BusyBee

The wick in the picture above is the one I pulled out from WoodWick Candle. It's actually called PlusWick, and the one from Chinese company is called Cross Wick. Both of them have its own patents, so they are all legal. It performed beautifully in my 464. BUT, I bought another WoodWick Candle and pulled it out one more time. But, second one was not as good as the first one. I guess all wooden wicks are having quality reliability issues.

Your flame is leaning to the right, and thin layer is forming on the right side. It might be that your candle is sitting on AC cold air flow path. If next size up is giving you full melt pool too fast, then cut that wick on the side to reduce the width. I choose thickness of wooden wick based on viscosity of wax & FO combo, and I choose width based on container size. *Even though wood wicks will create full melt pool quicker than regular wicks, 45 minutes seem little too fast.

Should we make better quality tapered X shape wood wick and call it a "X" wick. We might get approved for patent, too.

What we might be looking at is tapered one. But, I had pulled one out from WoodWick PlusWick Candle some time ago.

It's not matter of protecting new idea, and I have no intention to do so. This is all about breaking the code of wood wick patent by Lumetique. I always had suspicion this balsa wood sheet might be a lot better than wood wick from WWC. Let's worry about Lumetique later, and shall we play? And, I was wondering about these two wooden wick patents. First "utility patent" is owned by WoodWick Candle of Newelll Brands called "Plus Wick", and second same wick's "design patent" is owned by Chinese company called "Cross Wooden Candle Wick". How is this possible? Any thoughts on this anyone?

Inkjet will provide brilliant colors especially if you use pigment ink. You could notice some difference between original ink vs refilled one. But, as long as it is pigment ink, refilled ones will perform fine. Pigment ink will give better sharp edge & better long lasting color vs regular ink. For inkjet printer selection, Epson WorkForce series are really good. Color laser will provide better sharp edge and letters, but color isn't going to come what you would hoped. Even $4,000 printer is not going to give brilliant colors. If you laminate them, then it will give effect of bring out better edges for inkjet & little bit of colors for laser printer. Different label materials will give different result. It is kind of hard tell from this picture, but it kind of shows little bit. It is printed on 5 different label materials. Last one became my choice of material.

Unlike inkjet printers, surprisingly print quality of $150 up to $4,000 color laser printers are about same. Quality of your label paper would be more important than quality of laser color printers. Look for heavily discounted deal among brand like Canon or Xerox. If you are thinking of really economical one, then Brother would be the choice. I use Samsung CLX-6260FD, but any others should work fine. Try to find one with cheaper toner and great deal. There are labels made for use in inkjet printer only and ones made for laser jet printer only. Some are made to use in both. Inkjet printer label will damage the drum if it is used in laser printer. So, make sure to check comparability of your left over labels before you put them in new machine. One more thing is that thick label paper gets jammed a lot in laser printers. If you fill the paper tray to 50% - 80% capacity, then you will have a lot less jamming problem.

You are right about that. That is why I just asked @jancita(actually her husband) for little bit more information on wood wick patent specification. Let's invent one here!

Is it okay if I ask you to pick your husband's brain & expertise little bit more? I am wondering about what those certain specifications on wooden wicks would be.

We need someone to invent a wick that gets smaller(thinner) as candle burns down container? Bigger flame at the top & smaller flame at the bottom???

Everyone would have different preference on this subject. I am one of those that is aiming for full melt pool from top to bottom. For me, it just look better and right. If you can achieve it without container getting too hot, then go for it. It can be done. It does get hotter bottom 1/4, but you still can make it a lot cooler than many name brand candles.

We have very simple labeling regulation in US, we do not have to do any of those complicated things. Ours is not even regulation at all compare to many other countries. Korea has much tighter candle business regulation than yours that it's impossible to start without a consultant and tons of registration & testing fees.

You might want to keep in mind that my regions can get really hot during summer time. Southwest regions like Palm Springs CA, Las Vegas NV, Phoenix AZ, New Mexico and maybe some Texas can get really hot during summer. When outside temperature is around 108F, cargo area of UPS truck will be about 147F. I stopped UPS truck and tried to measure temperature of the back area, but driver already had kept thermometer in the back. Not that many candle would survive in back of UPS trucks during summer in our region.

There are two parts of cost which are material cost & fixed overhead cost. *There would be many hidden and unexpected overhead cost. Candle retail pricing strategy should be based on material cost. If you are home based, then you will need to charge at minimum of 4X the material cost in order to be profitable and grow your operation. If you own small shop, then it should be 6X material cost in order to make it work. As you grow bigger, it would be 8X to 20X. Material cost should include the shipping cost to get ingredients to your work place, and it should be based on at least box prices and lbs for FOs not small quantity purchased price. Price of wax, wick, FO, container, label, dye or any additional chemicals, shipping cost to receive and any other box or shipping out materials would be considered material cost. But, most important factor is to determine the best priced candle in your targeted market first. If your target market's best selling is priced at $20 candle, then divide $20 by 4 or 6 depends on your situation. If you are home based, then your goal for material cost should not exceed $5 in this case. If you find that best selling candle price is $20 for your targeted marekt and your material cost is only $3, then ignore this rule and price your candle at $20. Retail price of your targeted market is a lot more important! You might want to calculate the material cost based on bulk purchase also. It would be okay to start from about 3.5X if you know if you can bring down the cost by purchasing little bit more in bulk. For example; 1 lb FO vs 10 lbs FO purchase can bring down a lot in cost. Right now, it would cost me $3.92 to make my candle getting from supplier located in 20 minutes from me. If I buy them in bulk, then I can bring down my cost to about $3.13. But, if I calculate the cost for storage space(We have ridiculous rent price here.) and electricity to keep FO and wax cool in hot Southern California summer, it is actually cheaper for me spend $3.92 as needed bases. So, my candle pricing is based on $3.92 material cost.

Most candle buyers aren't eco-friendly or environment protection people. There might be few who acts like one, but real ones will not buy a candle at all. If you look at famous name brand high end candles, then none of them is claiming anything about being "All Natural". Astier de Villate, Carriere Frefres, Cire Trudon, diptyque, Gucci, Jo Malone, Joya, Lladro, L'Objet, Malin & Goetz, Mottahedeh, Rigaud, etc. In my opinion, being natural is all about playing with carefully selected words. "100% NATURAL FRAGRANCE OILS" Fragrance oils are made with synthetic(chemical) ingredients. Even these synthetic chemicals need to be come from somewhere on earth. So in a way, these chemical components can be claimed as coming from all natural sources. They don't have to mention anything about how it is created or what they are, because it is protected by "trade secret protection" in our industry. *Even essential oils, the ones made by using chemical distillation method isn't eco-friendly at all. "Other suppliers/manufacturers are diluting their oils with cheaper carrier oil." When we see one supplier claiming above, we assume that this supplier does not dilute their oils and it's oils are more concentrated. But, what he is really saying is that he is using higher quality carrier oil than others. After all, all EO or FO needs to be diluted one way or other to be used in any product. Yes! I saw many candle makers, who are claiming to use 100% EOs in their candle. I even saw one that is claiming to use pure Rose EO. If my memory is correct, I believe pure Rose EO would cost about $20,000 per pound. There are handful of choices of economically possible cheap(about $80/lb) EOs that can be used in candle. But, you will be very limited on choice of scents which would be more important than being eco-friendly. I don't know! Being all natural in candle making is not easy thing to achieve.

I get my containers from Jar Store mostly, and Candle Science is my back up. If you are looking for something different, then you might want to check out place like DreamVessels. https://dreamvessels.com/ *More of these kind can be located from glassware wholesaler in New York area. Cheaper alternative can be found from following two suppliers. GeneralWax (candlemakingsupplies.net) https://www.generalwax.com/ & California Candle Supply https://calcandlesupply.com/ *Warning: Quality of these aren't as good as American made containers. Finish is not clean. Lid of colored tin can get stuck. Heat resistance is questionable on these from my point of view.

Where did you buy this wax from? I don't think there is such wax. KeraSoy's only pillar wax is 4120. CB-135 should be EcoSoya CB-135 by NGI, which had been discontinued some years ago, and NGI EcoSoya company closed down last year. And also, CB-135 is a container wax good to use as massage candle. Kerax/KeraSoy bought EcoSoya brand this year, and they are planning to manufacture EcoSoya brand in UK sometime this year. However, I don't think they are planning to make CB-135 again. Most soy waxes' recommended shelf life is 1 year even though it still can be used after more than a year in good storage. As for your problem, I am suspecting that your electric buner's wattage isn't strong/hot enough.

All the soy wax will frost, and Kerasoy should not be any different from the ones made in USA. That's why most of us in US do not use color dye for soy waxes. Kerasoy 4130 Container Blend wax is for container candles. I guess you bought your wax from Stansfield's. They have wrong product information. Go to other suppliers website or Kerax website. It is container wax.

Here are few more! https://www.candlewarmers.com/ https://www.kellisgifts.com/wholesale-gifts/candles-fragrance-warmers/ *This one does not show much on their website. Approach them with caution! https://www.elanzedesigns.com/

Below picture is GW 464 with using dye chip. I am guessing you might have over heated wax little bit. Wax near the heat element can get really hot. Below picture shows what happens when GW 464 is heated over 200F. Similar thing will starting to happen over 190F.

You are right about that. It is a safety feature. I am in the middle of trying to figure out what would be my best option going forward with this idea. I can special order wick tabs that can fit two wicks. But, getting wick tab is very easy part. Figuring out how to assemble them without investment in wick assembling machine is the biggest problem that I am facing right now.

I tried adding vybar 260 to GW 464, but I did not find any benefit of adding it to GW 464. *But, there is a slight chance that I did not know exactly what I was doing or looking for when I did this when I was a beginner.

One of them is not sleeved. I use thin metal wire to tie them together. Little metal ring found at the jewelry hobby shop will do the job also. I asked few wick assembling companies to do this for me, but they won't able to do this.

First of all, congratulation on your large account. Most big wax manufacturer would require 2 minimum pallets per order and guaranteed annual sales volume contract. However, even though Golden Wax AAK is an big international company, they work little different than other big manufacturers. They have what they call distribution partners all over the United States. In CA where I live, Accu-Blend Corp is their wax blender and distributor. In IL, it's Gateway Food Products Company, etc. These wax blender/distributor would only require 1 pallet minimum order. You should contact AAK and ask for their distribution partner in your state. https://www.aak.com/applications/technical-products/candles/golden-wax/ I don't think EZ Soy wax of BCN is same as GB 415. You might want to ask for Product Spec Sheet from BCN and compare. Or ask BCN. Good luck with you!

I guess only way to find out is to contact them directly. https://www.elanzedesigns.com/ *Approach them with caution! They put up an website with all the products & many other information missing. At least contact information is there. Another thing is they sell directly at Amazon & others.