SpaceGirl

Stella - that is the best breakdown that talks about the different kinds of insurance and the need for each of them that I have seen. Thank you so much for taking the time to write that all out so others can benefit from the explanation.

I personally did not invest in liability insurance before I made my first candle... or even before I shared my first one with friends as testers. but when I decided I was going to do this seriously you had better believe I forked over the $$$ (and remember if you itemize your taxes to list that expense).

Holly... for what it's worth here's my opinion. I'm part owner of a store (we're set up as a cooperative with a group of owners) and we have quite a few consignment vendors. We do not dictate or change any of their prices with approval or coordination. we do talk with them about what we feel is an appropriate pricing mark - but I would never just unilaterally jack up the price like that.

My suggestion is because you've provided a range that you're comfortable with to restate your position as the store can adjust pricing within the given range, otherwise they must either obtain your consent OR purchase the items wholesale and price however they choose. (whew that was a long sentence!)

Good luck!

Have you tried Fairway Glass? They have a few different warehouse locations

I packaged them in baggies, 1-1.5oz (depending on size), sold them for $1 each for Christmas as stocking stuffers and they just flew. The confetti was just extra stock for me that I had bought on sale so I purposely priced them low to move. However I probably could have bumped them up to $2 each with similar results.

I don't think that they sell on their own but definitely as an added item/stocking stuffer.

Hi everyone! :wave: It's been a crazy busy year (which is why I dropped mostly out of sight here). I shifted my business towards the retail store end this year -- joined in with a group of other crafty women and formed a cooperative in Lafayette (about 10 miles up the road from where I live). The demands of staffing and supplying a store really cut into my ability to do any shows this year. I only did two... and the first was a complete and utter dud (long story there). It was so bad that the organizer offer a discounted rate for the 2010 show for those of us who want to sign up again.

Given that I spent absolutely zero time on marketing or paying any attention to my website I still did better this year than before - not by a whole lot - but like many of you I really tried to watch my spending and made a concerted effort to use up what I had (and actually inventory what I had more completely) before buying anything new.

It really helped that I nailed down some of my recipes to a state I really love (experimenting is all well and good but every time I changed a formulation I'd have to trash outdated labels and make new ones - that sucks!). I haven't expanded a whole lot... candles in 4 sizes (containers only), lotion, cream, bath salts in 3 sizes, milk bath in 2 sizes, scrubs in 2 sizes, some foaming hand soap and that's basically it (although I'm off and on again about including bar soap purchased from a local crafter). Since I'm in a store with such a wide variety of products that really reduced the pressure on me to do everything. I do what I do well and if they're looking for another type of product the chances are good that we carry that from someone else.

The good news is that I've found a nice consistent customer base up here and given that myself and my partners have figured out the business end of things a little bit better since we started I know that I'll be able to tackle more shows and advertising this year.

Kudos to every who has stuck it out! I'm seeing good things this Holiday season and am very hopeful for the opportunities in the coming year!

Ditto to what was said above. I use a hand truck (love it can't do shows without it) and pack candles in their original boxes and then inside a Rubbermaid tote.

Floor length tablecloths are a must. head over to Bad Bath and Beyond - clearance section. They always have cheap but NICE tablecloths there. I bought some oversized ones meant for restaurant use... white and sturdy. They aren't too pretty so I use a smaller nicer one on top for visual appeal.

LOL - sorry Scented! I guess I've never come across the paper-backed foil sheets in my searches. or managed to avoid them.

Sugarcraft (like CareBear suggested) and Candylandcrafts - have ordered from both and not had paper-backed foil delivered to me.

I've ordered from SKS and sometimes the fit of the cap is a little tight on the tube.

I get my natural tubes from Colorado Organics now and I don't have any problem with the cap fitting or with them turning up on their own. However their prices are not as awesome as they user to be - when I first ordered I could get them for $.11 each, now I think they are $.13 to $.15 each.

Unless you want a huge size... the candy sites that were mentioned above should have what you're looking for. Or do a search for candy foils - you'll find a ton.

Scented, I make them and see what happens, but I try to balance between floral, fruity, musky and just plain ole interesting!

My best seller is a combo floral/fruity (grapefruit honeyuckle from Southern Garden Scents and Kumquat from Brambleberry - I call it Bite Me Baby!). Although my strong runner up is Femme Fatale from Souther Soapers.

So I'd say do 2 or 3 in each category because you'll find that you need to rotate some out if they just don't catch on.

Most use 0.5-1% fragrance load for a leave-in product like a lotion.

1% of 8oz is really, really small (.08oz) and is very hard to measure. This is why experienced B&B makers recommend using grams for measuring small batches and getting a very good scale that can accurately measure small amounts.

1 tsp sounds like a lot to me.

Hi 1classic! I'm glad you are going to try sugar scrubs - they are so much fun to make!

For your oils... I would consider the olive oil and jojoba to be heavier, the fractionated coconut and grapeseed to be lighter. The sweet almond oil can go either way.

I don't use oatmeal in my scrubs anymore - whenever I tried it always ended up a goopy mess. Hopefully someone else can chime in with some help on that one.

Honey - if you can find powdered honey, I'd try to use that. I haven't put regular honey in this recipe so I don't know how it will react.

Good luck! Post pictures when you've made your first batch.

http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/chek-it.html

Here's one. Good luck!

www.Propay.com

Annual Fee and per transaction fee. No monthly fee and a few different levels of service.

I use them for 2 businesses and truly love it.

Please describe the process you went through to make this body butter...

stick blender, hand mixer, KitchenAid, used your fridge to cool down, did it all room temp, etc...

I'm one who always uses Ewax and have never used BTMS. I don't think that I get a draggy feel but maybe you'd have to ask people who have gotten my lotions to say for sure.

My opinion - I go light on the Ewax and also use some cetearyl alcohol, depending on the recipe I go 3% Ewax and 1-2% CA. I really think the draggy feeling comes in when people use too much Ewax.

So my opinion - mix up a batch without the BTMS, whatcha got to lose?

People have different opinions on the ratios to use for their lip balms.

I use about a 20% beeswax / 25% hard butters and 55% oils recipe for mine.

Thanks for the Vit E info, wasn't aware of that distinction!

That looks lovely! So fresh and.... tingly!

Liquid Germall Plus (primarily) and I love it.

Optithen plus sometimes.

Had no problems with either.

Remember that your "inactive" ingredients are there for a purpose - to provide slip and glide and also so that your actives don't overwhelm the skin. Is that clove bud oil a carrier oil or an essential oil? (I don't use it so don't know myself)

You aloe gel is most likely water based with will not behave nicely with your oils so unless you want to make an emulsified gel or lotion I wouldn't use it.

There are some massage oil recipes available in the Recipe section (I've searched for them many a time and sketched out recipes that I don't have on hand right now because I'm not at home). Take a look at what they consist of and modify from there if you really want a recipe to work from.

really - keep your "actives" to 10-15% total (or less - I'd start with less) and work from there.

Liquid Germall Plus is really good, I've never had a problem when I've used it.

I also tried some Optithen and suttocide A recently, so far so good on that as well. No change in consistency.

Remember that a lot depends on the fragrance oil, too. you're asking a very single-threaded question about a complicated issue.

Even chandlers who use the same wax find variation in hot throw with the same supplier and definitely between suppliers.

What other ingredients do you have on hand? It's hard to suggest something when you say you want to use what you have, but we don't know what you have.

Jojoba is good, as is dimethicone. Sweet Almond Oil and Apricot Kernel oil may be good choices as well.

For a first try I wouldn't go more than 2-3% on both the camphor and the menthol - you can always increase them with a later batch.

I capture the CC information and then run in through Propay. works just fine. fees are a little higher than a regular merchant account but I don't do a whole lot of volume.

Check out RapidSSL for an SSL certificate. you want to have that if you are going to collect CC info for processing.

if you want to do that (which you can) you need to add additional preservative because heating the base can render the original preservative ineffective.