jdbonn

Daria, We live in Saint Paul (Arden Hills to be specific). I tried to find a local supplier of wax and other supplies, but came up short. I was able to find a soy-wax supplier in Maple Grove, however, I was not impressed with their organzation, stock, and management - and their prices were over the top. There is also a soy-wax supplier down near the Iowa boarder - not far from Mankato I believe -but I cant remember the name of the company. After months of searching I was not able to identify any local suppliers. We order from Bitter Creek (for our heavier weight items - like wax) and some of our FO, from Peak for molds, 1/2 our FO's, wicking, mold putty; and from Fairway Glass for our jars. You can find our contact information at http://www.ardencandle.com/contact_us.html. Feel free to give us a buzz. Click on our link above and call us - maybe we can talk and work out something to save on some shipping costs. This town is big enough for both our businesses. "Maybe we can give BeanPod a run for their business..." Shalom, JDBonn

Tuscan Nights from Peak is has a nice masculane fragrance, that I as a man, and my friends, have enjoyed

This fragrance isn’t necessarily a colon, however, it is nice and quite masculine: Tuscan Nights from Peak

Bitter Creek has some good scents. Our two favorites from BCN are: Apple Jack Spiced TeaWe have found teh Cucumber Cantelopupe from Peak more appealing that the cucumber melon from bitter creek north. Jason

Can you please offer your adivce? I have had a few requests from friends and coworkers to create a unique Chai-tea scent. I have considered finding and purchasing a Chai-tea fragrance online, but thought it might be a fun adventure trying to make a scent from the tea-receipe I was given? If you have created/made a unique FO, can you please offer your adivce on what I will need to purchase (in terms of carrier oils, distilation equip, etc) - the simpilst method please- and your suggested processes? There are a few other scents I would like to create as well, otherwise I might just search online. Feel free to offer your advice here or send your replies to jason@ardencandle.com. Shalom, Jason B. www.ardencandle.com

Hi Sandra, What is your company's theme, vision, mission and purpose? When I met with our designer (whom I had worked with professionally prior) I first laid forth my vision and purpose. He helped create the vision around that. He helped us with our logo, scent-graphics, and the banner graphics. Some of the additional artwork was created in house, however. Personally, I would not recommend a cookie-cutter website. I desired a unique look for our web-portal. I have learned that anthing that can help you stand out is good; Here is some of the graphic and artwork our designer provided for us at http://www.ardencandle.com/candles.html Click on the smaller graphics for larger images. The non-candle pages also have images and graphics he designed. Maybe this will give you some ideas. Best of luck to you. Jason P.S Our designer is www.mantheidesign.com.

Hello Carole, My advice to you is if you continue to enjoy your craft and business keep it up. I long to be in your shoes; however, I understand the complexitities of business managment, margins, and customer retention. We started our company this past year and deisre to use our company in order to provide jobs for the marginalized in our community and offset world hunger. While we did not "profit" this year, our desire is to be a profitable organization so that we can fulfill our vision, mission, and purpose. Keep up the good work. Any advice you can offer on how you grew your organization would be helpful. Abit about us: http://www.ardencandle.com/about_us.html Keep it up. Please feel free to comment and offer your advice. feel free to e-mail me via this forum or at jason@ardencandle.com Shalom, Jason Bonnicksen

We haven't figured out how to get rid of wet spots either. To get rid of the cheesecake look on the top, we use the hairdryer on warm/low speed to melt just the top surface of the candle, then when it sets up again it is smooth.

Hello all. Does anybody have instructions, or know how to make, fragrance oils for candlemaking? I have friends that have some awesome ideas that we would like to try via a FO manufacturing process for unique candle scents. If you know how to make your own fragrance oil, can you please pass along your advice? Thank you. Jason