Belinda

On 5/18/2023 at 4:50 AM, Lizzy said:

This is only the second or third time he hasn't replied to my emails in the last 17 years so I'm not sure what to make of it. I have always had a decent  " email relationship" with him. He's always been very helpful in regards to questions about usage of his wax and oils. Just not very forthcoming with actual facts about his wax(es) which to a degree I can understand if it was proprietary. Other suppliers don't give much info on that front either. The Google says "temporarily closed" now ....not sure what to make of that either. I know I will miss his goodies. 

Well hopefully it's a temporary thing. Maybe he'll respond to your email soon. I hope everything's ok with them.

On 5/16/2023 at 3:08 PM, Lizzy said:

considering he hasn't bothered to reply I highly doubt it. 

I have a friend who has emailed him in the past with no reply. That's why I didn't email him about his wax. I really liked his sugared cranberry and the great pumpkin oils too and a few others. That was pretty crappy to not let people know what was going on. The least they could do is refer their customers to other suppliers that may carry the same oils and wax.

I hate to hear this. They had the best tart wax but their shipping to me was too high so I quit using it. I wish I could get ahold of them to see if there was another supplier who carried it. I've never been able to find it anywhere else. I also liked some of their oils too.

Hello and welcome! It's great to have you here with us!

On 3/26/2023 at 1:29 PM, Bellem said:

Does the scent oil ever transfer over to your food by using your kitchen oven? It's there a particular way that you clean the oven after baking freshies to keep the scent from transferring?

I've been baking them in my kitchen oven for over 10 years and I've never cleaned it afterwards  and have used it just like normal and have never noticed any scent transfer. I've baked freshies all day and then baked food in my oven with no problems at all.

On 3/13/2023 at 12:15 PM, Shay from SoIN said:

We live close to Louisville, Ky on the Indiana side. I checked the list of suppliers and no one is close.

We chose FB mainly because we got free shipping after we spent $100. Indiana Candles did not offer anything like that and I sent 2 or 3 emails to Virginia and never got a reply.

FB replied quickly, were very responsive and professional, so we went with them. That doesn't mean we won't try others.

We are doing shapes, all paraffin seems to "sink" in the middle so adding soy seems to help with that.

We are using a roughly 2/3 soy to 1/3 paraffin.

The only paraffin I tried that didn't sink with shapes is 4625. You can get it at most suppliers but I wouldn't order it from Virginia. Aztec has the best prices on their waxes and their shipping is reasonable. The granular waxes will have dimples but if you add some 4625 or a container wax to the mix it will smooth out. You probably already know this but soy will have to cure a little longer than paraffin but that's not a big deal unless you're impatient like me LOL!. 

Cierra also offers free shipping with a minimum purchase of $100 as well as Midwest Fragrance Co with $149 (I think). There's another one that also offers free shipping but I can't think of it right now. Keystone offers free shipping too. They carry some of Peak's oils which are nice. I think it's Studio Fragrance that offers free shipping over $40 and flat rate of $7, and even Natures Fragrance with $100 order. 

Cierra is having a 20% off sale right now so you might want to take advantage of that.

On 3/8/2023 at 1:01 PM, Shay from SoIN said:

UPDATE: We made our first purchase from Fragrance Buddy. We are excited and making wax melts. Now I am trying to source wax. We've been buying locally from our Joann, had some good luck with coupons to get decent prices.

 

I was wondering where is another place to source wax that won't break the bank. We are making wax melts, not candles with wicks.

 

What state are you in? You may have a supplier that's close enough to drive to.

If I had it to do all over again I would start with the para/soy tart wax that a lot of suppliers carry. Flaming, Midwest Fragrance Co, (they also have some really good FO's) Rustic Escentuals, Virginia, Bescented and a couple of others that I can't think of off the top of my head all have it. It comes in granular form and easy to use and If you're doing clamshells the para/soy blend pops out really easy. If you're doing shapes then the all paraffin tart wax works well too. It's just harder to get out of the clamshell to me. Flaming and Rustic offer both. Both are easy to use and have a great scent throw. The para/soy will require a little longer cure time though with it being half soy.

