Where do I get soap suppleis

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Happy Holidays all, I made my first batch of soap and I am hooked. I took some to an Amish friend as a gift and he is now interested in selling it in his store. My problem, I can find lots of places to get my oils, ect. but I cannot but lye. Even he cannot buy it. I have found some places that carry it but no one will ship it. It is not in any store around here (NW Ohio). Any help would be appreciated! He is also interested in some goats milk soap. Anyone have a really easy recipie for that?

-- Joanie (need help@working.com), December 02, 2001

Answers

hardware store,, RED DEVEL LYE ,, in the drain cleaners section,, or make your own from wood ashes

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), December 02, 2001.

We have a store on the west coast called "Cash N Carry" and it sells large bulk items to small business owners (kind of like Costco, but smaller). They sell it by the case. Perhaps there is a similar distributor-type store in your area. I've never actually used wood ashes, but I would think it would be difficult to be consistent enough with the formula if you are planning on selling it. SB

-- S Baylous (sbaylous@aol.com), December 02, 2001.

Hello Joanie, Meli gets her oils and fragrances at Walmart. The Red Devil Lye I think, you can buy it from Lehman's Store. www.lehman.com

Sincerely,

Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), December 02, 2001.


Joanie, around here there is a store called Mor For Less, it's like an Aldi's, they carry Red Devil Lye for 3.75 a can. If you like I can ship you some if it is cheaper that way.

Have you tried Lorann Oils for your soap supplies? 1-800-862-8620 or www.lorannoils.com , ask for the WHOLESALE catalog, real lavender oil is 4.70 for an ounce, orange oil 2.20 an ounce, glycerin soap base 4.25 for 32 ounces, and beeswax 8.70 for a pound. They have the best prices anywhere, and they ship very fast with no minimum order.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), December 02, 2001.


By far the cheapest place to get lye in bulk is from a chemical company. Look in the yellow pages. I got 50 lbs for $27. Mary

-- Mary Fraley (kmfraley@orwell.net), December 02, 2001.


Joanie--If you live can get to Findlay, Foodtown sells Red Devil Lye.

-- vicki in NW OH (thga76@aol.com), December 02, 2001.

In the "Older Messages" at the end of the "New Questions" your thread is currently showing in, there is a category called "Soap Making" which currently contains 87 threads, many of which address this question, at least to some extent. Please always check the "Older Messages" (also referred to as "the archives").

As for using lye from ashes, that would require a lot of experimentation first. Lye from ashes is different - potassium hydroxide as opposed to the sodium hydroxide in say Red Devil lye (more detail in "the archives"); and potassium hydroxide makes a softer soap - may not even set solid in some cases. Lovely idea, and probably an added selling point, but I'd get established doing it the easy way (that you've proved works) at first if I was doing it as a business.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 03, 2001.


I've been making goat milk soap since early this year and it has become a very popular commodity around this small town. I started research with a list serve (soapcrafters@yahoogroups.com) They have lots of info to share, but there are other soap and toiletries groups, too. Making your own recipe is easy with lye calculators available on line. You need to learn what you have available and what oils provide properties you want. The recipe I use contains mostly soy, but also olive, coconut and canola. I personally would prefer a soap made with tallow (a harder, longer lasting bar), but public appeal for an all vegetable soap swayed my decision. I would be glad to help you more!

-- Danni in NV (IMDT@hotmail.com), December 04, 2001.

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