Jane42

Starting to play with M&P soaps and would love to add fresh rosemary. I did order Rosemary EO, but when adding a fresh herb, is there anything I should know? I was going to grind the fresh rosemary and then, maybe, put some whole leaves on the top. Any advice? Also, I have always ordered my soap base from Symphony Scents - usually the white base and the oatmeal base. From your experience, is this a good base to use? I would love the bars to be a bit harder and from reading above, it seems like I should be able to do this by putting in an additive. Love that I found this thread - so informative! Jane

No tab....pull the wick about 1/2 inch from the bottom and seal the bottom by running it along a hot surface. We had heard the same thing - that we didn't want the pillar to burn totally to the bottom. Kind of like a safety feature... I guess I have never seen a tab on the bottom of a pillar I have purchased. Has anyone here? Sure would take a few steps out of the process....

We have always used LX wicks with 4630 and they have worked well. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what size...LX10 maybe?

Lavender Chamomile - will have to try that one with my next order!

Nothing in the pot for me this weekend - finished up a fundraiser order on Thursday and hosting a picnic on Monday. Funny how now that I am a candle addict, spring cleaning doesn't happen until two days before Memorial Day, when I HAVE to get this house cleared out!!! UGHHH. Our flag will be flying proudly as we remember those who have given their all for their country.

I will let you know!

I used to use Salty Sea Air from Just Scents - loved it! Unfortunately, they do not carry it anymore. Does anyone know who has a similar scent? I did order Ocean from Peaks and will try it out, but am not sure where to go from there. If you need some "Ocean" from Peaks for testing, let me know!

I have been trying to come up with a warning label for our citronella candles and want to make sure I have covered everything. If you have a moment, would you check over what I have and see if it works? Most of it is just a regular warning. WARNING: Failure to follow instructions could result in fire hazard or injury. Burn candle outside only. Keep wax free of matches, wick trimmings or any flammable materials. Burn only on heat resistant surfaces for no more than 4 hours at a time. Keep wicks trimmed to 1/4 inch. Discontinue use when 1/2 inch of wax remains. Do use handle or move while candle is burning or wax is hot. Keep out of reach of children and pets. NEVER LEAVE A CANDLE BURNING UNATTENDED. My questions: have a covered everything? Should the wicks be left longer on a citronella candle? (I know when testing I didn't trim the wicks...thought the smoke was important..lol) Any input you can give me would be appreciated! Jane

We have never had much luck with craft shows BUT it did help us with display ideas and different set-ups, we received feedback on our products and were able to network. Our first couple were outside shows and it rained one of those years. Although our product was protected from the rain, the humidity did quite a number on our cardboard risers and votive display boxes. We hung in there a couple more years and then decided not to do outdoor shows. We then moved to inside shows but after a few years of hauling candles to and from these events with very little profit, we decided to only carry our products in stores and do one show a year with only our products, which has been more successful. It may be that the craft shows we attended were fairly low cost vendor spots. Maybe if we had tried some of the larger shows, we would have had better luck. That being said, I know others have had great success with craft shows. Good Luck with whichever you choose!

We used to carry Honeysuckle from C&S. I remember an outside show that we did - the bees were buzzing all over the Honeysuckle votives!! lol We use IGI4630 and had luck with the LX10's, I believe, double-wicked in our 10 oz jars. We never tested it in the tins, so I am no help there - sorry.

No - it is like saran wrap, completely clear. I occasionally will get paper from a slab floating in my wax - or a bit of dirt. That I can see and remove. The only way I knew it was in there was that I heard a "plop" when I was pouring. Even then, I couldn't see it in the candle jar that I had just poured, so I had to throw it back in the pot and then pour slowly until I saw it just before it went into the jar again. Anyway - I have been using a stainer since this incident and have not found anymore plastic....but will continue straining it just in case.

sporadic....I am thinking it was during the manufacturing process because you cannot see it anywhere on the slabs...it must have been mixed in the wax. Doesn't matter at this point, I guess....will strain before use and hope for the best. Thanks again for the responses. Jane

Actually, I never thought of this! You are right - if you like to power burn before you feel comfortable selling your candles, that is what you will do. And yes, why waste all the time doing the 3 hour burn, checking melt pool, noting how the sides, center,scent throw, etc - just to find out it won't survive a power burn and you won't sell it?? When I first started, I used to power burn, but the wax and wicks we use now (4630 with LX) makes it pretty easy to guess which wick will work for our jar candles and votives. Of course, we are starting pillars now and we will see if that continues. lol

After a difficult year last year, personally, I almost decided to quit the business. We decided that we would give it one more year, and it has been a challenge. Three of our favorite scents are no longer offered and we are on the search for replacements. The lids to our jars have changed and just don't fit right. When this problem started with the wax, I almost threw in the towel. I know that we all deal with setbacks, but I think I was hoping that getting back to the business would be uplifting and it has been anything but that so far. I did strain the wax today and found nothing - no specks, no dirt, no plastic - but I still do not trust that plastic may not be in there somewhere, so I will continue to strain the wax. It is just one more step that I just don't want to deal with. Thanks for the responses - I appreciate it! Jane

Thank you! ICS is not one of our regular suppliers. We order from JS, C&S, BCN, NG, Candlescience and Cajun - so unless someone who uses our regulars has a suggestion, I may need to add another supplier.

Just Scents is no longer carrying one of my favorite scents - Salty Sea Air. Has anyone found a replacement that is similar? Or have a recommendation for a replacement? As always, thanks for your help! Jane

We ordered several cases of wax from a well-known supplier and one that we have used for years. While pouring jars, I heard something "plop" into the jar. I could not see anything, so I emptied the jar back into the pour pot and poured slowly. Sure enough, a piece of clear plastic fell into the jar! You couldn't see it until it was on the lip of the pour pot sliding into the jar. I looked in all the jars I had just poured and didn't see anything, but I didn't trust that that was good enough, so I ended up emptying all the jars back into the pot. What a mess and waste of wicks, stickums, wax and TIME!! I did contact the company and they said they had not heard of this problem. They asked for the lot number but, unfortunately, the box was thrown away. I can give them the lot number of the other boxes, but I am not positive they were all from the same lot. I bought a strainer and my plan is to strain the wax before I use it. Any other ideas? Has anyone else had this problem with IGI4630?

Thank you!

We need to find a way to package our votives and melts for orders. I was thinking of clear plastic boxes that will fit 6 votives and, possibly, be also able to hold melts (tarts). I have looked at several websites but cannot find them. We would also like to change our sachet envelopes from cream colored to white. The approximate size we are looking for is 4"w x 5 1/2"h, but any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks for any help you can give me! Jane Whoops -please excuse my misspelling in the title...I hate it when I do that!!!! lol

I like the clear bottle - it will look good with our label! I do order from Candles and Supplies and I can't believe I didn't think to check them out! I usually only order our wax and FO's from them! Thanks for the tip! Jane

I did check out Wholesalesupplies and they have the foamer bottles @ $3.20 each or 48 for $78.77. Does anyone use these bottles? As far as the base goes, they have a foaming bottle wash - not sure if that is what I should be looking for or not. Any advice?

Thank you, moon01945! - I did see that thread, but I was looking more for a bottle with a wider base. Since we are just starting out with this - we want to try some of our favorite soap safe scents for ourselves - we have no experience. On some threads it talks about putting preservatives in it, and I am not sure if that is only if you make it from scratch or if you also need to add it if you buy the soap base directly from the manufacturer. Just trying to get some more info, but I will keep searching the forum! To save shipping costs, I was hoping to be able to find a company that would have the bottles we wanted AND the base. NaturallyTru - can you describe the bottles that you are looking to sell? Oh, I hope this makes sense...just woke up and kind of bleary.........lol

We would like to try our hand at foaming soap but all the suppliers I currently use do not carry any bottles. I prefer a bottle that has a wider base, just for stability. Also, do you need to use a special base for this type of soap? We are planning to just make this for ourselves, at this point. Thanks for any help. Jane

Steve - if you do decide to do the show, check out other people's photos of their displays. There are plenty of ideas on what you can use - that you may already have on hand - to use as displays. When we started out, we had small crates and boxes. Since then, my son has made us display shelves for our candles....which reminds me - I need to talk to him about our need for a soap display..... Shows are my least favorite part of this business. I would be perfectly happy to make and sell to stores - but since we are not in a place to do that yet, shows are a necessary evil that I do to get our name and product out there. That is just me, though - most vendors look like they are having a great time and enjoy the camaraderie . Maybe if I wasn't working full time and then spending my weekends hauling candles everywhere, I might feel differently....:rolleyes2 Good Luck with whatever you decide! Jane

We also store ours in a large rubbermaid tub that holds a case. Since it is easy to cut, we just use a a metal pastry scraper to cut as needed. Can be difficult to find in the stores, but Amazon had a few different styles.