IlluminatedGifts

I use the stickums. I found sometimes the hot glue released when I was pulling the wick taut. If you don't want the white to show you could wind ribbon around the stem and maybe attach leaves at the top of the stem to cover it. Chris

Can't help you with the presto pot. When I make palm containers I warm the jars in the oven prior to pouring. I pour the wax around 180*F in the summer and around 185* in the winter. I believe the reason why they said to have your jars on a rack for air circulation is because the jar sitting on your counter will absorb the coldness radiating from it. The bottom of the jar may not crystalize when the counter is cool. I have never placed a box over them while they are cooling. Watch out for a/c vents or cool drafts and you should be fine.

It can be real fun talking to people from different parts of the world. I used to work for a German company here in NJ. The single male tech came to me one day and asked for a rubber. I cracked up and said that he better watch who he asked for a rubber because he would either get slapped or be in a situation he may/may not want to be in as I handed him an eraser. I explained what people here would think he meant and he turned all shades of red and explained that they called willies's over there. A few months later I had to fly to Germany for a meeting and was out shopping with one of the ladies from the office. As we stood in line to pay I passed the time glancing over the shelves like I do here. On the shelf were boxes of Willies. Cracked me right up! She asked me why I was laughing and I told her the story. She lived in the US for several years many years ago and had a good laugh with me.

Your welcome! Chris

Anjie, for your first time it looks pretty good. I use the straw stirrers that you get at a store that sells hot coffee or a bar to stir your drink. Don't use a regular drinking straw, the opening it too big. I slide it over the wick before I pour the gel and wait a few minutes for the gel to cool befor I slowly pull it off. Rember that the gel is cooler on the outside glass then inside so wait 5 minutes or so depending on your pour temp. After doing a few you'll get to know when to pull the straw off. FYI-Not sure if this is available in your area, but if you intend to make gel candles get the high melt point wax or NST on your wick. I still use the straw method as a precaution. hth, Chris

I'm not sure what was used for the calculations. That was why I suggested going on the low end to compensate for the heavier FO's. WNW-I know when I am testing I use 1 oz (28.4g) to 1lb (453.6g) of wax. Usually the most expensive material in the candle is the FO. When you start buying your FO's in larger quantites the price will go down some. I have several FO's that would equal your pound equivilent. Your next purchase really should be a scale. It will make your life so much easier.

This isn't an easy question to answer since you are mixing weight with volume. Whatever answer you get will be a approximate until you can get a scale. Using your 400g and 6% FO: 400g x 6% (.06) = 24g FO Using this website http://www.candlesupply.com/converter.html for the conversion I entered 24 and selected grams. The ml amount is 21.65. Keep in mind that FO's have different dry weights that I don't think will show up in liquid weight (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) I would play safe and stay at the 6% for FO's until you can get a scale. Converting to ml with heavier FO's will bring the 6% higher in your formula. hth, Chris

150* is too low to have the FO bind with the wax properly. You really need to bring the temp up. I add my FO at 175* and stir the heck out of it and pour it at 165*. Try this and let us know if this fixed the problem. I use on the average 1oz per lb. which is 6.25%.

I'm testing CBL129 and have a great throw. Are you adding the FO around 175*-180*F? Make sure you stir it for a few minutes to incorporate it in the wax. If you are doing the above then I am at a loss on why you are not getting a good throw. Maybe someone with more experience with this wax can help out more. Besides FO and color the only thing needed in this wax is UV. hth, Chris

We have a Royal and it is electric. We bought it at Staples. I think we paid about $230 for it. It has a scanner and we made barcodes up so all we have to do is scan our product and hand the receipt to the customer. It takes some programming but made things faster for us at craft fairs. At the end of the day we can print out what was sold for our records.

You may have a trojan virus. There is one out there that will slowly delete files randomly. I don't know the name of it but make sure your virus program is updated and do a scan. If the files are still on your computer you can do a search by clicking on the start button and then search. Where it asks you what files to look for type in *.doc for a word document and *.xls for excel. This will search for all the files with this extension. If your files do not show up I hate to say this but you probably lost them. There are programs out there that will restore undelete files. Go to a computer store and ask them for a restore program. Your files are still on the drive but they are erased as far as your computer knows. DO NOT save anything or download a program to install to your computer otherwise you may overwrite over them. You need to run the restore program from your CD Rom or disk. I think Nortons has a program that can bring back your files. hth, Chris

Your welcome.

Yes, I bought mine at walmart. It will weigh up to 5lbs.

I think you will find using a scale is much easier and more accurate. Add to your list dixie kitchen cups. I tar my scale then put the dixie cup and pour the fo into it. When I'm done I throw the cup away.

I use a scale to weigh my wax and fo so I don't know if you can up your scent load or not. If you haven't already maybe try to weigh several of your fo's to see if they are all weigh .5% and equal 1/2 tsp. I found that some fo's are lighter in weight and I use more than others that are heavier to equal .5%. Also, there are scents that will throw lighter than others even if you add more fo. Most states require a business licence and resale licence. Here is a link that may help you http://www.sba.gov/localresources/index.html. Choose your state and see what else you would need. I beleive SBA is a free service and you can get the info you need from them. The other thing is there is more than licences involved in starting a business. Either contact the SBA or maybe post this question in the Business Side of Things thread with your location and maybe someone in your state can help you out. I highly recommend you purchase candle insurance especially if you are going to sell your candles wholesale. hth Chris

This is the problem that I have. When the room was colder the jar was having hang up half way through the jar burn. At this point it should be melting the sides and isn't. When the house was warmer the melt pool went to each side and cleaned the jar and the scent was much stronger. Actually, I am happy this happened because the 44-24z may be borderline and temp sensitive for my application and wicking up should correct it.

