Howard

Let's say your profit is equal to your costs. You want to make $20,000 a year. That means you must sell $40,000 in candles. Your cost of materials are $20,000. You can make an 8oz. soy for between $2 - $2.50, Let's say $2.50 and you sell them for $5.00 each. (I know that is probably low but after looking at some wholesale prices on the web as low ast $2.50/8oz. candle a reasonable average gross sales price including marketing etc. is $5.00. That means you must make, and sell, 8,000 candles a year or 667 candles a month or 153 candles per week or 22 candles a day. Seems reasonable, or is it? You don't work 365 days a year. You must work in your selling time and some time off to enjoy your profits! Working a reasonable 44 work weeks (8 weeks off because you will be working craft shows and fairs on weekends), making candles 4 hours a day Monday thru Friday you would need to make 8,000 candles in 880 hours. 44 weeks X 5 days X 4 hours = 880 hours That means to produce 8,000 candles you must be able to produce about 10 80z. candles per hour or 40 candles per day. I can make 16 candles an hour right now. (my times are 20min. wax heat up and prepare containers, add FO, 20min. wax cool down, 20 min labeling etc.) But this assumes that you will sell all you make and that is not going to happen. Now, for a true almost liveable profit everything must double and that also means your marketing time must double so your production time must be cut in half. That means you need to make 160 candles per day or 40 candles per hour. And you probably need to make 50% more because not all your candles will sell so you need to make 60 candles per hour. So you need to be able to melt 30 pounds of wax per hour to make 60 candles per hour. Now, you can't do that in a kitchen. You also can't prepare that many containers per hour, and FO, and pour...without help and a work area, and a product storage area and a supply area and an office area and shipping area, and don't forget transportation and display setups, and event fees and a bunch of stuff I know I have not thought of. Oh don't for get the "help" you are going to need. That costs money so it takes your profit down and increases your accounting time. So, a TRULY candlemaking business is out of the question unless you can make and sell 8,000 to 10,000+ candles a year. It takes me about an hour to set up to make candles in the kitchen and an hour to clean up. So right now for me I want to only devote 4 hours a week to candeling. That means I can actually make candles for 2 hours a week making 16 candles. I won't do it every weekend. Maybe 12 times a year. That allows me to make 192 candles a year. I need 30 customers that would buy 6 candles a year to sell 180 candles. (I will burn or give a way at least 12 myself.) Not going to get rich with a $450 profit per year. It just pays for my addiction... and I never again need to buy a store bought candle.

Richard, Yep. I've been in bands since I was 14. Guitar and Vocals. After 2 years on the road got a day job and joined a party band in 1976. Ran my own band from 1989 to 1999 and had enough so I went into the DJ side of the business. How in the heck that led to candles I will never know! I use an aussie DJ program called OTSAV. Been using it since 2000. Great DJ/Video software.

Yes, I am melting on the stove top. Electric smooth top with the temp set on 2. Takes 20 minutes to heat 1 lb to 185 with stirring. I never leave the pots unattended. I have a degree in chemistry. A watched pot never boils but an un-watched pot is sure to blow up. I've seen it in the lab. It's not pretty. I've heated chemicals much more volatile than soy wax with gas. The key is to be careful, consistent, and precise. Selling? Well...isn't that the idea? No...I'm not selling yet. Of course I need to do lots and lots of testing and experimenting before I actually hit the market but hey, why not get some of the business side together? I already have a lighting company, Artistic Lighting of Ohio. The web page is www.artlightohio.com . So now I will institute a new division for candles! I've been testing and have some friends giving me feedback on my demo candles not only on how they burn but how they look. Right now the candles I am making are MUCH better than the soy candles my wife bought on eBay in both scent throw and burn quality. I may go broke though...with Makes Scents Candles only 30 min. away.

OK! Here's an update. Made 24 candles this weekend. Now I have TWO melting pots going! I tried my new EZ Wick Setter... Not too happy with it. The openings of the fancy Whisper glass and the Elevation glass openings did not fit the Wick Setter. When I used the Wick Setter on the straight side Jelly it wiggled enough that the wick did not get centered well. I did much better just eye balling. The high temp wick putty works so well! Just a small ball just a little bigger than a BB holds the wicks and lets you position them easily. The plastic wick centering devices are great! Very easy to use. They eliminate the stress of centering while the wax is setting. I've attached pictures. Hope you like them. Oh yes...the business has a name now. Art Light Candles (A Division of Artistic Lighting of Ohio).

Picked up some more supplies at Makes Scents Candle Supply today. I have some candles to make for friends at work and they wanted specific scents. I asked about the wick clay. Well, it's NOT mold clay. It's a specific high temp clay designed for attaching wicks. (super secret chemical formula). It's easy to work with. I'm going to try a few candles with wick stickums and some more with the clay. I will let everyone know my results!

