Island girl

Both beautiful, but I like the first one. I think the small teal flowers in the bouquet will tie everything together.

So I have to share what has happened since my OP. When I picked up the tags from my local printer, I brought her a candle as a thank you for helping me and placed a tag on it before I left. That afternoon, the director of our local museum stopped at the printer and saw the candle on her desk. One week later.... Today I delivered 12 candles to the director to hand out at her board meeting tomorrow. The museum is being completely renovated and they are expanding their gift shop --- and the director wants to make my candles her featured item!! And she wants them to look exactly like my above picture! The director understood my hair-brained vision, crazy, huh? I will still create another label for my other scents, not only is the tag too big, but they're kind of a pain in the butt!

Thanks Trappeur! I don't mind at all, that's why I asked I agree, the tags are just tooooo big. I will talk to my printer and see if there's a way to make them smaller/folded. My candles will all be tropical/beachy scents and so I would like them to be colorful. The candles in your photo are beautiful, but there are so many that look like that in our area shops - I thought some colorful labels would help mine stand out. I have some nice watercolors that I am planning on using. I will try natural twine on a few to see how it looks. The handwritten part on the back is the name of the shell, not the scent name. I was collecting shells and tying one to each tag - then handwriting what each shell was. I got the jars from Glass Now, they are called Calypso. They come in 16 oz and 12 oz. and they have some beautiful colors! They also have a metal lid or a bamboo top. My last order had a few cases with broken jars and their customer service was very responsive. I have seen some of your labels and only hope I can look as professional as you someday!

I thought I was going to love these hang tags for my candles. The front would be the picture and scent name and the back would be my company info and room to write a shell type. When I designed them in my head I was using a 16 oz jar, not the 12 oz - and now they just look HUGE!! I like that they are detachable and give me room to personalize it a bit. I also have to order them in quantities of 250 or more - which will get pricey when I expand my scents. I've read about trial and error with scent names and don't want to be stuck with lots of labels I can't use. So I started looking into printing my own labels. The Maestro designer looks like something I can handle! Just wondering what type of label material I should start off with? Matte, glossy? I will be using pretty watercolor paintings for my scent pictures, so I'd like something that really makes them look beautiful. Thanks for any help/feedback!

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I still have so much learning to do. I guess if there's one thing I learned from this post it's that I need to stop trying for "candle perfection"! Wet spots and mushrooms will now be acceptable Wthomas57 and cindym - thanks for the input, I'm testing some zinc wicks now.

Clear Black - Yes these are the Calypso Jars, but they are the 12 ounce. I tried the 16 ounce and they were so tough to pour ( see HOLE photos above!) that I switched to the 12 ounce - guess it wasn't the height, lol! I use IGI 6006 wax and sent them off to Wicks Unlimited to be wick tested. He sent back ECO 1 wicks, which burn really well in these jars. I never would have discovered that on my own, that's for sure. I may test some other wicks soon, because 6" ECO 1 wicks are hard to find. I love the look of the jars, especially with the cork tops. And some of their colors are just lovely! Wish I lived closer, so the shipping wouldn't be so high.

Thanks TallTayl!

Thanks TallTayl! I was using a clothespin to secure the wick, but knocked it a bit out of place when I was wrapping the jars with towels...I'm going to order more wick bars. How much cooler? 10 degrees? When I call the candle companies for help, they tell me to pour warmer!

After a year of learning candle making and reading these posts, I was ready to put my candles out there. I recently got a small shelf at an antique/craft consignment shop and was ready to produce a few dozen candles. I have poured and tested my orange candles and thought I had this problem licked, but I guess I was wrong! The Wax is IGI 6006 1 oz of fragrance 1 drop of color Added fragrance at 185 Poured at 165 Room temp was 71 Jars were heated in oven before pouring The candle with the hole was left to solidify on a tray at least 4" from the other candles. No towels were used. The candle with no hole was wrapped loosely with kitchen towels - but wasn't able to cover the whole jar, just the bottom 2/3. Both candles have wet spots - ugh! And because of holes on the first batch, I'm always nervous about holes being in the perfect looking candles! Is there anything I can do to save the candles with the holes? If I poke small holes with a cake tester and repour some wax, will that fix it? Can I do anything about the wet spots? It looks like I need to wrap the jars while cooling (what a pain) - so any suggestions on what to use besides dish towels? (Using the towels caused me to knock a few wicks off center) Any help or suggestions is much appreciated! I have put SO much money into this - at this point I have to at least give it a shot Thanks!

Thanks everyone!

Jcandleattic, Candybee and TallTayl - Those are more along the lines of what I'm looking for! Any idea on where would I find information on conferences or sessions. I checked on line and that's how I found out about the National Candle Association conference. When I worked in the coffee industry, I attended a trade show that had learning sessions all day and a floor filled with vendors - it was a great learning experience. We discovered so many new vendors and it really got our creative juices flowing!

For NCA members registration is $695, for non-members it is $1250 (before 4/25). Looks like they have some vendors and various 30 minute sessions about trends in fragrance and color, etc.

I noticed that the National Candle Association was having their Annual Conference close to my home, so I looked into attending. Holy Cow! It is very expensive! Wondering if anyone has attended before? Is it worth it for a newbie or is it more appropriate for large operations? Are there any other candle conferences/trade shows that I should look into? Lots of questions, I know, but thanks in advance for any responses!

I have been reading this forum for months and I must thank you all for the education! So nice to use the search function to find answers to so many questions I'm not sure if it's been posted recently, but I wanted to let others know that you can get your wicks tested at Wicks Unlimited in Florida. There is no cost, but you do have to send 3 candles and pay for shipping. It's a fairly simple process and they haven't steered me wrong yet! Just 3 easy steps: 1. Pour 3 candles - exactly as you will sell them (fragrance, color, additives...) but do not place a wick in the jar. 2. Package and mail the candles to Wicks Unlimited (Attention: Tom Rubino) with a note that includes all info about the candle. 3. Receive a sample of wicks that burn the best in your candle. It's been helpful when I've really struggled with a jar or when I've decided to use a new jar. Also, Tom taught me a trick when I'm trying to wick a jar. Pour the candle with no wick, then poke a hole in the center and use wicks with the tab cut off. This way you don't have to keep melting the candles down to change out the wick.

Looks good! I'm trying to use the same jars and I'm new to the process too! I have poured them twice using IGI 6006 and both times have had a cavity/hole by the wick - so when I lit them there was a big tunnel in the middle within 3 minutes. It will be interesting to see if you have any problems with 464. I just love the cork top that goes with these jars!