I also like IGI 4625 wax which is all paraffin but comes in a slab and has to be broke up but that's not really all that hard to do and most suppliers carry that one. If I'm just doing shapes I like either of these. For clams the para/soy works the best and you can use it for shapes too. A word of caution. If you order 4625, don't get it from Virginia. For some reason their 4625 isn't like anyone else's I've used. 

On 2/27/2023 at 12:59 PM, Shay from SoIN said:

We are new to this, but we are making wax melts for our craft booth. We've made some really nice ones so far with stuff you can get locally from Hobby Lobby and Joanns. We are using a mix of soy and parafin wax.

Now we are going to make our first purchase of fragrances from a company. I think I am going to use either Fragrance Buddy or Virginia Candle. 

 

Does anyone have any advice on these 2 companies. Which fragrance from them are really good, and maybe even more importantly what fragrances are not good

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you have...

What TallTayl said!

I will tell you that FB has several that I love personally and those are

mulberry, blackberry Jam Butter Cookies, Coconut Pie, Sugar Cookie, Sugar Cookie Royale, Pumpkin Pecan Waffles, Apple Cinnamon, Banana Nut Bread MW's type, Birthday Cake, Blonde Moment, Cherry Champagne Toast, Cinnamon Broom, Cinnamon Pumpkin Souffle, Cinnamon Sugared Donuts, Circus Concession, Country Berry Hotcakes, Fizzy Pop Soda, Harvest Gathering, Home Sweet Home Cinnamon Type, Homemade Cookies, Iced Cranberry, Juicy Fruit, Marshmallow Fireside, Marshmallow Fluff, Mint Chocolate Chip, Olde Town Bakeshop, Orange Chiffon Cake, Pearberry, Pumpkin Cupcake, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake, Pumpkin Sugared Donut, Salted Caramel, Spiced Apples and Peaches, Strawberry Pound Cake, Serendipity, Sweater Weather, Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, Tea and Cakes, Tis The Season, Vanilla Pumpkin Marshmallow, Warm Welcome, Warm Vanilla Sugar, Cinnamon Apples and Peaches, Zucchini Bread. These are some that I have personally used and liked. I have found some of these same FO's from other suppliers that were just as good also like Sugar Cookie Royale from Flaming and Midwest Fragrance Co.

From Virginia I like 

Cinnamon Clove-but I like blending my own too with a good cinnamon and Clove from Nature's Gardens. They have the best clove I've found so far.

Farmhouse, Black Ice, Ginger Pumpkin tart, Halloween, Hocus Locus, Marshmallow Fireside. I have more from them but these are the ones that I have put in wax.

You're going to find duds and great oils from every supplier! If you're looking for a particular scent or type just do a search on here and you'll probably find several recommendations for that scent. 

Let us know what you get!

On 1/20/2023 at 10:01 PM, Dreamer said:

Not on the poll, but I my top 3 are Indigo Fragrances, Scented Expressions, and Save On Scents.

 

Indigo Fragrances - I've been ordering from Indigo for sooo long, ever since Dawn & her hubby was selling on Etsy. They moved to their own website years ago and are still going strong. Super nice people, great fragrance oils.

Scented Expressions - I absolutely love the quality of their fragrance oils, some of the best I've found. They have some fragrances you won't find elsewhere. Also, they have a great selection of bath & body ingredients. But be warned, shipping takes forever, like 15 to 20 days to ship out. If you're patient and plan accordingly, it's worth the wait.

Save On Scents - Their fragrance oils can be hit or miss and a bit pricey if you order them in "Extreme" like I do, but when you find those perfect scents, it's wonderful. They have more oils to choose from than any other supplier I've come across, including some very odd novelty aromas. And I just love that you can order "sniffie" samples!

