Teach Soap

When you add FO or EO to your CP soap do you add by weight or volume? I have been using the BB fragrance calcuator and adding the TBSP amount reccomended, but I was sitting here trying to calculate price per TBSP and read that BB fills the bottle by weight. So now I am confused and trying to find the easiest way to calculate how much it cost to make my soap. Any help would be awesome.

_________________
ASH

Here is an easy way to calculate the cost of any of your products http://www.saratogascents.com/cost_calculator.html just go there and input the ingredients and what your paid for what ounces, then hit enter and it will give the price of everything down to drops. Add them up and you will have your cost

_________________
Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

thanks

_________________
ASH

Always go by weight. Much easier to calculate your cost. Teaspoons are no accurate in measuring, since different essential or fragrance oils have different molecular weight.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I just completed a batch (48oz) and did the cost calculation per oz of soap. Once I unmolded my soap and weighed it I was down to 47.5oz and I am thinking that once it is dry it will weigh even less. So do you wait until you have the final weight to do the cost figures? And then the silly part is I never sell so I'm not sure why I need to know.... guess it's just my needing to know things

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

I calculate all the ingredients for a particular batch, not after it's cured, since water by that time has evaporated. If you weigh the soap after it cures, your calculations will be off.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Ok soapbuddy, I am going to be a little dense on this one. If I figure a cost of 11.04 to make my batch of 48 oz of soap that comes to .23 per oz. And if I was to sell this at say a 100% mark up to make 11.04 per that batch but I only had 46 oz to sell then I have discounted my profit margin? Yes you can tell me I am being slightly OCD on this... And maybe I just want to be able to brag to my mother that I can make very good soap for a quarter and oz!

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Bubbles, I can be a bit ocd too, so I understand. What I do.....and what you may not like, is ..I calculate the cost of the slab and divide that by the number of bars I get from it (not ounces-bars). I then calculate my profit margin to be as i want it (there are a couple of standard formulas for this) and price it out. This is the most practical I think, because the bar count will not change, while the ounces may change slightly. Once you cut the soap, you have the same number of bars no matter how much it dries out.

_________________
Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

_________________
ASH

To figure the price per bar would be easier, I guess this is one of the reasons why soapmakers like to create uniform bars. There would be other costs to take into account... like SB said, labor (although right now it is my hobby and labor is not an issue). There would be cost of molds, labels, electricity, insurance etc. I can see where running a buisness gets a little complicated - think I'll stick to the hobby venue for now. And today when I gift my mother and sister each with a bar of 'valentines soap' I will keep how little I spent on them to myself After all homemade gifts (esp soap) are the best. I know! I will stop and get them a latte to go with it. Happy valentines day everyone.

_________________
Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!