I had that happen when the wax didn't shrink enough in the mold and I put it in freezer and left it in too long.

Malanute- you have the same setup like me. I live in NJ and this cold front that came in is really playing havoc right now with the temp in my house. This weekend it's suppose to warm up some and I'll try the 44-24z again. This wick gave me the best result so far. waxwench and gerrie - I've heard about the vybar incident awhile back and it does concern me. My supplier who lived 20 minutes away from me sold her business and gave me a case of the 129 to play with. I'm lovin' this wax but still undecided on adding it to my line because of it's prior history.

Thank you all for responsing to my question. I've had this FO is several different waxes including palm and soy and didn't noticed this problem. Then again my house isn't usually this cold during the winter. Ah, the joys of testing!

I'm testing new wax for my metro jars and I think the temp in my house is effecting the hot throw. Usually my house is between 70-73* but off and on during the last few weeks it's been 65* in the morning and only going up to 68*. We use a woodstove for heat and it is struggling to keep the upstairs living area above 70*. I am testing CBL129 in an 8 oz metro jar using 1oz of FO and burning a 44-24-18z wick. I started with 1.5oz of FO but the wick mushroomed big time and a very weak flame so I dropped it to 1oz. This corrected the huge mushroom and the weak flame but the scent throw dropped from blowing you out of the kitchen to a hint of scent. This didn't make sense to me because I have a pillar sitting in my kitchen with this FO in 4045 and the cold throw is very good. The throw when lit is great so I know 1 oz is a good amount. This got me thinking that there were days when we had higher temps outside and the house was around 71* or so when the first tester was going and the scent was knocking you out of the kitchen. The counters and glass container are much colder to the touch then usual so trying to figure this out if the counter and glass are colder the wick will have to fight harder to melt the wax to create the right temp of melt pool to throw the scent. The pillar isn't effected as much because it isn't enclosed in glass and absorbing the cold like the jar candle. Am I overthinking this? Has anyone else come across this too? If so, then what do you do to rectify this since there are people out there that keep their house in the 60's? Going back to lurking and hiding because wick testing has finally pushed me over the edge!

Here is a link that you might find useful http://www.candlewic.com/chandler/containers.asp. Scroll down for wick suggestions. I was testing other wicks and not getting good results until I found this page. I think I found what my problem is with scent throw. I had my friend over yesterday while I was testing the 8oz metro with the 44-24-18z. There was a hint of a throw but nothing like I had several days ago. When she left the house felt chilled. The temp was 68*. I have my house usually between 70-73* but we had a cold front with winds for the last few days. We burn a woodstove and it's been struggling to keep the upstairs (our living area) warm. At least warm for me lol. The glass is cold and I think the wick is fighting against that to create the meltpool enough to throw the scent. I still think the 44-42-18z is the wick for this jar. Saturday the temps are suppose to go into the 30's instead of 15 like it is now.

I believe this started with gel candles from China. There were a few that exploded and had to be recalled. In fact I think Target or Kohl's had a recall on gel candles a summer or two ago in my area. I do craft fairs and still have people bring it up. I explain the testing and the materials that I use are gel safe. They need to pay attention to all candles no matter what wax it is made of because if a flame shifts and gets too close to the glass it could shatter it. I bring a candle from a famous chain store which shall be nameless :rolleyes2 and show them how the wick isn't centered. I try to educate the consumer on candle safety. Sometimes I can change their mind, sometimes not.

What wicks are you using for this wax? I have been testing this wax for more than 2 weeks. I'm testing the 2,8, and 12 oz metro jar. I've tried LX, RRD, CD, and Zinc. I had a fantastic scent throw in the 8oz metro with a 44-24-18z but the mushroon was so big the flame looked like a total eclipse lol. I went up to a 44-32 and down to a 44-20z and lost the fantastic scent throw. Thinking I was using too much scent for these wicks (1.5 oz pp) I dropped it to 1 oz. Now I have a nice flame with a bearable mushroom but lost the great scent throw with the 44-24z. Other additives are 3 drops of Candlewic's evo dye and 1/4 tsp of UV pp. FO from The Candlemakers Store.

Craft Business is very similar to QB at a better price. The only difference that I can see is QB comes with a payroll module. There may be other features but looking at the website it looks like a real nice program. The accountant that I work with has QB on her computer and I email her the clients data file for year end. Maybe your accountant can get their hands on a copy of Craft Business if you decide to go this route so that at the end of the year you can send your data to him/her if you don't do it yourself.

Katinka is right about deleting in QB. I would not recommend this program for anyone who is not going to be hands on with the program. There are safeguards that you can use but I had a client that never went in it and his bookkeeper ripped him off for over $60k by printing out checks in her name, forged his signature, and changed the payee to one of his vendors. After finding out how much she took over a 5 month period I showed him how easy it is to change things. The fact that you can go into QB to delete entries instead of making reversing entries is what makes QB so user friendly. Unfortunately, in the right hands it could cost the company tons of money.