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So it appears that Peak is out of Clamshell's which is a real bummer as I need to order bulk today. I've looked at Candle Wic and they appear to be the lowest cost out there for bulk (under 170$ shipped for quantity over 600) but I've never ordered or used anything from Candle Wic. Anyone had any dealings with them or their clamshell product? Anyone else have leads on bulk quality clamshells? Thank you.

Thanks! I think I may try to get a few molds once tax refund arrives (woohoo!). Now just gotta find a supplier for electric warmers hmm.. the hunt continues!

Thank you. Sadly, I got a wee bit carried away on her site. 30 items, 700$ later... I think I may have to ease into this whole molds thing But on the plus side, i FINALLY finished my website (minus product pictures )!! That was such a chore, but so far, I love the management/back end!

Vicky, Looking at vanyulay.com, just want to make sure I understand their listing correctly. When it says wax weight .2, that's per cavity right? Sorry for the dumb question but I just want to make sure i understand their listing correctly. Love some of the molds they have!

Thanks Vicky. Where did you get your molds if I may ask?

That's the part I wasn't sure of if silicone molds would work or not. Are there any special things I should look for in silicone molds or will any do? I'm limited to break away's because I wasn't sure about other molds. Now that I have my website finally built (minus product pictures) I was looking for something "different" than just the breakaways.

Sorry if this has been asked already but I didn't find an answer directly. So taking a peek at Peak's soap molds, I'm curious how well these hold up for candle making. I want to make something different other than just break away chunks.. http://www.peakcandle.com/category/Soap-Molds.aspx Is there any considerations to be had when using soap molds? Thanks everyone.

Clear Black, its the 8oz Colonial Jar from Peak. When filled, it holds 9oz of wax to the start of the "neck" of the jar if that makes sense. You could probably get 10oz in these but it would be nearly full. Those are the wick centering bar's from Peak (noticing a theme here? ha!) You can purchase them here. I also used the glue pot and glue chunks to put a dab of glue to the wicks and pressed them to the jars. Ya I realized that the green wasn't what I wanted, but I used those as a part of a burn test. They would normally be a deep red, but you're right, they would be confused, lord knows I would be! The spring rain FO is amazing. I have a buyer lined up for those two once my insurance paperwork gets figured out. The person took one whiff and said I want them all and I want more. Soooo, apparently its good? gail164 I use Peak's liquid dye. I wanted something easy and non-messy. They work amazing.

Thanks. It's been a few years in the making. I've always made a few wax melts each year for friends and family as gifts and I've constantly been told, you should make some candles they would be better. Got tired of hearing it, so I decided to open a business since several want to buy them throughout the year. Obviously I have a full time career that funds this adventure so I don't plan on leaving that any time soon, but hey, if it takes off and I can earn a little extra cash, why not right? Do what you love as they always say. I love my career and I love candles... soooo... Here we are. One thing I don't have though at the moment, are "product pictures" since obviously I haven't made 380 different things, so I am hoping it doesn't detract from people purchasing, because I'll grab pictures then

Right now, I have 190 scents, 380 products between wax melts and candles. Hope that's enough :-/ I've settled on soy wax since its natural (never could get paraffin to work right for me.), still shopping the insurance thing (haven't found an alternate carrier besides Capital Indemnity at 550$/year, hoping there's a different one out there), already registered as an LLC with the state and that paperwork is in hand, have my retail merchants license (have to collect sales tax on Indiana sales), got my accountant primed for the new venture so she's expecting a mess with my taxes ha!, now it's just trying to get my online site in order as I won't have a retail space, just an online store.

Yes I do. For the most part I'm using Peak and Lonestar for my scents. Between the two I should have a fairly diverse selection available for folks to choose. I've talked with my local customer base and they said they like the ability to have a large selection to try so they "don't run out of new things to try". Based upon the good reviews about Lonestar's scents, I felt they would be a good supplier. I've used Peak since I've started and have only had a few duds from them so I feel confident in their quality. I've not ordered from Lonestar yet but if what I've read holds true, they should be about the same as Peak's.

I've decided that it would clutter up things too much to break it out by jar size. So I'm going to leave it as scent, and just figure up the profit margin calculation on Excel. It's just too messy to try and do it another way. After talking with a few local friends that own retail stores, they warned it would turn off customers if it was too cluttered. Thankfully the e-commerce system has a bulk import so it made it easy to upload all of my scents. Now it's just to build in the sizes/prices. Fairly easy.

