in doing this on a small scale for some extra money, is it very difficult?

any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[musketman]

Member Cookie makes soap in these scents...

Blackberry Sage, Sweet grass
Pineapple, Sandalwood
Cucumber melon, Vanilla
Spearmint, Lavender
Almond, Patchouli
Apple Harvest, Turkish Mocha
Basil lime , Bay Rum
Juniper Sage

 

[Birdman]

Wheellock its not the making that is tuff but the selling. There are a ton of people making n selling specialty soaps, candles n lotions. Its tuff to break into the circle to sell much after ya sold to all yer friends. If she wants to sell at an event she needs to find out PC type stuff n try to sell that. I hope it works for her but its better to make stuff to give to friends for gifts n MAYBE sell a little on the side if it works out. heres luck to her! just some thoughts YMHS Birdman

 

[Trina]

To answer your question, yes I make soap and have made lotions, for about 10 years now. I enjoy making soap a great deal, it’s very therapeutic. The one thing it isn’t, is a quick way to make money. If you all are thinking about making it to make some money before Christmas forget it”¦ If you start making it tomorrow you wont have any ready to sell before Christmas. The first thing you need to do is get a good digital scale, then you need to find a good lye calculator and learn how to use it. Then you need to find a good recipe, and yes there are lots of them on the net, but be warned they are not all very good”¦ask me how I know:> I did a lot of trial and error before I ended up developing the recipe I use now. All the oils used in my soaps lend something to it. Weather its for skin conditioning or lather in the soap they all have a purpose.

Then the next thing is to come up with a market, right now I have two wholesale accounts, one trader that travels to many rondy’s and another is a store here close to home. The rest of my sales are retail, which I get mostly by word of mouth, remember I have been doing this for awhile, and I still have not given up my day job. Lol Making soap is very labor intensive, you have to make it, cut it, let it cure, wrap it. When I get done here I have to go wrap a bunch of it for an order.

Lotions are fun to make, but there again you need to be careful. Everything has to be sterilized and you need to use some kind of preservative in it, or you get a goodly amount of bacteria growing in it”¦ and you really don’t want or need a customer coming back with an infection they got for lotion you sold them. There again you need to come up with a recipe, figure out how you want to bottle it, figure out how you will sell it.

If this is something she wants to develop and work towards by all means go for it”¦ but it is not quick money making thing (like before Christmas), like any business big or small it takes time and planning. If you or she decide you want to give it a shot I will be glad to help you find the information you need, to get started. Supplies, calculators and so on please feel free to ask any questions you want.

 

[wheelockhunter]

Thanks guys.

I think she wants to do( the lotion) it so she can sell to the aids/nurses. I think she mentioned the candles becasue she knows I messed with it before.

I know they are both overdone to say the least lol. If i'm going to do something I want to be a little different but still has potential. Any thoughts?

 

[IronMan]

Thanks guys.

I think she wants to do( the lotion) it so she can sell to the aids/nurses. I think she mentioned the candles becasue she knows I messed with it before.

I know they are both overdone to say the least lol. If i'm going to do something I want to be a little different but still has potential. Any thoughts?

My wife and I have been makeing soap and candles for about 4 years now and belive me you wont make any quick money. We do craft shows and a few Re-enactment type events every year and just barely clear our costs. But we have a lot of fun.
Soap takes at lest 6 weeks to cure so you have to make batches well in advance of events.

We make scented container type candles and scented soap.
I cant say that it's strictly PC for all the events we do but folks dont seem to mind and we do make enough to make it worthwhile to attend.

IronMan

 

[guncobbler]

Hi Cookie - We all have BS meters but just how do you use a lye calculator? Jokes aside are you calculating or measuring PH? I've been thinking of making some soap from some leftover deer tallow. Any suggestions on recipies? My dad remembers his mom making soap when he was a child in the 30's. Every time I see a can of lye I wonder just how it was/is done. Thanks, GC

 

[Trina]

I believe its the specific gravity. here is a url to my favorite calulator[url] http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php[/url]

First thing you will need to do if you havent is render the fat...heat in on low until the fat liquifies. its kind of a stinky process :haha:


I dont know what kind of soap deer tallow would make, Beef tallow makes a hard brittle bar, pork lard makes a softer but still hard bar of soap, not much lather to it though. If I were going to use it I would do some mixing of oils, probably a bit of olive oil with the tallow.

I would love to help you work up a recipe, if you decided you want to do it...
Here is some homework :winking: go to the lye calulator and put in 8 oz of olive oil, and 8 oz of tallow, then click calculate, see how much water you need and lye, down the side is the amounts of lye you need to add, superfat at 6 or 7% they also have directions for making soap on there.... ok what are the answers how much water? how much lye? :haha:

 

[Wefarmasmidgen]

Made venison tallow soap one year - it was about like beef tallow soap. At any rate, I couldn't tell the difference.

*******
Soaring Spirit
Don't take life so seriously, it isn't permanent