Paintguru

The woo commerce thing does seem interesting.  Maybe over the winter I'll have more time to actually make enough product to sell and do the website.  

Square also allows you to setup a single page store for free, which I have thought about.  Milos' option seems pretty good as well.  Shopify just seems super expensive for starting out, but is probably the best long term.  

Ordered....thanks Trap.  🙄🤣

14 hours ago, Trappeur said:

Wow Shelley, those are simply wonderful!   I love em all.   I would buy each scent, no kidding!

So these descriptions go on your website and not on the label, correct?

Your great at stories!

 

Trappeur

Yeah those are great for a website!  I wonder if one could come up with a one sentence "summary" of each story for the label.  

So does anyone have an example of a descriptive "story" they use?  I'm trying to imagine an example.  I do like the idea, as it gives the candle a little life of its own.

13 minutes ago, Quentin said:

For many of my fragrances, I've come up with my own names just by borrowing a word or two from the company's description. How many more Amish Harvest fragrances does the market need? I saw the word "golden" in one description. My version is now called Golden Harvest. @Paintguru, just follow your heart.

That's a great tip.  There is good stuff in this thread, and you should definitely post your labels.  It is so hard coming up with branding, but so critical and hard to modify after the fact.  

Guess I need to become a good story teller

1 minute ago, TallTayl said:

As for descriptors go with as much as you like and see how your market responds. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it makes a candle impossible to get people to even smell. For instance, a #1 best seller here is blood orange based. People pick it up for the name, and nearly always buy it. When people ask first what the scent blend is, and I tell them it contains patchouli, many slap that candle down and recoil without ever taking a sniff. For kicks, I’ll pick one up from the other side of the display and ask them to sniff without revealing that it is the same candle and they absolutely love it. 

That's great, and an interesting point.  I guess it depends if you're selling online vs. in person.  I figure online needs the description a bit more, while in person, as you said, people usually smell and buy based on the name.  Maybe I'll remove it and just go with names.  It would clear some space for me in that lower region.  

Thanks for the love and suggestions...they are much appreciated.  I really like the circular logo, as it is nice for social networks like Twitter, Facebook, etc. 

I switched to 4630 during my development just to get the throw I wanted (even though the shrinkage is driving me nuts).  I feel like there are two camps of customers:  those that want soy and those that just want smelly, high throw candles.  I figured I would focus on the throw side of things.  

I will try to get some pics of finished products.  I need to make a batch for my kids' teachers for Christmas gifts, so I'll use those as my trial run.  

Oh, and that color....I had to buy a whole new color laser printer because my first one could not reproduce it well (it turned it very bright and skewed pink).  Drove me nuts!

Well it's paraffin...do I really need to call it out?  Thanks for the tips on the fonts, it all makes sense.   

Okay I'll put myself out there and hopefully get some good feedback.  Here is what I have for my labels for my candles.  I plan to put the round one on all the tops of my candles and then the rectangular one on the sides, which obviously have the details about the fragrance.  Thoughts?  Also, how much description do you put on the label when it comes to the scent.  Notice what I did....too much?  Anything else I'm missing?  Thanks in advance!

I wish there was a place that had the graphics like Zazzle, but allowed you to print at home.  Shutterstock is an arm and a leg for graphics for business use.

Ah interesting.  Yeah it is crazy that they don't have more size choices.  I'll have to look around and see if it is worth it to do these labels...guess I need to look for coupons.

2 minutes ago, Trappeur said:

Hi Paintguru,

All the images and labels come from Zazzle.   Once in a while I'll get an image off of google to fill in some empty spots on a label design I'm working on, but yes, 99.9% is all from Zazzle.

 

Trappeur

It seems like they really only have one label size though.  Or am I missing something somewhere?  

So I stumbled on this as I was searching for label ideas.  Trap, do you get all your labels from Zazzle, or just the images?  I'm debating if printing my own is better or if I should just go through Zazzle and make themed ones similar to what you have.  I do worry that if I vary the label with different themes, I won't have any consistent brand/logo image (unless I do a consistent one with my logo, contact, etc. on the lid?!).  Ugh, I stress way too much about this because it is always easier to change before you start.  

I actually picked up this cooler that I plan to use for cooling.  Looks like the perfect size for candles.

http://a.co/d/7QidkW5

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the salt test?  If it speeds up my trials due to my addiction, all the better!

Half way through a test burn of Amish Harvest from TFC.  Wife loves it, as do I.  Great throw and a very nice scent.  I don't immediately grab "fall" from it, but it is a great scent.

On 9/23/2018 at 12:23 PM, Sarah S said:

IMO, Candlewic has the best Pumpkin Chai out there. Super strong, creamy, spicy but not overwhelming, smooth sweet pumpkin...

I haven't tried the one from CS to compare, but CW's is really stellar. @GailC turned me on to that one, and she wasn't wrong! 😃

Interesting, I just grabbed a sample of this, so I'll have to make it up and compare it to the CS version.  My wife was a big fan of the CS one, but she's more into spicy scents than sweet/fruit scents.

31 minutes ago, Jeana said:

I just don

 Good to know. I just don't know if I'll be able to handle the gingerbread type scent they put in it. I didn't expect that. I know the Souffle has tremendous throw even in some of the poorer preforming waxes. 

Yeah the spice is definitely there.  Souffle may be better for a pure pumpkin smell.

I've always thought something like Sweet Grandpa, or something similar would be a good name for it if you're trying to not call attention to the tobacco.  It is a great scent.

Just started burning the Pumpkin Chai from CS, and WOW, I'm impressed.  I get both the pumpkin and the chai spice, and it is a great hot thrower.  Definitely a top performer.

I'm sure you've heard it before @MilosCandles, but I'm really impressed with your branding.  From the stamp to the logo in general, it is all really well thought out.  Now I plan on stealing your box stamping idea.  😁

I just potted this up a few days ago in some 4630 and plan to start burning it soon.  Cold throw is pretty good, and I definitely smell both the pumpkin and the spice.  

I'm still bouncing between tins and jars.  I really like tins, as they are clean and, as Quentin stated, a nice compact all in one package.  I have no clue what customers think since I don't sell yet.