Jcandleattic

I know consumers don't care, at least none of my friends that burn soy candles care one iota about what a candle looks like after they have it in their home. They care about a nice scent and a well burning candle. Most people who buy/burn soy candles know that the way it looks before, during, and after a burn is just a characteristic of soy.

The very first candle I ever made took some flying lessons (oh how I wish I was not exaggerating!!) I was so frustrated, disappointed and yes, angry, that I threw that sucker across the room! Thank god for my husband and his infinite wisdom and calming ways. If it weren't for him I never would have continued. My second candle was not much better, but it didn't go sailing across the room at least. :) That was 20+ years ago, and now I try not to get frustrated and disappointed, and now never get angry. And still love it after all this time. :)

Welcome Laura

Good to know. I'm not in a hurry, so can wait it out. Seems like it'll be a neat tool to add to the collection.

IMO Lonestar's FO's are up to par! They are just as good (if not better) as anything I have received from NG, Peak, and others. And that is in both candles and soaps.

This really doesn't have much to do with my granddaughter - she and I make soap together all the time. I just needed some inspiration because I just was in a rut and tired of the same type of soaps. I rarely ever repeat soaps because of that. it's one of the real reasons I havent' been able to make this into a bigger business for me than it is. I truly don't know how people can stand to do the same scent/style etc., soaps/candles/b&b items over and over again. I only have like 4-5 that I will do repeatedly, and I am completely stocked up on those. So far with the suggestions here I've made a Halloween soap, my challenge soap, and have 3 others in the works/designing stages.

I signed up for this last Thursday and still haven't heard back for approval - and can't get in without it. Do you know how frequent he approves new people? No biggie, as I said I have spreadsheets and my SM3, but I like having ALL THE GADGETS! LOL

yes, I've done this. I've burned day by day and week by week and noted the differences. It's a nice little experiment.

Yes, also another favorite of mine from NG. It's great by itself, and lends itself to be a great mixer.

I just mixed Mango Papaya, Coconut Banana Blast and Lemon Colada - and OMG it is my favorite for the moment. I even made a 6x6 candle out of it.

Yes, yes they did. HAHA

I don't sell mine but make it for the house. I'd have to look up my recipe as I don't make it often - but I know I use cyclo in mine.

Not sure how I missed this one, but those look great.

I get a LOT of my scents from NG and honestly there are very few (for me anyway) that are duds or "misses" as some call it. I can agree with what everyone has said - but one not mentioned, if you want a masculine scent is Perfect Man. It's a bit on the pricey side, but man o man is it good. I do have a hard time buying that one because of the price point, however it's worth it. Every time I offer it, in any medium, it's one of the first to sell. Here are a few off the top of my head I like: (I know some have been mentioned before) Perfect Man Coco Mango Tropical Blast Vanilla Silk Pear Berry Elf Sweat Reindeer Poo Vanilla Champagne Bite Me (VERY STRONG CHERRY- I drop down to 4% in all my applications with this one) OMG Olive Pumpkin Spice (not skin safe if that matters) Warm Apple Pie - don't remember if this is skin safe if it matters Wedding Day (not skin safe if that matters) I have many many more I've tried/used/loved that I just cannot think of off the top of my head, but will add to the list when I get home this afternoon.

Just because they aren't formulated for wax doesnt' mean they won't work with wax. Yes, this.

The plastic mold has a lot to do with that as well as the wax. I always get super glossy candles when I use plastic molds.

I just checked this out, awesome. Dean Wilson is out of AU is he not? I think he is/was a member here as well. Did a lot of M&P soaps. Nice guy and very 'giving' of his knowledge. (if it's the same Dean Wilson that is)

I guess I don't understand what this statement means. I have used them in candles. IMO soap and candle scents can be interchangeable as long as the scent is skin safe at a high enough %. Unless they have water in them or are water based fragrances (which, personally I have never seen at any reputable FO supplier) then I would think they would be fine in candle/wax formulas. The ones I got from them worked just fine in my candles.

EBC is like most every other company when it comes to scents. You are going to have hits and misses. I've used a few scents from them. I don't remember off the top of my head which ones they were, but I do remember thinking I needed to buy more scents from them to test out, so that tells me they were good enough in all my applications that I would buy again. Not sure if that helps at all, but that's my experience with them.

My embed soaps are usually the first to go at my markets. The look of the soap draws them in, the scent gets them to buy.

I just have to make sure I can find my leaf mold for the embeds. Embeds take so long to make. Especially when the embed mold I want to use I only have 1-2 cavities. LOL

As others said, it was Keystone. And he didn't only flake the one time. They did the same when they were here in CO. One day - business as usual, next GONE. No warning, no email saying "hey we're moving, buy what you can now" or even if they didn't want to sell/consolidate anything before just packing up and leaving a little heads up would have been nice. They blamed it on the warehousing district becoming too expensive and too competitive with the marijuana growers, which is not inaccurate, there was (and still is) a lot of that going on, but if that was the singular reason for them packing up and leaving, you can't tell me they didn't know in advance it was happening, and it could have been dealt with in a much better way than it was. They left a lot of Colorado crafters that relied on them in a bind of absorbing the new cost of having their supplies shipped out of PA. There are several reasons I won't purchase from Peak again, but the main reason is how they have treated their loyal customers. I just cannot/will not in good conscience give them my business...

Y'all are good with the suggestions!! Autumn Leaves sounds good. I could use Amish Harvest as the scent, and do warm, fall colors, with leaf embeds of green, yellow, red, orange, rust, etc.,

Ohh that sounds good. I got some patchouli about a year or two ago. Not my favorite scent so I haven't used it, but have heard it gets better with age (it's an EO not FO) so maybe I'll do that as well!

I don't have many soaps I make more than once, but I ended up making around 15 loaves of the mermaids last year, and sold ever last one of them within hours. So I feel I should have at least 5 batches ready at the go for my first shows this year. I missed last months challenge because of life getting in the way. I was going to do my Sailor's Dream for that one (which I made anyway, just didn't make it in time for the challenge) The black/purple dancing funnel will probably be scented Love Spell, simply because it slows trace down of my recipe, so I'll have enough time to work. I don't particularly like the look of the dancing funnel soaps, so I'll only be making a small 1lb batch for the challenge. It's the same with pumpkin scents here. Candles fly off the shelf with the pumpkin scent, but B&B and soap just sit there. I stopped making pumpkin anything other than candles about 4 years ago.