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BusyBee

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Everything posted by BusyBee

  1. For glass containers, try "Jar Store"! https://www.jarstore.com/jar-category/candle/
  2. Yes! This is very complicated subject. Creating a great HT producing scented candle and designing a candle that can fill a room are two totally different matters. I test strength of HT of my candles by smelling it from the top (Don't burn your nose hairs while doing this!), and burning it 1 1/2 feet away from me on my working desk. After that, whether my candle can fill a room or not is matter of air flow of the room or a house. My goal is to design a candle that can throw HT about 1 to 2 feet into the air by using cooler flame wick, so HT can spread through out the room in most people's sitting position as much as possible. But air flow of many rooms might not cooperative with this theory to well. If hotter flame wick, which produces hotter air current, is used and HT is thrown higher, then there is great chance that HT might escape to other rooms instead filling scent within that room. But that candle would work well in party rooms where many people are standing up. Who would have ever thought that we would be looking into to air flow of the house caused by mechanical ventilation, AC, heater & natural air flow of a house to design a great HT candle? As long as a candle is producing HT, the scent is moved by air currents to somewhere in the house before finally escaping out of the house. Then there is part where you have to understand how your scented candle is going to be used by your targeted market customers which is more complicated than above in high-end candle market. I was surprised to find that some scented container candles never get burned and thrown away, but customer will keep on buying them. Better CT candle is what this type of customer is looking for, and they don't even care for HT. Is your candle designed for placed in foyer, hallway, guest bathroom, other bathrooms, living room, family room, den, dining room, or bedrooms, etc? If you can figure all this out, then you can create the great candle. I say comparing your candle with other candles would be the best way to test HT too.
  3. Hello, You might want to looking into a purchasing small laser wood engraving machine for your need instead of locating imprint company. Those laser engraving machines' prices are very affordable now days.
  4. When ordering online, try to play around with number of cases per order to figure out estimated shipping costs. Usually ordering 2 to 4 cases per order will give you the best shipping rate.
  5. You might want to try to find your local sources as much as possible and even looking at Dollar Store. If that does not work out, then try looking at Jar Store & CandleScience. I believe you said you are near Knoxville TN. Both of them should offer decent shipping rate for you. If you are looking for tins, then try looking up nearest ULine Packaging.
  6. I hope all is well and wish full recovery for you and your family (and all Texans) during snow storm crisis going on over there.
  7. State Farm could have different policy offering in different states. In California, State Farm offer insurance for small home based candle makers doing online sales only (and I believe some sales at farmer's market was allowed). Other than that type of candle operation, they don't offer candle company insurance. My State Farm agent couldn't offer me a policy for my operation, so she refer me to other independent insurance brokerage firm.
  8. I find that Coco83 HT is a lot stronger than 464 or even Ceda Serica. However, you can make 464 HT stronger(as good as Coco83) by adding little bit of palm wax (around 5%) and by using big size Helix wicks. *I haven't tried WICK IT's Superior 800's wick, but I have feeling that it would work well with 464/palm blend also.
  9. I have used biggest size wick possible in the wick series and even the biggest size wick seem too small for 464. One the other hand, I have used smallest size wick possible in the wick series and even the smallest size wick seems too big for coconut 83. With both waxes, I get more darker discoloration when HT is optimal. Somehow my melt pool temperature is 14F higher with coconut 83 using smallest wick than 464 using biggest wick. Candle making is so fun!
  10. I get discoloration with 464 and coconut 83 (used separately). I don't know why but wick producing better HT makes it more darker color discoloration in my case. I see the same thing happening with some name brand parasoy candles too. It bothers me too, but I am treating it as normal thing for many vegetable waxes including parasoy. Somebody please correct me, if I am wrong about this. What kind of wick is that in the picture?
