# advice needed for making a special order.



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I had a lady stop by our booth asking if we could make a special formula. She has KNOWN allergies to palm, olive and coconut. 

She can use sunflower, safflower, canola, castor and almond. (I am not going to use almond), She likes lavender.

Have you ever done this type of special order? How did you you charge? Any suggestions on the recipe?


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## Guest (Oct 27, 2011)

I did a special batch for a customer "once"... She had to purchase the entire batch of soap for it to be worth it for me.. this might make a soft soap since there are no hard oils in it... or take a long time to cure.. 
How about Lard or tallow for a hard oil in there, or is she against animal products.. 
I would charge her for the entire batch and extra for the time it takes you to make it... maybe she would like to take it naked to save you time and money.. since it is just for her..
Barb


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

What Barb said. Totally. If she will do lard or tallow, you can make her some very nice soap.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

Lavender lard soap is great


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I asked her about lard and she turned her nose up. I need to ask her about tallow. I have a source of grass fed tallow. I did run this through soap calc and it had like a final score of 50 something and hardness of a 6 or something.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

When you talk to her about it, tell her that it's grass fed, local, sustainable, and makes marvelous, long-lasting, mild soap.  If you did a tallow/sunflower/castor soap, it would be lovely. And do explain that without being able to use palm, olive, and coconut, without tallow or lard, she probably is not going to be very happy with the soap, just because of the qualities that those oils and fats bring to it.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Here are the soap calc #s when I took the original oils and added Tallow. 


SoapCalc ©	Recipe Name: Print Recipe
Total oil weight	1
Water as percent of oil weight	38 %
Super Fat/Discount	5 %
Lye Concentration	25.597 %
Water : Lye Ratio	2.907:1
Sat : Unsat Ratio	33 : 67
Iodine 74
INS 116
Fragrance Ratio	0
Fragrance Weight 0 Oz
Ingredient	Pounds	Ounces	Grams
Water	0.38	6.08	172.365
Lye - NaOH	0.131	2.092	59.298
#	?	Oil/Fat	%	Pounds	Ounces	Grams
1 Canola Oil, high oleic	35	0.35	5.6	158.757
2 Castor Oil	5	0.05	0.8	22.68
3 Sunflower Oil	10	0.1	1.6	45.359
4 Tallow Beef	50	0.5	8	226.796
Totals	100	1	16	453.592
Soap Bar Quality	Suggested Range	Your Recipe
Hardness	29 - 54 32
Cleansing	12 - 22 4
Conditioning	44 - 69 65
Bubbly	14 - 46 9
Creamy	16 - 48 33
Iodine	41 - 70 74
INS	136 - 165 116
Lauric 1
Myristic 3
Palmitic 16
Stearic 12
Ricinoleic 5
Oleic 46
Linoleic 13
Linolenic 2


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

It is so funny that the average consumer will turn up their nose when you mention lard, but they'll happily munch on a hot dog....


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

I would up the tallow more and drop the canola to adjust for it.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Personally, I would make this batch in a log mold that only holds about 3 pounds, and I would not make her buy the whole thing as I am positive other people would like it too. Every single time I've ever done a special order, other people have liked the soap and I've sold every bit of it. I love special orders because it usually gets me to try something new I haven't done before...which is very good for buisiness.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

When it is simple, like a change of recipe, nothing expensive...mine is nearly always a special scent recipe, I will do it, as long as they purchase the whole 21 or 36 bar batch. If it's some crazy expensive essential oil, I charge them for it extra, many times they supply me with the essential oils themselves. I will not soap un-labeled blends without the money up front, because I did end up with soap in a bucket one time, having to then rebatch which cost me more than it was worth.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

she wanted lavender which I have. I was going to use one of my smaller batches. which would be about 44 bars, cut but unwrapped.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Does she want 44 bars? Couldn't you use a smaller log mold or PVC mold, that way, it would be just a few pounds of soap? Even my regular molds I can divide and make 3 seperate logs, so can easily do a batch of just 8 soaps. If she likes the soap, she may well be a really good customer for life!


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

I do custom soaps all the time. I will do a minimum batch size of 1 lb. I use a 3" PVC pipe and that makes 5 bars when cut 1" thick. 

LOL, most of my custom batches lately have been from folks wanting goat milk soap from their own goats milk. Other kinds of custom batches are from folks wanting a whole log of one of my regular soaps (I don't wrap these). Then this fall I did a huge custom order for a pumpkin patch that wanted me to embed their loofahs with soap. I think this will be a yearly endeavor now as they sold well for the pumpkin patch.


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