NewOrleansLady

The thing about testing is you learn so much from even from your failures if you keep the right kind of notes. And that is what makes a good candle. It's the knowing what works as much as the knowing what doesn't work for your particular product. It's the same thing as with scents...you can have 5 people test the same fragrance in different parts of the country and you'll get 5 different reviews. The way I look at it is this....my name is on the product I'm selling so I'm gonna stand behind my products knowing I did everything I could to make it the best product possible...not on someone else's word. When my customer comes back saying it doesn't burn right I can't tell her "Well the girls on this candle chat board told me they used it." Candle making is no different than any other business venture...you have to put money into it before you'll get money out of it so invest in yourself and your product and that will be investing in your success.

Have you tried just putting regular sanitizer in a foamer bottle? Reason I asked is I ran out of my Dawn pump soap so I just put some regular dawn in the foamer bottle and it foams up just beautifully. I don't have any empty foamer bottles or I'd try it for you.

The cooler you pour your wax the less sink holes you'll have. I've found if you do need to do a 2nd pour I have less problems if right before I pour the reheated wax I hit the molded wax with my heat gun....seem to have better results of the two waxes adhering to each other. Since I changed from paraffin to 50/50 wax I never have the "bubbles on the sides" problem. They are smooth on sides and top. I never did figure out why they occured cause it would happen with some and not others in the same batch. Drove me nuts but the 5050 solved that problem.

JS's Southern Style Vanilla is a true strictly vanilla...super strong. She actually has an entire vanilla line. Creamy vanilla from LoneStar is also very good....more on the vanilla caramel type.

I add olive oil to mine not dpg and never have smoke. The olive oil has a higher flash point. But actually sometimes I just burn them alone with no added oils....I have lamps with halogan bulbs and dimmer switches. Been using them for over 3 years now on mostly "high" and never had any bad episodes.

Not sure about AH"s version but JS's Prada is dead on!!!!

OH, large rock salt crystals must be gorgeous as potpourri. Never seen that offered!! Sorry to hijack....but I had the same experience with corn cobs and essential oils. Customer wanted a totally "natural" product and the scent didn't last a week.

I have name address phone number scent weight on top of jar and name and phone no. on bottom on caution label.

I know Taylored concepts has a Kentucky Bourbon but can't testify to it's scent.

I use Excel for this but don't have the prices listed. I have the FO, supplier, test results in wax & soap and general comments, any customer responses and what box it's located in on the shelf. I have over 800 scents so I need some sense of order. I did this after I had been in the business for a while and it would have been a ton of a lot easier to do it from the very beginning.

I LOVE JS's perfect pear...I also love her pears & pomegrante and pears in raspberry sauce. All 3 are very true sweet pear scents with very good throw. No fuel whatsoever in any of them.

Use the same things that would keep you from melting...shade and air circulating from a fan. If it gets too bad...have an ice chest full of ice and open it with the fan blowing over it.

I have always used a pyrex measuring cup but only for the initial measuring and dissolving no storage involved.

I think Cajun and BitterCreek both have beginner kits.

No need to clean the presto pot. Any wax left over is just cooled in it to be reheated another day. I have one for votive wax and one for container wax. The spigot doesn't get clogged up. The one on my 65# melters at my shop do clog up but I just hit them with my heat gun for about 20 seconds and it melts away. The only cleaning up is the pour pot and my spatula I stir with. I clean up each different scent I pour with paper towels and then a dip in some hot soapy water and move onto the next scent. Takes all of about 30 seconds. The presto pot has a thermostat so your wax is at a constant proper temp.

I also got mine from BCN. Mix 50/50 "Incense Solvent/ DPG" & FO....I placed mine in glass jar. Throw cones in & give a little shake to make sure all are coated. Leave in 24 hours turning once or twice if cones not sitting directly in liquid. Take out with slotted spoon (cause you can reuse the remainder of mixture. Just write with marks a lot on jar what the fragrance is). Place cones first on paper towels to absorb excess..then move to a cooling rack (something where air can circulate all around) and allow to air dry for another 24 hours. Don't bag up until dry to touch. You must try JS's Sin City...best Nag Champa around and makes awesome incense.

From what I understand that is a JS formulation. $12 is a lot....can't blame you one bit. Being so far away and LA having the highest delivery cost (no one can tell me why but I've heard that from at least 3 suppliers) I have to order 4 cases at a time to get the reduced shipping cost over 200 pounds. If I had the room to store it I would buy a pallet and use motor freight.

Oh I LOVE the stand. I have mine so it hangs over the edge of my counter and I put newspaper to catch any drips. My husband has the talent to make me one of those but the desire isn't there!

Taylored Concepts has them with the spigots already in them for a nominal additional fee. Well worth the extra money.

Is the shopping cart amount the exact amount on your monthly credit card bill?

Just in case you decide you don't want to tackle putting in the spigot yourself....taylored concepts sells them ready to go with spigot.

Becky only charges you what FED EX charges her....no added fees. Also, I had asked about using my Fed Ex account# and she said she used to offer it but FED EX 99 times out of a 100 would charge her and the customer....then she'd have to look up the customer's account # again ..then follow up to make sure FED EX credited her etc....too much hassle for her. FED EX started really screwing up with deliveries to our shop...changed from getting stuff at 9am to around 4:30....we found out the drivers aren't actually FED EX employees (ground deliveries) they are 3rd party drivers so it doesn't matter how much money you save if your customers can't get what they order for the next business morning like you can with UPS (unless I want to pay early am next day air prices for what UPS charges me ground)!!!

I've used JS 5050 votive and container since they came out and love them. I was using IGI 4794 with zinc wicks prior to the JS5050 and didn't have to change wicks at all since it's not pure soy. In the past couple of years I have changed to Ultra Wicks from Fil Tec. I do let all my candles cure for a couple of days....but I may get candle nose after pouring big batches cause my DIL has burnt them when barely cooled throughout and she gets great scent throw.

Mardi Gras is a good thrower however being also from NO let me warn you...it smells nothing like beer and pee so it won't remind you of home!!!! lol I use quite a few NG oils...most of her Downey dupes, Mardi Gras, Butterfly huge, sun moon stars (exact dupe), and tons more I just can't think of this time of the morning. I find most are awesome throwers with complex layered fragrances.

Make sure you get a complete melt pool. How long before you reached complete melt pool? Is the wick flickering too much? Is the flame too high? Is the flame almost snuffed out? How far is the throw of the scent? After burning for a couple of hours does the wick change? Is the wax burning off the sides of the glass? Did it burn down to the wick tab? I usually do my first test in my 1/2 bathroom. No A/C vents or fans blowing so I know there's no outside breezes affecting the wick and I can judge the scent throw.