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I'm not sure what PBC bottles are. I am thinking perhaps you typo'd and meant to say PVC. It sounds like your bottles aren't strong enough in a sense to hold your fragrance oil. It's like disintergrating the plastic, much like putting fragrance oil in a styrofoam cup. The styro cup will practically melt in front of your eyes. When I sell my fragrance oils, I repackage all my oil in HDPE-2 type bottles. I know they are strong enough to hold the fragrance oil. 2-HDPE High Density Polyethylene You can normally find this type of logo on the bottom of the bottle. Hope that helps some.

I've never used an umbrella for any outdoor events. I've always used an EZ-Up. I like the option of being able to have walls in to block the sun when it comes around as well as blocking the rain that manages to blow in. I know that EZ-Ups are bit more expensive than the umbrella you are looking at, but I think they're worth it.

According to the Iowa Soybean Board a "soy candle" only needs to be 70% soy. There is an official like agreement that a manufacturer can sign. I copied and pasted a snippet of the agreement here. It looks like there is some wiggle room when it comes to making a soy candle. THEREFORE IT IS AGREED: 1. “Genuine Soy Candles ” describes a candle made with no less than 70% volume virgin soybean oil (hydrogenated) or soy methyl ester. Company by its signature below certifies that all of its products sold as “Genuine Soy Candles” do in fact and will during the term hereof meet this requirement. 2. Company agrees to notify ISPB in writing of any change in soy candle wax suppliers within thirty day of such change. ISPB will not publicly disclose Company’s soy candle wax supplier. 3. To assure compliance with this Agreement, Company agrees to submit to ISPB upon its request, a representative sample of its Genuine Soy Candles to verify the 70% by volume requirement. ISPB reserves the right to have these candles tested by an ISPB-designated third party at Company expense to verify the 70% requirement. 4. Company also acknowledges ISPB’s right to have tested at Company expense any of the Company’s Genuine Soy Candles purchased at random on the open market. 5. ISPB hereby grants Company permission to use its Genuine Soy Candles Materials in connection with Company marketing of its Genuine Soy Candles. 6. ISPB will designate Company as a Genuine Soy Candle manufacturer on an ISPB sponsored website, and as appropriate in its Genuine Soy Candle promotional Materials. 7. Term and Termination: a. Automatic Renewal: This Agreement shall continue until December 31, 2004. The Agreement shall renew automatically thereafter for a new calendar year, unless Company before said termination date receives from ISPB a non-renewal notice. b. Termination Without Cause: Alternatively, either party may terminate this Agreement without cause upon thirty days notice to the other.

What wicks work best with this wax? I've just started testing with it and really love the way the candle looks. I poured a cinnamon red hot votive consisting of 1 oz fo and one dye chip. The candle came out bee-u-ti-ful! However, I put a LX 14 wick in it and it performed poorly. Real weak flame and eventually sputtered itself out. What wicking is best for this?

Check out your Sam's Club for an EZ Up Tent. I think they have them for right around $200. I believe they come complete with an awning, and four side walls, which is nice to have. Another place to check is Ebay, I know there are some on there.

Yes it can happen when all you use for credit cards is a knuckle buster. It's happened to me a few times. Just be persistent is putting the card through at various times. It simply could be a matter of not enough money in their checking account. So try again on Fridays. I still use a knuckle buster at all of my shows. I ask that if they would provide a phone number, and most are willing to do that. Just recently, I had a lady absolutely refuse to give me her phone number. I even had said, it's not sold to anyone and it's only used in case of a problem with the card. There was no way she was going to give me her phone number. So, I asked if I could see her Drivers License and she willingly gave it to me. So I took it and took down all her info, her license number, hometown, etc. Kinda funny, she wasn't willing to give me something as trivial as a phone number, but she gave up quite readily very personal information such as her drivers license number.... Some people..

I personally like the Perfect Blend. It's easy to work with and burns super clean....that is if you don't wick it too big.

Keeping the right attitude is key when you are out there trying to peddle your candles and even after the show. Don't get me wrong, you have the right attitude! Selling 8 candles is more than what you would have done by sitting home and doing nothing! Perhaps next week or thereafter you can double or triple that. We all have to start somewhere and we all take baby steps when we first start out. Every show or sale is different. The craft show you do one week can be totally different the next week. My best advice is keep pluggin' along, you can do it! Just don't make the mistake I see so many crafters do....which is just sitting behind their tables and not saying anything. Get on your feet, and sell your product. It makes all the difference in the world...Good luck, have fun and you can do it!

I know with many waxes, using 1 chip per lb isn't enough. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but you'll have to experiment in order to get the correct formula down. When you are making candles, it's important to take notes as to what you are doing. That way, if the candle you just created is perfect, you'll have the recipe written down. When trying to perfect a color, I keep a white paper plate handy. I add my color chips to my wax and stir it well so everything dissolves. Then I take some drops of wax and put them on the plate and let them dry. It only takes a minute or two to do. It gives you a prettty good idea as to what your candle color will be. What temps are you pouring at with this wax and are you making sure you are stirring well?

Sorry, no help here. That is one tough scent to get to work in soy. I've tried and gave up.

I know the frustration about candles fading and candles turning into sick looking colors. Using a UV Inhibitor will work. I think half the battle is perhaps finding a good inhibitor for your candles. I use only color chips for all my candles and use The Candlemakers Store UV Inhibitor and never have had a problem since. I think the price is right and it does the job with just a teaspoon per 5 lbs of wax.

I think what you'd need to do is get a state tax ID number and set yourself up as a business. There are someplaces when you make purchases from them they will require some type of tax id or business license. I know for my state it wasn't that difficult to obtain. I think way back then it was like $130 to get one. Plus, if you plan on doing any kind of wholesaling, you should have one. When it comes to taxes and doing business, it's better to be safe than sorry. Protect yourself, it's worth it.

For the longest time, I was intimidated by shipping stuff overseas. I wasn't sure what forms needed to be filled out and what kind of postage was required. I finally bit the bullet and took the time to learn what needed to be done. It's not hard at all. If you ship via the Paypal website or even the USPS's click and ship program, all the forms are right there to fill out. Just simply fill them out, and pay for postage and WA-LAA you are in the International Market. I am very happy that I took the time to learn how to do this, it has opened up my market tremendously. It's fun tracking where I've sent packages to. Just this week, it was Ireland, Channel Islands in the UK and Malaysia! Side note: in my opnion the USPS will be the most economical for your customers. FedEx and the like are waaaay out of the ball park for International shipments. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help!

I am currently in a struggle with this very issue. I went to the post office and tried to mail a bottle of FO to Hawaii. I was told that I could not under any circumstances send it iparcel/priority mail. That was because the FO is considered as a hazardous/flammable liquid. It absolutely has to be sent via an overnight service. From what I understand, a priority package can go on a common carrier route, meaning a passenger jet. We can't have a hazardous package on a passenger jet. So it must go a overnight service, which is transported via cargo plane. I called the postal service customer care line and asked again...same story. It makes it difficult to ship FO's with this ruling. It ends up that the shipping is way more expensive than the product itself. It's frustrating, but I can certainly understand the ruling....which some of my customers don't understand at all!

I've been hearing about lots of problems with that wax since IGI took it over. If you go over to some of the other boards, there are some pretty long rants about it. Seems there are many people complaining about it. I know that BCN and IGI both are claiming "nothing has changed". I can't believe that all these people are wrong....