Quentin

Same thing here. I wonder how they get it nice and flat on top at the factories. I might jump over to YouTube and check it out.

I've been curious lately about the single pour waxes I see on the market. Mainly as a substitute for some of the paraffin pillar blends like IGI 4625, just to give one example. Do they really live up to that claim? No second pour or topping off or punching holes in the bottom? Really? I'm not being lazy. I'm just looking for ways to cut down the time involved with all that stuff. What I'm saying is, time is money. I'm skeptical about single pours.

No I haven't. But I visited the link you gave us and they have some nice stuff. Don't just go to the candle industry section and leave if you don't see what you want, though. I browsed through the other industry tabs and you might find what you're looking for there. I didn't. I've looked everywhere and can't find a plastic cover for a jar I've got. It's square and at the top, which is the widest point, 3.5" x 3.5" OD. Rounded on the corners. 4 3/8 on the top diagonally. Any suggestions where to look? Any one?

I've used a lot of the LX wicks. Don't know why. That's just what I started with when I got involved with all this. One of the claims that I've seen sellers make is that the LX helps reduce mushrooming & carbon build up. I've found just the opposite to be true, at least here at my house. I'm trying to steer clear of them (the LX) when given a choice.

Thank you. I've printed that one and added it to my arsenal.

This brings up a few questions I THOUGHT I had figured out. Back to the drawing board.

@Sebleo Check out Endicia also.

Well... I really don't know. From what I've read lately, everyone (books, internet articles, etc) is saying to remove the pot from the heat at 185 F, then add the fragrance. I'm even finding more and more from my reading that the dye should be added at the same time as the fragrance! From what I gathered here in the forum, you can add the dye at the start of the melt. But I'm not answering your question, am I? I've come to believe that what you are saying is right. IGI in particular gives you a pretty wide pour range on many of their waxes. What happens, regardless of the wax you're using, is the temp of the wax in the pour pot starts to drop dramatically as you pour. Should you put the wax back and get it back to the right pour range or keep pouring? I don't know. I've done both. Great question, Laura.

Hmm. That's another good idea.

It most definitely works! I can personally attest to that. I don't know if anyone here remembers the Ben Rickert Company from back in the 1980s and 1990s. They were a big name in the home fragrance/soap business at that time. I was a travelling salesman for Ben Rickert. Every year, Ben would come out with something that was super and colossal. Everyone said it wouldn't sell. The buyers said "Are you crazy?" The buyers reluctantly bought them. These made incredible eye catching displays in my department stores. They drew people to the product. You guessed it. When I would make my return visit to the stores in January, they were all sold. Ben was a real showman. He made a believer out of me.

We call them both swap meets and flea markets down where I live. One important thing I forgot to mention to everyone. You may have already discovered this. I don't know if you have the Dollar Tree Chain Stores where you live, but as the name implies, everything is $1.00. I've bought some pretty nice glass containers there for $1.00 each and it's pretty good stuff. They have a 3.5"x 3.5" x 3.5" square jar that I regularly buy there. It's nice and heavy and carries a lot of value in the eyes of the consumer. I haven't found anything close to that price anywhere online. Great buy!

I checked out the two websites you included in your post. Interesting stuff there and I bookmarked both of them. One of them sells a brand of wax I was unfamiliar with until now. More great information from this forum.

I've done some thinking since I posted this. If I ordered a 4 foot tall apothecary jar online, the freight would probably be really high. What if it arrived broken. That would be an enormous hassle. Yes, you bring up a good point about the wicking. It would probably be more like rope than wick. Considering all that, it may just be better to buy it at retail from Hobby Lobby. After all it's only going to be a display piece. Nevertheless, If anyone comes up with a website that sells gigantic glassware, please tip me off.

I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday. In their glassware section, they have these HUGE glass items. I've seen some big ones at Walmart before, but they're nothing compared to the size of these. Imagine a four foot tall apothecary jar. Of course the price was big too. They were gaudy and very tacky looking. Yep, gaudy and tacky, just what I'm looking for now. I want to get one or two, or maybe three of these and turn them into real candles, not just mock ups. I don't care if it takes a whole slab of wax to fill one! I plan to use them in my booths as an attention getter. Pull the people out of the aisles like a side show at the state fair. I'm sure they will end up with a retail upwards of $150.00. I really wouldn't want to guess. I doubt anyone will buy them, just as long as they serve my purpose. Having said all that, there is a question here: Does anyone know of a glassware dealer online that might carry these gargantuan jars. Hobby Lobby's price was high, but not unreasonable. I'm sure there is some company out there that carries items like this. Does anyone have any suggestions where I might start looking?

Since we've last met, it appears that Candlewic is at least making an attempt at a cross-reference wick list. They sent this to my email the other day and here it is: http://www.candlesandsupplies.net/wick_selection_chart_by_wax.pdf

Nothing like that. I was just venting frustration over the myriad of wicks out there.

As I said earlier, to ask those questions was very rude on their part. But the questions they asked were useless and stupid. "How much fragrance oil do you put in your candles?" That is such a general question that it tells me they have no idea what they're doing. Most of their other questions were of that type. As far as the factory tour at Trapp's, what could they learn from that? They wouldn't even know what any of it was. They might recognize a pouring pot! I've been going to barber shops for over 50 years. I've watched how they cut hair. I STILL haven't learned to be a barber! I could take tour after tour of Chevrolet factories, but would that make me into an automobile manufacturer?

