SpaceGirl

yeah, you are such a slacker.... redeem yourself by sending some my way! I really have no idea how you do that without ending up with mud soap... you must be magic woman! LOL!

I've been going back and forth on this.... used to use the 2" x 2" from labelsbythesheet, but would have to trim the sides so that they weren't too wide for the tube. They would overlap but not stay down so I clear tape over them. I am now trying the 1.8" x 1.8" from onlinelabels. Advantage there is that I don't have to trim the sides but the sides don't meet so I'm still having to clear tape over them. What I really want is a 1.8" X like 2.25" or something like that so that enough overlaps so I don't have to tape them down. sigh. I may resort to full sheet labels and cutting to size. I *think* that eugenia found some labels that she liked... yeah, post is here... http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68732&highlight=lip+balm+labels

Amen sistah! I am a Papermart ho! :embarasse I do like ULine, just got a new catalog... need to browse it.

Send some in a swap I'm in, pretty pretty please!!!

That's just awesome! Afternoon Delight MUST be the name!

Hmmm I was thinking maybe Citrus Passion? Although I like the Tea for Two suggestion.

awwww they're all so purty! Even those stand-at-attention-getters!

Not that I do near the amount of volume you're talking about.... but even at the level I do I know I would be SOL without an understanding husband. There really does have to be some understanding and acceptance that you aren't going to do as much around the house and he needs to be okay with stepping up. And whoever mentioned him benefiting from the $$$ was right as well. Just make sure that you really do take some ironclad time off when you are not accepting orders AT ALL and relax once in awhile! (at least that's the advice I say I'll tell myself when the time comes)

I'm wondering if there is something with a carrier oil that buffers a fragrance oil... because I used a recipe someone else gave here.... FO ends up being 20%, FCO 20% and cyclo 60% and that worked sooooo well -- didn't bother any of my "testers'" skin.

I know with OS Commerce at least there is a little glitch that if the person doesn't hit the Return to Merchant button after submitting payment information then the order never really completes. My husband (webmaster extraordanaire) added in some code to prevent that and code to capture the information just in case the transaction goes awry.

Uhhhhh I don't use 8 oz jj's so can't remember what diameter they are... but for a ~3in diameter container I think about a CD-7? CD-5? That general vicinity. Good luck!

And if you're going to order some from BCN grab some CD's as well -- I use mostly 415 (Ez Soy) in my blend and those work great for me! I think it's BCN that has the CD's...... not BCS.

Yesterday it was lotion because I have a show today! Am sitting here sipping on my morning tea.... have about 15 minutes before I need to go.

http://www.overnightprints.com/ They might not be the cheapest but I've ordered from them a few times, gotten free samples and NEVER been charged anything I wasn't expecting. And I've been very pleased with the cards I've gotten from them. Sorry to hear that the experiences with VP have been so shaky.

I put some Femme Fatale and Dragonfly Moon in some body sprays and my testers LOVE them! Her descriptions are awesome, aren't they. Makes me want to buy out the store.

I don't know about the shipping (since I tend to drive down and pickup myself unless I'm in a hurry) but Colorado Organics has 35 lbs of RBO for $55. Maybe someone from not Colorado can try to see what the shipping charge would be like. I haven't gotten the RBO from them personally but I've been pleased with the other oils I got in the coop I just did. http://coloradoorganics.net

I usually go 20% beeswax, 40% butters, 40% oils and that passes the pocket on a hot summer day test.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. I'm not as worried about the volume right now -- he knows that volume is NOT a part of my operation right now and is willing to start with small orders and if demand really does exceed capacity to talk about that in the future. And even without giving up my dayjob I can do a few hundred a month (small beans to some of you, I know) before I have to make accomodations and look for more help. I sent him a follow up e-mail last night -- I figure this wasn't any different than a job interview and it's just good manners to do a follow up after those. He responded very positively so I have pretty high confidence that I'll be picking up some supplies next week to play with. Oh and one of the things that won him over was attention to testing! So for the newbies there's another reason to test, test, test!

Without knowing for sure, I'd say it was probably a mixture of FCO or other light oil and some silicones? Like cyclo and/or dimethicone?

definitely try the FO -- sure to take permanent coloring off of everything you didn't intend for it to! LOL!

Definitely keep going with it -- the burn/melt properties will change as the wax level in the jar goes down. This is why we all looooooooove testing!

Well I had my meeting with the guy today, so here's my update..... The interview went really well -- I learned more about what they are looking for. Candles are a relatively new addition to their line of offerings and what they have learned about candles has come from their experience with their current chandlers. It sounded to me like they are not completely satisfied with some of their producers because there isn't a good partnership going on. They need someone with the candlemaking expertise to help them manage and negotiate customer expectations by explaining what is possible and what isn't. One "supplier" would rather make 400 candles and then turn around and make 400 more if the originals aren't quite what the customer wanted rather than work it out in the beginning. Another really didn't want to have to change anything that they were doing to accomodate a customer.... or explain the downside of doing things a different way. So -- essentially they want someone who isn't going to make them look bad as a middleman, I'm thinking. It's funny -- working the day job that I do involves a lot of expectation management and negotiations to find an acceptable solution, so that process is completely normal to me. He showed me their production floor, where they silk screen all sorts of bottles, fill bottles with product, embroider towels with custom designs, etc...... I was a little jealous of the stuff that they can do -- LOL! The packaging options they have made me drool! I left with their catalog and a pantome(?) color chart which is how they specify the coloring that they want. I'm going to go back next week and pick up some fragrances and containers to test with -- I'm sure he wanted to check me out before letting me walk out with their stuff and I'm okay with that. That whole coloring thing is going to be interesting -- I am not super strict about exact color matching because to me that's one of the signatures of handmade product, but for this I'm going to have to take much better notes! LOL! So all in all -- good experience and I am pretty confident that we'll be working something out -- starting small and then seeing what my capacity for production truly is -- and how well I can help them meet their customers' needs. So if y'all don't mind, I'm going to do a little super-banana dance here..... *super banana* *super banana* *super banana* *super banana*

Peak's has a Birthday Cake FO -- no idea how it would compare since I don't know how the Cierra one smells.

Agree with what everyone else said... also I might put the wicks a tad closer together -- they were right at the border for my comfort level on proximity to the edges of the container. If it makes you feel any better -- I think that most new chandlers overwick because we're looking for that FMP in burn #1 -- you think that's what's supposed to happen. You're going through a normal learning process. It really is amazing once you burn a candle all the way through what you end up changing in terms of your wicking.

Hey, who knows? Your co-worker might be right.... she doesn't test and has great candles! As great as the sh!t candles from the Dollar Store, Wal-Mart, :lipsrseal ! You're doing just fine -- take the time that you need to get something that you feel is great -- it'll be better than hers, hands down.