craftimade

It was so good the reported used it on the front page of the local paper.

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Well not only is business doing so well, today I got on the front page of my local news paper which does 20,000 papers per issue.

How cool is that.

Well, it was trial and error but I think it looks alright.

I haven't trimmed the wick yet. Will do that tomorrow when I get into the shop.

Here is an update on my shop. I opened my doors today and I still have a few things to do but all is good and even made sales today. So a great start to the shop.

Here are some photos.

I got my keys yesterday. After washing the fall twice it's really red wood floor, in the photo it looks brown.

The back right wall has prong holders for my jewellery already so that's a bonus, but the back rooms have no nature light so they are dark and mouldy. Im just not going to use them, other then sealed storage.

Apart from that im getting my furniture moved in this week tuesday/wednesday.

I can see this could do very well for me, even yesterday (saturday) while I was cleaning the shop I had lots of foot traffic and people asking me what type of a shop I was opening. Everyone said they loved candles and I must have given away 50 business cards.

I will keep you posted.

Cool, sounds like you found yourself a new hobby

When it's hand made it doesn't always have to be perfectly the same every time, that is what makes it unique.

Awesome work. They look very amazing. What fragrance did you use? I would think something like Ocean Breeze.

I personally make ones like this and they sell like hot cakes. However my votives colors are (bottom to top): red, orange, yellow, green, blue then white on top.

I have a photo somewhere. Ahh.. found it.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/133419207684082708/

I love your color.

I would but there is not enough room to teach people. However I will take on someone and train them, an unemployed person on the Centrelink Network. They will help me with the front desk/sales and I will teach them how to make candles part time.

I am going to use some blue plastic which is about 4x4 meters - then a rug over that so if the wax gets spilt then it's not going to destroy the floor when I leave. I can just throw away the rug. I just have to tape the edges down so I don't trip over it and make my legs.

Already working on my Christmas tree candles using Star cookie cutouts.

I am going to make candles in the shop, so towards the back of the room I will have a glass area where people can watch me make a candle taper candle ( hand dipping ). I have never been into a candle shop where they make the candles on site. It's normally done in a house or in a factory so I hope this brings in some people.

Also I will be taking special orders which I have already done for locals. Like a Jaffa Red Vanilla candle and Black pillar Sweet Lemongrass. So hopefully I will get more orders like this.

I will keep you posted with my shop here.

I took a photo today from the front door. It does need some work but nothing a little TLC can't handle

I will take more photos when I get into the shop and setup my stuff.

Yay. Finally my local council is giving me a retail shop for very little rent and I do mean very little. It's on a 30 day lease so it's like a popup shop but at least people will be able to smell my candles now and not have to guess what they smell like.

It's a small shop but will do well I think on a busy main road with school across the road and train line just 100metres away.

I should be moved in within the next 10 days.

I hoped I would get it so I designed my invoice/website system last week. Not only can I track my in store sales but online says too with the same interface. I loving being a programmer - but making candles is way better.

I'm pretty happy right now. Very exited too!

Craftyone, what is nt. wt. ?

I would love your feedback as a buyer and seller on my new clam shell melt labels.

I would suggest a symbol for your company next to your name. Branding is a massive part of your business, not right now but for it to grow.

I have a orange and green flame next to my business name on all my candles and it really stands out on my labels, people don't need to read it, they just see the flame and know who it's made by.

You can see my example here: www.sentinelcandles.com.au

I have 20 gram ( 0.7 oz) round melts for $1 each and 2 oz for $1.50 each.

I use the plastic jello cups as moulds on my 2oz as it has embedded on the wax "2 oz" in text.

I also have frosting on my jars. The weather here is so up and down, yesterday my candle was fine, no frosting - I had made the candle 5 days ago.

Today it's snap cold ( about 4 degree in my house - i just woke up) and 95% of my jars now have frosting.

There is 2 things I can do.

- Add glitter to the inside jar - hence removing the frosting look completely and giving it a nice glitter look.

- Use frosted jars

Me too, I love colored candles. White wax just seems soo..... uninteresting.

Orange + Vanilla + Chocolate = Jaffa

This is my fav!

We'll I might look into making one.

I am a database programmer by trade, maybe I should put that to use and make a directory.

If I made one, how many of you would submit your sites to be listed? Of course it would be free to be listed.

They are fun to make but I found the hardest part was keeping the wick straight. It keeps moving because the blocks where trying to find the gaps and the wick was moving around. I ended up using a straw to hold it straight up until I got all the blocks fit into place. Then poured the vanilla. Worked fine after that and smells so good.

While working on some custom votives today I decided to make some jar candles using small chunky block wax mixed with another fragrance.

I am very happy with the results and look forward to burning them in a few days.

So I made BubbleGum chucks and placed them in a jar then poured Vanilla over the top (XL jar). Picture below.

In this photo (below) I used Chocolate Fudge chucks with Vanilla poured around it. Just so the chocolate comes though the top. This is a regular size jar.

Is the a candle directory business index for the world?

I know that sounds like a massive task, but im sure there is one already.

Anyone got one?

I had to make this up because it doesn't exist - anywhere online anyway.

Chocolate Fudge + Orange Vanilla.

This gives you Jaffa - as in the lolly.

Just thought I would share

I got back to the council about this today and Im about to put in my application for a shop. I have seen the 2 shops they currently have.

The shops are very nice and would suit my needs until I can get established in my area. I can't make candles in the shop which is a bummer but I can still make jewellery there.

I would have to close the shop for 1 day a week to create my candles. Most likely a Monday. Weekend traffic is good here as it'a a pass through for tours on weekends.

I found out there is a $25 per week cost for the rent, electric is paid by council. So my expenses should be pretty low, it's just setting up the tables and the till/payment methods.

It should be an interesting learning curve for me.