What do you recommend from Indigo? I've ordered a few of their two ounce bottles but have never made them one of my main suppliers. It seems they have a lot of NG oils. I'm hoping they're the same. I can't really afford to buy from them anymore because they're charging tax now and their shipping to me is so high.

On 2/18/2023 at 12:55 PM, Ava00 said:

Hello everyone!
I am a girl who is obsessed with candles. I want to start my own candle-making business, but I need advice from someone with experience. Is candle making profitable?

Hello and welcome!

I believe it can be profitable but it's not something you can't just jump off in to thinking you'll make money right away. There's a lot of testing that goes into making a good and safe candle. I'm not a pro by any means but I've been playing around with candles and wax melts for 10 years now and I'm just now  feeling a little better about my candles. That doesn't mean it will take you that long at all though. I haven't done it consistently for 10 years but what I"m saying is it does take time and effort to make a good and safe candle.

There are many very experienced candle makers on here that will be more than happy to help you way better than I can.

I guess my advice to you would be to pick out one wax and one jar and start from there and learn all you can about the wax you choose. Maybe even buy a kit and start with that. Lone Star and other suppliers have kits that you can start with. I wish that's what I had done.  I"m sure there's more advice that will help get you on the right track but that's where I'd start. 

Are you wanting to use paraffin, soy or a blend? What vessel are you looking at?

I love Fragrance Buddy's sugar cookie and sugar cookie royale from them or Midwest Fragrance Company. Rustic also has a good sugar cookie. I use blueberry cobbler from Lone Star and Cierra. Candle Wic has one called Wild Maine Blueberry and it's pretty good.

I haven't had a honey Fo that I liked.

I ordered some 4625 from them that wasn't like any 4625 that I've ever ordered from anyone else. It looked like it until it was poured and hardened and then it looked so different, with the colors not mixing well with the wax. I even poured it into a candle jar and it didn't rattle at all. I emailed them and told them it wasn't 4625 but they insisted it was. It's so ugly and 4625 wouldn't have good adhesion to a jar without rattling. They wouldn't listen to what I was saying so I've just been mixing it a little at a time with other tart waxes to use it up. I"ll never make that mistake again.

On 12/22/2022 at 9:59 AM, Noob82 said:

Who is your preferred supplier for wax?  Who do you favor for FO?

 

Anyone us The Flaming Candle?  I started with CS but thinking of switching to The Flaming Candle. Super helpful and better pricing on several items. 

I use Flaming for wax and oils. Sometimes I get wax at Lone Star. It just depends on what I'm ordering at the time. Sometimes I get wax from Aztec too if I'm going to use 4625 or 6006. I like Flaming's granulated wax for tarts too. It can be used in containers too. They have a lot of good oils also.

Hello Hal and welcome to the forum!

I have not used a wax melter myself. I don't really have the room for one, well actually I'm overflowing with things like FO's and aroma bead supplies along with candle supplies so that's why I don't have the room for one LOL! I use a large presto pot and it works great for my needs but if you're wanting to go bigger then a wax melter would be the way to go I guess. I'm sure someone that has one will chime in. 

On 11/23/2022 at 1:12 PM, Noob82 said:

Would there be a reason I couldn't pour a few single cup wax melts from the same wax and FO I'm using for candles?

I've used it for clams and also shapes before I learned the difference between a container wax and pillar wax. I still use it for clams and usually add a little bit of a harder wax to it but it does fine on it's own for clams. Like Forrest said, I just pop the clams in the freezer for a few minutes if it doesn't pop right out.

On 12/19/2022 at 10:11 AM, GailC said:

@Belinda, their store was so nice and bright and clean. I could smell the samples, then purchase the 16 oz bottles right then. Plus any other supplies I needed.

 

I didn't expect it to be like a store, since I had only been to The Candlemaker's Store when their little store was in the big warehouse, and not nearly as nice. They had about 250 samples to smell, plus wicks and some other supplies to buy, but the only 16 oz bottles I could buy right then were some specials. I bought a few when I went because they were so cheap, but they were mostly weak. I did get a couple of good ones through the years.

