TxSioux

Louana CO has a shelf life of 24mos unopened & 9-12mos opened, so I can't see where this would cause a problem. Susan.

Candles aren't a necessity & traditionally sales drop in the warm months - people get outside more & only the candle addicts continue to buy. There's a theory to business that you can always drop your price, but it's hard to raise price, so 'sales' are the quick fix to increase profit. This is where you have to decide if you want to continue holding your price on principal. You can sell your product based solely on the math, or you can offer a lower price to increase sales & make up/increase the difference in volume. An inferior product will destroy itself, but a bad economy allows those w/ a true business savvy to rise to the top. Think about the things that are important to you & really analyze why you buy one brand over another. Where do you draw the line between price & quality? Brand loyalty has to be earned, so is it more important to continue selling to the same people at the same price, or is better to offer a discount to increase your volume? Think about what you buy & why you buy it - if you can't figure out how to sell it, then how can you expect someone else to want to buy it? Susan.

Pam beat me to it. I, too, believe soot is the result of an improperly wicked candle. Next culprit is usually the fo. I've done a LOT of testing for 8 yrs & I've tried a lot of wacky combo's - especially when it comes to trying to manipulate soy into doing what I want it to do <grin> - & I guarantee you I can get a 'natural' soy candle to smoke like a room full of blue-haired bingo players!! I've tested soy, blends, palm, & paraffin & just haven't found soy to have a substantially increased burn time - not worth bragging about. Several soys cost less that paraffin, so sounds like someone is trying to validate their costs. White spots must be their layman terms for frost/bloom, which is true. Susan.

My 1st thought is soy. Susan.

Now you have me seriously wanting to pour some Pinion & missing NM!! If the TC fo doesn't rock your world, you could always try to get others to go in on a group buy at Chemessence, so you wouldn't have to meet the min. alone. Are you anywhere close to me? I know of 2 other candlemakers here & they buy more fo's than I do. I just dug out my TC Pinion ... like so many TC scents, it has some kind of weird note, but I remember really liking it once it was in wax. Susan.

I've never tried CB, but I did test 464 & found that I had the exact results as BC's EZSoy. Just something to consider, if location/price works better for you. Susan.

I've poured the TC Pinion & loved it - although, it's been awhile. NOTHING compares to Pinion, but maybe my love for the scent is attached to wonderful memories of NM. My husband's family has a cabin in Ruidoso & the smell is just intoxicating. We used to haul a cord of hard Oak w/ us & swap it out for the Pinion at the cabin to bring back to Tx. You can usually find small bags of it at Home Depot around Dec to burn in chimineas. Susan.

I've never ordered much from LS (last order was about 2 yrs ago), so wanted to share a few things that really set this last order apart. My order was all wicks, but I added on a fo sample. I always expect the worst w/ fo's, cause I think we've all had at least one order w/ a leaking, or open lid. When I opened the lid to sniff, I was surprised to find that the bottle had a silver seal - the kind you usually can't peel back to save your life & end up cutting open - lol. Does any other supplier send out their fo's like this? That's a huge plus! Also, the order was placed on Tues & UPS was at my door on Wed - standard delivery. I'm only about 90 miles from LS, but that still ranks as great customer service in my book. Susan.

Not familiar w/ this scent, but I did a search on the Fragrance Finder site & found several that list Clinique's Happy ... is that the same? Here's the link: http://www.fragranceoilfinder.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=2_161 HTH - Susan.

Horse - I heated wax to 190, added liquid dye, dropped to 180, added fo - stirred for 4 mins., then poured at 150. I got this wax from a friend who lives nearby, so didn't have any suggested temps, was just winging it off things I've done w/ other waxes. The only thing I added was a small amount of CO, just cause I wanted to try that. I'm going to add beeswax next batch, to test getting a bit harder setup. I used Starrville Decadent Desire - it's a VS dupe, very perfumy. I tested w/ CD & Zinc wicks, but just got HTP's to try next time. Hate to tell you this, but I didn't even wait 24hrs before I started burning my testers. I know how frustrating it is to get totally different results! I have several CandleScience fo's sitting around, so I'll pull them out & let you know what happens. Susan.

Doh - sorry! 6006 - guess my mind was locked in that mode, since that was the wax mentioned in the last few messages. Totally forgot this was an either/or thread! Susan.

I just poured my 1st batch of this wax w/ 1.2oz (8%) fo & the scent is so strong I can't stand it. We have windows/ doors open & I could smell the candles strongly when I was outside. Trust me, I NEVER thought I'd say that, cause getting a strong throw has always been my goal. I'm definitely dropping down to 1oz for the next batch. I also found that I need to wick everything down from all previous waxes I've tried. Susan.