  11. The Candle Makers store would be good place to start for you. They do have two popular tart waxes which are IGI 4625 & GW 494. You might want to look at Aztec also and The Flaming Candle next. Their price of FOs and shipping fee is very good. Sometimes it is better to have them ship to you if your nearest supplier is an hour away. If you consider 2 hours driving + gas + mileage on car, then Aztec might be better choice. Aztec offers variety of waxes that I even get one wax from them even though I am more than 2,000 miles away.
  12. Not that many candle makers were prepared for the shortage going on right now. I don't think any of them are willing to give up their inventory with this uncertain supplying situation going on right now. Lone Star still has your container in stock since their price is so high. Similar color Rose Gold metal lid is available at Jar Store which has better price than CandleScience. You need to hurry with lid purchase because their stocks get sold out very fast.
  13. Craft stores' prices are 2 to 3 times higher than what you can get from candle suppliers if you buy in 45 to 55 lb boxes, and most Craft stores' waxes(including soy wax) are Chinese imports without much technical data. It is going to be harder to make them work without specifications. Every waxes or pre-blended waxes available from any candle suppliers are good, so you might want to start looking at those waxes instead of blending one with Craft stores' waxes. Eventually you will end up with easier to work with better quality wax at better price. It is good idea to start creating your own wax blend, but you will need to learn about each waxes to make them work nicely. It is not hard thing to do. It just needs more preparation and research in order to make your own blend work nicely, and you can achieve better result than pre-blended waxes on the market.
  14. Since shipping cost can cost you more than wax itself, you have to locate the waxes that are available in your area first. If you don't have wax reseller in your area, then you will have to find the nearest suppliers with best shipping rate. Then you can choose the best wax among what is available to you. I ended up using 464 because it is best among what is available to me locally not because it is the best wax. There is no way I can spend $70 or more per box on shipping to make IGI work for my business even though many other candle makers love their waxes. There shouldn't be such thing as best wax or FO. If there is such a wax much better than 464, then I would be spending $70 or more on shipping to get that wax. We can make them all work well if we can get them to perform best. Soy waxes can throw better CT, and paraffin & coconut waxes might can throw better HT. So, definition of best wax will be depend on your preference of what performances you are aiming for. It is same thing with FOs even though you might want to consider spending more money for the shipping since it is little bit lighter than waxes. Same thing with container but this does not apply to you since you are making tarts.
  15. My glass jars & lids are out of stock at candle suppliers and jar distributors since last September. So, I have been searching restaurant supply stores and packaging companies for replacement glass jars. I did find one replacement jar from packaging company, and I am thinking of using one of these which is available at restaurant supply stores. But where is the wick? Many businesses and schools are starting to open up again. Is the situation going to get better anytime soon?
  16. @TallTayl Wow! That really is not behaving like old Coconut 83. The one I got from other supplier (You know which supplier I am talking about.) did not have problem like your batch from CalCandle. It is very wet and sticky, and candle came out darker(no dye) than before. But it is performing nicely(no cavities at all with same great HT) that I should be able to use them. But who knows what I will end up getting next?
  17. 6006 forms concave melt pool in the picture. It melts downward more than outward which is not the case with most other waxes. If you use bigger wick to achieve near full melt pool(full melt pool was even more impossible with 6006), then it will melt downward more than the picture. You will need to find rigid core wick that can stand firmly in place in deep melt to make 6006 work which I was not able to do.
  18. Wider mouth and shorter tins would require totally different wicking approach than glass jars, which is the reason why I love tins or any container of tin shape. I can make more safer candle using tins. For narrower regular glass jars, we will need to pay attention to convection for HT and could use the heat inside of container & heat of container itself to melt waxes to achieve full melt pool. But for the tins, we would need to control air flow from the flame itself for strength of HT and use conduction and radiation of wick to melt wax for full melt pool. If you can find wider and but cooler flame wick, then it would work really nice in tins. Different wax will work well in different containers too. Soy with little bit(about 5%) of other wax added would works really well in tins. Coconut 83 works well in narrow and tall container since it requires smallest wick. 6006 did not work well in tin, and I find that soy or soy blend is the best for the tins. This is Coconut 83 with Helix 1(smallest size of Helix series) in 9oz straight jar. It's not perfect due to very tiny mushroom balls forming at the wick, but it works decently. Since this type of jar gets hot really easily, I had to find wax that requires smallest wick which is coconut wax. This is 464 with 4% additive wax in 14oz tin, and it is almost at the bottom. I get full melt pool from top to bottom, and it does not get that much hot at the bottom that I can grab it comfortably. *No that is not wooden wick in the picture. Wide wooden wick would work really well and provide what we need to achieve for the tin shape containers, and I highly recommend wooden wicks to soy candle making hobbyist. But it is not stable enough to be used in candle business and cannot be trusted to be used in candle production. If you like tins, then you might want to stick with soy blends with highest percentage of soy in them. Good luck and be creative in candle development. And don't forget that there is no one size fits all solution in candle making.
  19. I am assuming your question is for someone who wants to get into candle business. Everyone should treat candle business like starting any other business. We all need experience to become any business owner unless you have capital to hire the best in the industry who you can trust. I am thinking at least minimum of 2 years experience. That is if a person is one of the fast learner and learning from the best teacher. One of the good thing about candle business is that it does not take a lot of investment capital to get into this business, but that does not mean that it is going to be easy. It takes a lot time to learn about candle making and be experienced, doing marketing research, knowing regulations, come up with business plan & marketing plans, finding the best ingredients, setting up supply chains, etc. Developing a good candle is not easy, but that is why it is so rewarding once you figure out how to make good candles and figure out how and where to sell your candles. Advice I want to make to new candle makers, who wants to get into this business, would be to have patience, have a strong will to learn everything about candle making, and be ready to spent tons of hours for candle developing. I see a lot of beginner saying that they have tried everything but nothing is working. But if someone had tried everything, then there should be several that must have worked. Real truth is that they only have tried little but think they have tried everything due to not knowing anything about candle making. There could be millions of different combinations that can be made with all the different ingredients for scented container candle making. Out of those millions of combinations, only little of those combinations would be good candles recipes. Even if a person is using only one wax, there could be several hundreds if not thousands of different combination of candles that can be made, and only few will work. Candle business is really great venture to start as part time business, but jumping into full time without any experience would be a really bad idea. *You can buy a lot of almost brand new candle making equipment at discounted price because a lot of candle makers are shutting down within 6 months. Be prepared to burn lots of candles including some famous name brand candles! Probably less than 3% of candle makers will survive and come out on top. Be the one that come out on top!
  20. It looks like it's not only CalCandle's batch that is different from past. I got one in Feb from other supplier, and below statement is on their website. I say it is burning little different but not too much. This is my first time with easy beads. I say HT is still great compare to slab. BE ADVISED, IF YOU RECEIVED SOME WAX THAT IS SOFT, DO NOT PANIC. WE HAVE TESTED THE WAX OURSELVES AND IT WORKS EXACTLY THE SAME. WE ALSO REACHED OUT TO THE MANUFACTURER AND THEY ASSURED US THE WAX IS NOT DEFECTIVE BUT THEY DID MENTION THAT THEY WERE EXPERIENCING ISSUES WITH THEIR SLAB MAKING MACHINE'S COOLING SYSTEM. (THIS ALLOWED THE WAX NOT TO HARDEN AS NORMAL) AFTER THE WAX IS HEATED IT WILL RETURN BACK TO ITS NORMAL STATE.
  21. I started out with 5 scents, and I was planning to add 1 or 2 every year. But I am still doing 5 scents where I have switched two scents instead of adding them. I guess answer to your question all depends on our targeted market and our operation type. 21 scents for my operation would be way too much, but it would be not enough for someone with store front. And, I feel that candle makers at fairs would need about 8 to 12 scents.
  22. Insurance policy & price will depends on your operation. State Farm has decent pricing for candle maker who does online sales, and they don't offer insurance to other candle companies. It might be best to deal with insurance brokerage firms where they can look for best deals and policy for you instead of contacting each insurance companies one by one.
