Bernadette

Wholesale isn't worth it on gel candles anymore. It has to be the most costly wax of all. I can't understand why it's so expensive. Some places are raising their prices every two weeks:rolleyes2...I've been watching. 50 lbs. of hp gel on one site has gone up to $175.00 for 50 lbs. and in checking today, there's no price listed on their site, which means it'll be going up again. It's disgusting.

Even Yaley gel, which is what Michael's carries, is $93.00 for 35 lbs.! And that's LP:angry2:. It's disgusting. The price has been increasing almost weekly ever since last fall. I think it has alot to do with Penreco selling the division.

...USPS priority deliveries getting faster?! I'm amazed...I was just checking some of my most recent shipments... for example One shipped Saturday from the southwest to NC and arrived yesterday(Monday)! Another I mailed to California yesterday morning and it's out for delivery already. This rapid delivery's been going on for me for the past month or so. I'm wondering if it has something to do with their losing business. Used to be when I went to the Post Office, especially on Monday, you had to stand in line for close to an hour. Now when you go to the Post Office, you can walk right up to the counter.

It's a candle to float in the pool.

I think I'm on burnout because I just cannot figure this one out. I have a customer that wants to know the quantity of pool candles to purchase for an August wedding. She says the pool is kidney shaped - 20' x 35' rough dimensions. She wants a "normal" presentation - not too few, not too many, just right! The candles she's looking at are 4" diameter. So how many would you recommend she purchase?

Thanks for updating us, summerbug. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you but glad you didn't "lose anything" on the deal. I'm still waiting to hear about some African deal being the real thing. Beginning to wonder if it's possible. There's a new scam coming out of Egypt. Someone supposedly selling candle wax, thousands of lbs., not small quantities, and unbelieveable prices before he adds the shipping in. Run fast if you get this one!:tiptoe:

I have been shipping internationally since 1999....Europe, Asia, Australia, South America...you name it. All were legit. But out of the 20 or so inquiries from Africa, not one turned out to be the real thing. For one thing, why would someone that far away want to place an order worth thousands of dollars for a product they have never seen, tested, or could get closer to home(unless your product is so unique, no one else has anything like it?). And as previously mentioned, if they ask you to ship to NYC or some coastal city, or say they will take care of the shipping altogether, be very careful. For your sake, summerbug, I hope it's a real request, and hope you will update us. If it turns out to be the real thing, it will be the first time I've ever heard of an order this size from Africa that turned out. Good Luck...

Love the color combo, Sabrina:yay:

I would be extremely cautious about any order from Africa, especially one for thousands of dollars. So many scams come from there and candle makers are targeted all the time.:tiptoe:

It's happening with other waxes too. The price of 50 lbs. of hp gel has gone from $139.50 to $175.00!!!!

Sharon, I don't do beading and since everyone breaks, it's not worth the bother. I live in the southwest. The humidity in my state and those around me ranges from 5-20% all year long. I'm originally from upstate NY and it is so different here. People laugh when you tell them how dry it is here. When we first moved out here, you could almost get electrocuted crossing the carpet and touching a switchplate or frig or something like that. We got a LARGE floor model humidifier that had to be filled twice a day! In upstate NY, it lasted for 5 days! I seldom use the dryer anymore...you can hang a load of wash outside and it's bone dry in 45 minutes!!! My SIL was out here 2 years ago for the summer in the state next to mine and all she did was complain about how dry her arms, feet, hands, etc. were and how much lotion she was going thru.

I don't think it's particular to now...I used to get emails like that about 8 years ago all the times. There are alot of unscrupulous people(candle sites) out there willing to trade freebies for reviews, thinking it will sucker people into buying their product over someone else's. The only reason they scour the internet using whatever the "hippest" vehicle looking for whatever they can get is because it's worked in the past. (Don't know if they're still on the internet, but there used to be "freebie" forums where candlemakers used to advertise freebies for favors.) Gets worse in a bad economy. Just another sad sign of the times... :tiptoe:

Tired of testing?....definitely...but now consider it a necessary stage of not only new designs but old! With new lots of supplies that can change from lot to lot, I don't want to ever wonder, and I've always been thankful that I do. I just consider it quality control anymore.

Really...this applies to bracelets, rings, etc. too. I purchased a couple of semi expensive jewelry items from QVC that were made with the elastic cord, no clasps. Within two months time they broke. I sent them back after talking with the customer service rep there. Seems I'm not the only one....I live in an area of the country with really low humidity, and they've had to take back alot of items from similar areas. The elastic dries out and breaks. I never thought when I purchased them that the same thing happens with rubber bands here. I never buy a big bag because they all break with a short time. I don't know if it would eventually happen if there was a clasp or not, but thought you might want to know that there can be a problem. If you sell in these areas, you may want to look into a similar alternative to retain customers. :tiptoe:

After working with gel for over 12 years I can tell you that there are ways to get few to zero bubbles without buying a debubbler. But if you think it's a pain to test wicks, these are just some of the other factors you must consider with gel: gel density, depth of container, fragrance oil and mixing of the oil; and height, speed, and temperature of gel when pouring. There's alot you can do with gel, but just like all candlemaking, it requires alot of testing.:tiptoe:

Well...just let me say one more thing...from the pics I've seen of your candles on this forum...if I walked into that store and saw those upside down things on the shelf next to your, I'd pay at least twice as much to buy one of yours instead!:highfive:

So...this could be their solution to hiding the upside down candle technique....:tiptoe:. I don't know...their website says they have 30 years experience:shocked2: and they're still making and selling upside down candles that look that bad(can't even shrinkwrap real good:laugh2:)? And what's up with that? Usually you put the seam of the shrinkwrap on the bottom, not the top. Looks unprofessional that way. Sabrina, I would definitely take some samples of your beautiful candles in to show them, whether they offer you a contract or not. Candles that look like those may be the reason that candles aren't that popular in Italy....

To me, I find it odd that all their website pillars are completely covered except for the church candles. I would never buy a candle I couldn't see. I mean, the paper is pretty, but that's not what I'm buying, and looks to me like they're hiding something.:tiptoe:

My number one seller is gel floating candles. I got an email yesterday from a customer all the way across the country that received a shipment a month ago today. A couple of the candles had pieces broken off. She is in Connecticut, and received the shipment during the blizzard...guess the box was bashed in. It must have been handled REALLY rough because one of the tests each design goes thru is I throw one as hard as I can against a tile wall and let it bounce and roll where it will. If it doesn't hold up, I don't proceed with the design. Anyway...she wanted to know if I knew of a heat resistant glue she could use to reattach the pieces.:shocked2: She will be using the candles in her wedding table centerpieces. Obviously, she received a long and detailed email from me. With all the education that candlemakers give out, and just common sense about fire, I can't believe there are people out there that don't have a clue.

It's not just the votives, it's the finding and sampling of hot pink glass votive holders, then trying to color match the candles to the glass holders, then filling the order. That takes time, and she did tell me on the phone that she wanted this done and in her hands by mid May! A little unrealistic I thought....

As excited as I initially was to receive this request, I walked away from it this weekend. After talking to her, she wanted hot pink votives and votive holders. She was willing to pay whatever to get them, but besides getting everything together for the actual votives, if I were to look into the glass holders for her, I would have to get samples to see if I could color match the candle to the glass. With all that was involved, I just didn't see the feasibility of getting these done and to her in time. For those that asked, yes, I have the exquipment and a good portion of the supplies, and I do this full time; however, to take this order, I figured I would not be able to service any of my other customers for awhile and probably would not be able to accept any new customers either. I have a couple of longstanding wholesale accounts that order this many candles a year, but they place their orders around the first of the year with specific dates scattered throughout the year that they want so many candles on this date, so many on this date and so on; so it's manageable. Not the whole thing in less than 2.5 months! I pointed her in the direction of several other online sites, but also told her that I believe they would be mass produced candles(probably imports) and that I seriously doubted she could get that many custom made candles at this late date. She was really nice about it, and told me she would stay in touch, so we will see. All in all, I'm relieved. At least it's good fodder for my journal!

Thought I would update you all on this.... After the tealight fiasco with this wedding planner, I didn't hear from her again. Then, surprise of surprise, in the past week I've already gotten 2 different orders from her. Not for tealights, but other wedding candles she's purchased from me before. I'm glad I stood my ground on the tealights, and I guess it goes to show that you never can tell with some people.

Candybee, the wedding isn't until June so thank God I have more than 2 weeks to make them...IF.... Why did you think it was a couple of weeks? I keep thinking to myself that there isn't going to be any electricity at this wedding - that's why she wants 23,500 votives!:laugh2:I wouldn't want to be the person that has to light all of these! I only have to ship them. They're not supposed to be favors or anything. They're going to be used at the wedding. The skeptic in me is beginning to tell me this is never going to happen....:tiptoe:

Don't congratulate me yet...we're still negotiating. Brides are a hard lot to deal with sometimes. I mean, her initial request was for a short cylinder votive(no dimensions or hint of what she meant) and "I'll be ordering alot depending on the price". Okay...am I supposed to be a mind reader?! Thru back and forth emails so far, she wants something shorter than a regular votive but taller than an oyster cup votive. Ooookkkaaayyyy...could you give me some idea of the quantity you'd like and I'll quote you several quantities. Obviously, the price would be better for 23,500 than for 235! How can you quote shipping if you don't know how many they want?:confused:And the picture she referred me to on The Knot...the color is in the glass votive holder with a white votive inside. I'm trying to confirm with her that she wants an actual colored votive and not a white votive in a colored glass votive holder because I don't sell votive holders and would NEVER ship that many across country. It would be a great order, but the headaches involved in getting everything straight, on top of making that many...I'll believe it when I see it.:tiptoe:

Well, I'm not sure my own facebook page would do me as much good as this. This is a beauty site that has a sign up for an email of the blog, and they must be pretty popular and have a very big mailing list, because in 2 days my product has had over 700 individual hits, and the recommended product I have on the page has had almost as many, and the looks keep coming. I think it means more to people when someone other than you is promoting your products. Maybe I'm wrong...:tiptoe: