BusyBee

@FlamingGlitter Not that many (if not none) has been successful with coconut and coconut blend waxes in US. You just have showed me that Rapeseed might be solution for coconut blend. Even though I am in US, I know a lot of European suppliers, manufacturers & other candle related resources. I know Candle Shack, British Wax, Kerax, Sasol, RCX wax, CL, V, VRL, PGS, TG, etc. I just don't have any experience with them since none of them are available in US. I didn't bother to order any of them over seas because I did not have high hope justifying the expensive shipping cost. I am a soy wax user(GB 464), and I was thinking V or VRL might be the wonder wick for my soy wax. And, I have very strong interests in Kerax 4105 & Sasol 6213. Now I am seriously considering trying them out. If you are concerned about safety & regulations, then you might want to check out these websites & see how real professionals do candle testing. It does not show a way to do candle testing, but you can kind of back track regulations from these websites and figure out a way to do your own testing until you can afford to hire them for testing. By the way! May I ask which country you live in? If you are in one of European county, then I guess you will need to look at EU regulations. https://www.contractlaboratory.com/labclass/industries/industry-details.cfm?candles-and-wax-testing&industry_id=62 https://www.intertek.com/hardlines/candle-testing/ https://sealimited.com/capability/candles-fragrance-analysis There aren't that many candles that can impress me, but yours in one of them. 👍 Thank you for the show and good luck!

Hi, I am in US, and I am not familiar with your wax nor your wicks, so I cannot write with 100% confidence. But, what I can tell you is that your candle is one of the best I have ever seen. The mushroom is very minimal for power burnt candle, and I say your container temperature is so much better than moderate. In US, temperature of container should not go over 77C per ASTM standard. I believe you have look into CLP compliance over at your place. I as a candle maker, my goal is to keep the temperature of container below 63C. I think you have great candle. Thank you for showing us your candle! I might look into those wicks that you have used. It looks like they are more advanced wicks than what is available to us in here in USA. We don't have rapeseed wax either. You got me interested in that, too. Attached picture shows real mushroom of famous name brand candle! This happened in about 3 1/2 hours.

The Wood Wick Company's parent company Lumetique holds patent for wood wicks, and The Wood Wick Company is the official licensed manufacturer of all wood wicks. The Flaming Candle, North Wood Distributing, and all other candle suppliers sells same wood wicks from The Wood Wick Company. I got mine from North Wood Distributing during my trial period and got the little bigger quantity order from The Wood Wick Company. There are many other wood wicks from China, too. But, no candle suppliers would carry them due to patent infringement. It's good that you are not having any problem.

When melted wax cools down and hardens after burn, it should shrink down little bit. If I burn my candle for about 2 hours(It gets about 1/4" melt pool depth), then the shrinkage is very minimal that I would not need to trim my wick. But, if I burn my candle for more than 3 hours, then depth of melt pool becomes about 1/2". More shrinkage will happen with this depth, and I would need to trim my wick little bit for highest performance. During burn, I never have to trim my wick. Wood wick is one of the wick that has ability to burn off excessive length occurred by this, which will quickly burn down to necessary length by itself(I say within 15 seconds). So, I would say wood wick could be considered as true self trimming wick. *Even if you start with little longer wick length than your preferred length with wood wick, it should adjust to right wick length by itself quickly. Like I said before, wood wick would be the best performing wick available to us right now. Good HT, self trimming, no soot even in heavy draft, perfect melt pool, container stays cool, perfect melt pool temperature, etc. that I cannot ask for more. But, I got about 5% defected wood wick(out of 400) that would not stay lit. The worst part is that I would not know this until customer try to light it up. If I can figure out a way to sort out this defected wood wicks, then I would use wood wick 100% on my candles. I hope this helps you little bit more. Good luck to you with your venture!

There are many different wick sustainers (tabs or bases) available that even we can custom order thru wick assemblers, but our suppliers only carry one general type. Big companies should be able to order their own wick thru wick assemblers or direct from manufacturers, and some big candle company should have their own wick assembly machines. The wick used by big candle company could be same or totally different wick from what is available thru wick manufacturers to us. If I were a big candle company, then I would have the manufacturers to make me a wick that would work for my wax, FO, dye & container combination because none of the regular wicks available seems to be working right. I guess we just need to find the one works the best(not the perfect one) at our stage. Or we could invest big amount of money on the wick. I find that wood wick performs the best among what is available to us. However, wood wick has its own problem of quality control. Some of wood wick just won't stay lit, so this is not a reliable wick to use in candle business. Just try to settle for the ones that works really close to your target.

Like @Sarah S mentioned, I thought CandleWic offer shipping included deal on many of their waxes(not all of them). Some of the waxes with that deal, they charge average of $28 shipping per box anywhere within 48 states.

Here are two links on how to make scented clay figurine in case anybody is interested in that subject. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXAnFcsIesI *It's in Korean without English subtitle, but video itself will explain. http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=kminj6985&logNo=220672115352 *Another Korean site with English translate function.