So I can list the 8oz as one, 16 oz as another, etc. but then I'd have to build the drop down's for all of the scents. If I go the other way, I have to create all the scents, then create the drop downs. But if I go with the scents then size as my order, the software loses the ability to auto-calc the profit margin for the profit.. I can track it in a spreadsheet I suppose but boy that report would have been handy.. TallTayl, yankee is generally the site I've been using to compare things to. it seems Scent seems to be the easiest way that people search :-/ but it fubar's reporting ha! Guess I cant have my cake and eat it too lol

So I've settled onto an e-commerce platform, but now I'm presented with an oddity. I was going to have just the scent, then go into the product and you pick your jar type and size then the price would update accordingly, but if I do that, it messes with the auto-calculation of the profit margin. If I break it out into jar sizes that means each product is going to have three entries. How do you guys handle this? One scent, all sizes, or all sizes listed individually?

Sorry, fingers couldn't keep up with the thought in my mind! Hate when the fingers get slow. I've had problems with USPS where it says Signature required and they end up leaving the packages on the porch anyways, then the packages end up missing. Or they go missing while in transit to their destination and the headache of getting an insurance claim with them is such a pain. What e-commerce platform are you using Karen?

Have you had any problems with the USPS Karen? I get pretty good rates through FedEx and they are guaranteed delivery dates. I've personally had problems with personal items getting left at my home and come home to find them missing. So frustrating.

How do you guys handle shipping? I kinda hate over charging people for shipping but to get real time shipping prices, you have to buy shopify's expensive plan :-/

Couple of things (This is a topic I actually have knowledge about!! yay!). I'd say wait until it gets to you and try it with your current device. You may find that it actually works and the vendor just didn't test it with that model. There are other readers out there, but honestly, the only one I'd trust is Square. Yes you would be liable if for some reason your transactions get hacked and you didn't have a chip reader available when a chip card was presented. You have to ask yourself, are the fees and lost sales worth enough to worry about? If you're selling one or two candles at a time, say 10$ each, 20$ total, plus a charge back of say 25$, is 45$ enough to cause you not to sleep at night? How about 450$? If both make you uncomfortable, then get the chip reader, if neither bother you, then don't worry about it and eat the loss. As for new phones, it all depends on personal preference. Personally ever since I switched from a Blackberry (crackberry...zomg i miss my crackberry! :'(.. seriously, i have withdrawl symptoms sometimes!) I've been a fan of the Galaxy Note series from Samsung. YES THEY ARE HUGE, but honestly, I have zero clue how I ever got any work done on such a smaller screen. The Note's also work well for allowing people to sign their receipts as you have the stylus available or the bigger screen so they can use their finger. The Note's also tend to have higher end hardware than the other android models and I've been very pleased with Samsung build quality. One suggestion, if you take the phone outside for any reason, you most certainly want a case, because these phones are very thin and easy to drop without one. I personally only use Otterbox Defenders. Gives me 360* protection all the way around the device. Soooo hopefully that helps, if not, let me know.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that's frosting. I have the same problem with that wax. I poured near your temps and got aggressive frosting, but I've found that if I pour near 150*, i only get frosting on the bottom and a little on top. If I poured south of 140* I got frosting all throughout. Try either pouring hotter (150*) or lower and see what your mileage is. Those jars look good, I'd buy one Keep up the work, and keep practicing. Even my few I've made thus far although not perfect, are markedly improved compared to my first half dozen.

So far so good. I'm getting about 95% melt pool. About 1/8" left at the very edges, but if it's left burning long enough it melts away. I'm afraid to step up the wick as i'm afraid it will cause the glass to get too hot.

Finally find an insurance carrier that will insure candles, launch online store, and focus on making candles in my spare time.

Ecosoya Container Blend Advanced is what I used. I have some of the pillar blend (i think) for my wax melts, haven't tried it in a container yet, not sure if I should! Well if all goes according to plan, these will be up for sale soon. And yes! It is. Now if only I could get my website working correctly, I'd be in great shape!

So after a few troubles starting out, I think I've got this down. Here is my latest batch. Since I don't have alot of storage room, I only make them in pairs. Looking for some constructive feedback. These are all 100% soy with a c-75 wick with 1/2Tbsp of Vybar, 9oz of wax per jar, 1oz-1.25oz fragrance oils, 3-5 drops dye. Brown-Home for the Holidays from Peak, Green- Macintosh Apple from Peak, Purple-Lilac from Peak, Freshly poured two in the back- Spring Rain from Peak (which smells amazing!!) The brown was poured at 140*, Green at 145$, purple @150*, and the two in the back were at 155*. The wax melt was poured at 125*. Thank you everyone.

Thanks TallTayl.

Thanks TallTayl. I have a great discount through FedEx, making them much cheaper than UPS and the OfficeMax/depot closed. Only thing we have is a Staples. Which guild are you with and what is the total yearly fee including insurance?