Yes! I received my first order for candles today.It was from my sister, so I don't know if that really counts or not. Seriously though, I'm doing my first show in October at The Old Jailhouse Flea Market in Canton, Mississippi. Supposedly, it's the biggest in the whole State. It spans up and down the streets of Canton for several city blocks. I'm beginning to have some doubts as to whether or not people in a flea market environment will pay the prices I'll be asking. I'm using a pricing template that I bought on Etsy. It's designed for handmade crafts, candles, jewelry and that sort of thing. I'm starting to lose confidence in the template. It calculates the quantities just fine, but then it simply doubles cost to wholesale and then doubles wholesale to retail. It doesn't seem to me that pricing should be that simple. The lady that built the template even doubles the cost of labor in figuring the final retail price. I have a serious question mark over my head about marking up labor costs. I have three questions: 1) Is it wise and/or ethical to double the labor cost, especially when I'm the only one doing the labor with no one else on the payroll? 2) Do any of you have use different pricing strategies for different types of markets and shows? and 3) Should I sell at the wholesale price, the full calculated retail price or somewhere in between the wholesale and retail price? I'd certainly welcome any ideas y'all might have.

That's probably the best way to handle it. Or maybe, "It's my great-grandmother's secret recipe."

Coming up with different names can be really tough. I'm always coming across a candle I made that had a great scent. I forgot to write it down. Back to the names, I still can't come up with any clever name for Lavender except "Lavender".

1. They are either looking for a supplier or 2. They want to hire you. Come to work for us as our master candlemaker for $XX.XXX salary or hourly wage.) Either way, it sounds like they're just not very sophisticated in business matters. Some things from your post that jumped out at me with my thoughts in brackets [Q: = Me ]. Trapp: "Their goal that they are going to do is they want to wholesale to stores and [1 huge big name company which I also won't mention the name of is in the works]" Q: [...or so they say. Don't we all wish for that one HUGE deal? Probably just blowing smoke but possibly true. I doubt it.] Trapp: "How much wax would it take to produce a large order of x amount of candles, what size wicks do I use for the style jar candle, where do I buy my wax from, wicks, oils, etc" Q: [Rude and inappropriate for them to ask, but they may just be curious to see if they can afford this, while at the same time, trying to sound like they're knowledgeable.] Trapp: "This is what I'm thinking. Anyone as we all know if they wanted to get into this field you go to the internet and find out everything, we all know that." Q: [No. Not everyone can. It has taken me nearly a year to figure how to get ANY sort of throw from a candle! They either don't have the time to do that, don't know how, or they just don't want to do it. They need a supplier. That's you, in their eyes.] Trapp: "They wanted to know if they give me a big huge order how long it would take for me to make and also they wanted to know if I could afford to order all supplies saying if I had to order $5,000.00 of supplies just to get started." Q: [They're sizing you up to see if you can handle a big job. That's a reasonable question for them to ask.] Trapp: "...they told me they know where i get my jars from at a grocery store in town and they in fact went and bought a case of these jars as the jars were sitting right there." Q: [Probably just a bargaining ploy on their part. They thought they were being clever. NOT!] Trapp: "They are in fact selling them for 22.00 (that is a triple markup)...kudos to them is what I say" Q: [Listing them. That doesn't mean they're getting any orders at those prices. +SHIPPING?] Trapp: "How that company could ship the same style jar as I do for 6.50 which included the shipping is unbelievable but that is what they said." Q: [They're just saying that. Same tactic they used with the jars from the store. We've all shopped the internet long enough to know that price is impossible.] Trapp: "Bottom line is I'm not willing to have them order all supplies for me and know my sources..." Q: [You're absolutely right. You can honestly tell them you can't guarantee anything unless Trapp does the whole project.] Trapp: "They even went so far as to say they would go and pickup my wax to save on shipping." Q: [That's a plausible story, perhaps. I would consider such an offer.] Well that was fun. I know from reading the other replies that I'm in the minority on this topic, but that's just what I garnered from Trapp's post. Very interesting topic. I'm pushing the post button in 3,2,1...

I'm not so sure I agree. I've become a cynical 60 year old man and getting more cynical all the time. It just seems to me that they would have at least taken the tour of Trapp's facility if they were really interested in starting their own candle company.

OK. I think I understand now. You did your research. But I was trying to figure out how I would sort through all the wicks out there. How many are there? A thousand or maybe 10,000 types? I don't know. I must be looking for that book: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Candle Wicks But Were Afraid To Ask.

Let me ask y'all something. When you switch over to the CDs, do you just try to match up the diameters of the wicks?

That's a nice system. I like it. I have a spreadsheet for each of my formulas, my handwritten notes from my testing. Yes, I do test. I also use a cost-to-retail calculator that has all the component parts for each candle listed. But I need to make something like you've got there. I see some wicks listed there that I recognize and own, the CDs, HTPs, and of course the LX. I haven't run across the performa yet. Are you making pillars, votives and jars/containers or do you specialize in one?