Hi there, Did you know that there are more astronauts in this world than perfumers? What I am trying to say is that it's not going to be easy task. So, good luck to you with your fragrance world venture! If you are beginner, then you might want to start from here. https://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/t-PerfumersCorner.aspx They offer fragrance blending kits, some workshops, and provides some basic knowledge articles. If you are more serious, then you will need to look into these. http://www.bsp.org.uk/links/ https://www.asperfumers.org/educate-support-promote https://ifrafragrance.org/ https://ifeat.org/ https://fragrance.org/ https://www.prodarom.com/ It will take you to more deep inside to fragrance world. Also, you might want to take a look at these two. https://www.perfumerflavorist.com/events/coverage/Master-Perfumer-Workshop-Explores-Perfumery-Ingredients-at-WPC2018--474728843.html https://www.icatsaromaeducation.com/

Wax tablet are function mostly as sachet in Asian countries like Korea, Japan, Thailand, etc. I haven't got to do any wax tablets yet(maybe never will), but instead I make fragrant clay figurines. It can be used in cars or homes. I thought these were better & easier to make. I bought molds from Korea.

I found some with English subtitles. It looks like it's soft paraffin that they are using. It looks like key is to keep it warm while working with the wax. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhRSHLTgtWA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLg8axBFFaw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azY3prJGBIs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NxOcPl0-XE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FevT7pAIM4 This one she mixed paraffin with gel wax. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8bXgoIJZNw This one is called wax tablet made with soy wax & dried flowers. Lots of pictures so easy to understand. http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=crazykooya&logNo=220707144112

Another route is to do customized label for each product. Print customer's name on label while you are creating each label for each product. It is time consuming too, but at least you can charge more for your product this way.

I can see your concern on quality control, and your idea is great. But, it's not going to be easy task. Even if you print your own label, it will be very time consuming. If you don't print your own label, then it is going to be too cost prohibited. 1. Create your own serial number for each batch. 2. If your business is big enough, than utilize bar code or QR code.

Ball Mason Jars are also product of Newell Brands. Every time candle maker buys them, they are making Yankee Candle richer.

Does anyone know distributor or supplier of Kerax 4105 or Sasol 6213 in US? Or has anyone had experience with any one of these two? I would love to hear any feed back. Thanks!

It looks like "Candles & Supplies" sells Ecowax CCN 1 (coconut candle blend) manufactured by CalWax(on west coast) which is Remet Corp., who also owns "SouthWest Wax"(on east coast) & "Blended Waxes"(in middle - no candle wax here). "California Candle Supply" sells Coconut 83 manufactured by Accu-Blend. As name suggests, Accu-Blend is a blender, and it could be possible that they are a blender of CalWax on certain vegetable waxes. But, CalWax would be a much bigger company, who owns their own formulary for coconut wax. It is also possible that Accu-Blend might have improved it by creating their own. Accu-Blend is west coast distributor of AAK. I am suspecting they might be the one who actually manufacturing AAK waxes on west coast. As for the boxes being different, a lot of suppliers use their own blank boxes as much as possible to hide manufacturers unless it is well known brands like GB, IGI, or Cargill. I don't think you have ended up with different wax, but you will definitely need to talk to your supplier about sink holes which you never had problem before.

That question was for @Peggy T. Sorry! You might have gotten confused because I put them together too closely. As for your Apple and Pumpkin Strudel, I don't see anything unusual yet. I will try to look for more information.

I am guessing @ScienceCandles is from one of EU countries possibly Ireland or UK since he or she was mentioning about CLP compliance.

This should be the most recent candle recall. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2019/hallmark-recalls-candles-due-to-fire-and-laceration-hazards

May I ask which FO from Rustic Escentuals did not work?

I noticed that you haven't talk to any of forum members about your problem. CraftServer is another good source of trouble shooting. Would you like to talk about it first with us? There could be many in here that might can help. 😉

Here is link on little more detail. https://www.upi.com/Business_News/2010/03/19/Lumetique-DayNa-Decker-candles-recalled/51551269013022/ "The flame on the candles can unexpectedly flare up..."

Many had difficult experience of inconsistencies of soy wax from batch to batch, which would be indicated by lot number. Even some supplier's website gives warning on inconsistency of soy waxes from batch to batch on their website. But then, there are some who never experienced different performance of different batches. Either way, it should be always good practice to check on it for being on safe side.

Kerax was Ecosoya's UK distributor. This could mean that Kerax is coming into USA. I had interest in Kerax 4105, and we might be able to get them over here in states.

Lab & Co and The Wooden Wick Co are under Dayna Decker Corp. She also owns many other brands. WoodWick Candle is owned by Newell Brands, which owns Yankee Candle. Here is article on Dayna Decker. https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/lawsuit/botanika-candles-recalled-lumetique.html It was manufactured by private-label manufacturer in Glendale now called Modern Candles. They had to change their name also after that law suits.

I am sorry to hear that you are going thru hard times. Was it whole box that you have problem? Even other big companies had gone thru difficult times at their beginning. Best example would be Lab & Oil Co. They had to shut down their first candle company because their candles were blowing up. Look at them. They are back stronger than before. WoodWick Company is another. Their first candles had many problem of staying lit. Look who owns them now. If we we can control this kind of defects, then it would be nice. But, this is something that we cannot control 100%. I am just hoping that you can turn this into a showcase where you can show the world how good your customer service skills are. *I really want to see you succeed in this market. 👍