I've never poured that wax, but I'll play the name game ... Hot for Teacher ... cinnamon, maybe Teacher's Pet ... thinking something perfume-y or maybe an apple scent Hall Pass ... something masculine Good Morning, Mrs. <teacher's name> ... coffee scent New School Clothes ... Clean Cotton Pep Rally ... thinking a food scent Permanent Vacation ... something beach-y

If you're going to try to master soy, then I'd suggest you dig in your heels & settle in for the long haul. There's certainly nothing wrong w/ trying them all, but you're going to make yourself crazy if you don't have a solid understanding of what you're dealing w/ before you move on. I've seen dramatically different opinions of every soy wax & have noticed reviews seem to hinge greatly on location & season. I really believe your geographical location plays a big part on how well soy will perform. I'm in Tx & can definitely say that humidity & cooler temps change results. I've also noticed that I see the same +'s or -'s with people who are closest to my same weather patterns. Don't be too quick to judge, & make sure you've really learned everything you can, before you spend time & money on the next venture. Just when you *think* you have soy mastered, the weather changes & you're pulling your hair out ... again! Susan.

Hmmm ... rub-a-dub-dub, we test in the tub! LOL Susan.

TC is an great supplier, but never seemed to have a huge following here. I've been to their storefront several times & have a few must-haves from them, but I'm not familiar w/ any of the fo's you've mentioned. The main problem I have w/ TC fo's is the majority of them seem to smell the same ... can't really put my finger on it, but if you weren't looking at the label you wouldn't be able to identify the scent. Even though I loved a few I got from them, there are other suppliers that offer a broader base of really good scents. Please let us know what you think when you get a sniff. Susan.

Is that one complete pour, or do you top off? Actually, not sure if you're asking about the film on the glass, or what appears to be a jump line in the wax near the top of the candle. If it's the film, then I'd guess you either moved the candle when the wax was hot, or poured so fast that the wax went higher than where it set. I agree w/ Stella ... it's a perfect top & a heatgun will probably cause frost. Wipe it off, or let it be. Susan.

I always do at least one test run w/o ever trimming the wick. It kills me to do this, but I've found that no matter how much you talk, or print labels, the majority of people are idiots! You really need to know what will happen when someone uses your product incorrectly, cause far too many of them do! If you prepare for the worst, then you'll excel at the best. FWIW, I also do a start to stop marathon burn. If I have to go to sleep before a candle is done, I set it level in the bathtub, just to make sure a major fail doesn't turn into a fire. Susan.

Absolutely! Seems like everyone wants to use the most amount of fo they can when trying to create the strongest throw. After all, isn't that the reason most people give for why they ventured into candle making!? I set a 'go to' amount of fo I want to work w/ & used to test up & down the % scale if I wasn't happy w/ the throw. I've now come to a point where a fo needs to throw at my fixed % level, or I consider it a failure. There's a theory that less is more, once you get all the other variables in place. Once you exceed a proper balance the final result is ruined - just like a food recipe. Consider this ... salt tastes good ... it enhances the flavor, we love it, we want more of what we love, but too much salt ruins the final result. There's a limit before good becomes bad. Too many people try to max out fo & just can't figure out why the candle isn't right. The recipe has to be in balance. Keep working on what you feel is most important & keep testing till you hit the balance that you're happy with. Look how many recipes there are for the 'perfect' chocolate chip cookie! Susan.

OK, 1st you have to commit to what fragrance load (amount of fo) you want to use pp of wax. Trust me, after 8 yrs, my mind still doesn't go to %'s as 2nd nature, so a LONG time ago I created a 'cheat sheet' for candle math! To determine your fo load take the amount of fo you're using & divide by 16oz wax. EX: 1.2oz fo divided by 16 = 8% fragrance load. Most people use either 1oz (6%) or 1.5oz (9%) fo pp of wax. So ... if you want to go w/ a 9% fragrance load, but only have 1oz fo & want to find out how much wax to use ... take the amount of fo you have & divide by the fragrance load you're working w/. EX: 1oz sample fo divided by 9% = 11.11oz wax. I freely admit that any math is something I should NOT be considered an expert at, but I can usually back myself into the right answer ... eventually - lol ... so those who are more math savvy are welcome to correct me if I'm wrong! I've also found that some of the 'math snobs' tend to put things in terms that an idiot like myself can't easily follow, so I hope I explained that as simply as possible! HTH - Susan.

I've used those jars for yrs & have never been able to single wick w/o leaving hangup. Palm Wax was the closest I got to a successful single wick burn & I'd guess it could be done w/ paraffin. I've tried most of the soy & soy blends - always double wick them. I made an outline of the cube bottom to create a template for where I place the wicks. Fold the template in 1/2 horizontal & vertical to mark the center. Then fold the template once diagonally & measure a point 1/2way between each outside corner & the center. Try that for a 'good guess' to place each wick. I've never tried htp's, so can't really help you on size, but for double wicking I'd suggest using the size that works for votives. HTH - Susan.

Sounds like a new FoHo to me - LOL!! Susan.

This post could have been written by me when I started pouring. Votives have always been a best seller for me, but I would never pour another one if I had to use the metal molds. Absolutely hate them, especially w/ soy. I've poured Dixie Cup votives for the last 8 yrs & love them. Since you're using soy, you should be pouring at a low enough temp that you won't have any problems. But ... if you ever decide to try a high temp pour wax it's a problem. Susan.

Stella - are you still tempering your soy? Susan.

Eric - just look at the 'join date' in the top right corner of each post. I haven't logged in here for about 6mos, so it's nice to see the 'old' familiar names, like Ducky. Haven't had a chance to read up, but I haven't noticed any posts from Top ... is the grumpy old man still conducting lab experiments!?! LOL Susan.