SunshineSundries

I use the Cotton Candy from BCN. I renamed it "Spun Sugar" for the "grown-ups" and it sells really well for me. I don't know what the FO from ICS smells like though so I can't compare for you. This one is sugary and sweet but it does have a note of fruit to it, IMO... Best of luck to you! I feel your frustration! :awww: Been there only my supplier went out of business without telling this customer! Life & Light! Tish

OK - I've been rackin' my brain on how to do this. I know it sounds rather simple but I'm afraid of FUBARing it up! I got a couple of 1oz samples from a fragrance manufacture that are my own blends but made soap safe (some of the FOs I used to blend it weren't skin safe) and a few "dupes" of FOs that I got from a supplier that went MIA awhile back and I can't find anyone that carries these scents but they are great sellers for me. So I want to test in soap and candles - the candles part I can handle (drop a 1/4 oz in a 1/4 pound of wax and done!) but it's the soaping part I'm having issues with. If I make a 1/2 pound batch and put a 1/2oz of fo in it, is it going to be enough FO to tell if it will accelerate or do some funky stuff?? I've never made a batch this small so it's new territory - most my "trial batches" are 2# as that was the size of my smallest mold. I got some smaller individual molds from the clasifieds here so I should be ok on the mold part for the small batch. My logical mind says it would be just like making a large batch but then soap making isn't always logical - especially when dealing with FOs! Also when testing FOs, is there a big difference in the process you use? I'm thinking that FOs would "burn off" quicker if I were to test using my method of oven processing than if I were to do good ol' fashioned CP. I want to make sure these FOs perform well before I make the leap into doing a co-op with it! I don't want to short change anyone, including myself! Sorry for being so long winded! I'm just excited to be doing this and like I said, I don't want to FUBAR it up! lol TIA for your advice, suggestions, and the like... Life & Light! Tish

This whole thread is why *I* haven't opened my supply side up yet! I barely have my retail/wholesale side ready! You need to take your time and do things right - no matter what it is your doing... Just because you know how to run one kind of business doesn't mean you know how to run them all. I used to sell P@rtyL!te candles but that didn't mean when I first started out that I knew how to *make* a candle. Now that I've been into candle making for four years, now I feel I could do a supply side (very VERY small supply side). But first things first, I have to get my retail/wholesale site running smoothly (does this ever happen?) before I start *another* website for my supplies. And before I start my supply side, I'm going to do even more research (and pick a few brains of suppliers I know ) on all the products I would be selling. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a good business. JMHO Life & Light! Tish

what's the brand name on the lye - I get mine at menards and haven't had a problem with it (so far). I know it's a different size bottle than the other stuff but I think that's about it as far as diffence goes.

I found a way to kind of difuse the light from the flash - removeable scotch tape! I just put a peice over the flash itself and it helps spread the light out... I was just playing with it today so I'll see if it works in a lightbox setting tomorrow. I'm also going to work on putting the light source (a halogen work lamp) a bit further away so there isn't as much of a glare on the jars. I am actually kinda likeing this camera now that I figured out how to set the apature and shutter speed... Thanks for the input gals! I'll post some of the new pics when I get them taken. I'm hopeing to get some soap shots this weekend! Life & Light! Tish

Aye - very beautiful candles but is the company still around? I was on the website and clicked on the rainbow candles and across the top it says "Our rainbows line is not in production for this holiday season. Look for new offerings in early 2004." And the copywrite date is 2002 on the bottom of the website. I know I'm not the best at keeping up on dates, but this isn't good for a "professional" site, IMHO... I still think it's a cool idea but is it worth all the extra effort and expence (I'm assuming they are expensive anyway) to have the special colors... but then that's just me... I'm weird that way... lol I would like to know about the all natural coloring though just to satisfy my curiosity... Life & Light! Tish

Great to know!! I've got to mosey up to WalMart tomorrow for some stuff for the house... maybe I'll have to slip a couple of sheets in the cart... I've got some new FOs I've been wanting to try out but darn it if I hate lining my molds! lol Thanks for the info! Life & Light! Tish

what would you guys say is the temp max for these foamy things? I made my own log molds and have tried different things to line these buggers but they are all kind of a PITA! I do ITMHP at 150* - do you think these would be ok with that or not?? Life & Light! Tish

Thanks to all of you who answered my questions... I think I have it figured out. I'm still playing with the light and trying to get the brightness and angle right but here's what I've got so far... It's kinda cold out in the shop so the jars are a bit frosted but when I take the "for real" pictures, they'll be in better shape - same with the jute twine I use to hang my tags - I couldn't for the life of me find my scissors! :rolleyes2 Let me know what you think - any additional tips?? Life & Light! Tish

