NattyCat

VERY VERY good point - a very small post giving people a clear response to the "accepting orders" confusion was removed, but a supplier is running rampant on "that" thread and nothing is done? That particular supplier has managed to build their business up ten-fold purely because of that thread so if that's not self promotion and advertising, I don't know what is.

that's exactly what they're getting. I think I confused the matter by saying "keywords" in a generic sense. What that site actually does is give the GOOGLE ADWORDS that i have developed and paid for (which I confusingly called "keywords"). I Don't know how it works or how they do it, but for a site like that to just rip of anyone's Google Adwords which take time and money to develop are truly a shower of worthless buggers.

No I did not PAY for someone to come up with my keywords - I'm not that dumb. What I mean is that I have been using Google Adwords for 3 years and you pay for that on a monthly basis. Setting up Google Adwords is NOT simple or easy and you pay on a monthly basis for what essentially is a glorified keyword storage centre. After much hair pulling and analysing to ensure I've not got 6,000 keywords that do nothing but 200 keywords that actually WORK for me, I'm finally seeing very very good results and spend a long time viewing traffic reports, conversion rates and click through stats to ensure I keep getting and improving my returns. You can see which are clicked, how many times, if the click converted into a sale or not yada yada. I tweaked those keywords over and over again till my ranking started to rise and yes, I do have a very good ranking now in the UK. I'm not talking about the keywords that are sat in the header of the HTML page, I'm talking about the keywords I've used in Google Adwords - and THEY are the ones people are stealing. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear - the keywords stored in the metatags at the top of each page are pretty much worthless, they rarely get you up the rankings at all and that's not what people using keyword spy are looking at. What they are looking at is my GOOGLE ADWORDS keywords which I have spent 3 years developing and paying for. Let them "view source" on the actual website, I only have a few keywords on there but I'm protective of the targeted keywords I've developed for Google Adwords as they cost money and take time to develop!

"The fastest and best way to compare your keywords and keywords of other companies like yours" It is NONE of those things, It's LAZY. Why go and find sites that are higher ranked than yours, steal the keywords so you can match or overtake the site you took them from? Why not get off your butt and work through a list of keywords on your own and NOT just "take" the keywords that someone else has worked their butts off over for months? Keywords don't just "Appear" you know - they have to be researched, tested and paid for to ensure they are streamlined and working to your company's best advantage. For someone to come along and just rip off a list of keywords that I have spent 3 years developing and streamlining and paid hundreds of dollars for along the way is, in my eyes, stealing. I never said it was illegal, and I know full well the source of a website can be viewed and stolen unless protective measures to prevent that are in place on the website. I pointed out that REGARDLESS of the method, if a person just rips off the keywords from a site that is similar but performing better than their own instead of putting in the time, money and effort to develop their business off their own backs - that's just wrong. Despite it being wrong, it HAPPENS, and there's nothing any of us can do about it - and that's the thing that pisses me off!

yea it's easy to see exactly how the page is made up - but it's not so much the method I'm moaning about, it's the bastards out there that will do ANYTHING to steal your work and pass it off as their own.

....scumbags who ride on your coat-tails? So I was checking out the traffic analysis on my website - you know, seeing where my visitors were coming from, what links were being clicked etc and you know, one of the most prolific providers of traffic to my site is: http://www.keywordspy.com This is beginning to PISS me off. Why can't these thieving, useless **%$$?£$ do their OWN work instead of trying to steal mine? In December, my site was accessed 36 times by this site - so that's either 36 people trying to find out what my keywords are so they can rip them off or a few people visiting over and over again trying to steal my hard work instead of getting off their fat, lazy arses and doing the job themselves. Go figure, I just gave the url so I can probaby expect a shit-load more visits but I gotta say, anyone who DOES use this method of trying to steal from their competitors rather than doing the work themselves are just plain 'ol leeches and WILL get their come-uppance one day. Rant over.

That's a great idea - we do get a rough deal on shipping, that's for sure. I would like to buy from the following, but they don't ship to the UK: Papermart Nashville Wraps Sunshine Container Candle Science I'm sure there are others but I can't remember off the top of my head. Some of the other suppliers I have tried to buy from have jacked up the cost of shipping SO MUCH that its totally unfair. I do expect a packaging charge but just the other day I priced up 5lbs of oil which, with packaging would have been 6lbs. USPS says this will cost $37.34 but this site was charging $70 for the same shipping service. Thanks for thinking of us!

Personally I wouldn't have so much text on the front. You can have a label on the back with all that text as well as the weight, PAO symbol, contact details, ingredients etc. The front should be clear and concise with perhaps just a short description to entice people to pick it up and read the back? I'd also not have the labels so big - perhaps half the size so the actual product can bee seen through the bottle - unless the bottle is frosted (I can't tell) but I'd still not have a label that covers the entire front of the bottle just from an asthetic point of view. nat

well done with the site, you definately got $30 worth. The logo stands out well in black and white...but looks a little like the Jack Daniels logo - or was that intentional?

Might be a good idea to send a quick email to Candle Science and ask them - then you'll know the answer for definate.

Could be. The Vanilla Plum is OK but hardly "knock your socks off" - know what I mean? I've not tried the ones you mentioned so perhaps I was just unlucky with the selection I got - I have about 6 or 7 here but only find the vanilla plum to throw well. Oh well - not gonna cry over it, there's a massive range of oils out there and I'm determined to try them ALL!! :p

Be Delicious and Lavender, Cucumber and Sage are not great throwers in soy. In fact, Solas oils are wonderful scents for soaping - but not very good for soy candles. Some might like the throw being weak but personally I find Solas oils just unsuitable for soy, even at 2oz per pound.

Just poured the J Lo Glow from RE. It has no throw. I mean NO throw. I did a dipped bear in it also and then used a pipette to drip neat oil onto the bear to try and increase the scent, but it just doesn't smell. I refuse to send this to a customer with just a feint perfume aroma so need to figure out why they're not getting the dipped bear they want to give as a xmas gift. One to avoid in soy I believe. Am SO disappointed.

Just thought I'd add a little rave for this scent from NG. Have tried so many I lost count, but having just poured the NG version for the first time, I can say that is throws like CRAZY in Ecosoya and is very very accurate to the actual perfume.

I reckon I must have a dud. I absolutely adore this scent and when the bottle arrived and I sniffed OOB i thought..."hmm..that's not very good" but you can NEVER tell what an oil is like truly OOB, so I put it in wax and it's just so wrong. It has a slight perfume smell - none of the knockout and instantly recognisable scent of the aftershave...when a man walks past you wearing it you just inhale and you want to follow him just to keep sniffing, but this oil is just bland, slightly cologne-like and the same goes for the J Lo.

Hi All I bought some of this FO from RE based upon their description, which was: Issey Miyake Soap-N-Candles formulation L'Eau D'Issey Pour Homme will give you hot flashes and heart palpitations! Heady, invigorating, yet fresh and eclectic. Base notes of Verbena, Tangerine, Cypress, and Yuzu Zest set the stage for a sexy middle of Coriander, Clary Sage, Geranium Bourbon, Blue Water Lily, Nutmeg, Saffron, with a memorable dry down of Ceylon Cinnamon Bark, Amber Tobacco, Vetiver, Sandalwood, and Musk. We say memorable for a reason... men and women both claim this aphrodisiac scent for their own! We know you have tried every version of Issey out there! We know you expected "boyfriend in a bottle", but didn't get it! We sent this intoxicating favorite men's fragrance directly to the perfumer to get what you are looking for. When your customers ask you for "ISSEY", you know where to get it! Well I just poured it for the first time in soy AND paraffin as well as parasoy and I'm telling you, it is SO wrong - it couldn't be further from Issy Miyake if it tried. I wear Issy Female, my husband wear's Issy Male and both my sisters wear Issy female - we LOVE it and know exactly what it smells like. My god, even the cheapy grade from SOS smells better and closer than this does? I'm wondering if I got a duff bottle. I cannot stress just how wrong this oil is, there is not even the tiniest whiff of Issy in this bottle. So - does anyone else have this oil who are Issy lovers and KNOW what it's supposed to smell like? I'm in the UK so it's going to be a bugger to send it back if I've got a duff one, but based upon their rave description of the scent, I'm better off spending a lot less on the SOS cheapy than this, quite frankly, bottle of weak oil that smells a bit like pee. And while we're on the subject - I also got the J Lo Glow - and I can barely detect ANY scent OOB, even if I shove my nose right in the bottle and seal the other nostril with my finger, this oil is so weak OOB that I just know it is going to be crap in soy. This is my first ever order from RE and so far I'm bitterly disappointed - I thought they were a good company and their oils were top notch? Perhaps I'm just unlucky and got the bottom of the barrel stuff.

the pisser is that one person's tablespoon isn't as big or as small as another person's tablespoon so you're always best using your scales and doing per ounce.

I just don't understand these bases. So they don't have parabens in - but they still have SLS (Sodium Laureth Sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate) in - which is just as bad as parabens and means these bases are NOT as "all natural" as they claim to be. People find parabens to be an irritant but SLS is also well known to be a skin irritant to the same degree.

Colonial Times to the Industrial Revolution Colonial women offered America's first contribution to candle making when they discovered that boiling the grayish green berries of bayberry bushes produced a sweet-smelling wax that burned clean. However, extracting the wax from the bayberries was extremely tedious. As a result, the popularity of bayberry candles soon diminished. To this day Bayberry candles are made the same way, although cost is prohibitive since it takes one and a half quarts of Bayberries to make an 8 inch taper candle. Early missionaries in the southwestern United States boiled the bark of the Cerio tree and skimmed the wax to make candles. The growth of the whaling industry in the late 18th century brought the first major change in candle making since the Middle Ages, when spermaceti, a wax obtained by crystallizing sperm whale oil, became available in quantity. Like beeswax, the spermaceti wax did not elicit a repugnant odor when burned. Furthermore, spermaceti wax was found harder than both tallow and beeswax. It did not soften or bend in the summer heat. Historians note that the first "standard candles" were made from spermaceti wax. In 1811 stearic acid was developed. This chemical is a by-product of fat and was blended into the wax to harden it. This created candles that burned longer. When cotton began to be imported from the hot countries and the "American Plantation" (later the United States), the cotton began to replace rush wicks and linen was sometimes used as well. Wicks made simply of twisted strands of cotton burned very poorly and needed constant maintenance. By 1825 it was discovered that braided wicks were a great improvement for candles at this time. The braided wick was tightly plaited and the wick curled over as it burned enabling it to be completely consumed. It was during the 19th century when most major developments affecting contemporary candle making occurred. In 1834, inventor Joseph Morgan introduced a machine which allowed continuous production of molded candles by the use of a cylinder which featured a movable piston that ejected candles as they solidified. His machine manufactured 1500 candles an hour from a mould. Even though by the middle of the 19th century the Industrial Revolution had transformed the way candles were made, handmade candles were still in demand, especially for religious activities. Further developments in candle making occurred in 1850 with the production of paraffin wax made from oil and coal shales. Processed by distilling the residues left after crude petroleum was refined, the bluish-white wax was found to burn with no unpleasant odor. Of greatest significance was its cost — paraffin wax was more economical to produce than any preceding candle fuel developed. And while paraffin's low melting point may have posed a threat to its popularity, the discovery of stearic acid solved this problem. Hard and durable, stearic acid was being produced in quantity by the end of the 19th century. By this period, most candles being manufactured consisted of paraffin and stearic acid. Candles continued to be the main source of light for the home until the invention of the light bulb in 1879. Before this invention though, candles or oil lamps were prevalent in every home. During the Civil War, men on both sides of the conflict looked forward to packages from home which would include not only food, but soap and candles. In the Confederacy, especially, soldiers would write home asking for candles. Buying candles at camp was expensive as one soldier wrote to his wife from Port Hudson, La. in January 1863, " I am sorry you troubled yourself so much about candles when we first came here we could not get them but now we can get them at from 50 to 75 cents". With the spread of electric power for the basic lighting of our homes, the candle was no longer the prominent way to light our homes. The candle market contracted but did not die as there was still a demand for candles for churches, romantic dinners, home decor, celebrations, relaxation, and sheer enjoyment. Candle manufacturing was enhanced during the first half of the 20th century through the growth of U.S. oil and meat packing industries. With the increase of crude oil and meat production, also came an increase in the by-products that are the basic ingredients of contemporary candles — paraffin and stearic acid. The popularity of candles began to grow during the mid-1980s, when interest in candles as decorative items, mood-setters and gifts began to increase notably. Candles were suddenly available in a broad array of sizes, shapes and colors, and consumer interest in scented candles began to escalate. The 1990s witnessed an unprecedented surge in the popularity of candles, and for the first time in more than a century, new types of candle waxes were being developed. In the U.S., agricultural chemists began to develop soybean wax, a softer and slower burning wax than paraffin. On the other side of the globe, efforts were underway to develop palm wax for use in candles. Gel wax, another petroleum derivative, also became available for candle production. While many candles are still made in large factories, with the increased availability of vegetable waxes and gel waxes, cottage-style operations began to grow, making candles in their kitchen and selling those candles in gift shops, craft fairs, and on the internet. Candles are being made in all types of styles - container, votives, pillars, and other shapes such as pyramids, globes, square, and novelty types such as Christmas trees, bunny rabbits, turketys, and pumpkins. Candle Usage in Religion Christianity In Christianity, candles are commonly used in worship both as decoration as well as symbols representing the light of Christ. Candles are often placed on the altar. Votive candles may be lit as an accompaniment to prayer. Candles are lit by worshippers in front of icons in Catholic, Orthodox and other churches. In some churches, a special candle known as the Paschal candle specifically represents Christ, and is lit only at Easter and baptisms. In some Christian denominations, the day of Candlemas marks the end of the season of Epiphany. On this day, the presiding priest blesses all the candles to be used in worship for the following year. Candles were traditionally used to light up Christmas trees before the advent of electric lights. They are still, even today, commonly used to decorate Christmas trees in Denmark and other European countries. They are also used in Advent wreaths. In Sweden (and other Scandinavian countries), St. Lucia Day is celebrated on December 13 with the crowning of a young girl with a ring of candles. Judaism In Judaism, candles are traditionally lit on Friday evening at the start of the weekly Sabbath celebration, and Saturday night during the Havdalah ritual, which ends the Sabbath. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated by lighting a candle in a special candelabrum each night during the eight-day holiday to commemorate the dedication of the altar in the Temple in Jerusalem. Candles are also used in remembering a deceased loved one, especially on their Yahrzeit, the anniversary of their death according to the Hebrew calendar, when a 24-hour candle is lit. Similarly, on Yom HaShoah, a day of remembrance for all those who perished in the Holocaust, candles are lit to honor the victims. Kwanzaa Candles are also used in celebrations of Kwanzaa, which is an African American holiday which runs from December 26 to January 1 Humanism For Humanists, skeptics, and nontheists (and particularly secular humanists), candles have become a symbol of the light of reason or rationality. This association was inspired by Carl Sagan, who subtitled his 1997 book The Demon-Haunted World with Science as a Candle in the Dark. The Humanist festival of HumanLight often features a candle-lighting ceremony. Wicca In Wicca and related forms of Neopaganism, candles are frequently used on the altar to represent the presence of the God and Goddess, and in the four corners of a ritual circle to represent the presence of the four elements. When used in this manner, lighting and extinguishing the candles marks the opening and closing of the ritual. Candles are also frequently used by Wiccans and other Neopagans for magical and meditative purposes.

Type "history of candlemaking" into google and you will be inundated with answers. Here's some info to get you started: While no date can be definitely pinned down for the development of the first candle, we do know that candles were developed independently in many countries. Accounts of candle use date back to ancient times, with Biblical references as early as the tenth century BC. The Egyptians and Cretans made candles from beeswax, as early as 3000 BC. The Chinese created candles from whale fat during the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC). In early China and Japan, tapers were made with wax from insects and seeds, wrapped in paper. Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BC) was the first Emperor of the Chinese Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC). His burial grounds, which were rediscovered in the 1970s twenty-two miles east of Xi'an by Chinese peasants digging a well, co ntained candles made from whale fat. Yak butter was used for candles in Tibet. In India, wax from boiling cinnamon was used for temple candles. During the first century AD, indigenous people from the northwestern region of the United States and Canada used oil from a type of fish called the eulachon or "candlefish", a type of smelt which is found from Oregon to Alaska, for illumination. A simple candle could be made by putting the dried fish on a forked stick and then lighting it. Excavations beginning in 1748 at Pompeii, Italy, which was destroyed by a catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD., revealed several candelabra. However, the earliest surviving candle in Europe was found in Avignon in France from the 1st century AD. Early candles were made from various forms of natural fat, tallow, and wax. Although it is often written that the first candles were developed by the Ancient Egyptians who used rush lights, or torches, made by soaking the pithy core of reeds in molten tallow, the rush lights had no wick like a candle. The fact is, such rush lights have probably been in use since man first discovered fire. The Romans are credited with developing the modern wick candle, using it to aid travelers at dark and to light homes and places of worship at night. Along with the early Egyptians, the Romans relied on tallow, gathered from cattle or sheep suet, as the principal ingredient of candles With the emergence of the Roman Empire evidence exists of the development of candles as we know them today. The Roman method was to heat the tallow until it liquefied. Next the tallow was poured over a wick material, usually made from the pith of rushes, which was suspended from a horizontal rod. As it was poured, the candle maker would use his hands to smooth the cooling tallow. A trough underneath the suspended candles would catch the excess and would then be returned to the melting pot. Candles in the Middle Ages During the middle ages, candles became associated with worship. Priests made beeswax candles for their services and also for the general population. Using the Roman method, they simply poured molten beeswax over a wick material, usually made of rushes. The demand for candles began to grow and Candle Guilds were formed. Candle makers at this time were called "chandlers". The popularity of candles was also shown by their use for Candlemas and Saint Lucia festivities. Candles were used in Elizabethan times and nobleman attending a banquet at the French court of Louis XIV carried a candle in order to appear subservient to the king. Tallow, fat from cows or sheep, became the standard material used in candles in Europe. The Tallow Chandlers Company of London was formed in about 1300 in London, and in 1456 was granted a coat of arms. Dating from about 1330, the Wax Chandlers Company acquired its charter in 1484. By 1415, tallow candles were used in street lighting. Tallow candles, however, had a very unpleasant smell due to the glycerine they contained. For this reason churches and royal events used candles from beeswax as the smell was usually less unpleasant. The smell of the tallow manufacturing process was so unpleasant that it was banned by ordnance in several cities. Beeswax candles were a marked improvement over those made with tallow, for they did not produce a smoky flame, or emit an acrid odor when burned. Instead, beeswax candles burned pure and clean. However, they were expensive, and, therefore, only the wealthy could afford them. Tallow continued to be the primary ingredient of most candles outside the church. Early candles were made by suspending several wicks from a long rod called a Broach. The liquefied tallow was poured into a container and the wicks were dipped three times and then hung on a rack and allowed to dry. After this initial dipping, the candles would be repeatedly dipped until the desired thickness was achieved. The practice of using molds to make candles began in the 15th century in France. The wax was poured into hollow open-ended cylinders. These cylinders had a cap with a small hole in the center for the wick. The wick was then placed in the mold and held in place by small wires. Once the mold was filled the wicks were pulled taunt and the wax left to cool. And the wires were removed. A true candle maker would bleach his candles by hanging them outside. Although he would protect the candles from the sun and the elements, he would keep them outside for 8 to 10 days.

knew I had a use somewhere! good luck!

I don't order from them anymore. To get a good throw you HAVE to use the extreme concentrate - which is way overpriced IMHO. There are better dupe oils out there, but unfortunately I've not found such a large selection of dupe oils in one place and SOS do have some dupes that I've not seen anywhere else. The only other place I've found really good and large selection of dupe oils (can't remember the name of the place but it's in a recent post) they are NOT suitable for candles. We need a comprehensive list of places to get designer and dupe oils I reckon.

Charles Farris is a very well stocked church candle supplier in the UK. You can find drip shields here: http://www.charlesfarris.co.uk/products/candles/accessories/ds20 I wouldn't get standard width taper candles - the really slender ones will be easier for people to hold and control and are the ones regularly used in churches. You can get about 330 of these on the same site for £40. Here's the link: http://www.charlesfarris.co.uk/products/candles/church/CC01/CC01B Nat

was only $100 so didn't break the bank - just hoping i'm not too much of a wuss to use it.