Beth-VT

Doesn't really matter, as any insurance company will do the same. If you own a home, a car, a retirement account, or as Di said future earnings, they can be at risk. At least with insurance you have someone that represents you, the insurance company should provide attorneys as well. Labels do not excuse you from liability, whether you are at fault or not.

and to answer your question......the flash point has absolutely no bearing on the wicking.

CD's might work. Another thing to keep in mind, is seeing what happens once you get below that wide spot in the jar. The deeper you get the more heat is trapped in the jar (which heats the sides of the jar which spreads downward below the wax level) and you may find that although you might be a bit shy of a full melt pool at the widest point, it's entirely possible that later burns will catch up: not by creating a full melt pool but simply by the heat melting off the sides.

Yup. Although I think there are a couple diff. manufacturers. BCN's come on a roll, Steve's come on sheets and are a hair thinner, so must be made by different co's.

Stella is exactly right. The size, or type, of wick has no impact on this. If your wick continues to burn down below the neck, you need to use something to secure and seal the bottom of the wick tab. I'm one of those who uses and loves wick stickums. Fast, instant, and total adhesion around prevents wax from continuing to wick up.

I'm in Northern Vermont and think we get a tad colder than you coasties (lol), I've never had a problem with anything. I store all my wax out in the garage, the cold won't bother it. Generally, anything else packaged is moved around from truck to truck enough that it's not subject to constant temps cold enough (and for a long enough period of time) to cause any harm. If something was left on your doorstep for an extended period, in sub-zero temps, you might have some freezing, but typical packaging (bubble wrap, peanuts, paper, etc) provides an enormous amount of insulation. HTH.

I think you've all gone off the deep end.......:tiptoe:

E.....knowing your pillars, I'm not surprised in the least !!!

175° is far above what most normal people can stand to hold. 140° is as hot as I can hold for more than a few seconds, and that's frickin' hot. (I only know cuz we have radiant floor heat and I can test down near the boiler, we have a thermometer on our copper lines and at 140° it's impossible to hold on to.....and I'm no wimp ) So even if you can't comfortably hold onto it, chances are (unless your flaming like a blow torch) that you'll fall under that 175° guideline. I know all the jars and tins I've tested have never come close.

LLM is correct. I wick that is too large can tunnel just as one that is too small will. Although one that is too large may create a larger flame and thus more heat (and you would think a larger melt pool) it can also consume more of the wax it does melt in a shorter amount of time, thus preventing you from reaching a full melt pool, and causing tunneling. With palm, air pockets can also give the same appearance as tunneling...and the air pockets are not always noticeable. HTH.

I actually prefer the higher heat setting. The trick is to use higher heat, so it shrinks in a shorter amount of time. If you are too cool, you'll have to heat your votive longer and that gives the wax time to melt. I promise, it is possible, and your votives won't melt.....it really does just take practice, so don't be discouraged and don't give up. As for gauge, I use 100 & 80 gauge, but 80 gauge can be trickier, and I won't use anything thinner than that. 80 gauge takes a bit more finesse cuz if you heat too much it will shrink then seperate at the seams or simply melt a hole in it, but it works fine. Thinner than 80 gauge will also break down to FO's much quicker than heavier gauges, then you have sticky, tacky mess.

Looks to me like soot from the burn settling back down into the wax. Your melt pools look small, perhaps too much FO is causing soot? Is it a heavy oil?

If you get your knucklebuster and hand swipe your tags, there's no reason (as long as you're comfortable with the delay to process) you can't take your sales at your show, then process once your ProPay account is confirmed and opened.

Do you blame them? Consider the millions of miles they drive to provide us a service? With gas up above $3/gal again (with little hope of going down much), they can't absorb that, nor should they be expected to. When our costs go up, we have to increase our prices....they're no different. But yeah, it sucks.

I've used them for 4 years and never had a problem. It's easy and the best deal for my needs. You have to determine how many transactions a month you'd process, then figure up your fees from ProPay compared to a standard merchant account. The nice thing about ProPay is it's super cheap if you don't use it. Merchant accounts charge you a monthly fee (usually at least $20/mo). Propay's annual fee for a basic acct works out to just over $3/mo. Yes, the rates are higher, but if your volume isn't huge, it's probably cheaper.

Propay and a knucklebuster.

Stella is dead on about a sealer of some sort preventing the wick from sucking the wax dry. With no sealer, a wick will continue to 'wick' wax up from underneath the tab until it's bone dry...regardless of your wick tab height. I use stickums, and they seal 100% around the base of the wick tab preventing wax from continuing to feed the wick once the top of the tab is reached. I do also vary my tab height depending on the curve of the jar bottom. On my large apoth's, there's a pretty good curve and even with the industry standard 6mm, a LOT of wax gets left behind. I re-tab my wicks for those jars with 3mm bases, and it works out perfectly...they self extinguish when they're supposed to.

I have NEVER heard of a printer installation calling for you to change your screen resolution, that's just bizarre. Are you sure they weren't referring to the print resolution?? (However, this is coming from someone who actually bought the 2605dn, had nothing but &$^@(#&^!! problems installing it, then it still wouldn't print with my software, so I took it back and got another trusty Minolta! Hate HP!)

They're cute, it's a neat idea. My only comment though, and it's in your best interest, is to check on copyright issues for those you are selling. HTH.

We had a law change here the first of the year. Shipping is now taxable, on taxable sales. So if I ship an order out of state, it's not, but if I ship an order in state, it is. PITA.

Then again....some carriers will threaten to drop you. It's not always that you have a home based business, but that you have a candle related home based business (i.e. hot stuff, flames, danger of burning your house down, etc.). When we approached my carrier, not only would they not issue a rider, but stated that I was NOT allowed to conduct that type of activity in my home, threatened to non-renew, and further stated that if I did have a claim on my homeowners that stemmed form such activity, that it would not be covered. Had to switch to a carrier that would write me home and a commercial (not a rider) policy.

Look to Fillmore Container for the lids.....and congrats on being able to pick up your wax local!

If you don't have a tare function on your scale, another way to do it is set your empty jar on the scale when it's off, then turn it on. It will now read zero with the jar already factored in. Then when you remove it and put a finished candle in it's place, you'll get the net weight as well. Not all scales tare so this is a cheaters way to do it.

Without. You want to reflect the weight of the candle only, not any part of the container.

Wax and water will weigh different. You need to weigh an empty jar, tare your scale to zero, then put a finished candle on the scale. The reading will show the actual weight of the candle itself.....and that's what's supposed to be on your label, aka. Net Weight.