You go, Bruce! I'm going to have to make myself one of those candles.... LOL

I use liquid colors - never liked the idea of weighing grams for color chips as I'm weighing challenged! The less stuff I have to weigh the better! My hint for liquid colors is use disposible pipettes if you don't have a dropper on your bottle (I use the 4oz bottles from candlewic - no dropper) and use those disposable plastic gloves that they sell at Sam's Club for food service. I think I got like 1000 of them for $5 or something like that. Works awesome! No color all over my hands! To get a good apple red, I use several drops of red and a few drops of black. I may try the orange thing too just to see what happens since Valentine's day is coming up and I want to make some different reds. Best of luck to ya! Life & Light! Tish

I agree with Dani in the fact that you need to test it no matter what. If you are doing ready made products and you are following the mfg's directions completely, I would still hang on to the product for at least a month before giving it to anyone just to make sure that it doesn't grow critters. If you are making your own lotions from scratch (not a base) or anything else that contains water, I would tripple that hang on to time - if not more - just to make sure you have the preservative thing right on them. What I do for my bb products - mostly body butters, bath bombs, bath salts, and lotion bars (I'm fearful of that whole water and lotion thing!) - is I make them and do the time trial. But because of my sensative skin, I let a friend of mine test the ones with FOs as almost every FO I have makes me break out! I can do most EOs but not FOs for some odd reason... anyway - I use a paper towel to "expose" the product (like I'm rubbing it on my skin) and that's how I do the time trial. I hope all that makes sense. Just remember to keep things SUPER clean - including your hands and body - and you should be good. Use a bleach solution in a spray bottle to keep things clean, before, durring and after. Best of luck! Life & Light! Tish

ok - first things first - I didn't know they made a wax "tart" or "melt" until I was really into this candle makin' thing (I'd say about a year into it). I was so focused on the candle making thing that I had little time to focus on all the "smaller" things... becides if you ask me - a tart is for eating - especially a strawberry or raspberry one! YUMMMY!! and a Melt is for making chocolate candies with your kids... like the ones wilton makes... so nanner! Unique molds can be found anywhere as many people have stated... I have a mold that I made that is of a face - it was supposed to be Bacchus but it didn't turn out well - hense no pictures! lol but it's really up to your heart and creative mind to see things differently and go where no other chandler has gone before.... ok cheap immitation Trekkie thing... sorry... back to my wine and chocolate - who needs hormone pills when you've got wine and dark chocolate?? lol But GG you still kill me!! Good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions - just ignore the snobby boobs on here and you'll get your answer eventually... Life & Light! Tish

See now here's where my dilema is - some people like what I call the "true" dragon's blood and others like the sweet, citrusy smelling one. I personally like the "true" dragon's blood scent. I have yet to try Tony's FO but I would love to as I've heard this is a great "true" scent. The true scent to me is very earthy (kind of like patchouli in a way) with just a hint of sweetness to it. I used to have a perfume oil that was made with the resin but I used the last of it a few years ago. Just an FYI - Dragon's Blood is a resin that is gotten from a tropical type tree called a Dragon Tree. The resin is mid to dark red, hense the name Dragon's Blood. It's been used for centuries as a pigment for textiles and such, a medicine, as an incense and many other things. You can read more about the resin just by doing a google search on "Dragon's Blood Resin". HTH some... Life & Light! Tish

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with yahoo builder or yahoo business. I would download the latest version of Joomla, if it were me. As for unzipping, I think a simple winzip program would be sufficiant but I'd check out the message boards on MamboForge and the like to see if there is any instructions on what exactly to do. If I remember correctly when I used Mambo for my old site, I unziped and FTPed the whole package at the same time... but that was almost two years ago and I have a hard time remembering what I did last month! lol My best advice would be to try and find an answer on the joomla message boards. Link to Joomla Board... HTH Life & Light! Tish

who are you getting your hosting through, if I may ask. I use site ground and they had the latest version of Mambo installed right on my site for me. Just an FYI - if you plan on using virtumart, it's best to use mambo - they don't have all the kinks out for using it with Joomla yet... Virtumart is a dream and a nightmare all at the same time! lol I'm still getting stuff loaded on there but once I have it all done, it will be wonderful to work with! You can use coupons, have different shopping groups (regular, "gold" members, and wholesale are mine), and have shipping added right in (and fairly accurate too!). It seems a bit overwhelming at first, but for a small business (less than 5000 products), you don't even use half the stuff offered on there! HTH some... Life & Light! Tish

OK - I make soy and veggie wax candles and I don't even agree with that article! The way that I market them isn't the same as the "average" soy candle because I don't go after the "clean burn" market (at least now after I've done even more research - still having to change my web page though!). I have had many quality para candles that don't leave soot anywhere and I've had soy candles that sooted up so bad I quit burning them! It's all in the quality of the candle and the intellegence of the candle consumer. If I do use a "marketing tool", it's that soy wax is a replenishable wax - but even that is misleading because they use para products to refine the soy wax/meal/oil and whatever else (much to the disappointment to my vegan friends!). I also don't say mine are 100% natural either because I use FO, color and a UV stablilzer - these are not natural! It irritates me to no end when people have their Blueberry Cobbler soy candle say 100% natural on it!! If you use FO, it's not natural!!!! OK - I better stop now before I totally lose it! lol All I have to say is I wish I could get that kind of money for my candles! Maybe I should start sending some to some popular people.... Life & Light! Tish

I have a Samsung color laser printer and I absolutely love it! I use it for all my printing and I can get ALOT out of each container - I'd have to say almost triple of what I was getting out of my ink jet (1 laser cartridge to 3 or 4 ink jet ones). My toner for my laser is about $70 where my ink for my other printer is about $30 each.... you can do the math... Life & Light! Tish

As far as a light box goes is this what you are talking about? Strobist web page here I have all the materials here - heck I think I even have some bleached cotton muslin and some 2x2's that I could make a more perminate one. Up until I started my business I did just nature shots (that's what my dad taught me to do) so I know very little about all the gadgets and doodads for indoor photography. I'm thinking that if I can find the right kind of green tag board, I'll do a green background for my web site and white for my jury shots. The green background will go well with my site and my logo colors are green, purple and ivory. I wish I didn't have to go do the holiday thing this weekend!! I want to go play now! Especially since I took a bunch more pictures and none of them looked like I wanted them too - now I know... Thanks so very much for the help!!! Life & Light! Tish

I've been thinking about lighting, GG, and playing around with different things I have around the house. The pictures I have here are with the flash on (obviously), I have a few that I took with the flash off and some "filtered" light but because I wiggled too much (I hadn't yet got my tripod out ) it was blurry as heck! I have a new Cannon PowerShot 6mp point and shoot camera (I wanted to get the Nikon digital camera that I could use the same lenses as my Nikon 35mm - but that was over $1000 - but a girl can dream... ). I can turn off all the bells and whistles on this one and do it the "old fashioned" way but I figured I'd play around with the settings I had first. It's been so long since I've taken pictures (other than of the kids anyway), that I'm having to relearn how to do it! If you have any hints or tricks, I'd greatly appriciate them! Life & Light! Tish

I just call that stuff wood curl because I don't even know what it's called. When I go into the floral wholesalers they know exactly what I'm talking about when I call it that! lol I've got some clear cello... I think I even have some blue and other colors too (I don't throw anything away, I swear!). When I put the votive in the cup, I'll shrink wrap it quick so that way it doesn't rub against the glass (DUH - don't know why I didn't think of that before!). After supper, I'll run out to the studio for a spell and see what I can come up with... Thanks for the input! Life & Light! Tish

Excelsior? what do you mean by that? In the votive cups I have just white tissue paper in there - maybe I could use some colored stuff in there instead. I don't want to add another candle in there because 1- they smudge on the glass when you shift them around and 2- I am trying to keep the cost of the box around $10 - this particular one is $11.50 - and adding another votive raises the price. The blue thing at the bottom of the box is a soap sachel (aka soap sack from aftertherayne.com ). I have it packaged in a large zip lock bag - but the bag isn't long enough for it (plus I get comments on it when it's straight - think adult type comments... ahem... ) but I could try shrink wrapping it or something... and try curving it around the corner... Back to the shop to do photos... thanks for the input... Life & Light! Tish

OK - are all electric turkey fryers the same? I had the opportunity to get a Masterbuilt (?) digital electric 28qt (?) fryer with a drain tap thingy... get this - $59!!!! It was on sale at the local farmer supply store (Fleet Farm for those in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area)... I hesitated because I wasn't sure if this was a good one to get (the name "Surf & Turk" stuck in my head!). Does anyone here have this one?? I'm sure it's going to go on sale again (if not on clearance) and I want one!! Also, has anyone used these for a dipping tank for tapers?? Is the lid on to maintain heat or just to keep dust and stuff from getting in the wax?? I get so many requests for tapers and I just can't imagine paying $10-15 for a taper mold! TIA for the advice... Life & Light! Tish

Well, my Dear, you are not alone! At least we know there are hubbies out there that speak English and not just Football Babble... lol So there is a ray of hope there - just not a very bright one... Life & Light! Tish

Oh my do I ever! I still have probably another 4-5 tubs full of stuff to try and stuff in there! lol Thankfully, its mostly finished product and I still have a lot of room for that! I'll just be so glad to get everything into one room and be able to do multiple tasks at one time. BTW Robin - I got some of your soap from my SB - LOVE IT!! I also got a bath ball and a lip balm. My hub took the lip balm and I haven't seen it since but I got to try it - YUMMY! I haven't had a chance to take a relaxing bath but I can't wait to use the ball!! It smells heavenly! Thanks y'all for all the kind comments. It took me three years and a lot of well... um.... what's a kinder word... um... convincing - yeah that's it - to get my husband on board with this. He's still alittle miffed that he only gets a corner of the garage now and can't park the van in there anymore (in four years we've only parked the van in there *maybe* three times - so go figure!). Now to get the fundraiser and wholesale packets together and get some business in there! If I ever get this photo taking thing down - I'm not used to this side of the photo taking arena... but I'm getting there... Life & Light! Tish