Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

Hi, my name is Shalamar and i live in the USA the city of Chicago.  I'm very new to all of B & B. I have been selling body oils for a few months and just started experimenting with making my own. I would love to start making soaps and other things. I have been friends with this mad lady with a piano (madpiano) who chased me around until i agreed joined up meet new people and maybe learn a few things. So here i am!!!! I’m 36 male love trying new things oh did i mention im very shy... Madpiano I love ya thanks for planting the seed about making soap and other stuff (i feel like I’m on a dating service)   :::hide::

heya  :hi:

I forgot to tell you we love photos here, just like a dating site, but much cleaner  :mwaha:

 :hi: Hello from Canada's west coast.  You'll enjoy it here, this truly is the most friendly and helpful Forum I've found.

Hi Shalamar and welcome!  :buttrf:
I'm in Sweden, the very north of it.

Photos what :o !!!!   :-[  Well i guess i can take a few of them will have to work on the clean part ??? :angl:

Hi Shalamar.  I'm glad I'm not the newest "newbie" anymore !

Sharon

 :mwaha: at mp coaxing you onto here , photos of soap and creations only , oh and pets and if your very brave you . There are a few gents on here so your not alone and we wont gang up on you , we are really very nice ladies  ::)

Hello and welcome!

As you can see, we're a nice and funny bunch! Just don't forget the pics...  ;D

Hi and welcome,

re the photo's love them , but I have'nt worked out how to upload my photo's as you may be
able to tell, I am not too good with computer's etc!!!!!

enjoy ....

Hello! You'll love it here x

Hello and welcome!  Is it Oktoberfest in Andersonville yet?   :mwaha:

Hello and welcome.

Hi Shalamar and welcome. If you know mp, then you're in good company. Don't mind what Dizzy says, of course we will gang up on you. :mwaha:

Eire

 :mwaha: shhh I was trying to trap him into thinking we wouldnt.

Welcome Shalamar, I should warn you they are all quite mad, infact I am the only sane person here!  :angl:

Oh yes photos, they'll rip your arm off to get at your photos!  :mwaha:

Hi Shalamar,

A warm welcome to the forum.  Soooo..... MP's been chasin' ya has she?  Norty MP  :mwaha:

I hope you feel at home pretty soon - we don't bite...................much  ;)


 :mwaha:


 ::)   :ffllyyppig:

 :whist: :whist: :whist: :whist: :whist: not Janies Avatar  :mwaha:

not Oktoberfest any where yet  that  i as  much as i can tell they seem to start in the middle of this month

wow  i feel the eyes of 10000 people sizeing me up i hope i pass the test.
 :::hide:: ok so whats next lest start with a review

1 i've felt the warm greating. (Eva "Hi Shalamar and welcome!", Andy "Hello and welcome!", Avril "Hi and welcome",Em "Hello! You'll love it here x") way to many more to fit them all Thanks....

2 im one of the only gents here
(dizzybuff  "There are a few gents on here so your not alone")

3 i've been warned that im may or may not get ganged up on.
( Eire "Hi Shalamar and welcome. If you know mp, then you're in good company. Don't mind what Dizzy says, of course we will gang up on you.")

4 i've been told that if i dont put up a pic fast i could get my arms ripped off.
(Janie-aka-Selkie  "Oh yes photos, they'll rip your arm off to get at your photos!")

You get the gist you will do well here  :mwaha:

5  everyone thinks they are the saneest person on here.
(Janie-aka-Selkie "I should warn you they are all quite mad, infact I am the only sane person here!", Helen "I hope you feel at home pretty soon - we don't bite...................much"

would just like to give a special thank you to Linda "Hello from Canada's west coast.  You'll enjoy it here, this truly is the most friendly and helpful Forum I've found."

I hope you are right so far i have learned a lot and i have only been here a few hours. I know this is all in good fun and just wanted to point out how many warm loveing replys to my shy greeting i have been blessed with.
Thank all of you and i truely want to live up to the Test of just being a good friend.

I'm not insane, I'm eccentric, very very straightjacketdly eccentric  :mwaha:

Hi Shalamar!  :hi: :hi: :hi: Welcome to the forum.  There of a couple of us close to you.  I am in MO and Mary is in IL.  There may be more but not sure.

hah, you posted a picture! - oh you changed it

Hi Shalamar  Nice to meet you  :)

Hi Shalamar, you are very welcome as you have already felt, i'm sure.  Now get making some soap so you can take pictures of it  :mwaha:
It's nice to have more men around  :buttrf: by the way Chicago 2 ?? Im from Yorkshire....explain?

Shell

Oh man I want to get my first materials I can try to make my first batches so for the next week. I'm just along little bit nervous not sure what to buy, so I will take any and use all the advice that anybody has to offers madpiano has sent me countless webpages to read and review. Another statement is going to set me up for some pretty interesting comments but this seems to be a pretty interesting form so I'm looking for advice and I'm ready to dive in and get my feet wet here so if anybody's got any ideas on how to get me started you like here

keep it simple, that's the main thing.

You can do a very simple Olive, Coconut, Palm soap (roughly equal parts) and unfragranced for your first. Keeps the costs down and lets you get on with soaping without having to worry about finicky fragrance oils. Once you know how this thing works, start reading some of the pages I gave you (miller soap is a very good starting point) and add some oils and see what happens. Probably best to stick to safe Essential Oils for starters, when you are ready, just ask and we will point you to the easy-soaping ones (which don't smell bad, so don't worry)

Mad piano sounds wonderful
I am very eager to get started I just have about three of four points that I like to go over and then I'm ready to go! :-)

1. not exactly sure how much I should investigate starting with so little help there could be quite convenient for me. (I have been known to go overboard in way over span on projects and get flustered towards the middle so that's why I'm asking)

2. I know this might  sounds kind of silly but I'm not 100% sure where to order everything from.

3. Please don't laugh, and I'm not sure if this is a valid question or not but is it better to start off with the liquid soap or bar soap or have done so much reading on so many different things that I've confused myself bored enough help myself some trying to start fresh over by asking basic questions.

4. I guess the fourth thing that I am curious about is I need help with the basic terminologies that I see being passed around or said I am nowhere near understanding of the language deckles into soapmaking and it's kind of hard to follow along conversations when people are using abbreviations and things that affect and I'm not really sure what the heck they're talking about I guess what I'm asking is is there a dictionary or some place that I can look up just  basic terminologies so that I would get a better understanding on being able to follow different conversations

thanks for everyone's help and hope I'm not being too much of a nuisance I'm pretty sure it is probably places somewhere on this form that I can find it right now my eyeballs are hurting from all the reading I've been doing and I seem to have made myself way more confusing anything else so is always better to just ask questions and get it over with my how silly I might feel

Let's start this way - since you're in the US you have a lot of choices for suppliers and if you do a google search you will find a lot that way.  ND is good, Brambleberry is good,  and I hear good things about Soaper's Choice.   You'll also be able to get your lye from them too.

The trick in the beginning is just like MP said, keep it simply.  My very first batch was Castille (100% Olive Oil), no fragrance, no colour and I bought my lye from a hardware store.  I still love the scent of castille and it brings back great memories.

You can use plastic containers for molds, things like the Ziploc containers will work, you just need to make sure they are microwave and dishwasher safe so you'll be confident they can take the heat.  No aluminum, no metal unless it's stainless steel.  You're going to want an immersion blender (we call them stick blenders) and you can get a cheapie at Walmart.

Once you've got your stuff gathered together, let us know and we will help you construct a recipe.

Cheers

Soapers choice is in Chicago.  Check to see if you can pick up your oils to save on shipping.

Okay I am officially  :jealous:

Hi, Shalamar - and a very warm welcome! I am pretty new to cold process soapmaking and I'm not sure I'd have done it without  all the lovely people on here!

My first batch was to a really simple recipe, but I've liked it enough to continue to use it as my basic one. The advice about keeping it simple is good - some essential oils and fragrance oils can really throw a spanner in the works (and as you will see, some colours can really mess with you too  ;D). I think at one point ot other, someone on here will have "seen it, done it, got the T Shirt" and everyone here is so helpful to each other that you never feel like you can't ask a question for fear of sounding sily.

Above all, ENJOY!!!

Thanks ESBY
Soapers Choice is indeed here in Chicago well not that far out I've just given them a call and I plan to go by there tomorrow. This could be my biggest lead yet if everything goes well by Saturday I should be starting my first batch.

I still feel like I'm in mad scientist mode so I'm not really sure that my first couple of batches will be the best but I'm sure it will be tons of fun.

Hi Shalamar and a BIG welcome, as people have said this is a very friendly and supportive  forum.

Don't forget.....

There's no such thing as a silly question

and

try and enjoy making your first batch, although I'm sure you'll be hooked the minute you start mixing your oils/butters and see them begin to thicken..

Enjoy.... :D

Welcome :hi: