Aww, thank you! I'm so happy you're enjoying it. Sounds like a great way to spend the day! :)

Fantastic idea! I'll add it to the list! Thanks for watching. :)

I asked Troy about it and he said: "it's just a box". Haha! We will definitely do a video on lining the molds (I almost made one today!) and I can also show the construction of the molds Troy made. :) Thanks for the ideas!

Thank you so much! That makes me so happy to hear. :)

Thank you and I appreciate the feedback on videos you'd like to see! :)

That's so exciting that you just made your first soap - congrats!! And, thank you so much for purchasing my book! I really hope you love it. Another book I highly recommend (if you're looking to purchase another natural soapmaking book) is Simple & Natural Soapmaking, by Jan Berry. Happy making! :)

That's great to hear! It does make a huge difference to master batch. Thanks for watching our videos! :)

I'm so happy you're enjoying the book and thanks so much for your kind words. :)

Thank you! So glad to hear you're loving the book. Yay! :)

I'm glad you found it helpful! :)

Woohoo! We are finally on a schedule and will be releasing one every two weeks. Wild Lavender is next and it's coming out Tue Jun 18th. Thanks for watching! :)

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying them. Thanks for watching!

So happy you love the book - thank you!

Thank you so much!

Thank you! Appreciate your comment and thanks for watching!

Thank you! :) So happy to hear that!

Thank you so much! I hope you love the book. :)

You're welcome! Hope you enjoyed it. :)

That makes me sooo happy! I'm glad you like the recipe. Hope you get the book soon! Thanks for watching. :)

Hi there! Thanks for watching and I'm glad you picked up some tips! One thing you definitely don't want to do is run out of soap... we have a whole spreadsheet to keep track of sales and that helps us figure out what to make, but when you're newer it's a little harder to know what the demand will be. For a farmer's market, I'd focus on bringing a variety of scents. Even if you just have one loaf of each scent, at least you'll have lots of options for people. The other thing I used to do is do a discount for buying four or more soaps, which is where the variety of scents come in handy! If it's looking like you have too much stock, you could always have a sale (either online or at your next farmer's market). Another thing I've done is create sample packs, which are always popular, with any extra soap you have. If you sell 8 half bars for the price of four bars, that might do well. For sure, you'll want to make enough to cover your booth fee and then some! If you have too much, you'll have to get creative, which is where the fun of business comes in! :)

They do smell great! Thank you! :)

I'm glad you got to see a replay of the live! That was so fun! It was a very last-minute decision, so I'm surprised anyone was there. Haha!

Thanks so much, Jessica! I appreciate you watching!

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that and thanks for watching. :)

Thank you! :)

Thank you so much! :)

Thank you so much! Appreciate you watching. :)

Thanks so much for watching! We'll definitely be doing a video on ordering drums! :)

Oh wow! I love it!! Congrats on the amazing soap top and thank you for ordering my book! That makes me so happy! :)

That's awesome! I bought a stainless steel stock pot a while ago, but it was too big and heavy for me to use by myself, so it ended up getting retired to the corner. I've often thought of getting a pot tipper for it, but never did. Glad you can get that much done in a day!

I tried Ashley Marie’s stainless steel bowl style… that did not work for me! I was so bummed. Yes, the stock pots can be heavy. I usually have all my split color or scents lined up for me to pour at once

Those bowls always make me nervous when I see her! I love that she has her own unique way of doing things though. She’s great. Glad you found your own way! ❤️

Awesome! Thanks so much for watching! :)

Thank you! :)

Yay! Milky Rose is one of my favorite scents... I hope you enjoy making it. Thank you for the kind words about my book. :)

Hi there! Thanks for watching and adding my book to your list! Great idea to chat about the customer side of things. Thank you for the suggestion. :)

Great video idea! Thank you!

I hope it helps you as much as it helped me! Let us know how it goes. :) Thanks so much for your comment and for watching!

So happy you found it helpful! We'll do more for sure. There's still so much to talk about since we're so new at making videos. :) Thanks for watching!

That's awesome! Congrats on your website! If you're already doing milk in oils, then you should definitely try 50/50 lye! It's not a commonly used technique, so don't question yourself. We're always learning new things. :) I hope it helps you out a bunch! Thanks so much for watching!

@@muddymintsoap Thank you ☺️

That's awesome to hear! I know Brambleberry makes some natural fragrances as well, but I heard they didn't work great in soap... not sure if that's correct or not. I'll be sticking to essential oils, but I'm glad they're making more options for people to use. Thanks for watching our video!

Hi there! The soap gal does focus on soap manufacturing, but she also does a lot of custom soaps for others and I believe they just got their own label going again. She's great to watch because, even if you're not doing things exactly as she is, she is at such a big scale that it is inspiring and shows what's possible. I used to watch her videos back in the day and they were the only thing that really helped me learn how to use a lye tank and drums. Masterbatching in larger quantities, like your 50 lb buckets, or even right into a 55 gallon drum is definitely a good idea if you're larger scale! Do you have a pot tipper for those buckets? Masterbatching your lye in a specific concentration is also a great idea! We use 50/50 because we don't use only water for our additional liquid. I love hearing about how you're set up, as we all find our own methods that works for us! The old paint stirrer on a drill is an awesome way to make soap!! We thought about doing this many times. Make, rinse, repeat. It never ends, right? Haha! Thanks for the comment!

MasterBatching for me was about convenience as opposed to scaling up. I work full-time with an hour commute and so when I got home, having to drag out all the ingredients, measure and melt, put it all away and clean up was just too exhausting. But MBing allowed me to come home and spend 20 minutes make at least one batch of soap. I don't use the paint stirrer to actually make soap, but to mix up the Oils/Butters. My recipe includes Olive, Palm, Coconut and Castor Oils and Cocoa and Shea Butters and so I need to make sure the Stearic Acid is well mixed, especially during the winter when the Oils/Butters are more like a cornbread mixture than the pancake one during the summer months (I'm in the Pacific NW). I then grab a bucket, tare it, then use either a plastic measuring cup or ladle (knowing how many approximate ounces each holds) and then scoop out xx number into the bucket and weigh it. I have been taking my time in building my business because 1) I work full-time, 2) I'm in my early 60s and got into the game late in life, 3) I fully intend to sell this business later by the time I'm 70.. And I don't just make soap, I also make other bath and body stuff, but that is information that is going to get covered in a book that I'm in the process of writing...which is going to cover the business end of starting and having a bath and body business...I'm an accountant so it's kind of in my wheelhouse. I want to encourage more people into starting their own home-based business, but at the same time, I want them to understand the realities of it given that there is so much disinformation out there. As someone who takes my business very seriously, I very much dislike all the 'get rich quit' advertising aka: "Soap that is safe to use and sell in 2 days". Bad soap makers reflect badly on all of us and there needs to be more responsibility and accountability. But I will have to continue this conversation at another time...bills don't pay themselves which means I need to head out to my day job.

Hi there! You can use soapcalc to resize your batch. If you know how much oils your mold can fit, you can enter everything into soapcalc as it's in the book and then switch the measurements to percentage (for the oils) and go to the top and change your oil amount. That should recalculate everything for you! Hopefully this helps!

I love Katie Carson! She is seriously the best. I'll have to see if she has any videos on scaling up! I wasn't aware that she did. :)

Haha! Yep, those pours on the floor are impressive to watch! Marie at Humblebee & Me is fantastic. I have her book too, Make it Up! I'm not familiar with Sunshine Soap - I'll have to look them up!

Yes! Can't wait to hear how it goes. Thanks for watching!

@@muddymintsoap will let ya know

Well made the coconut aloe and used lemon and cedarwood came out perfect. Actually borrowed a juicer and made sone carott juice for one of the other soaps. Thank you for such a great book

That's awesome! I'm so glad you enjoyed the coconut aloe soap and that's so fun that you made carrot juice. Yay!

Thank you so much! That's a great idea - conversion rates are tricky. My first thought about that is shipping. Are you charging too much? That's always a deterrent when you're checking out. Shipping costs are so tricky for soap! That could be a whole video alone! :)

Great ideas! Shipping would be a loooong video. Haha!

What???? Lol

No thank u;)

Glad you found it! Thank you. :)

Hi Kim! Thanks so much! I do have a link to everything in the description for this video (under the video there is a gray box with information and if you click "more" it'll expand to show more). The link to the containers is: amzn.to/4aKfwYk. I hope this helps! :)

Yes, good point! This is just a solid bar, so we didn't show the cut, but we could include some pictures. Thanks for the suggestion!

Yes! We plan to make a basic video for beginners. 😊

Oh gosh... soapcalc is so wonderful, but also so daunting. That's a great video idea!

It's good to get back to some soapmaking! Our studio does have A/C (we installed a mini split) a couple years ago, but when I was originally making soap in the home studio, we didn't have A/C. It's not too bad here in the summer with the windows open at night... we do have heat - it's basically a plug-in fireplace that looks cute, and also warms up the place. We do not have water in our studio, so I do have to bring all the dishes in the house. It's actually not too bad, once you get a system in place. I have a tub that I use to put all the dirty dishes in. The studio is very close to the house though (like, right next to it!), so that certainly helps. I hope that answers your questions! Thanks so much for the kind words! :)

@@muddymintsoap That helps a lot! I will keep that all in mind when the time comes to move into a backyard studio for me. I say when, not if! Ha! Cause I believe it will happen and it is a goal of mine. The tub for the dirty dishes is a good idea. Just have to keep it all in mind and see what costs are and such. Great tips as always Simi! Thanks! 😊

If you can add a laundry style sink or something, that would be awesome! And yes! It WILL happen. 😊❤️

Thank you so much!! Yes! We had four goat milk soaps as part of our main product line. One is Calming Lavender, which we have a video for her on our channel (check it out!). The process is exactly like using coconut milk. In any of our recipes, you can sub out goat milk for the additional liquid. Easy peasy! We tend to use coconut milk in order to provide vegan options for folks and it has a great shelf life when you buy it like we do. Goat milk however, has to be used pretty much right away, although you can store it in the fridge for a bit. I hope this helps!

@muddymintsoap Yes, it did us.Thank you so much! I completely agree about people wanting that vegan option. I spent my night last night Reading your book so i'm sure I will get to that part. I never thought of the shelf life!

Yes, Ariane is fantastic! I watch her videos a lot as well.

Hi there! I do have some information on this in my book, but keep in mind that sodium hydroxide (lye) is the same thing that is in drain cleaner! So, it's okay for it to go down your drain. If it's your first time making lye water, I recommend making it directly in your sink to ensure you don't spill. When I wash my lye water containers, I usually rinse them first with cold water in the sink and once I've done that, I'll go in with gloved hands and wash the container with soap and water (using a sponge/brush dedicated to soapmaking). I hope this helps!

@@muddymintsoap I actually just read that part today so thank you that does help

Hi there! Great question! If I remember correctly, I think I added 80 oz of water and 80 oz of lye to the container. You can also just fill it up less than halfway with water while it is on the scale, mark down the weight, and then use the same weight of lye. That's how I started and then I inched it up more and more until the container was at a good level of fullness for me. I don't like having the container too full, as it's easier to pour when it's not all the way up to the very top. I hope this helps! :)

@@muddymintsoap Awesome thanks! I read back through my original comment, and voicetexting did not treat us very well this time. Ha! Be blessed friend

Haha! No worries - I didn't even notice! :)

@@muddymintsoap 💕

80 ounces of each was perfect. Whoop! Thanks!

Hi there! Yes, I shake it up a bit, pour it out into another container (through a sieve), and then I put that container in a warm water bath to warm it up a bit. I hope this helps!

Yes thank you!

Yay! I hope you find it helpful... for the lye tank, we didn't have leaks, but it did kind of cake up with dried lye, as you mentioned. We did keep a bucket under it at all times in case of drips. Where did you get your tank from?

@@muddymintsoap Thanks for the reply. I got it from Discount Soap Equipment. I do keep a bucket under the spigot too.

Have you tried reaching out to them? We got one of our butter tanks from Discount Soap Equipment and it is fantastic!

@@muddymintsoap They are really nice people. Yes, they have sent a replacement spigot twice and it still drips. Maybe I just have the worst luck ever! 😄

Ugh! So frustrating? Do you have plumber’s tape around the inside?

Hi Jill! We’re currently using lye that we made in December, although it was in a lye tank until the end of February. So, I think it lasts a while, but I’d try and use it within 1-3 months to ensure there’s no evaporation happening between the time you make it and when you use it.

Hi there! You could add coconut milk powder as an additive (right to the oils) or you can hydrate your coconut milk first and use it just like I do in the video. Hopefully that answers your question! :)

@@muddymintsoap Thank you so much for answering. Yes it did answer my question. So then adding it at trace would be okay as well? Looking forward to reading your book! 🥰

You could add it at trace, but I'd personally mix it in with the oils, unless you're only using it in part of a batch. I don't think you'll get much of the benefits of using milk with just the powder, but it might impart some good properties on your soap!

Hi there! The molds in this video are from Nurture Soap (nurturesoap.com) and they are the 5lb basic mold. Here's a link: nurturesoap.com/products/5-pound-basic-loaf-mold.

Yay! So happy you love the book! Great question. Yes, it is an even swap. Just remember that if you are using essential oils that might accelerate trace, then the design might not work out as well as in the book. But, the swap you're suggesting sounds great! I love that you're switching things up - enjoy! :)

@@muddymintsoap thanks yes you have given me the tools to change it up.

Hi Katharine! These are 6 quart (or 6 liter) buckets. I have them linked in my Amazon shop.

Hi Anna - you can reheat the lye-water using a warm water batch. Simply measure out your lye water in a container and place that container in either hot or boiling water. Keep checking on the temperature until it reaches the temperature you want. We usually warm up our lye water to between 90-100 degrees F.

Great question! Egyptian geranium costs about $6 per ounce. It's one of the more expensive essential oils that we use in our studio. Rose geranium, which has a more rose-like scent, costs $33 per ounce. It is a really lovely scent, but over five times the cost. Rose absolute (real rose!) which smells absolutely incredible costs about $192 per ounce. That's 32 times the cost of Egyptian geranium! Since we only use essential oils, these are our only options for a "rose-like" scent. We'd have to charge a lot more for our soap (we currently charge $10 per bar) if we were to use real rose. However, we have used rose absolute in some of our body butters, as a very small amount goes a long way in those. Of course, we charge more for these luxury body butters. So, it's all about cost! I hope this answers your question! :)

Hi there! For a lot of our soaps, we texture right away. This video is pretty much real time, so you can see how long I waited. After a while, you get to know your soap (assuming you're making the same one over and over) and will know when to texture, but typically I will test the batter with a spoon and if it feels thick, then I'll go for it! If it's too thin, I'll wait, but not too long! Sometimes even just one minute can make a difference. On the other hand, I've had soaps where the batter didn't set up for ages. For those soaps, I usually just leave the tops flat. I hope this helps!

@@muddymintsoap Thank you!

Hi! You can use food-grade oil to make soap, but many of the soapmaking oils are cosmetic grade, so you shouldn't use them for food. It depends on the oil of course, but that's a good general rule. :)

@@muddymintsoap Thank you 🌼

Ah, you mean the pre-mixed solution? I think it's a great idea! You could always ask the supplier. I know Joanna from SoapGal uses it and buys it in huge quantities with great success. Makesy also makes one that I've used and it worked great.

@@muddymintsoap thanks. However, I meant the 50% I see on our grocery shelves in Trinidad

@muddymintsoap ...unnamed brand. I'm not sure I could import something like that easily, so I may have to play it safe and continue mixing the dry.

Hmmm... interesting! What do the ingredients say?

@@muddymintsoap just: Sodium Hydroxide. It seems we can get away with leaving out the other (obvious) ingredient in these parts.

Hi! My book is $24.99 and it contains 31 recipes, plus a lot of other information on mixing essential oil, using natural colorants, and of course, how to make soap! :)