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BusyBee

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Everything posted by BusyBee

  1. Suppliers/Manufacturers should have several freight companies they are working with already. If you want to compare prices look at this website. https://www.freightquote.com/ It shows what need to be considered (like hiring lift gated truck if no loading dock), and why price could be so different (hub to hub delivery, business to business, business to residential, etc). Accu-Blend wax manufacturer does not have loading dock, which means we will have to arrange lift gated truck to pick them up. *Trucking prices for non-lift gate truck vs lift gate truck would be huge!
  2. I think what you have used for your kid's school project are laminating pouches. What we need for candle labeling is Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheets like this in the picture. There are many others, but these are least expensive and gets the job done. Walmart has the best price on these. Their regular price is close to $14 per 50 sheets, but I buy them in bunch when they have sales at $11.97. If you want to see how laminating look comes out, then you can test laminate labels by using any clear packing tapes first.
  3. Hi there, I print my own labels, and I am more than happy with the result. And I think I am getting better quality labels this way unless it is very expensive high quality labels we are talking about. I also get to do warning label that looks a lot better than what is available out there. I use Epson WF 7110 inkjet printer to print labels with lots of colorful graphics, and I use Samsung CLX-6260FD for less graphic with more lettering color labels. I also use black & white laser printer to do black labels (I get true black using black & white laser printer.). I laminate the labels most of the time except when I do Kraft paper type labels. I am using after market ink tank & connectors for my inkjet printer. Ink cost is less than a penny for each candle doing it this way. It is true that quality of after market inkjet inks are inferior to original. But the result are fine and looks professional as long as I use pigment ink and laminate them. For laser toners, I use recharged toners. I have learned to recharge laser toners myself to save more money on laser toner cost, but I haven't had to use that skill yet. I think I am getting a lot better quality labels at fraction of the cost of what I can get from third party label companies. For blank labels, I did not had to use expensive fancy type labels. Any cheap basic type blank labels work fine as long as you laminate them. You just need to figure out what(gloss, semi gloss or matte) works best for your artist's artwork. Lamination film cost is the most expensive part of labels, but it is worth doing it. This was done using color laser printer. A lot less graphic than the ones that I do on inkjet printers.
  4. Any images from any movie would be untouchable without getting permission from the owner of a film even if you edit/modify them. If that image has actors in them, then you will have to deal with each actors intellectual property management companies on top of dealing with the owner of a film. Some would be free of royalty, but you still have to go thru licensing agreement in order to use them. Can we put US Presidential Seal logo or White House image on our candle label? Answer is definitely NO! But there is way to get it done when you know the regulation.
  5. Every owners of copyrighted and trademarks images or logos have different rule, and it is very complicated matter that no one would be able to provide simple answer to your question. When you Google "free clipart", many will come out. But you are going to find that no images are free after all. I used a lot of copyrighted images from ShutterStock and BigStock when I first started by paying small fee per year. If it is movie images, then the chances are that you will have to get permission from the owner. Some are almost impossible to get license, some will ask expensive guaranteed royalty, some are asking for attractive royalty, some are free of royalty but still require you to be licensed, and some can be used without any restrictions. Toyota was asking for big royalty but Nissan was asking for "$0" royalty for the trademark license. If you cannot track down what they require, then my advise is not to use it without consulting with professional copyright and trademark lawyer. Now days, I use a lot trademark logos on my labels with owners' permission. When you know their guidelines, then you will find that many times you can use them without paying any royalty. Example: I know how to use college logos on my candles without paying any royalty. But I must get permission from them to use their trademark logos. But then again, every images or logos are case by case and are very complicated.
  6. I do wholesale to non-traditional candle market. I only did direct retail when I started, and I found out that there are many who knows how to burn candles properly. On the other hand, it is true that there are many who does not know how to trim their wicks also. But, I also found out that these non-wick trimmers will think soot is normal thing because every candle will soot if they are not trimmed correctly. Just make sure your candle burns safely when it is not trimmed. Soot? I don't think there is nothing we can do about that if wick is not trimmed. If anyone can solve this, then he or she should become candle billionaire!
  7. I don't know how others have come up with solution to this problem, and I haven't figured out how to correct that problem especially with 6006. Wax will expand when it is melted, and it will shrink (down) when it cools. This is the reason why the wick is sooting when we tried to re-light the candle. Self-trimming wicks will need some time to catch up(burn off) when you re-light the candle, which will take couple minutes to burn off. See pictures! This is one of the reason why we need to keep melt pool as shallow as possible to minimize wax shrinkage. I say about 1/8" would be close to perfection, but I was only able to get it down to 3/16" at best. I find that even 1/4" is too deep of melt pool that it will require wick trimming every time I re-light the candle. Now, 6006 is totally different beast. Probably 6006 is the only wax that will form melt pool like this. 6006 has concave melt pool shape. It melts down first before it melts out side ways. It will form deeper melt pool than any other waxes, and it will shrink down more than other waxes. 6006 is the probably only wax that I cannot wick correctly. My candles need wick trimming regularly, and I haven't seen any other candle that does not need wick trimming. I would love to try one if there is any.