The worse thing was the samples had no prices on them for 16 oz size and I couldn't buy them right then. Had to go home, look up the prices of the scents I liked, and order online.

 

Their store has been closed since Covid with no plans to reopen which is just as well. I won't be tempted to buy their underwhelming specials.   I did like smelling samples though.

Maybe they'll open up their showroom again one day. 

@GailC, I would LOVE to go to their warehouse! They have some great FO's and like you said, I've been disappointed with very few of them and mostly because I didn't like the scent plus they have some you don't always see at other suppliers and the BEST clove I've been able to find anywhere! I'm wondering since WSP took over if they'll be as good? 

6 hours ago, NETS Candles said:

Hi everyone. I'm Trace a new candle maker. Your expertise would help me in every way from those who are here to share their knowledge with those that need it most. 

 

Ok, here is my question. What wax is use for making wax melts?

How to calculate the wax I need for my candles before I make and waste any leftover as I always have 2-3 Oz's left over after pouring my jars.  If I'm making 4- 8 oz jars, I times the 4x8=32 and I still have too much left over like I mentioned earlier. Please,help thank you a lot.

Hi Trace!

What wax are you using for your candles? Some jar waxes can be used to make wax melts but some are too soft. 

15 minutes ago, Jcake90 said:

Thank you! Is Daystars pretty sweet? Any musk in there?

I don't smell any musk in it. It smells the same as Mrs. Claus Cookies to me.

Yay! You go! Congratulations! 

I"m defiantly not very experienced at candle making (yet) but so far zincs are my favorite. I don't use your wax though but have used them in 6006. 4630 and 4786. I haven't done extensive testing of wicks and wax but the testing that I have done I prefer zincs. I think that's partly because they are stiff and seem to be easier to place in the jar.

Mrs. Claus cookies from NG is very nice. Their Vanilla Bean smells just like it too so I'm not sure why they have both. VBN from WSP is great but expensive and it doesn't blend in as well to me. It's heavy. Also DayStar's Vanilla Bean cookies smells just like it. I've also bought marshmallow fluff from FB (they're having a 25% off sale today) and to my nose it smells like VBN. I thought they had mistakenly sent me their VBN by mistake but the next time I ordered I got MF again and it still smells like VBN to my nose. It's great!

On 11/24/2022 at 12:53 PM, ShelbySAH said:

I have 6 melter tiles of Victorian Christmas left from Salt City, as of today. I was so devastated when they went out of business.

 

Their showroom was a 10 minute drive from my home (as it was a Utah based company) and I spend $100's a year on them. Very highly scented candles!! Could cover 2 to 3 room span. 

 

I just put a melter tile (I preferred the candle better) on for Thanksgiving day. I have held on to them for years because I know when they are gone, they are gone. And I will be soooo sad.

 

People on Etsy have them for sale....putragepusly price at $100 a candle, but one day I may succumb...  for now I use Goose Creek Candles, but they are nothing compaired to thus one scent. 😭

What are the notes in it? Maybe you could find a base that's similar and blend something else with it. What is it similar to? It sounds amazing!

13 hours ago, coffeebean said:

I do love the cinnamon crunch cake as well. I just received re hot cinnamon from NG. I have to test it yet on the hot throw.

Does it smell good and strong OOB? Please share your results when you have them. What wax do you use?

On 10/27/2022 at 5:04 PM, coffeebean said:

Can we bump this topic up again. I have been using JS Cinnamon stick and it was amazing. Shes out of it now, so I'm on the hunt for another one.I ordered NG red hot cinnamon until i can find one.

 

You liked the one from JS? I don't think I've used hers but some of her other FO's didn't seem to throw for me. I do love her Cinnamon crunch cake though. I've seen several talk about her pumpkin pie spice but it wouldn't throw for me either. I'm not sure what i"m doing wrong.

Did you get your other cinnamon in?