Peggy

Oh no, the show sucked. I only did $600 in 2 and a half days. I had as many candles as I did because the annual attendance is around 7000. I really worked my big butt (unfortunately it is still there) off to get ready for this. I was very disappointed.

Pleae check out the following links: http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/Publications/600R-01-001%20Chapter%203.pdf and http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/Publications/600R-01-001%20Chapter%204.pdf These are very interesting reads from the EPA. The second link has some really good information regarding Zinc wicks. Hope this helps.

Here are the pictures from the show. I think that I had too much displayed and that the booth was just too busy. I am going to scale down the number of candles of each scent that I put out for the next one. All opinions are welcomed.

Thanks for all the encourgement. I know that there are always lessons to be learned through all experiences. I am trying to look to the positive side of this past weekends show so that when I do my next one in a week, I might do better. It was just difficult as I had been working for months to get ready. I had over 800 candles done, both jars and pillars. I was told that there were over 7000 people that attend and the statistics are that you will sell to 10%. I was ready. I grossed around $600 for 2 and a half days. I am going to start a new thread and post the pictures that I took of my booth and hopefully will get some positive critisism. I know understand about Candle Wealth and just who they are and will be ready with my laminated facts sheet that I have already put together. Yes, I used the information the the National Candle Associations web site and from the EPA. Education is the key. If a person has a preference to soy, that is great, I don't have problems with that. I just don't like liars.

Excuse me, I didn't mean to start a battle here. When I said "soy nazi's" I was referring to the people from Candle Wealth who are making a mockery of our craft. These people put literature out that is totally nonfactual. One thing that they refer to is that soy is water soluable. How can that be, it is a vegatable oil and I know that the vegatable oil that I cook with is not water soluable. The other thing that they mention, the "possible" carcinagins that parrafin produces, well then they better stop driving gas fueled cars. I did my research on parrafin vs soy and it came straight from the National Candle Associations web site http://www.candles.org/about_faq.html and http://www.candles.org/elements_wax.html and from the EPA's web site: I just feel that as "chandlers" we need to properly educate people who ask us if our candles are soy or parrafin. They need the facts not fiction.

So far it has been Friday night and Saturday sales and I have barely recovered my booth fee. The other vendors are encouraging as many of them have been coming to this show for years. They think that there are too many candle booths and that the quality of the show has gone down hill in the last several years. This is supposed to be a no buy/sell show and it is amazing how some people get around that. There is one vendor who just adds flowers, names or whatever with marking pens to plastic buckets full of rubber toys and it is considered not buy/sell. Oh, well! The booth next to mine has all handmade wood work, very nice stuff but he also has some candles in there. I was talking to the person who made the candles about some of her jars and wondered if they were difficult to wick. She didn't understand the question. She just buys her stuff in a kit and it tells her what size wick to use for that jar. She has only been making them for a few months. I have been testing for two years. I use a Balmoral jar and it took me months to finally find the right wick. I am always testing in my pillars because I do weird stuff with them and want to make sure that they burn correctly. Then there are the "soy nazi's", and I don't mean to ruffle any feathers with the vegetable wax peep's. They have a poster at there booth stating untruthful information about how bad parrafin is. I guess because it has been on 20/20 it must be true? Has Dan Rather gone to 20/20? Not only that, these "soy nazi's" are multilevel marketing. They are trying to recruit more candle makers who can make money selling candles that they make from a kit. I am sorry to vent so much, just really mad. I guess I have spent the last two years working hard on my candles and didn't realize there was so much junk out there. Yes, I have gone into stores and looked at the what the pro's are doing and yes I read on this board all the time. I need to start reading more than just what I find of interest. Today is the last day and I hope I make a few more bucks. Again, sorry for the ranting, I just needed to vent and knew this would not fall on deaf ears.

I would love to be a "user" and help with the testing.

I think its great to see people get excited. I asked for a "Wish List" and thats what I expected. You should know that people who do not program dont think the same way as those who do. They see something as cool and we see it as 4000 lines of code. So please dont be to harsh. Do you use VB,C++,C#...? You are right, they do think differently. I am only harsh on the "users" that I work with, way too demanding. No, I don't program in VB, C++ or C#. I have starting to learn VB.net, but other stuff needs to be done and I don't seem to have the time to get to it. Then when I am at home, I either just want to do candles or play golf. I don't want to do any coding. I work on a mid-range system so PC languages are beyond me. Crazy as it might sound, I think programming is very creative, I guess that is why I like candlemaking. There is so much to it, like programming, but yet very creative.

You know "user" is a four letter word. I have found this post very funny as I am a programmer/analyst in the grown up world. All the comments sound just exactly what it is like at work. How about throwing in the size of the kitchen sink in there. This is just tooooooooooooooooooo funny.

I would agree. I have used two different types and the one that I am using now is by far the better of the two. I have never had them come loose once I poured.

Well, it has been a very long time since I posted anything, but I have been on here looking at everyone else's post. I guess I think I just don't have very much to say or someone else says it before I do. Anyway, I do have a question in regards to possibly how much inventory I might need. I have been accepted at a craft fair in November. It starts on Friday night, and they have around 1000 on that night because they call it a pre-buy night. People pay more to get in and get dinner included. Then it is all day Sat & Sun and there will be about 250 vendors. All items are hand made and they usually have around 2000 a day on both Sat and Sun. Since I have never done anything like this I am not sure how much inventory to take with me. I make container and pillar candles both. If anyone can give me some ball park amounts, I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance:p

I read this article recently and found it most interesting. Might help with your dilemma, also seems to agree with what others are saying. http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/tipsandtechniques/qt/qtfotemp.htm

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I called my local Wally World and they have 80 on order, due in next week. As I have read in many of your posted regarding WW, I know that they can be a bit sly regarding ordered items. I will keep tabs on the shipment or visit the store to see if they are in. I can always use this as a last resort.

I am in a desperate search for the Libbey heart shape bowl. I know that most Wal-Marts carry them, but I bought our Wal-Mart out the otherday and they have not restocked. I have search on the internet for another supplier and have not been able to locate one. Any help would be appreciated.

Those are totally awsome. I sure wish that I knew how to make carved pillars, they are soooooooooooo beautiful.