(This is a post that I mistakenly deleted).

Hello to everyone new on the forum and thanks for being a part of our little community.

About us: The Bellaonline Soapmaking forum has some of the most talented and generous soapmakers who share information and links to soapmaking resources and generally are friendly folks. Our members are very in the know about soapmaking so a question asked is a question answered.

(This thread was originally started by Cheryl Lewis who used to be the soapmaking editor... It was edited later by the new soapmaking editor, Winsome Tapper )

Winsome Tapper Editor Soapmaking @ Bellaonline
Soapmaking Site @ Bellaonline

Soap Cigarbands and Girly Graphics

Hi Cheryl
My name is suz and I am from Ontario Canada and been in the business of soapmaking, toiletries, herbal and aromatherapy products and everything else that goes with it. I just finished 20lbs of soap today making bath confetti soap with real bath confetti. I see people making bath confetti soap with blocks of soap and that didn't seem right for the name. So I thought I'd try the what I thought should be the real way. And OMG it turned out awesome. The smell, texture, lather and softeness was just spetcacular. I loved it. And the designs that the confetti made, you could not replicate. Should try it, the confetti is what makes the softness and the additional lather. I hope to learn more and maybe add to the forum. So take care and hope to talk to ya soon.
suz

Hey Suz <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Welcome! I'm so glad you've stopped by. Thanks for posting about your new creation. It sounds really neat! I'd love to see a picture, but I completely understand if you don't want to do that.

Ontario huh? Bless your heart! I live in Kentucky and it's more than cold enough here in the winter, I can't imagine being that far north. We get these clipper systems down out of Canada and the air is so doggone cold even after traveling that far south I just don't see how ya'll tolerate it. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Again, thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come back often.

Hi,my name is Debra. I live in a small town in Missouri. Have done some sort of crafting for 20 yrs. Glad to of found you all.Hope to really get into bath salts and soap making. This will be my first ,and I am trying to learn all I can about this. So you all just bear with me ok.I am 51 yrs young.Love to make friends,share ideas and just have fun.So nice to meet you all. hugs.

Hi Debra! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> We're so glad that you've stopped by. I hope that you'll keep visiting and feel free to ask questions. That's what the forum is all about. If you've been doing crafts of one form or another for 20 years, soapmaking will be easy for you I'll bet.

Thanks for introducing yourself! We're glad to meet you!

Hi Cheryl!

I'm Robin from Southern New Mexico. My daughter and I have started messing around with soapmaking. We have made quite a few melt & pour soaps and are just getting started with hand milling. Yesterday evening I jumped into the fray with a batch of Baby Rose bath salts. We have friends with a knit shop that want to sell our wares, so we will need lots of good advice! <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Very cool Robin!! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Glad you stopped by. Baby Rose bath salts - mmmm bet they smelled wonderful!

Hi Cheryl!

I thought I would take a moment to introduce myself, and this seems like the perfect place to do it!

My name is Tamara and I am a WAHM with three children (Zach, 3, James, 8 and Samantha, 10). I live in south Florida with my husband Jim and have my own business where I make and sell soaps.

I'm thrilled to be here and look forward to talking to everyone!

Just signed up. I started making "real" soap (after making melt n pour for a few years). I'm ready to experiment and have a friend who's willing to part with some bear lard. Any suggestions for figuring sap values?

Hi Imac.
Glad to have you here. That is an interesting question,. It is not often that i hear from anyone with such an unusual fat. On Herbalsoaps by RJ, there is listed a value for bear tallow - NAOH SAP value 0.1390.BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

I live in northern Michigan and we know alot of bear hunters. I put the word out last fall before season that I wanted some fat or lard to try on a batch of soap. Luckily one of our friends came through with the lard (I really did NOT want to render fat into lard). I just wanted to try it for something different.

Thanks for the sap calculator link

Youre welcome. Drop by anytime! Let me know how that soap of yours comes out. I wonder how it soaps...?

Hello,I am new here, And I thought I would introduce myself,
My name is Sarah and I live in Alliance, Ohio USA I get into making alot of differant things and alot of things just come from my head... Well, anyway I have never tried to make soap and
I have read alot of your stuff on soapmaking and really sounds like fun. Can you tell me more.

Hi. I am new here. I have been looking to find information on soap making. I am so glad to see that ppl here don't mind using herbs and stuff for soaps.

anyway, I want to start out using m&p for my first endeavors and I hope this doesn't upset anyone, my experience today and yesterday on a soap board was awful cuz I wanted to start out using m&p.

is there anything bad i need to know about using m&p soap base?

thanx.

Hello Jo Annie:
Quite frankly I dont know of anything negative to say about melt and pour soaps. I do not know why it is so villified by some soapmakers. I love using and making both kinds of soap. If you look on the the high end supermarket shelves and in bath and body type stores, you will find some - but definitely not the quality ones you can craft...?

And lets talk about fragrance... no other soap holds and exudes fragrance like melt and pour. Right?

I remember the first time I noticed that soap could be really creative and different was when I saw a loaf of melt and pour with gorgeous jewel colors and a luscious fruity scent that made me want to eat it...that was the kind of soap I wanted to make!!!

You can put your own spin on your melt and pour soaps...there are so many creative ways to make it your own. I have a friend who embeds them with cowrie shells and makes them into a cake and calls them African wedding cake soaps... Checkout her website below Colored Woman and her Cookie Factory

hello, im also new. I have been making cp and hp soaps for almost 2 yrs, addicted! Iam a mother of twoand &quot;nana&quot; of two. I live in Mn and work at a clinic and love harley riding.