I tried candleing some back in the mid 80s then did nothing until my wife enjoyed a batch of Nancy's Soy candles. After she purchased some poorly made soy candles on eBay I did some reading and research and made my first batch of soy candles...now I'm hooked! I'm going to stick with soy containter candles for now. I would love to make pillars one day.

I ordered an EZ Wick Setter today. I also just received some of those white plastic wick centering tools. Tomorrow is candle making day! Just got home from doing a DJ job. Did a military christmas party. Here's my DJ site. www.standixonentertainment.com

Yep! Did what you did. Started with a 1 pound square canning jar. bought a pound of wax, FO and guessed at wicking from a craft store...mistake. Did not try color. It looked fine but smoked and burned right down the middle. Then I got enlightened...Saw the Candle Science video and read posts here and decided to just follow the exact recipie in the video. Worked out great so I went to smaller glass and now I have made 30 candles! Have fun and good candleing!

I went to Mejer last night. They are now $2.99

I have not started a burn test yet but here's the FO's Candle Science Cinnamon Buns Mistletoe Makes Scents: Vanilla Walnut Sleigh Bells No Bake Cookies 12 were small 4oz. Christmas glass. ECO4 wicks. 4 were 11oz. round glass. ECO14 wicks. 3 were 8oz. straight jelly with ECO10 wicks. 1 was 8z. normal Jelly with a ECO14. All GB464 No color Scents added at 185 2min gentle scent stirring pour at 135 I did have one interesting issue. I made 4 of the 4oz. first. Then made the 3 8oz. straight jars. I then started a melt for another batch. 2 of the 8oz. straight jars did not set up! Looked more like grits with oil in it. I looked closely and the third jar was fine. So, out of the same pour two were goofy and one was fine. What! Then I looked closely. The two that did not set up were closest to the stove and subject to the ambiant heat of the next pot of wax melting. I dug out the wicks (easy to do because I used the sealing clay to hold them down), then re-melted both in the microwave. I stuck in new wicks and let them cool away from the stove. They cured perfectly. I know now to pour and cure away from my heat source. Anyone else have this problem?

The clay sticks the wicks pretty well and it does allow you to slide around a little to get the wick centered. I was using high temp hot glue for my first 8 container candles. I did not like the little string of glue that is left once you drop a dot of glue on the base. Also, once you place it on the glass it's stuck. No chance for re-positioning. It did however allow me to tension the wick slightly with a clothes pin on top of a popsicle stick. That kept the wick dead center and straight. You cannot tension the wick with clay. It pulls it off the glass. I will try some 3M double stick mounting foam and some stickums next. Thanks! How do you all get the wick stuck in the exact middle? Do any of you tension the wick slightly to keep it centered?

When I was buying wax, wicks, FO, and glass at Makes Scents Candle Co. I asked them if they had any of those double stick wick stickums. They said they didn't carry those but told me to try the wick clay. You roll a small ball about the size of a BB and place it on the bottom of the wick then press the wick to the bottom of the jar. Anyone herd or use this? I used it on the 20 candles I made today. It's easy to work with. You just can't tug on the wick. In the picture I show the clay as it looks on the bottom of a glass container, then a ball of it on the wick base and finally what the chunk looks like.

I live close to Makes Scents Candle Company in Pataskala Ohio. I went there Saturday and bought 50 lbs. of GB464, FO, Glass, and wicks. Not a cheap trip! Made 20 container candles today in batches of 1 and 2 lbs. with 5 different scents. What a day! All perfect! Here is a shot of me at work. To everyone here a great big THANKS! I hope in the future I can post some helpful hints like all of you.

I found this in Mejer last week for $5.95. It was in the outdoor grill area. It's a Deep Fry Thermometer. It's nice because it sticks up above a large melt Pot. Temperature accuracy is OK. I used my digital thermometer and marked 185 and 135 degrees on it so it would be a little more accurate.

I must say that for my first soy candle experience GB464, the CandleScience video and supplies gave me perfect results. I made pillars back in the mid 80's with slight success. Not enough to continue making candles but now with all your help and information I've now made 12 exceptional soy candles! I have some coconut oil on the way, CDN and ECO wicks and some new FOs. (pretty cool...I'm learning the lingo. 4 months ago my wife ordered 10 "Exquisite Scentements" soy candles on Ebay. Jelly jar candles. Not very pretty and they burned down the middle and had little scent throw. Now I know what is wrong with them. I put them in a double boiler, melted the wax and pulled out the wicks. I put ECO 14 wick pieces back in and let them cool. They look better than when she bought them and they burn with a perfect quarter inch melt pool! As soon as I make my next batch I will post pictures. Thanks to all for your experiences!