Oh yeah that’s definitely a frankensoap lol. It’s cute though! Whether one is better than the other imo kind of depends on personal preference. Cold process is my preference because I have full control over it from start to finish. Melt and pour is using a soap base someone already made and just adding color and fragrance to it. But it can be just as good as cold process if you find a soap base you really like!

I like M&P as a craft for kids though since cold process is a little too dangerous for them with the lye and everything.

That’s so interesting, thank you so much for the detailed response! I’d been a Reddit user since 2011 and logging onto the desktop version of Lemmy makes it look a LOT like old Reddit…back when times were more simple 😭

Oh it can be 100% expensive when the ingredients and fragrance/essential oils come into play, trust me! I’ve seen some essential oils go for close to $75/oz. They also need to be soap stable and skin safe, and not something you pick up at a craft or grocery store.

For the Oatmeal, Milk and Honey soap, I put bubble wrap on top, which is how I get the honeycomb effect!

And that sounds really bizarre with the different colors dissolving at different intervals! My best guess is that it wasn’t cold process and was melt and pour (different soapmaking process where you just cut up a soap base, melt it, and add color/fragrance of your choosing. Good for people who don’t want to deal with lye and fun to do with kiddos!) and the different melt and pour bases reacted differently to the water and some melted faster than others. Like a frankensoap if you will!

Oh I love that! I’m currently working on some more natural soaps (essential oils, natural pigments) because my tagline is soap for everybody and every body and I mean that!

Yeah I’d advise that lol. I’m an aunt to four and dang did they LOVE putting the most random things in their mouths

I ship to all countries (just edited my shipping profile). Thank you!

Well you’re in luck because I got it (and sell it!) in spades! Also I love your username lol

Thank you! Does your mom make soap too?

I use micas and pigments dispersed in sunflower oil. I use proper ratios and a lower superfat to make sure they don’t stain. I also make color blends as I have an art background so instead of buying every shade under the sun I try and mix my own! I test everything myself first to make sure nothing stains and other than some tinted lather (Vaporwave has a beautiful periwinkle blue lather!) I haven’t had it stain my skin or shower 😊

UGH, I know and I don’t blame you. Etsy sets the shipping prices on my profile. I want to delve more into shipping costs and how I can save people money because that’s just ridiculous!

I do have a video of me making the Vaporwave soap (bottom middle) on both Instagram and YouTube and want to start making more videos but I want to get a new phone to film on first (I cheaped out on storage for my current one). So that could disprove the dropshipping lol. I don’t even know why someone would dropship soap in the first place. To me it’s very specific and a little niche

Yep! You don’t need literal machinery other than a stick blender (stainless steel, NOT aluminum because lye and aluminum aren’t friends) and sturdy plastic (lye will etch away at glass over time and cause it to break) to mix everything in. It’s a lot like cooking but some of the bowls and things used need to be a bit more specific (and NOT used for cooking afterwards!)

Yep, that’s how I found Lemmy because Reddit banned my old roommate years ago and now every time I try to make an account it gets banned too. Reddit is dumb and they keep shooting themselves in the foot with this crap, but hey I got some good sales out of it 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ugh I know, shipping is ridiculous in general, even within the US! Thank you though, your support still means a lot to me 😊

Thank you! I just looked that up and I DEFINITELY want to take a crack at that!

Oh trust me I’m not some dropshipper! I make all these soaps myself, design the labels myself, take pictures of them myself, I’m a one-woman army! But for Etsy alternatives I’ve seen people use sites like Shopify or Redbubble. There are smaller sites too but I’m not 100% what they are. I’d like to have my own website someday but I need a following first and Etsy makes it a bit easier for me to get exposure

Older buildings are so beautiful but living in them if not maintained is a literal nightmare. My old apartment building was 100+ years old with pipes that banged like crazy against the walls and the waterlines were so badly corroded they shut the hot water off for a week to fix them (which got them a complaint from the health department because they didn’t offer us alternate lodging).

Yeah that’s one thing I don’t super understand with the fediverse and Lemmy is the servers/instances. It reminds me of how 4chan operated and I never fully understood that either lol. I’m sure I’ll figure it out! I just wanna share the soap and other things I make with anyone and everyone!

Thank you! Consider this your sign to make another batch! And post pics, I’d love to see!

Thank you, that’s so kind of you to say! They all smell wonderful and I try my best to describe the scents in the listings 😊

Thank you! I had to look up what the fediverse was, and now that I know I may need to make some socials on some “fed” accounts! I found Lemmy because Reddit keeps banning any account I make for some reason, so I came here. I’d love to expand more into the Fediverse and I definitely won’t stop sharing what I make!