  8. You might want to consider using small metal tea pots for that. I use bigger water boiling metal pot to pour my candles.
  9. I got it from Atkins & Pearce. Wick It & Wicks Unlimited might have them too after Precision closure.
  10. I use 464. Mix FOs at around 175F(You have to stir really well.) and pour at around 135F. Try not to place containers too close to each other when they are cooling. Too slow or too fast cooling will cause some problem, but most will come out well if you pour around 135F. However, you might want to consider doing 2nd pour(about 2mm) for your real production. It is more work, but you are going to get mirror like finish all the time. You can have a nice looking smooth top from 1st pour, but never like the mirror finish that 2nd pour can produce.
  11. I call this "Fighting with 1mm!". I will explain what this means later on at below. My candles is not a good candle if it is not trimmed right either. But then whose candle does not need to be trimmed? There are many who would not trim the wick, but then there are also many who will trim their wick properly. So, what can we do as a candle maker and who should we we target when we design our candles? I find that the people who does trim the wick are more heavy candle users, and they are the ones who are willing to spend more money for top quality candles. So, who would you target when designing your candle? When I do power burn test, my candles' wicks are self-trimming all the time. But then, why does my candle need to be trimmed when it is self-trimming? It's because of 1mm wax shrinkage! When wax is melted, it will expand (Sometimes this can lead to wick drowning.). When melted wax cools, then it will shrink. So, when melt pool cools, it will shrink down and leave taller wick (about 1mm which will build up and gets longer each time candle was burned) than while it was burning. I have tried to fix this problem by try to minimize depth of melt pool below 1/8" so the shrinkage of melt pool would be minimal. But then, this was not possible. And also, I have searched for wax that won't shrink at all, and I find that there is no such wax. Or is there? Or which wax will shrink less? I guess the choice is yours! Just make sure your candle would not become dangerously too hot when it is not trimmed. Good Luck!
  12. So, you are working with custom blends. Good luck! 😉 I use Coconut 83 straight without any more additive and GB 464 with little bit of palm wax added. And, I find that Helix works best for my waxes. I did tried to mix coconut & soy together, and Helix burns nicely in coco-soy mix. But coco-soy's HT was not as good as straight coconut or soy/palm blend.
  13. I use big wax melting tank for production, and I use presto pot to make few testers. I just measure out one or two candle wax into the presto pot and work, and it save me time and money since you don't have to buy any other equipment. I do have electric meat grill that I can heat the pouring pot, but this works a lot easier.
  14. Pouring temp has nothing to do with hot throw, So, don't waste your time on that. If you have good CT, then that means quality of your oil is good. So, you don't have to worry about quality of your FO. You are adding FO at 180, and that sounds about right. Just make sure you mix them really well. There are several coco-soy waxes out there, and all are different. No one can suggest anything without knowing your wax. Correct wick type and size would be the biggest factor behind great HT. Since I don't know which coco-soy wax you are using, all I can suggest is to find the wick that is designed to be used for vegetable waxes.
  15. Thank you for providing your definition of hotter burning wick! I guess we all have different way of looking at things. I thought I was missing something because I thought ECO was cooler burning wick even though its flame is taller and melt pool is wider than most others.
  16. Hi @bfroberts, When you say "ECO's burn hot", how do you determine one wick is burning hotter than the other? I just don't know what to look for when determining the hotter burning wick vs cooler one. Is there way to measure or find this?
  17. I am assuming this question is for when we work with small amount of wax. It is going to be hard to control the temperature of pouring pot with small amount of wax. Try to add FOs in the Presto Pot. That would be one of the best way to control temperature to add FOs.
  18. Adding Vybar 260 to 464 would not do any good. 464 should have enough of it in the wax already. Try to add about 5%(max) of IGI R2322 palm wax. It will increase HT significantly. But it is going to reduce CT little bit.
  19. Quality of oils from almost every US fragrance oil manufacturers or fragrance houses are equally the same. But when it comes to scent, it is matter of personal taste (smell in our case). Scent is all about presentation of a certain scent, and they are all manufactured in different way. They call it "accord" and top, middle & base notes of different manufacturers are all different for same named scent. Even just one manufacturer produces about 50 different kind of rose scent alone. You might find manufacturer A has best Rose that you like, but you might find manufacturer B's Pumpkin Pie scent is better than manufacturer A. So, no one can say one fragrance oil manufacturer or supplier has better oils than others. When you grow to little bigger operation, it is good idea to working with fragrance oil manufacturers or fragrance houses directly and custom order your own scents. Try to locate one that is close to you since everyone is good.
  20. Here are some comparison between Coconut 83 and GB 464 in case someone might be interested. Coconut 83 hardens much faster than GB 464. See below picture. GB 464 was poured 15 minutes earlier than Coconut 83 in bigger jar , but Coconut 83 hardened much faster. Below scale is in 1 to 10 scale. Comparison was made all waxes in 12.5 Libbey Status Jar with 2.94" diameter. Coconut 83 w/10% FO GB 464 w/12% FO GB 464 + 5% IGI palm wax w/12% CT: 8 10 8 HT: 9 6 9 Glass adhesion: 10 8 9 Top appearance: 10 9 8 Top appearance after burn: 9 7 8 Best Helix wick: #35 #60 #50 Melt pool temperature: 138F 128F 124F *Flame sizes of all of the waxes were less than 1" and had melt pool depth of 5/16". GB 464 is about 8% heavier in weight than Coconut 83 filled to same line in same container. For 2.31" 9oz amber jar, Helix #1 was needed for Coconut 83 vs Helix #35 for GB 464. That is difference of 9 wick sizes. *For 100% GB 464, I got better HT(about 7.5 in scale) using my own special wick with melt pool temperature of 124F.
  21. JAFE Decorating. https://jafedecorating.com/ Their minimum order requirement is 504 pieces, and they have stock items (black or white painted containers) which is available to purchase at 144 and above. 544 pieces of 12.25oz Libbey tumbler 918cd is around $1.38 each($0.66 for the jar + coating price), which the price will vary little bit depends on different coatings. This pricing was last summer which might have gone up since everything has been going up during this pandemic. Best price I have found on same Libbey clear jar that I have located at the similar time was $0.99(now it is $1.25), so I think they have really good pricing.
  22. We are all competitors in here, but we have no problem sharing our information. Some might be very protective of their findings, but then there are many who are not. What is your definition of perfect candle? Do you know what you want to achieve in your candle? I know that I will never achieve creating my definition of perfect candle. I haven't found any candle that is perfect so far, and I am very confident that I never will create one or find one. I use 12% FO to achieve the most powerful CT. I can achieve similar HT using only 6% FO, but I will never achieve that powerful CT that 12% creates. More is a lot better to achieve strong CT but not HT. I don't cure candles for candle FO test. Curing is needed for wax/FO to settle down and produce CT. *I did candle curing test up to 3 years. Surprisingly, my best selling scents are flowery scents, which is very unusual in USA. It will totally depends on your targeted market. Some wax can create powerful CT, and some wax can create powerful HT. But, no one wax or any blend can create both powerful CT & HT. We can create candle that has decent CT & HT, but none that can have both. Something has to give in. Others blend wax to bring out the best of both, but it is actually giving in to create decent result. Wick is another very complicated part of candle making. This will be depends on your preference a lot more, and there are so many things to look at for right wick selection. Many things will be needed to give in on wick selection. You will need to understand "Why?" in order to make your own candle recipes. If you have picked 444 over 464 due to melt point worrying about hot summer temperature, then you might want to think again. No container candle is going to survive in cargo area of UPS/FedEx trucks during summer in south regions. Temperature in the back of those trucks would be 147F during summer time. If you know what kind of candle you want to make, then I have no problem sharing my candle recipes. But you might not need one once you know "Why?". Good luck with your candle making venture!
  23. I have tried that, and it works. It also provide steady flame (less dancing flame) at the bottom of the jar when the wick is tapered. Below is what I have found out so far using special wick other than wooden wick. Wooden wicks are unreliable and out of control. I am using this, and I should be able to tell everyone about it by the time when this pandemic is over. These pictures show one in action.
  24. Sorry TallTayl! I only have made several candles using Ceda Serica, and I did not like it as much as Coconut 83 or 464. I wasn't getting strong enough HT compared to Coconut 83 or 464. So, I haven't looked into CAS # or other things on that wax.
  25. It is better to hire middleman companies like China sourcing companies when dealing with Chinese manufacturers. They will take care of everything including delivering it to your door for small fee, which is worth the money. You might end up getting better product at better price this way. They locate, make the deals, check quality, do exporting documents, put it on ship, go thru customs, and deliver it to your door. Don't forget that China is communist controlled country, and it is not easy to deal with them directly. For orders over 500 but less than 3,000 pieces, it might be better to work with US glass decorating companies. They help you sourcing your containers (mostly American at unbelievable low price) and do coatings & decorating. Quality of American manufactured glass containers and quality of coating/decorating is far superior to Chinese products, and the price is very compatible to made in China containers.
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