SparkysCandles

Has anyone used their FOs? Any suggestions rants or reviews.

Thanks all. You all helped. Got some ordered. Whew!

Went to make an order and for some reason I thought I had jars left and I don't. I got mine from Lonestar but they are EXPENSIVE on shipping. $37 on two cases of jars and two cases of lids. Anyone know where to get them that may be cheaper?

I started out making candles just as a hobby. Something to do in my spare time. I didn't get it at first. My candles failed miserably. Sink holes, wicks that did not perform AT ALL.And so on. I almost gave up. But I continued to research, bought some books, researched better supplies and started giving my candles to friends and family who came back with wonderful comments. My candles still needed a lot of tweeking. I worked full time at WalMart in the meantime. And then it just grew from there. Even now I probably could take one of my candles and tweek it some more ( different wick, container, FO) and get a whole new candle. That's part of the addiction. The other part, offering candles that retail store don't have. let's face it. There are thousands of scents and variations that aren't offered at retail store or if they are the candles are over priced. So I opened a business. It's a side business for now. I have a website and small shop. Just paid for advertising in our local paper, Maybe one day before I'm too old to remember what i was doing at any given minute, it will turn in to full time. One very important thing I learned is... do not ever think this is a "cheap" investment. It's not. I took out a business loan well over $1000 just for supplies, advertising and the shop. And that money is strictly for candles. if I didn't have it there would be no shop. So I guess I am lucky I was this dedicated. Keep it up though. You'll get there. I am to the point now if I'm not making candles, or other scented goodies I am bored to death! Good Luck

Just out of curiosity did the person you bought from know you're in this business when you placed your order?

yes he did. i explained I was not buying to copy scent's but more to compare his product to mine. He agreed before I made my purchase.

So I decided 2 weeks ago to "sample" some other Chandler's products. I bought tarts. They came in this morning and I must say. My oh my do I have my work cut out for me! LOL.. There were 3 that... well... I'm in heaven and excited to try and create scents that smell this great.

These were the scents that I am so over impressed with I don't know what else to say.

Blackberry & Cream Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Pecan Caramel Cheesecake

White Chocolate Maple Sugar Cookie.

Does anyone here also "create" their own scents rather than "rename" a FO they purchased? As I am on this forum I am brainstorming in my head! LOL

Yea I noticed they didn't have descriptions or reviews for that matter. Hmm...

Has anyone tried their products? I just found them while doing a search and have never heard of them before. They seem to have decent prices on IGI wax.

I have my own website and just rented a small "shop" (Luckily my hubby is a painter and the owner took off lots of rent in trade for painting the building inside and out) Now we're just pouring candles and building inventory. I plan to grow the business. Before I decided to open up shop again I did some research around Spokane to see if there were other candle businesses out here and if so were their products like mine. There are a couple ladies here but they don't offer what I make. I already have orders so all is good.... for now. I'd like this to turn in to my full time job but we all know that is a fantasy for most. I'm not quitting my day job, yet, LOL. I figure my profit is at a good rate. I have it where if I need to adjust it I can without much impact. I just loved the look on my hub's face though when he saw what it was compared to what he thought it was.

I might be weird but I love IGI1343 for pillars. They marble the best for me. I agree, A pillar should maintain some decentcy (is that a word) to it's form as it burns down. My mom likes to peel or poke off the wax as the candle burns and it drove me nuts! *faint* You shouldn't have to do that.

When I was a member of this forum and just starting out there was a woman on here who had AMAZING candles. I even bought a few to compare them to mine. I can't find her website anywhere and don't see her on here. It was Bizzy B's candles. She made amazing chunk candles. Anyone know?

So my husband and I were talking this morning as I was working on my website and he suggested that I start out my candles at a 10% profit. That is was I started out as many years ago but quickly learned I wasn't making much profit vs. cost. I won't mention what I have my profit % at right now(it's above 60%) but I was wondering what you have all set yours at?

Melon FOs don't do well for me either. The only one I can get a good throw from is Cucumber Melon. But as far as cantaloupe, or honeydew or watermelon... I gave up trying a long time ago.

I hate it because Lemon has that classic "Clean and Fresh smell" . Frustrating. I have had fuel smell coming from citrus scents as well. Might just give up on those. what to do, what to do, LOL.

For the life of me I can not get anything LEMON to throw a hot throw. cold throw is barely there. I have tried three different "lemon" varieties and nothing....

A lot of making candles has to do with testing. TEST TEST TEST. A FO that works for me may not work for you. Therefor all the FOs I use have been tested and I choose from there. You are correct, there are a lot of variations. I try to limited myself by deciding just how many different "apple" scents I should offer, which at the moment is just one. Or how many different variations of vanilla should I have, it's simple for me... 2... vanilla and french vanilla. Utilize your nose. If two different scents smell the same, throw out "almost" the same exact scent, then you probably only need one or the other, not both. I agree with ChefMom, do not overwhelm yourself by trying all 20 variations of apple out there. That's too time consuming. try 2 or 3 that sound appealing from you and go from there. Sooner or later you will find a supplier that you are overall happy with most of their FOs. Thats a good place to start,

Welcome to the Candle Making world!

Depends on which supplies you are talking about. I have 3 different companies that I order my FOs from. I might like one FO from one company but not the other, or one may not throw scent the way another does. You just gotta find your groove. Things like wicks or jars I buy from whoever has the better pricce, but most are just about the same.

I know people make other things besides candles like wax dipped toilet paper and wax dipped bears. what else do ya all make? Just curious. I make wax dipped pine cones. Here in Eastern Washington we have some HUGE pine cones. I dip them in scented paraffin and then sprinkle glitter on them. People seem to love these things.

No these are all paraffin. I do make chunkies in soy as well. Just didn't have any pics to show in soy.

No the chunks are pillar wax. Amazingly enough, the heat from the wick as well as the melted container wax make the chunks melt at the same rate. It took almost a year to get these right.

That's what I was thinking too, less testing. Which is always good.

Hi There Chandler, LOL

These are the ones I love to do the most.

Green Marble is Pear Berry

Blue Marble is Ocean Mist

Pink/Yellow is Strawberry Banana