VioletFlame

VF Candles just started using metal shelves to display our products in our tent. Worked out wonderfully! Got a great increase in sales and really engaged the customers more with our products. It really cleaned up our tent display and made it much more open and professional. Just use some cut plyboard to fill in the holes on the shelf, paint them, and start selling! Pretty easy to set up/take down as well.

Candlewic has some nice apothecary jars. Though when I ordered from them they made an error and sent me the tiniest apothecary jars they had instead of their largest ones. But customer service was nice enough to give me the smaller ones for free, and resend the larger ones. Maybe you'll get that lucky! They also have a sale going right now on their jars, so might be worth it to check out.

I like using the modular mesh shelving for elevating my items and giving my display depth. They're also great as free standing racks too and because they're collapsible it's easy to move them around or modify them to fit the tenting space. I found mine for pretty cheap; 9 cubes for around $40.

Depending on how they burn the candle (and how large the jar is, usually within 3inches of diameter), your family/friends may not have to do much cleaning at all. If they were to leave the candle burning for an extended period of time, then the prolonged heat would clean the sides of the jar for them. And when the candle stops burning it would be a simple matter of pouring out the remaining liquid wax. If its not completely clean after being burned, then a brass scrubby and some warm water should remove any residue. I'd also run it through the dishwasher if possible. As for the glued wick, I find it pops right off. Hot glue doesn't adhere well to glass.

So for anyone who uses a soy wax container blend for scented candles, I've found it's a great idea to pour the excess wax after filling jar candles into small tart molds, and then selling them for around a dollar a piece. Not only is it a great wax to profit ratio for wax that would otherwise go to waste, but my customers find that the oily container wax releases much more easily from a wax warmer when cool. I've received a lot of good reviews from customers who prefer being able to pop out the hardened wax, as opposed to trying to pour it out when they want to switch scents.

If you happen to find yourself ordering the Jasmine scent from Candlewic, I'd highly suggest purchasing a 1 ounce bottle tester beforehand. By some miracle, Candlewic has somehow managed to create a scent to the exact specifications of a "Porto-potty." The scent does not smell like feces, but rather like whatever cleaner they use to mask the feces smell. I suppose the scent is alright for anyone who has never used a porto-potty, but if you have, then this fragrance will surely remind you of it. I swear the scent even leaves a urine aftertaste. It's a great scent for a gag gift candle however. Least to say, I did not use this scent in my candle production.

Hello everyone, I was wondering what everyone used to melt their wax. My small business started off with eight 4lb pour pots on the stove (2 large pots on the front burners holding 3 pour pots each, and then 2 small pots in the back each with a pour pot) but we couldn't manage to melt enough wax at one time. So we turned to Presto Pots, and luckily we found the 8qt version (12.8lbs of wax capacity for each) at walmart. I installed a spout in each and we currently have 4 of those (pic). I like being able to mix a large batch of color in one pot, and then pouring all my molds so that they have a uniform color. I'm trying to avoid dropping $700+ on a commercial wax melter but I can't seem to find a less costly solution for melting wax in excess of 20lbs. I've heard of using a turkey roaster, but having the pour spot installed is pretty nice and I wouldn't want to have to switch to the ladle method. The turkey roasters seem to have a very thick shell, so drilling a hole for a spout wouldn't really be an option. A few days ago the idea of using a water heater entered my mind, as you can melt 250lbs of wax for only $240, and they already have a spout. But I would then have to open the top of the tank. Also, the heating elements aren't at the bottom of the tank, and would be touching the wax. Still figuring out how that might work... So that brings me to my question.. does anyone: A) Know of cheap commercial wax melters for 20-50lbs of wax? Or have made their own wax melters inexpensively?