  23. I am doing wholesale only, and my pricing is strictly based on wholesale. This is my pricing chart. *Note: If you are starting out and you are the only one in the company, then "Cost of Manufacturing Labor" is your profit also until you hire a helper. This cost can be reduced by 40% if you invest in $2,500 wax dispensing gun system. And other city's labor cost would be a lot lower than my city, which is Los Angeles CA where cost of labor is high. It will cost me minimum of $18 per hour plus employee tax and benefits to hire a helper in Los Angeles. I work with very thin margin on 14oz tins. But it is okay because they usually order 300 to 2,500 per order from each account. 9oz jar would be 100 or 200 per order, and 13.5oz Tumbler would be 10 to 50 per order. 12.5oz Status Jars are my newly developed candle for new targeted market. Study your targeted market and figure out the targeted retail price and possible sales volume first. My "Target Retail Price" is the pricing & container design that would work well for my each targeted markets in Los Angeles. When you know those figures, then you will kind of see whether your manufacturing cost would work for you or not. Container cost would be the most expensive part of manufacturing cost, and I had to find the one within my budget that would work well for my targeted market. *Appearance is important too, but pricing & budget strategy should be higher priority!
  24. Have you figured out your monthly production capacity? There are a lot more things you need to look at when it comes to candle business accounting. 1. Direct raw material costs: Wax, FO, wick, container, labels, dye, additives, wick glue 2. Inventory cost: Raw material inventories, Work in progress inventories, Finished goods inventories 3. Labor to manufacturer a candle cost: Labor in dollar figures per candle (How much does a candle maker employee makes in your area?) 4. Labor to operate candle business cost: How much does a candle company operation or sales people makes in your area? 5. Employee tax, work comp & benefit costs: Pretty soon you will need to hire extra hands. 6. Indirect material costs: Container cleaning supplies, paper towels 7. Packing material costs: Packing box, Shipping box, Packing material 8. Shipping or delivery costs 9. Business registration and license fees: In California, it takes about $1,000 per year to register candle business as LLC. 10. Insurances: Business liability, Product liability, Asset protection (Home based business: Is your home insurance covered when you run candle business at your house?), Auto insurance(I am pretty sure that you will be using your car for your business.), Work comp if you have employee 11. Rent: Even if you are home based, this applies because we need a space to make candles. 12. Operating costs: Utilities, Phone, Internet, Auto gas, Maintenances, Repairs, etc. 13. Accounting fees: About $800 per year when you are small. 14. Research and Development cost: Ask other candle makers how much they have spent on this! 15. Marketing research cost: It seems like this does not cost anything since we are getting most answers from online search. But it takes man power to do this. Labor costs plus internet fee! 16. Marketing fees: Brochures, Free samples, Advertising, Online marketing 17. Domain and Web hosting cost 18. 3rd party online sales platform fees: This is the killer! 19. Credit card processing fees: Another silent killer! 20. Bank fees 21. Office supplies 22. Machineries and equipment costs plus maintenance: Computer, Printer, Wax melting machine, Pouring devices, Storage and racks *And there are many other small and totally unexpected business running costs! You will need to figure out all of the above and start calculating. Your targeted market and material costs will be most important part of your candle pricing strategy. Most other fixed overheads and operating costs will give you the number of candles that you will need to sell in order to stay afloat. That's when your production capacity comes into a factor. Can you manufacturer enough to cover the cost and being profitable? Even if we start very small and have low overheads, there would be no profit for about first 200 to 500 candle sales(depending on your profit margin) per every month due to fixed overhead and operating costs. That's a lot of time and effort you will need to spend without making any profit.
  25. You are not going to get into big trouble by being 2% off. But, it is always good practice to be on safe side. I know where my fill line is, and most of my candles are 10.3 to 10.6oz. But I label it as 10oz net weight.
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