Paintguru

I just tried a few and liked Blueberry Cobbler and Dicken's Christmas a lot.  Does anyone else have to wick up with their oils?  I tested four, and all four did not burn as hot as most of my other FOs.  So either I mis-wicked my testers or LS oils require more powerful wicks.  

19 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

If you candle packaged weighs less than 16oz (1 pound) I would use 1st class mail.  ~5.50.  Anything over 1 pound you have to use Priority Mail.

 

This is basically the new size box I use.

https://store.usps.com/store/product/shipping-supplies/priority-mail-box-4-P_O_BOX4

 

I can fit up to 5 of my cans in it, Shipping starts at $7.80 for local and then goes up based on distance.

Do you no longer ship regional rate boxes?  Is this one more efficient?

I just got an email about this today.  Allegedly running now through 5/25/2020.  USA25 is the coupon code.  

Okay so for those that have used these country comfort jars (and double wick), I assume you run into the flames lessening once you're below 50% left to burn?  I guess one needs to wick to cover this and just live with the hotter burn when you're near the top??

Here is a good thread to start you off:

Ugh, I hate wicks.  Went to the HTP 62...still had issues.  Went to the 73, way too hot (at least on the edge of the top of the CC jar).  What the heck?!?  Going to go back to the 62 again to see what happens.  Anyone know of any wicks that may land between the 62 and 73 in other lines?  

Edit:  Trying CD8s now.  Seem to be slightly smaller diameter than the 73, so perhaps it will work.  

Edit edit:  CD8s too big.  Down to CD6s.  

So I just burned the Bear Claws this weekend.  It is definitely different from Cinnamon Buns.  IMO, it was not as cinnamon-y, but sweeter and less cream cheese-y (if that makes ANY sense).  I wasn't a super big fan of it, but I can see it being a good bakery scent.  

9 hours ago, Marleigha said:

Just seen your comment about the cinnamon buns!  Good to know!  I have their Bear Claws and their Vanilla Frosted Graham..... Would you say the Cinnamon Bun is different then those 2?  
 

Are there any others that you really like from ICS?  😇

Funny you should ask, as I just went through and documented my stock of "threw well and smelled good" samples.  Here is what I have from ICS:

Cinnamon Buns

Boo Berry (I love that cereal)

Cactus Sea Salt

Spiced Cranberry

Coffee Beans

Christmas Kitchen

Sugared Spruce

Toasted Marshmallow

I can't say I've tested a TON from them, but most that I have tested were pretty good.  I do have Bear Claws made up and ready to test.  I will let you know how it does.  

Without trimming seemed to be moving okay, but JUUUSSTTTT clearing the sides and giving a full pool.  My dilemma is anyone who trims would likely run into this and be upset, while if I wick up one, I would hope it wouldn't move to an inferno with untrimmed wicks :).  I'll just have to test the 62s and see I guess.  

Testing 16 oz country comfort jar.  These are HTP 52s.  If I keep them trimmed, melt pool barely reaches the edge of at all.  Image is from burning for about 2-3 hours.  

I actually just "sold" some tester candles to a co-worker of my wife's who has not been able to go to Homegoods to restock her candle supply during this whole insanity.  If I was smart, I would really ramp things up during this time as I'm sure she's not alone not having a source for candles, but I'm the glacier of candle and soap selling!!  

Honestly, what has driven my scent choices is how well they've thrown/performed in my candles.  I've gone through a ton of 1 oz samples, but I probably only keep 1 out of 2 or so.  I'd like to use the same collection of scents for soap and candles, just for economy of scale.  I should go down and count how many "approved" scents I have right now.  

Edit:  I just counted...106.  Wowza.  

10 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

If you have a shop like Etsy, a simple inexpensive Wordpress site to blog and point to your etsy shop is easy and can look sharp.

if you want your e-commerce directly integrated in that blog site, woocommerce is only about $70 per year and surprised me ( in a very good way) when I built one for an artist client. the hard part is if hosting on word press you will be forced to upgrade from the cheap plan to business which is more$$. If you can self-host the cost is much lower per month.

 

a lot of dissatisfied etsy shops moved to Shopify. I looked at it and prefer BigCommerce just because of the added flexibility for multiple unit discount structure pricing across categories. 

Yup, I just went down the rabbit hole of re-reading all the threads here and looking around online.  It seems like people (online) aren't happy with Shopify and their transaction fee (unless you use shopify payments, which doesn't have seller protections).  I have a Square reader now for local sales, but that doesn't integrate well with Shopify.  I do see Shopify has readers now for local sales.  It does sounds like Shopify is more popular and "easier" than BC or Wix, but as you've said before, why not pay the same price for more features and get BC.    

I get the whole "just do an Etsy store" thing, but I think I want to grow my customers locally more than online, at least to start.  

Well I'm back trying to get by website up and running.  My Square site finally moved over to Weebly, and I can't tell if I like it or not.  I guess I should check out Ecwid.  For enjoying tech, it is amazing how much I'm avoiding building a website (mostly due to the cost of the more professional hosts).  

So I may go back down the rabbit hole of adding soaps to my product line once I start selling (only 2-3 years in the making at this point!!).  I had originally started in soap before moving to candles, but my wife seems to think all the baseball parents would eat up handmade soaps, especially if we have them available at our baseball games when the boys are their most smelliest!   

Part of the reason I didn't LOVE soap making was because it seemed like I needed a larger number of scent choices compared to candles.  Do folks have opinions on the number of fragrance choices needed  for soaps vs. candles?  Just curious how people balance out fragrance choices in their candle line vs. their soap line.  Do you use the same scents in both?  More in one vs. the other?    

This is the closest my Googling skills found.   Not exact, but getting closer:

https://www.aaronpackaging.com/plastic-specialty-bottles-bt003w-o

Must resist another supplier, but I've put such a dent in all my samples I'm worried I may actually make it through them all!  

Well things turned a bit for the last three I've tried.  Guinevere’s Attraction and Earthen Oak have pretty good throw and smell great, while Bohemian Raspberry is very nice as well with what I'd call moderate throw.  

20 hours ago, TallTayl said:

may I ask what wax?

 

I had a dupe made of the Black Vetyver Cafe from the old Scent Works that I like the most. The Scent Works version is the strongest and best quality I've found, edging out Daystar's version also. It too is not a great performer in wax. In soap, though, it shines.

Sure, I should have put that in my original post.  50/50 mix of 4630 and 464.  I let them cure for about 2 weeks.  Everything burns normal, just no throw unless I'm 2-3 feet from the candle.  I can see how they'd both be good in soaps/body sprays, but not in my candles.  

Well I'm 0 for 2 on PFO oils working well in my candles (1 oz per lb wax).  Black Vetiver Cafe had minimal cold throw and literally no hot throw.  Fig Pomegranate smelled great in the wax, but again had very little hot throw.  

Eeek, that's no good.  I really liked H&G's house!  Hopefully you can find a substitute.  I agree with Marleigha that ICS may be a good place to start looking.

Any thoughts on how to measure this?  I've tried using my laser IR thermometer, but I'm not sure I believe it since it is going into clear glass.  Maybe a stick on thermocouple would work.  

Got my order.  Didn't realize I ordered so much!  Can't say any smell super overly strong OOB.  Black Vetiver Cafe smells nothing like I thought it would.  The Lavender Sage OOB smells very nice, not powdery at all.  Guinevere’s Attraction is interesting OOB.  I'll candle test all the ones I got and puts results into the review boards.  

6 hours ago, Darbla said:

Giddy with excitement because I just placed my order!! 

Candles or B&B?  Well have to all report out here so we can all, of course, place another order for the stuff that we missed that is good!

21 minutes ago, Candybee said:

I didn't realize it was not legal. So that would definitely be a no. I really don't want to raise my prices. Will have to think on this some more. Still wondering if others have made any adjustments to their prices to recoup fees so if you have I'd like to know what and how customers responded. Thanks.

Well either way you're raising prices, either on those that pay via CC or on everyone.  Inflation is a real thing...customers shouldn't expect your prices to never change.  When was the last time you raised your prices?  I get it if you just raised them last year, but if they've stayed the same for 3+ years, a little bump shouldn't scare away THAT many customers.