Hopie

Thanks, they are too much fun to unmold and make them "come alive", heehee. My Kingman customers will love the whimsy of them! They also buy a lot of incense and oils from me. Haven't been melting any wax since we got back to Lake Havasu, temps were topping out at 113 degrees, and finally "cooling" a little to about 105 degrees. Can't wait for cooler nights so I can melt wax! I've got skull, pumpkin and cactus molds I'm dyin' to play with!

I also get the Egyptian Musk from TheCommonScents to mix 50/50 of each scent, then I add the same amount of DPG...so 8 oz Very Vanilla, 8 oz Egyptian Musk and 16 oz DPG. I'm not sure just "how much" DPG they put in their oils before I mix them for incense, I guess it's a "trade secret", because I asked some years ago and they would not say, but I know it's enough to make all of their scents "skin safe". This mix for incense makes a lovely scent at the right scent level. So, when I bottle them for body use (cosmetic grade), they are already "good to go" with no mixing of anything. I just screw on a top with a spout and squeeze them into the bottles to sell as fragrance oils then label them. Those "smalls" can really make a difference in sales, as some people will buy an entire ROW of one fragrance, and some will buy several different scents. It also gives them the VALUE they expect to find at outdoor marketplaces. They come back year after year, out of their favorite scent and ready to buy more.

With the molded novelty figure candles, I don't use scent. I'm not using vybar in the jar or pyramid/pillar candles. So I'm glad you told me that, if I ever do use scent on the cute figure candles, I'll go lightly on the vybar. They seem to have a lot of bubbles in the wax I got, which was the 140, thus the vybar...that's what GenWax told me to do. Seems we returned to Havasu a little early...it was 113 degrees the other day, and 108 today...ugggh!

YES, it's a compulsive addiction! I made a few more molded candles lately, and my saguaro cactus simply "bent over" from the heat when we left and had the air off in here, LOL! I should post it here, it's all too funny! Had to order vybar and UV stuff to change the way this basic paraffin I bought behaves, so we'll see how that goes. Back to dipping incense, it's all I can do in this extreme heat.

I use the Very Vanilla and I mix my own "Egyptian Vanilla" by mixing Egyptian Musk with Very Vanilla (50/50). The "Very" is a sweeter scent, of course, while the "Egyptian Vanilla" has a more muted, dreamy vanilla scent. They both sell well. I buy almost all of my incense scents from www.thecommonscents.com, they're quite good. The Tobacco Vanille by Tom Ford is also a more muted, smokey scent, so you may want to try that? Their "Kush" scent for incense is amazing! You can rename it if you wish, but it's an awesome scent. I do not buy their Frankincense & Myrrh, as it's very weak. I now really like Flaming's F&M, and will be using theirs for incense as soon as I get some more DPG. I was seeking a more "resiny" F&M, but fell in love with FC's. The mix on The Common Scents oils is one 16 oz DPG to one 16 oz fragrance oil. Since they already contain DPG, they are not good for candle making. I did contact them and asked if I could purchase the Sandalwood with NO DPG in it, and they never did respond (I took that as a "no", lol), thus, I only use them for incense and roll on body oils, which I carry about 300 scents of their body oils. Those "smalls" can really make a difference in sales. No one else sells the body oils at our marketplaces, so I'm glad about that. I bottle them myself using the roll-on 1/3 oz bottles, and I charge only $5 per. Yeah, I finally decided to put a "face to my name", lol! I've got the hair all cut off for summer, and only grow it in winter. It's another day of 105 degrees here in Havasu, we got back last Friday, so no wax melting unless I plan on working "late night", which I may do next week. Still testing wicks for that ProBlend 600, and just got smaller wicks to try, I'm testing ECO wicks with it, even though the zinc may be a better option, I hate the mushrooming and stink when you blow them out, lol.

Quentin, that was how I walked away some years ago, purely out of frustration! That was before I found this forum, and rekindled a desire to make lovely candles I'm taking it a lot slower and methodically this go 'round, and having a lot more fun with it. Keep on truckin', you'll be successful sooner or later!

Thank you for the Dreamweaver suggestion, I truly must try it! We've moved on back to Havasu, so it's extremely HOT here still...it's been 105 plus...so, I'm working in this season's incense right now (MUCH too hot for wax melting!). I'm buried in Sage, Kush, Sandalwood and Vanilla right now. My incense supplier was out of my Cherry, so I guess I'll just add it to my next order so I can load up...we do several events in Sept/Oct, before we move on to Quartzsite for our "7 days a week till 5 pm selling extravaganza" in Dec/Jan/Feb. Oh, and I do want to suggest the Sandalwood Classic for incense at: www.thecommonscents.com, it's a wonderful Sandalwood for incense

This is quite a dilemma, and I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I do know that some online sellers on Ebay and Amazon who lived in Canada would have products shipped to a northern state, such as Washington, Montana and North Dakota, then drive over the border to pick it up at a USPS Store. I don't know how far you are from the U.S. border, but it is an option. Not sure if you have duties to pay, but it may quell the extra courier payment? Anyone from Canada care to chime in?

Absolutely STUNNING! You must be over the MOON!

I like 'em! I especially like the green one, with the streak effect. How many drops of dye did you put in it?

Welcome, Laura! Yep, I made candles some years ago, and I did give it up for several years...mostly due to just being too busy with my work to continue to make them. I am enjoying making them again simply because I have the TIME to do so...well, for the last few months, anyway. I've learned so much here, and all the people have been friendly, helpful and kind, I am truly grateful for their expertise. Glad you joined the forum, have fun, relax and learn.

You are truly welcome! I've got a skull mold I'm going to pour later tonight, lol! I got a pumpkin and skull for the upcoming Halloween season, I have to devise my own "pumpkin orange" and had to wait for the white dye chips to arrive for the skull, as I wanted a pure white skull. Maybe I'll make a few, and give one of them red eyeballs?

Do a search on Amazon for Viva Decor Liquid Wax Pens. There are two listings, I bought the one with the most colors, one of them only had a limited color selection, it's sold by Treasuresbyina. They do come with a fine tip, but it can get a little "gloppy" if applying directly ( I tried that first). I used a small paint brush and it worked better. I was able to clean the brush with a wet paper towel, so I can reuse the brush.

More to come, I had these guys on the burner for a time

Okay, so I finally got around to posting my wax figures after painting their eyeballs, etc. I found this paint that is actually made in Germany that is made of wax, and it does have the shiny finish I was going for. I found it on Amazon. The Smiley and Alien really came alive, huh? Nope, I'm sure no artist, but I just haaad to give them the whimsy they deserved

Rats! Guess I should have tried that Mahogany spice for incense! I'm in the middle of making mega batches of incense for the upcoming snowbird season, which starts in early September, not to mention two more shows in Kingman, AZ. I'm up to my neck in incense right now! We're about to move our motor home back to Lake Havasu next Friday, so I wanted all the incense to be stocked for our return. Still haven't gotten that Volcano I wanted to try, maybe next order. CS didn't have that scent.

Lovely labels, as always Trappeur! Yep, they'll want an entire line of status jar candles, LOL!

Back when we sold handbags, we'd put the most gaudy, blingy one up front...there was one in particular...a lime green mess and everyone just haaaaad to pick it up! LOL! I was sad to see it sell!

These are the ones I ordered, really wanted to try the Pumpkin Souffle as well as others. Cedarwood Vanilla 1 oz Bottle Cinnamon and Vanilla 1 oz Bottle ECO 14 6" Pretabbed Wick 12 pc Bag ECO 4 6" Pretabbed Wick 12 pc Bag ECO 6 6" Pretabbed Wick 12 pc Bag Dragon's Blood 1 oz Bottle Very Vanilla 1 oz Bottle Strudel and Spice 1 oz Bottle Sandalwood 1 oz Bottle Red Ginger Saffron 1 oz Bottle Pumpkin Souffle 1 oz Bottle Plumeria 1 oz Bottle Nag Champa 1 oz Bottle Mistletoe 1 oz Bottle Macintosh Apple 1 oz Bottle Lavender 1 oz Bottle Himalayan Bamboo 1 oz Bottle Fresh Coffee 1 oz Bottle Frankincense and Myrrh 1 oz Bottle Coriander and Tonka 1 oz Bottle Christmas Hearth 1 oz Bottle Chocolate Fudge 1 oz Bottle Black Cherry 1 oz Bottle I really liked their Macintosh apple, the sandalwood is pretty good, too. Also liked their Cinnamon Vanilla. I got the White Birch free, so that will be a fun one to try.

Anyone tried their Apple Pie scent?

I'm glad I got the email today, we've been away at a show and I hadn't had a chance to check the email! Any highly recommended scents? Anyone? I've only gotten a 5 sample from them when ordering some lids, so what's good at CS?

There he is! The little guy looks so great! Totally cute! Tell us how you like the scent? I'm curious.

It's absolutely gorgeous, Forrest! Excellent work!

Welcome! So much to learn and enjoy on this site, very nice and helpful people around here. You have so much experience to share with the rest of us, glad you joined.

Good ole' pen and paper...because they can't crash.