@ livebetter No, I'm not a chemist * LOL * In fact, one of my worst teachers in high school was a chemistry teacher. From my limited knowledge, silicates are generally included in detergents as "washer protection agents" or "anti corrosion agents". Perhaps some detergents are more aggressive and require this ingredient while others do not, I don't know. I purchased a laundry soap made specifically for conditioned water that contains as it's 2nd or 3rd ingredient sodium metasilicate, which is a corrosion inhibitor. Softened water is notoriously aggressive against metals. The salts in conditioned water corrode the anodes in hot water heaters pretty readily. Soft water can also do a good job leaching copper out of copper water pipes, sometimes causing "blue water" to come out of peoples' taps. This sometimes happens in newer homes, but the corrosion will eventually form a coating on the inside of copper pipes that acts as an insulator against the corrosion. Did you know that the name PERSIL comes from the two primary ingredients in its original formulation? The PER comes from PERborate and the SIL comes from SILicates.

Val: I know this was a very hard decision for you. Bravo to you for giving it a try despite all the drama involved. :) It took us a long time to find most of our rugs. Some we loved to death and had a hard time talking ourselves out of because of one reason or another. When we did find the right ones, it was like it was meant to be... right color, size, condition, etc..... We were able to bring them home, put them down and just stop thinking about whether they were right or wrong because they were perfect for us in every way. There was never any second guessing. I know there are rugs out there just waiting for you to find them. Don't exhaust yourselves trying to find one w/in a set time frame. Shop when you have the time and the energy. It may take months, or it may just take days... but please take your time and enjoy the journey. One more thing. Some dealers may seam snooty, and some may even BE snooty... but the good ones know their stuff and want you to be happy w/ your rug. Some will want to educate you and some won't want to bother. Never tell a dealer what your budget is as some will never show you any less than your upper range. If pressed, just say that you must keep it under $xxx, which should be less than you really are willing to spend. I look forward to seeing your future finds!

I agree with pistil. Add more fragrance oil. I must tell you, though, that I make candles and I have quite a collection of fragrance oils. All of mine are safe for wax and soap/bath products. However, I have found that some of my candle scents that smell wonderful in my candles smell terrible, and I mean terrible, in soap! I am not sure why, unless its the difference in the chemical composition. One that comes to mind is BitterCreek's Water Blossom Ivy. It is a wonderful fragrance that smells great in a candle. It is a fragrance that would be a great soap smell, so I thought I'd give it a try. I used the clear glycerin base. It smelled horrible, no matter how much fragrance oil I put in. The only way I salvaged it was by remelting and using another fragrance oil. So, it may not be you, it may be the particular fragrance oil you are using. Don't give up! Keep experimenting! Susan

it shouldn't matter how a different tablecloth washed--- that's irrelevant unless the table cloth was exactly the same. some cottons require cold water washes to minimize bleeding... you say that the care label on the one that bled says 'something along the lines of machine wash in warm water'... maybe it was mislabeled... but since you can't go to a store and show them the product and the incorrect label, you don't have a receipt, and that the tablecloth is a few years old already, i think a 15% off coupon is a nice gesture... there is SO much fraud and theft, etc that goes on in retail that I'm sure that it is diifficult for many stores!! i recently had an issue where a glass in a set from ws (on line) arrived broken... they sent ups to pick it up and sent another set-- again, there was an issue with another glass and i contacted them, the set was again picked up and they set a 3rd set- finally i got an undamaged set! even tho it was a pain, i was pleased with their prompt pick up and sending of new sets-- and it was a small pain compared to having to pack up and bring something back to the store!