JeremyM

I typically order 50-lb boxes of wax and have never received a discount. I always assumed volume discount was something much larger. I really hope that's the case and I haven't been losing money!

I'm really intrigued by this. I've been making candles for over two years now. I went from Naturewax C3 to Golden Brands (AAK) 464 and now finally the Lab and Co Coconut Creme wax. I didn't think independent candle makers were even able to buy candle wax directly from the source without going through a distributor. I couldn't buy directly from Naturewax or Golden Brands, and I know Lab & Co doesn't make their own wax, but I just assumed I wouldn't be able to go "straight to the source" as you're saying.

Pretty sure Thecandlegirl is referring to Candles and Supplies since Candle Science doesn't sell any coconut wax blends. Looking at the Candles and Supplies website, it shows all of their coconut wax blends (except for the coconut-paraffin wax) as being out of stock. I could be wrong, but I think that's the same as the Coco 83 wax that others have used. You can tell it's all the same because they have all been out of stock for a while now. The fact the Lab & Co waxes are still in stock tells me they are not the same wax marked up at a higher cost.

Ooh, I haven't thought about the matte clear labels. I get all of my other labels from onlinelabels.com and just requested some free samples to test out my new designs. I ordered the matte white and glossy white labels, but I think I'll get a few of these samples as well. Thanks for the suggestion!

Not to mention they're very expensive! I've been reading up on how to use Photoshop to make text look like gold foil. If all else fails, I may end up trying to print these black labels myself. I'm not sure how the black will turn out on an ink printer though.

I use it by itself. Pretty sure there is already plenty of soy in it. Out of curiosity, what are your favorite fragrances from them? I've only tested four at this point and "Rose Patchouli and Amber" is my favorite, followed by "Black Dahlia and White Birch".

I'm in the process of developing a luxury line of candles to go along with my traditional candle line. I know I am going with matte black and rose gold containers, and I would like to create matte black labels with gold lettering. I make my own labels for my other candles, but this is something I will need to get custom made. I've searched online, but I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. Can anyone recommend a site that can make labels like the one shown in the picture. (I won't be doing anything embossed.) Jeremy

@Bambi I for one am satisfied enough where they have actually become my main candle supplier. This is now where I purchase my wax (Coco Creme) and wood wicks. I'm also testing some of their fragrances at the moment as well. For anyone thinking about trying their wax, I tested both the Coco Creme and Coco Apricot blends. I prefered the Coco Creme with soy compared to the apricot blend. Even though they claim these waxes don't sweat as much as 100% soy wax, I find that not to be the case. The apricot blend is softer than the soy blend and sweats more easily as well. Jeremy

You make an excellent point about the environmental trade off. I'm going to stick with Lab & Co too, despite the paraffin. As I read through these posts, it seems like many of the coconut wax blends use some paraffin as well. It's the best wax I've tested so far and (knock on wood) the Wooden Wick company seems to be pretty stable.

@pughaus are you planning to stick with the coconut wax from Lab & Co? I don't know what to do! I want to find one without paraffin, but it sounds like other brands might have paraffin too. I thought Coco-83 was an option, but it sounds like an unreliable source at this point. Like others, I wish All Seasons coconut wax was available in the US! I went through all of my old emails and can't find a response from a company saying their coconut wax did not contain paraffin. I thought it may have been Northwood's wax, but I couldn't find an email to back it up. Maybe it was from an online chat or maybe I was thinking of something else entirely. Sorry for the confusion.

Ugh, sorry everyone, but they're right. It was a different company who told me their wax had no paraffin. I just went back through my emails. Even though Lab & Co didn't tell me outright it contained paraffin, I did ask if it was considered all natural, organic, and biodegradable. The rep replied the wax was not considered all natural or organic, but she then added that coconut, soy, and paraffin waxes were all considered to be biodegradable. I should have asked a follow up question. Well, I'm annoyed at myself now for not digging into it further. Did they tell you how much paraffin they used? If it's less than 1%, I may be willing to live with it if I can't find anything better. In the meantime, has anyone had luck with the Coco83 wax blend? Someone mentioned earlier it has coconut, soy, and beeswax. I think I'm going to order a sample of that and hope it works as well. I've also come across the All Seasons Wax during my searches. It would be great if we could get it here in the US. Jeremy

I really like the wax and wicks from that site. Wood wicks get a bad rep, and I having tested other brands, I can certainly understand why. These ones work well for me and are very reliable from test to test. I used to use cotton wicks in the beginning, and I found it difficult to find the perfect wick size for every fragrance. There was too much variability. With the wood wicks though, there are just a few sizes I need to test. It's just simpler. It gives me a good HT, comparable to what I got with my 464 soy wax. It supposedly has a stronger HT than soy, but I can't really tell. Happy New Year to you as well!

You're a life saver! I hadn't opened my most recent box of wax, so I just did and found my 20% off coupon. It expires in a few days, so I would have missed out if not for you!

I'm not sure if this has already been discussed (can't find a thread on it anywhere), but I was curious how other chandlers are handling California Prop 65. Even though I live in Massachusetts, I think it makes sense to stay away from fragrances that include ingredients known to be carcinogenic. My three main suppliers are Nature's Garden, Candlescience, and Flaming Candle. Both Nature's Garden and Candlescience list this information for all of their fragrance oils. For example, one of my favorite FO's from CS (Blue Spruce) contains an ingredient listed in Prop 65, so I plan to find an alternative for it soon. Flaming Candle currently identifies which fragrances are phthalate-free but does not include Prop 65 ingredients. I've reached out to them to see if they plan on adding this information soon. I also reached out to Aztec Candle. Their customer service rep told me they do not currently list it and have no plan to list it moving forward. Even if I inquired about a few specific fragrances, they will not tell me they include any of the ingredients. I recently wrote about Lab&Co in a different post. That's where I currently buy my wood wicks and coconut wax blend. They recently came out with some very nice (and very expensive) fragrance oils. I have been chatting with their wonderful customer service rep because most of their oils are not currently phthalate-free. They are working hard to remove all phthalates from their oils. I gave her a list of ten FO's I wanted to try, and all are on deck to be phthalate-free in the next 2-3 months. Being in California, they are also on top of Prop 65. Even though this information is not listed on their website, they have a compliance officer who will check different FO's for you to make sure they are free of those ingredients. I guess my roundabout question is whether other chandlers are taking similar measures or if most of you are just ignoring it because you don't live in California. I'd also like to know about other suppliers you use who are transparent about which FO's contain these ingredients. Thanks! Jeremy

I asked them about paraffin, and I was told it contains no paraffin wax. I hope they're being honest with me.

For wood wicks, I use woodenwick.com (where I get the coconut wax). They have a lot of different options, but the original wicks on their own don't seem to work well. They recommend booster or dual wicks for natural waxes such as soy or coconut waxes. The dual wicks have never worked for me, not sure why. The booster wicks do work well though. I tried making my own booster wicks by combining two wicks together, but ended up just going back to the booster wicks because it was a lot easier. I use 9 oz amber jars that you can find from many different suppliers. They have a diameter of roughly 2.5" inches. For the 464 soy wax, I used 1/2" wide booster wicks. For the virgin coconut wax blend though, I only need 3/8" wide booster wicks. Most of my wicks have a thickness of .03" but some need .02" or .04". The cost definitely sucks and their shipping costs are horrible. I live in Massachusetts, so prices will vary but my last order was for 40 pounds of wax. The wax itself was $131 with tax, but the shipping was $93, almost as much as the wax itself. The total amount was just shy of $200.

I'd say it's comparable to my old 464 soy wax. It's supposed to be a little stronger, and maybe it is, but I can't tell much of a difference myself.

I'm a little late to the conversation (haven't been on this forum in a while), but I do use the Virgin Coconut Creme wax. I used to use 100% soy wax (464) but became so aggravated with inconsistencies, sink holes, and all of the other problems that give soy a bad rap, so I decided to make a change. To clear up a few things, the wax only comes in the fancy bag if you order small amounts. Anything over 40 pounds or so, and you get a big box full of wax slabs. No fancy packaging. I do miss the soy flakes, but I NEVER have any problems making candles now. I also use their wood wicks, and my candles come out absolutely perfect every single time. Peace of mind alone is worth the extra money I pay. I also increased the price of my candles to compensate. Also, just to be clear, this is not 100% coconut wax. It's a coconut wax blend with mostly coconut wax but also some soy wax. The only thing I don't like is, unlike other suppliers, they won't give you an exact percentage. They will just say it's mostly coconut wax. I suspect it's more soy than most other suppliers because I tried another popular coconut wax, and my wood wicks burned with a large flame. When I reached out to them for support, they said wood wicks just don't go with coconut wax. Not sure how this blend is different, but my flame heights are perfect. For anyone who is tempted to test this wax with wood wicks, I use 9 oz amber straight sided jars. Most fragrances work great with a booster wick with a width of 3/8" and a thickness of .03". They also have a different coconut wax blend that contains apricot wax instead of soy wax. It's a tad more expensive, but I didn't like it as much. It was softer than this wax. Those candles mostly required a booster wick with a .02" thickness.

Thank you @TallTayl for the tips! I tested the other day when it was 90, and the candles began to melt. My canopy tent came with removable walls, so I put on three of the walls to block the sunlight, but I'm wondering if it actually increased the temperature under the canopy because of poor ventilation. It's going to be 95 here tomorrow, so I'll test again with just one wall (the side facing the sun).

I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I did a pretty lengthy search and couldn't find anything. I am still relatively new at selling my soy candles and wax melts. I've predominantly used Etsy but attended a few Fall/Winter craft fairs last year. My goal this year was to use my summer (I'm a teacher) to attend more craft fairs and farmers markets. My first one is scheduled for this Sunday, but it's forecasted to be 92 degrees. My soy candles would definitely begin to melt at that temperature, so I pulled out of the event. I have a farmers market on Tuesday, and it's supposed to be 95 degrees, so I will probably need to cancel that as well. Maybe I was being too optimistic when I signed up for these markets, but I really want to get out there to sell my product in person. Do any of you have experience selling soy candles at outdoor markets in the summer? I'd love your feedback on whether it's just a bad idea or if there are things I could do to make it work. Jeremy

Thank you so so much TallTayl! I searched through these forums but somehow missed your videos. They were super helpful. I'm pretty sure our problem is that we're packing them too tight. It's my fault because I told them to do it. That's because everywhere I read said we should do that. Ugh. Anyway, I'm also going to have them use rubbing alcohol solution in a spray bottle instead of just water in a pipette, and I also love your idea for using packing materials to prevent the bath bombs from being flat on the bottom. I'm looking forward to testing some more tomorrow!

I'm a science teacher, and my students are making bath bombs to learn the chemistry involved but also gain some entrepreneurial skills. After doing a lot of research, we decided on this recipe and basic procedure below. For the most part, we used aluminum molds. While half of them turned out pretty good, the other half all have cracks. I've read some forums about the humidity of the room, but it's not at all humid in my classroom. I appreciate any and all feedback! 1 cup baking soda 1/2 cup citric acid 1/2 cup cornstarch 1/2 cup salt (kids chose between epsom salt, dead sea salt, and himalayan pink salt) 1 tbs oil (kids chose between coconut oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, and vegetable oil) 2 tsp fragrance oil 1/4 tsp powdered colorant ~2 tsp water Basic procedure: 1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together. 2. Combine oil and fragrance oil to dry mixture. 3. Use pipette to slowly add water while mixing until desired "wet sand" consistency is achieved. 4. Make molds, leave in mold for 2 minutes, then take out and let air dry on a paper plate.

Great idea! I might need to order a pair as well.

I tried a few brands of wood wicks but always had issues as well. Like coachtom mentioned, there is a patent now on wood wicks so you will notice all sites either selling the same wood wicks or their stock is "limited" as they get rid of their old supply. If they ask you to include a patent on your labels, you know it's the patented kind. The best place to get them is woodenwick.com. I think they are the main supplier of these wicks. It's confusing because there are so many options with different widths and thicknesses. I also use 464 soy wax, so I have been using mostly the dual wicks (two "original" wicks adhered together) or their booster wicks (an original wick with a much smaller original wick adhered together). I want to like the dual wicks because they provide a more horizontal flame, which I really like. However, I do notice they tend to burn low and are not consistent. As wthomas57 referred to as well, the two wicks curl apart while burning. It looks a bit odd. I have now mostly switched to the booster wicks. It's a more vertical flame, but they work consistently. I use 8 oz mason jars and more recently 9 oz amber jars, and their 1/2" booster wicks work for all of my fragrances in those two jars. The same wick also works very well in my 6 oz gold tins. There are still some where I like the dual wick, so I test both wicks with each new fragrance I sell. https://www.woodenwick.com/adhered-wicks/ The toughest thing about wood wicks is unlike traditional wicks, you really need to trim them. The wicks will not stay lit if they are too big, so you need to trim them before each use. I've started sending customers a little thank you note that includes directions for proper maintenance of their candle since we know no one looks at the bottom label. I have also ordered some CleanCut wick trimmers because they are the only wick trimmer I have found that can actually cut at a 90 degree angle. They are not sharp enough for trimming fresh wood wicks after you have poured a candle, but they're perfect for trimming wood wicks before each burning.

I have a Clean Cut brand wick trimmer that makes a 90 degree cut. It's really nice for trimming my wood wicks, but it's also on the expensive side. I've tried a few other brands, but they all have more of an angle to them, which makes it difficult to trim wood wicks as you trim further into the container. Can anyone recommend another brand of wick trimmer that makes a 90 degree cut like Clean Cut but perhaps a bit cheaper? It's hard to tell just by looking at the photos. Jeremy