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Velma

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Everything posted by Velma

  1. I would strongly advise not selling anything until you have thoroughly tested and perfected your wax/wick/fo/container combo, AND have liability insurance. As you stated, candle making is more complicated than it appears on the surface.
  2. I test all of mine at 72 degrees - that I what I find comfortable and it what (used to be?) recommended by the Dept of Energy for the best bang for your heating/cooling buck. You;re right in that we cannot control what the customer does as far as ambient temp (related to melt pool, wet spots, etc) nor their actual habits as using the candle. The saving grace is that they also don't know that we are trying to achieve a specific melt pool in a specific time frame, nor what constitutes a failure to a chandler.
  3. Was wondering if anyone came up with an answer to the glycerin question on this one. I make it for my home and my boyfriend's business, but its just distilled water, FO and rubbing alcohol. I'm starting to get requests to sell it, but i've never ventured into body care or room sprays before. If i replace the distilled water and rubbing alcohol with a 50/50 mix of water and polysorabte 20 will that work?
  4. ok I am DYING to know who this is about - I've taken a bit of break from the vendor groups to help me focus on my own creations. Can you PM me with it if you don't want to share publicly?
  5. Just wanted to state that I believe the net weight must be listed in both ounces and grams to comply with labeling requirements.
  6. Where did you get these made at? I'd be interested as well. I use the salsa jars so its difficult at times to use the bow ties on them
  7. Looking forward to this as well - I am going to test 6006 after the first of the year. I've been concentrating on growing my melt business and have been haphazardly testing in my 4630/415 blend but not methodically like I need it. It seems to really need wicking up, and I really have lost my patience for it. When I sold candles 10+ yrs ago, I was using a 70/30 blend from Greenleaf and it was super easy to wick - almost all ecos and a few LX.
  8. When I was unemployed a few years ago, I sold my gross old gym shoes for $30. That filled up my tank for a while. I got rid of my falling apart shoes and got some cash, some random got..my shoes to do whatever with. Definitely a fair trade and I think I came out ahead on it.
  9. Sugar cookie dough is a GREAT blender - throw some cinnamon roll in it, or other bakery scents and it really ups the sweet bakery smell. Definitely cannot use it on its on, but I use it in several blends.
  10. Lone Star Candle's Leather is amazing! That is my favorite one.
  11. An absolute winner last year in melts - I'm adding it in candles this year. Hope it's a big seller!
  12. Since most of us make our own, purchasing probably isn't on our radar much. My customer vary from people that change the scent every day, to people who use the same bit of wax for 3 weeks. LOL
  13. I really like 4630, but my customers want soy, so I blend with 415. For standalone melts, I add some pillar wax to add some hardiness to it. I may have to try 6006 again - I tried it years ago but decided to use a parasoy that a local supplier had. Will never make that mistake again - the supplier closed without warning, which was one reason that led to me stop making candles for several years.
  14. Thanks everyone! My designer really nailed it - the only requirement I had was that leopard print MUST be used. Everything else was up to her, and she absolutely nailed what I wanted without me understanding what I wanted, in the first try. Seriously, there was no way I could do this on my own. I know nothing about graphic stuff and really have no inclination to try it. I really am someone who does most things on my own, but I gladly handed this task off to a professional. It made my life easier and made launching my etsy store a breeze.
  15. Hi all! I have made this for my personal use, just using rubbing alcohol, about 10 drops of FO and distilled water. Works great, but I have some candle customers who are asking if I can make a spray for them. I've not made anything but wax, so this is out of my element to say the least. Doesn't help that I barely squeezed out a C in Intro to chem and then switched to physics in school. After researching I think I should use polysorbate 20 in place of the rubbing alcohol - Should it be an amount equal to the distilled water, or just a few teaspoons as I did with the rubbing alcohol with the distilled water making up the rest of the bottle? Appreciate any tips on this - beyond nervous in figuring this out.
  16. Like a lot of us, I do lots of my own blends. I'm just a beginner at blending, so it's trial by fire for me. I think what sets me apart is I really sat down and thought about WHO I am, who my target market is, came up with a list of adjectives to describe me and my company. From there I jotted down scent names since I rename almost everything, and then talked at length with my graphics designer about how to integrate it together. All of this before I sold anything at all. I had my company name picked out, and had already signed up for all social media platforms to reserve the name. My style is edgy, vintage, rock & roll, tongue in cheek BUT I need to be able to sell to housewives in the suburbs too. My designer put it all together perfectly! Its upscale and sophisticated yet fun and tongue in cheek to those that get the joke. My designer is a friend of the family, no way could I have afforded her services! She works for a big downtown firm and does marketing campaigns for big and important things.
  17. Where are you in Texas? DFW has 3 candle suppliers. May be worth a day trip if you are close enough.
  18. No - i'm not a huge fan of soy, and i JUST got a good parasoy blend going. My concern is that they stated they had to switch to the Q waxes to comply with FDA requirements that go into effect June 2018. Now they bring back the old wax - will they again pull it off the market to meet the June deadline? Too much inconsistency. Same reason I won;t use Peak again - why put myself in a position to get burned by a supplier?
  19. I use the large Presto Pot (Big Kettle) and I have a hot plate that I use with a large, ugly pan I got at Goodwill for 50% off, so I think I paid $2 for it. My guy is looking at making a small wooden stand for the Presto, so I can place a scale on my table, pour pot on top and have the wax flow into the pot as I weigh it. Hopefully someday I'll need a larger melter, but it will be awhile. Look on OfferUp = I see the old style turkey fryers there occasionally, usually under $50
  20. Hi there! I too used Greenleaf's parasoy - are you in the DFW area? I stepped away from candlemaking about the time they closed up, so I am not sure about a replacement. Since then I've been using 6006 to make candles and melts for myself and friends/Family. Last fall I started testing in earnest to relaunch a business - I ended up blending my own parasoy with 3 different waxes. It was the only way to get the exact results I wanted, since all of the local blends and soy waxes didn't work. Since i live in Dallas, I am spoiled to have 3 suppliers within a 30 min drive in either direction, so I made do with what I could get locally, instead of paying to ship wax.
  21. The comments were the best - people didn't understand its a comedy video, and were trying to get her tips!
  22. Yep, I use a 65/35 blend of paraffin to soy waxes for my melts.
  23. Nickie can you let us know which vendor is said to lose scent? I'm just curious, as I use a softer parasoy blend. And if anyone wants to share these crazy wax reviews on youtube, please feel free! LOL
  24. I'm a huge fan of Vintage Chic Scents - all of her scents are her own blends, and then she builds them. For example, she has a scent called Jackie O, which is like 4 scents blended. She has a Cookie Monster scent that is 5 scents, and she combines these two blends to make Cookie Monster loves Jackie O. Her total scent list is ridiculously long, but she restocks monthly with some sort of a theme, so every scent is not available every month, or even every other month. I have some of her melts made early in 2017 and they smell amazing. I *think* Hayden Rowe has a single scent note added to every scent, at least all of the ones I ordered had a similar note. My friends also picked it up as well when they sniffed the scent shots I received. Her packaging is very upscale, but I wasn't overly impressed with either the scents or the longevity of the scent.
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