Exfoliating Oatmeal M&P Bars

~Exfoliating Oatmeal M&P Bars~

Goat Milk Melt & Pour Soap Base is among one of our most favored soap bases. 

Moisturizing, rich in nutrients and minerals... who doesn't love that?!

While there are endless ways to dazzle and customize your soap bars, adding oatmeal for a natural gentle exfoliate brings any bar of soap to a level of sheer perfection!

Materials you will need:

~ Goat Milk Met & Pour Soap Base

~ FD&C Cosmetic Colorant (optional)

~ Soap safe fragrance oil

~ Soap Molds

~ 2cup Glass Pyrex Cup

~ Quick Oats Oatmeal 

Start by cutting the block of soap base into small squares for easy handling. Each block of base is just 2lbs and is already scored, making cutting much easier. 

When deciding how much fragrance to use, keep in mind that 1/2oz of fragrance is recommended for each pound of base. With each block being 2lbs, you will need to choose 1oz of soap safe fragrance oil. I chose to use Cucumber Melon (which smells AMAZING!)

When making small batches, one half pound of soap base fits nicely into a 2cup Glass Pyrex measuring cup. This is the perfect amount to start working with, when first starting out with making M&P soap bars. 

The easiest way to melt the soap base is right in a microwave. When choosing this method, be sure to only heat the base for 30 second time periods at a time, stirring between each time. To fully melt one half pound of base, this should take just roughly 1.5-2 minutes. The finished melted soap should be right between 130°-140°F. Watch closely not to get your base too hot!

Once the base is completely melted to the appropriate temperature, add the fragrance oil and cosmetic colorant. Be sure to mix thoroughly! When adding colorant, start by adding just a couple drops at first, then additional drops until you reach the desired shade you are looking for. 

After the fragrance oil and colorant has been fully mixed into the base, go ahead and add the oatmeal. I prefer to use the smaller quick oats rather than the larger old fashioned oats, as the smaller oats turn more soft after a short time being in the hot base, creating a gentle exfoliate rather than the larger oats that tend to stay a bit more firm. 

Note: As soon as the oats have been mixed into the base, you'll see that the oats tend to sink to the bottom of the mold rather than stay suspended within the soap. If you prefer that the oats stay suspended in the soap rather than sink, pouring at a cooler temperature will help achieve this. 

Once the soap has been poured into the molds, you may sometimes notice bubbles gathering at the surface. Bubbles tend to happen due to the mixing stage, however if you want to rid the surface of bubbles, you may use a fine mist spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol to spray onto the surface of the soap, removing any bubbles that may have accumulated. 

Allow the soaps to cool at room temperature until completely cooled, about 4-5 hours. While waiting for the bars to cool, clean-up is a breeze! For obvious reasons :). All you need is warm water!

Once completely cooled and solidified, you may need to pull the edge of the mold back to help the soap to release.  

For packaging your soaps, you will want to keep your soap in a cool dry place. Rather than sealing the soap completely with plastic shrink wrap, a plastic cello bag is a great choice for packaging and displaying Melt & Pour soap. Beautiful! :)

If there is ever a fun Candle, Soap, or Body product that you would like seen made, we would LOVE to hear from you! Send us a request at info@candlesupply.com today!

Happy Soaping!

-Elya

 

Scented Holiday Teddy Bears!

~Scented Holiday Teddy Bears~

The end of the year is here, and the New Year will soon be upon us. As you are looking for those last minute items to make, don't look past our adorable variety of plush Teddy Bears!

Bitter Creek offers a variety of Teddy Bears, as well as an extensive selection of accessories to make them even more fun for any time of year! 

Our selection ranges from knitted sweaters, to glasses, and even hats! 

You can dip them in scented wax to shape them how you wish, leave them without scent, or spritz them with your favorite fragrance to make a cute Teddy Bear Air Freshener. :) 

Today we will be spritzing them with fragrances rather than dipping them in wax. 

Materials you will need:

*Teddy Bears

*Accessories such as sweaters, glasses or hats (optional) 

*Fragrance Oil

*Cyclomethicone (Dry Oil Spray)

*Small spray bottles (I used the 4oz Clear Bullet Bottles with matching Clear Spray Caps)

*Tin Candle Plate

*9x12" Shrink Wrap Bags & Twist Ties for storing (optional)

First, you will want to choose your selection of fragrance(s). Whether your scenting only one bear, or if you're scenting multiple, with multiple fragrances, Bitter Creek offers an extensive variety of fragrances to suit your preference. 

Once you have selected your choice of fragrances, fill your small spray bottles with a 50/50 mix of fragrance oil and Cyclomethicone spray base and secure the spray cap. 

When selecting your candle plates, you'll want to make sure that you choose one that is large enough for the teddy bears to sit on with enough room so they don't looked too cramped. I found that the 8" Round Candle Plates were the perfect size for the bears.

Bitter Creek offers plush Teddy Bears in a variety of colors, even ranging from Shaggy Fur to Scruffy Fur. The choice is yours!

Depending how you are wanting to outfit your bear, there are sweaters for most every occasion. :) Holidays, Birthdays, Spring Time, and of course, the Holiday Season. 

When these bars are dipped in wax, they are able to be shaped and placed into different positions. When they are dry and not dipped in wax, they look much more "plush" and over-all much more stuffed-animal like. But beware to keep out of reach of children for this very reason! 

After your fragrance oils have been mixed with the cyclomethicone in the spray bottles, start dressing up your bears if you have accessories picked out. All of our Teddy Bears have bows around their necks, so be sure to pull the bow out from under their sweater so it is showing if you wish, before you spritz the bears with fragrance. :)

Once all of your bears are accessorized, now you can start lightly spritzing them with fragrance. Be Careful! A little fragrance goes a long ways! Just one spritz to the front, and one spritz to the back, with completely coat your bear. 

If you do want your bear to smell super-strong, spritz your bear in very light layers. Setting them back onto their tin candle plates is a good idea at this point to allow them to fully dry, without allowing fragrance oil to harm any furniture surfaces or kitchen counter tops. Be careful not to saturate your bears! It will look like fine mist is on your bear (pictured below), rather than large droplets, which you do not want. 

After you have allowed your bears to fully dry (At least 4-5 hours in an airy room), you may leave them as-is, or you can choose to package them to keep their fragrances stronger for future use, or perhaps to save as gifts. I wouldn't recommend using these shrink wrap bags as gift items to wrap your bears in, however they work perfectly for storing your scented bears. They really keep the fragrance in and keep it strong. :)

If you do not package them in plastic wrap, remember that you still have a fragrance bottle, for the future when your bear needs a fresh spritz of fragrance. A Teddy bear that has been spritzed with fragrance with stay strong for roughly one month depending on which fragrance you used. A Vanilla fragrance may not seem to last as long as a strong Cinnamon fragrance, etc. One bottle of fragrance will go a LONG ways. 

I know everyone is deep in their holiday rush routines at this time of year, but this Teddy Bear project is rather quick, and can be quite rewarding! So order a few bears on your next order to give them a try. We're sure you won't be disappointed! :)

If there is ever a fun Candle, Soap, or Body product that you would like seen made, we would LOVE to hear from you! Send us a request at info@candlesupply.com today!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

-Elya

Holiday Santa Candles!

~Holiday Santa Candles~

Christmas time is once again nearly upon us, as we prepare for the busiest time of year. 

Family, friends, wintery bliss... what's not to love about the holiday season?!

Whether you prepared early for the holiday rush, or if you are still searching for those perfect items to make for family, friends (and customers), one item in specific here at Bitter Creek is worthy of a shout-out at this certain time of year. Our Glass Santa Jars! 

10 ounces of Christmas perfection topped off with a matching bubble lid. Do I hear jingle bells?!

Anyhow, let's get started :)

Materials you will need:

~10oz Santa Jars

~EzSoy Wax

~CD-16 Wicks

~20mm Wick Stickums

~Round Black Wick Centering Tools

~Fragrance

~Candle Dye

~Christmas Garland, Candy, Confetti to fill the lid (optional)

For the first step, prepare your containers. To make sure your containers are completely clean, wash them thoroughly with soap and water. This will guarantee your wick to hold firmly to the bottom of the container once the Wick Stickum has been applied to the tab. Also, so that there is no trace of dust or debris that you may not see with the naked eye.  Be sure to dry your jars thoroughly before attempting to make your candles. Water will not mix with the wax.

Once your containers are cleaned, go ahead and measure out your wax. EzSoy comes in flake form for easy handling, and can be melted by either melting pot, the double boiler method, or even by microwave! Heat your wax to approx. 175°-180°F.

 While your wax is melting, finish preparing your candle jars, by attaching the Wick Stickums to the bottom of the wick tabs of each wick, then securing the wicks to the center of each jar. Once each jar has a wick, you can then place your Round Black Wick Centering Tools around each wick to hold the wick centered as the candle cools.

Once  the desired temp. has been met, remove from heat. Immediately add your choice of Fragrance, along with your choice of Candle Dye. Dye Chips, Flakes, Blocks and Powders work well in EzSoy. Be sure to mix thoroughly!

 

A good fragrance usage level to use when making candles with EzSoy wax, is a 6% usage rate per pound of wax.For this "Christmas" theme, I chose two of our best selling "Spiced Cranberry" and
our new "Alpine Cheer" fragrances.

It is recommended to allow your wax mixture to cool to about 105°F before you start pouring, to avoid white "frosting" , and to achieve a smoother surface on your finished candle. I let my wax cool to roughly 140°F, as I was looking to achieve a bit of frosting on these specific candles.)

Patience is the next step! Allow your candles to completely cool. Do not attempt to remove the Wick Centering Tools before the wax has hardened, as the wick will be likely to fall aside and off-center. 

As your candles are cooling over the next couple hours, you can dress up the bubble lids a bit by filling them with some fun items that will go along with the candles. Each lid has a removable plastic fitment, that can be snapped back on once you fill your lid. I used a bit of holiday tinsel garland to add a shimmery Christmas look. They turned out really cute with hardly any effort!

Once your candles have completely cooled, remove the wick centering tools and trim the wicks to roughly 1/4" in height. If you notice a rough frosted look on the surface of your candles, that you were not wanting, a quick run-over with a heat gun clears up that issue rather quickly. 

^Before Heat Gun

^Heated up with Heat Gun

After all candles have their wicks trimmed and are just the way you want them, snap the lids on the jars and admire your work! The Santa Jars are the perfect size to fit right in your hand. Not too big and not too small; just a very perfect gift for the Christmas season. :) 

If there is ever a fun Candle or Bath & Body product that you would like seen made, we would love to hear from you!
Please send your requests to info@candlesupply.com.

Happy Candle & Soap Making!
-Elya

Wax Brittle Gift Boxes!

~Wax Brittle Gift Boxes~

It's that time of year again! Everyone is looking for what's popular and the latest "trends". The hunt goes on for the perfect gifts to make and items to display on their store shelves, all to make it through one of the busiest times of the year... the Holiday Season!

This blog will walk you through step-by-step how to make popular Wax Brittle, using the NEW EcoSoya Q230 Soy wax, to fill those cute wax brittle boxes that fit perfectly in your hand. 

Materials you will need:

*Wax Brittle Boxes

*EcoSoya Q230 wax

*Fragrance (I used "Be Thankful Type")

*Candle Dye (I used Kelly/Lime & Plum/Rose Liquid Dye)

*Pan & Tinfoil

*4x6 Clear Cello Bags

*Twist Ties (I used Gold)

*Labels & Ribbon (optional)

First start by melting the wax. The NEW EcoSoya wax comes in pastille form, rather than blocks and is able to be melted right in your microwave for even easier handling, due to it's lower melt point, making small batches very simple to make. :)

While the wax is melting, prepare your pan (or I used a deeper plastic tub to be sure nothing would spill or over-flow), and line the bottom with tin foil, about an inch up all sides. 

Once the wax is melted, go ahead and add your choice of fragrance. A simple combination of 1oz of fragrance per lb. of wax works well. Our New "Be thankful (Yankee Type)" fragrance has been a HUGE hit since we started offering it, and it is the absolute perfect scent for the Autumn season. Give it a try! You won't be disappointed! :)

Right after adding your fragrance, go ahead and add your choice of candle dye. Or, you can keep a natural look, by not coloring your wax at all, leaving it an off-white cream color. This always looks great as well. As soon as you have completely mixed both your fragrance and dye into the wax, slowly pour the mixture into the foil-lined pan to prevent too much wax splattering on the sides.

You can make the wax as deep as you'd like, but keeping it right around 1/2" makes it easier to break into "brittle" like pieces. You can keep the wax one color, or you can let the first layer cool just a bit, then pour a second layer of wax into the first, but a different color. The possibilities are endless. Mixing and matching colors to fit the fragrance you chose can be pretty fun.I poured a second pour of plum colored wax, on top of the kelly green layer, making it more Autumn colors. 

Allow the colored wax to completely cool. You don't want the wax to be "bendy" at all, since this will make it harder for the wax to break apart easily. Tossing the pan in the fridge for a couple minutes helps the wax be cooled enough to break apart easily. 

Once your wax is cooled and ready, take the foil out of the pan and start breaking it apart into small pieces. It is supposed to resemble "candy brittle", so you don't have to worry about all the pieces being the same size. It is going to be unique any way you chose to do it. 

As you break the wax apart, you'll be able to see the colors come through all the pieces. Multi-color wax adds quite a bit of character to it for a little extra surprise. Putting the small pieces into a container nearby, also helps keep the mess down and makes for an easy clean-up. :)

After you have all the wax broken up, your hands should be smelling amazing right about now :). But anyhow, now you can start preparing your brittle boxes. Labeling is one of the most important steps of selling your product. These boxes are the perfect size to fit our 2.5" round labels, which we offer in both White and Kraft, to offer a nice clean finished look. Tying twine or ribbon around the boxes would add even more eye-appeal. 

Simply mentioning a little instruction on the label, helps customers picture what exactly your product is for, making it easier for them to purchase. 

Once your boxes are labeled, start filling those 4x6 Clear Cello bags with the wax brittle and seal the bag with a twist tie. The 4x6 size seemed to be the perfect fit for these boxes. They fit really nicely :)

When done, seal the box and that's all there is to it!

Even when not melting, the NEW EcoSoya Q230 wax has an amazing cold throw as well as hot throw! You'll be able to smell these strong melts even if they are just sitting in your warmer when it isn't on. They look really nice and "rustic" too! Especially in our "Tall Green Ivy Wax Melt Warmer"

I hope everyone enjoyed this blog! I have been told about the Wax Brittle for quite some time now, and though this month would be a great time to show you how it's done!

If there is ever a fun Candle or Bath & Body product that you would like seen made, we would love to hear from you!
Please send your requests to info@candlesupply.com.

Happy Candle & Soap Making!
-Elya