Bernadette

Congratulations, you guys, that's wonderful!:yay:More than the size of the order(which is terrific), I would be thrilled that they had heard of me 200 miles away! Word of mouth can end up being your biggest seller and business grower. Again, congratulations and have a great mini vacation!

Not in any particular order: Rustic Rose Any type Vanilla Apple Cinnamon Sea Breeze Snowdrift Lavendar Eucalyptus Blend Strawberries and Cream

Christmas Eve morning I started cleaning the stove and tile parts of my shop, and finished the rest of the tile this morning. Everything is so gleaming clean, I almost need sunglasses to look at it! It's been so long since it's looked like this, I almost hate to think of starting up again, but orders have already started coming in. Hope I have time to finish off the other shelves, floor, etc. I just can't believe how nice everything looks, nor how long it's been since it looked like this!:tiptoe:

How cute is that! I bet she loves it. Adorable....

BarbaraC, maybe it's too early in the morning for me, but I don't understand...what do you mean by postage? Congratulations, by the way, sounds like this open house was a huge success!

I only make novelty candles and only sell online so it varies throughout the year, but for Christmas, it was angels, snoopy type candles, all types of cocktails, pie and pie slices, and cheeseburgers, as well as a few religious candles.

Do you have or could you take a picture of what's left so we can see it? Might help with an explanation....

I have a shipper account with FedEx and my rates aren't going up. I've used them alot for Christmas orders. My account gets me discounts, and when I can ship to Virginia from Nevada on Thursday(ground) and have them delivered Tuesday afternoon, I think their service is improving!

Thanks Ladies! These are going to Arkansas, so I want them to look right. If I get a chance before I package them up, I'll post a final picture. You rock!

Sorry...mods please move this to General Discussion. Was in such a hurry I put it in the wrong forum!! Thanks!

Okay, I'm asking all you Southerners because I consider you the experts! I have a couple of pecan pie slices to make and send, and was wondering...does a slice of pecan pie usually get served with a dollop of whipped cream on top, or is it just plain? Really want it to look like the most popular serving. TIA:yes:

Tracey, is there anything you and Richard touch that doesn't come out perfect?! I highly doubt it. If you lived over here, I'd go broke buying as much of your items as I could get! Absolutely wonderful.

I can't see any picture ...just a red X

Thought I would revive this.... I don't know what happened...cyberMonday I didn't get one order(never do!lol), but since the first, you'd think I was having a fire sale!:yay:I haven't seen business this good for over a year or more. Figures tho...everyone appears to be waiting 'til the last minute again, and I make everything to order. I see some loooonnnnggg days ahead...:tiptoe:

Yeah, me too......hopefully after the Holidays I can play with it a bit, however, I've used that wax for over a year and a half now, and it always discolors when melted; but I've never tried to make a candle this big with it before and had no idea it would get worse with the amount. Works terrific for colored candles, just not white or cream. If I can remember, I'll take a pic before I send off the good ones, so you can see the difference between the two waxes. I think you'll agree it's weird...

This paraffin is in small bead form. It's totally white. When it's melted is when it has the yellowish cast, but in smaller molds, the candle will always turn out ivory or cream, NEVER white. It was not overheated when melted. I melt it to 190 degrees per the manufacturer's instructions for adding the zybar and stearic, then reduce heat to 175 and pour. After several trys with this wax, I gave up and went to the slab form. Never a problem with this wax. So far, I have two done...one more to go:yay:! The bead wax makes beautiful colored candles that burn beautifully, so I guess I'll just save it for that.

Okay, up and at it again this morning. I'm melting another 2 1/2 lbs. right now. Before I do anything, when it's melted I'm pouring a little mold first to see what the wax color is. BTW, forgot to mention that with the others with the additives, the wax was yellow melted in the pot, almost a gold, but when poured and cooled it was a pale yellow. Lighter than a baby yellow. This is an industrial mold from a professional candle company that went out of business right before the recession started. There's some silicone in this mold, but there's something else. It's a heavy, over 16 lb., 3 piece mold. It's held together with the thick craft bands. Additives don't phase these. The only color they ever made in this mold was white, so that shouldn't be effecting the color either. We'll see...more later....

I KNEW I forgot something...no fragrance used on these because only the center burns - a perfect 3" pillar size - leaving an outside shell where you can insert scented pillars, votives, etc. later on. I've given up for the evening as I'm off to bed. I'll try some of these suggestions in the morning and let you know what happened.

Another one for the "scratches her head" books! I have a large novelty mold that holds 2 1/2 lbs. of wax. I should mention that I've made this one up in colors before, tested, everything fine. This time, I have an order for this configuration for 3 candles in cream. I use a 148 meltpoint, straight paraffin, and add zybar and stearic. This wax is white pellets but when you melt it and pour, even with the additives for smaller candles, the outcome is cream. Well this time, doing one candle or 2 1/2 lbs. of wax with the recommended zybar and stearic, the outcome is pale yellow!:rolleyes2 Does anyone have any ideas why this is happening? Is it the additives? Pouring into this mold takes a day and a half for the wax to harden, so I don't want to experiment if I can help it as I only have one mold and the customer needs these asap. I know I'm leaving some things out, but I'm so frustrated right now. I will reinerate that in smaller quantities of wax(for single candles) I don't have this problem at all. TIA for any insight you might be able to give.

Over the years, I've met many people that do this simply to get the gratification that people want to buy their items. I remember the first craft show I did...the lady next to me was selling the most beautiful crocheted Christmas ornaments I'd ever see. I mean they were very ornate. She told me she makes them all year long as something to do as she loved crocheting. The most expensive one she sold went for $1.50! Although she sold all of them, she said she didn't even make her thread cost, to say nothing about the booth! Since then, I've met soapers and chandlers that basically operate the same way. It's hard when there are people like that out there...

My sales are down as for the number of orders, but up in the size of the orders I'm getting, so dollar volume is up, which is what matters to me! Last month was extremely busy compared to this month which is great because it gives me more time to prepare for the Holidays.

Thanks, Top, that certainly makes sense and must be what happened. After I trimmed off the excess and relit it, it burned fine the rest of the way. Just another case for NEVER leaving a candle burning unattended!

Do you have a website? Have you considered one? These days, almost every family has relatives that live elsewhere and they all have friends and acquaintances. If you don't have a website and can't afford it right now, how about a friend who would be willing to let you sell your product on their site? Then you could tell your customers locally that you would appreciate it if they would tell their family and friends to visit your website. I say this because way back when I first started out, I did a total of 2 craft shows and said, "This is it!". I loved meeting the people, but HATED lugging all those heavy boxes around. I did terrific at the 2 shows and everyone said I should sell on eBay, so I opened an account and started selling there. That was a decade ago when selling on eBay was fun and profitable. When I opened my website, I emailed all those customers and let them know. The business has grown from there, strictly by word of mouth. And I now sell internationally because alot of my customers still have family elsewhere other than the US. I don't do hurricanes(yet!), but I do have a couple niches and some of my candles are labor intensive and expensive, but they still sell. There are still plenty of people out there with the means and desire to purchase quality products. You just have to find them. A little effort in the right places can help you find them. And perhaps adding a couple of other unique products might help you grow and continue to do the more creative work that you love.

When I did wholesale, I only sold to businesses. I did not share my wholesale information with them until they had supplied a copy of their business license and tax id. For individuals that wanted wholesale pricing, they were told that discounts would be given based on purchasing X amount of dollars. It rapidly cut out completely those who just wanted to phish for my policies.:tiptoe:

Now I understand...I pulled an all nighter last night to finish up some wedding and Christmas orders, and I'm kinda brain dead today.:laugh2:Never mind.:tiptoe: