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AudraT

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Everything posted by AudraT

  1. Update: I got my candles out of the store. I got an email late last night saying they closed down the store for the next three months for the winter season but they will be in today so I can pick up my stuff. So, this works out because now I don't have to have an uncomfortable conversation about why I am removing all my products, my shelf, wall art, and even my Gorilla hooks out of the wall LOL. I looked in my inbox and junk folder for an email explaining they are closing the store down, and nothing. When I arrived today there were other vendors there removing their stuff as well. I think they made a last minute decision to close down the store and hadn't told anyone. They said they don't know if they will be reopening the store in three months or closing down permanently. I do hope they can open up again as they invested a lot of money into building improvements, but they really need to fix some major issues or else they may never make it.
  2. I have been very frustrated with this new consignment shop I "signed up" for. I put signed up in parentheses because they don't seem to believe in contracts or written agreements. I was naturally hesitant to place my items in their store due to them wanting to conduct business on the proverbial handshake, but I saw other vendors that I knew personally who put their stuff in the same store. So I decided to take the risk. Problem with this shop is they have no customers. This is largely due to them not having a sign on their building. Customers can't find the store, even when they are looking directly at the building. After having my stuff in their shop for four months I decided that I am going to pull a lot of my candles out and just leave a small inventory. I can't afford to leave that much stuff in one place anymore that isn't making any sales. So, I go into the store today and of course it's closed. There's no "closed for the holidays" sign on the door and all the lights are off and it doesn't look like anyone's been in there today. I don't know their hours because they don't keep their store hours on the door, something that has always frustrated me. I went back an hour later hoping the shop keeper just went out to lunch, but still closed. The owner has done this before where he will go to lunch but not bother to put a "be back in one hour" sign on the door. I'm pretty certain the store is closed for the day though. I've sent an email but they've never answered their emails in the past, ever, so there's no reason for me to believe they will answer me now. I am getting very tired with the lack of professionalism at this shop. If I had any reservations about pulling the bulk of my inventory from their store, I don't anymore.
  3. I didn't realize they have dedicate Youtube fan/viewer mail channels. I'll have to keep an eye out for that. Right now I'm still going after YouTubers but I'm trying to change my strategy and grab smaller channels that want to have an ongoing business relationship. A Youtuber showing your product in one video only generates sales for 24-48 hours. I would much rather have a smaller channel post my candles on a regular basis (daily, weekly, or monthly) and I pay them a commission. Much better than me constantly searching YouTube every day and trying to find new channels to send my stuff too. Also, I'm noticing more and more big brand companies are going after smaller and smaller channels. Like, BIG brands going after SMALL channels. It's starting to feel like Minute Maid is taking out the corner lemonade stands.
  4. The thing about Etsy is the fees can be better for a new business versus opening your own website and paying the monthly subscription fee. If you don't make a lot of sales, then your fees for the month with Etsy is just a buck or two. Now compare that to $40 at Shopify. $40 is a lot when you've only sold one item that earned $30 profit. If I could talk to myself in the past, I would tell myself to wait until I am paying a consistent $20 per month in Etsy fees before considering opening my Shopify store.
  5. I think I have but I'll double check!
  6. I wish ECO 18 wicks existed... but they don't and I'm wondering why? I'm currently testing Freedom Soy Wax in a 4" apothecary jar. Double wicking has not worked because the wicks are so small they snuff out. The ECO 16 is almost perfect... almost. It burns so well when the wax is halfway down the jar, the glass is barely warm to the touch, but it tunnels very badly when the wax is at the top of the jar. I tried a CD-24 and it burns wonderfully... if you trim the wick, but those CD wicks leave long stalks and mushrooms and the flame gets quite large when you don't maintain. I think I tried a CD-22 in the beginning of all this testing and I think those were to small. I think an ECO 18 would be perfect as it would be hot enough to prevent tunneling at the top of the jar, self trim well enough for all those non-wick trimming customers, and wouldn't be to hot when the wick is halfway down the jar. They have CD 24 and CD 26 wicks, so it's not like it would be unconscionable to make a larger ECO wick. So, why no ECO 18's? Side note: I might try revisiting the CD 22 wick again. I am so close to finding the right wick for this jar. So close I can taste it.
  7. I was coming online to check out how the co-op fragrances are doing and then I find out there is an actual website that you can order from. That was fast! For new releases I am definitely interested in the Sun Ripened Blackberry and I would love to see another garden fragrance. I am currently designing a 3-Set Candle Collection for the spring and I want to offer three fragrances one would find in a home garden. I currently have Sun Ripened Tomato, Sun Ripened Blackberry (if it performs well), but I need a third fragrance. Sun Ripened Tomato and Blackberry definitely have a garden/earthy note to them so maybe another garden fruit with that earth scent like an Apricot Grove or, even better, some sort of garden herb blend, like Basil Sage Mint, Rosemary Sage, or Peppermint and Eucalyptus. Also, I recently tested a White Oak & Vanilla FO but it sadly performed very poorly in soy & paraffin/soy blend. I would love to add White Oak & Vanilla to my collection plus other popular oak blends such as Whiskey & Oak or Bourbon Oak.
  8. There's actually two really good Youtubers that I follow that have posted several videos on this subject. The first channel is Tiana Coats and the second Memory Box Candle Co. Their videos are more in depth than a lot of the other "How To Start A Candle Business" videos out there. Some of the first things that come to my mind when starting your candle business... *Include fire safety warnings on the candle. I literally purchase my warning labels from Amazon lol. They are easier than printing them yourself plus they only come out to 1 cent per label if you have free shipping. *Look up the US Candle Label Requirements as there are regulations about what your labels need to say. From off the top of my head... - your labels need to say the amount of wax, by weight, that is in the candle. Weight needs to be in ounces and grams. Weight does not include the jar or wicks, just the wax. - your label needs to list the physical address, not mailing address, of your company. If you have a home address that you don't want to list it on the candle then you can just list the city and state as long as your physical address is listed somewhere on your website. - your label needs to say what your product is i.e. "candle" - make sure you look up the actual requirements because there are more that I haven't listed here
  9. This post is old but I was curious if opinions have changed at all about the shelf life of candle making supplies... specifically fragrance oils? Now that the fall season is coming back around I am realizing some of my fragrances are between 6-10 months old. All the FO manufacturers say 6-12 months. I'm currently doing a test burn on fragrances 7+ months old but I am curious if everyone here still agrees FO's can last 2-3 years if stored well? I do like the idea of mixing some of your older FO with new FO. I actually did that with a 7-8 month old FO that still smelled good and strong in the bottle. I mixed about 1/3rd old with 2/3rd new FO to the candles. I think they will burn just fine.
  10. I know this post is old but I like the discussion. Originally I started out with soy wax not because paraffin was supposed to be bad for you, but because the burn time for soy was so much longer. After making candles for a while I did eventually add a soy/paraffin wax blend (soy 52%/paraffin 48%) to my collection because, frankly, I got tired of the difficulty of scenting soy wax. Only about 1/3 of the FO's out there seem to be able to adequately fragrance a soy candle and you have to generally use more FO in a soy candle than a paraffin. I now advertise both of my candle types and I say "some of my customers don't mind the paraffin and some prefer pure soy, and that's ok. I do have a collection of pure soy candles for your enjoyment." If people ask me about the health effects of paraffin I just be honest with them. I say the idea of paraffin being unhealthy for you came from one study a while ago and, from what I've heard, you can't even pull that study up anymore. We have been burning paraffin candles since 1830 so I do not personally mind burning some paraffin, but I do have a collection of pure soy for those soy enthusiast. So, I guess I have the best of both worlds selling pure soy and soy blends. Although I can still have a hard time scenting soy blends waxes, even with the 48% paraffin. For pure paraffin candles makers, I guess they will have to find the selling points. My selling points for soy are: renewable, all-natural, long burning, supports American farmers.
  11. Can't seem to edit my comment for some reason, I meant to say I'll place the smaller wicks closer together. Placing larger wicks closer together would probably help too but I'm going with the smaller wicks first. The CD6 wicks seem like a very good size, but the flames eventually get very tiny. A little too tiny. I'm currently experimenting with placing them closer together to see how the candle reacts.
  12. I like the idea of placing them really close. I think the smaller wicks are a little too small, but the larger wicks can make the glass to hot. If I make the larger wicks closer together this might solve both problems. Originally I choose the apothecary jar because of the aesthetics and because they are made in America.
  13. Anyone use apothecary jars for their candles? I am currently trying to add a 4 inch diameter apothecary jar (holds about 16 oz) to my products and it has been a devil to wick. I am wondering if anyone can help me out? I am trying to double wick the jar and I find the wicks are way to hot or the wicks have a very weak flame and snuff themselves out. Actually, the weak flame wicks start out fine but then, after burning for a while, they begin to get very weak and snuff out. Can anyone help me out? I am currently testing with American Soy Organics Freedom Soy Wax and FO at 10%. I've used both this wax and FO before. I've used double ECO-4's, CD-3's, CD-4's, and LX-10 wicks. ECO wicks were to hot. The melt pool was to deep and the neck of the jar (the narrowest part of the jar) was very hot. LX wicks started out to hot before it became weak and snuffed itself out. CD3 and CD4 wicks both started out fine before snuffing themselves out. I relit the CD4 wick and the flames became very weak again. I used a spoon to remove some of the melted wax and the flames became strong again. It is currently burning with the CD4 wicks at this time. I've attempted a single ECO-16 wick and single CD-24 wick but they were not quite hot enough (tunneling). I am hesitant to try anything bigger than CD-24.
  14. Why do some fragrance oils work well in soy wax, or any wax really, while other fragrance oils not work at all? If I purchase FO's from the same company, use the same percentage (10%), the same wicks, and in the same wax, why do some fragrances have a wonderful hot throw while others have none at all? What's the chemistry that's going on here? Another related question, why can you only smell some candles when you are directly over the flame but any further away than a foot you smell nothing?
  15. I received my samples! I only got three of them but they are all great. Here are my impressions... Pinon Wood - smells just like pinon trees but, in a very pleasant masculine way. It's like a nice men's cologne. There's a touch of something citrus in it followed by a very warm and masculine note. This fragrance reminds me a little of The Flaming Candles Hayride FO, which was one of my favorite fragrances, and which was also discontinued 😞 Sun Ripened Blackberry - very pleasant. It smells just like a blackberry. There's a hint of sweetness to it which is not overpowering. It's just the natural sweetness of a blackberry. There's also a freshness to the fragrance which I think ties in the "sun ripened" element. It's like a little bit of nature is mixed in, like perhaps I'm smelling the blackberry from a bush outside in the sunshine. Clementine Coriander - this one is interesting. At first I could only pick up the peppery-like coriander fragrance and I could not get the clementine until 5 minutes later when I kept inhaling it. Now I immediately pick up the clementine and the coriander is secondary. Probably when I go back 5 minutes later I'll pick out the coriander again and wonder where the clementine has gone to LOL. It is a very nice fragrance and I would probably add it to my collection along with pinon wood and blackberry.
  16. I would like to get a few sniffing samples in whatever way is easiest (the blotters?). Can you send me the details? I have also been anticipating your soy candle testing as I am a fan of something you said once... that if a fragrance oil doesn't work in a candle after only 1 day of curing then you don't bother with the fragrance oil. Would love not having to cure a candle for 2 weeks for test burning. No rush and no pressure though with the soy testing. I am a patient woman plus I just got done pouring about 10 new fragrances for the upcoming season anyways.
  17. I gauge my scent throw via how well it scents a room, 3 inch diameter candle in a 10 x 10 ft room, once the candle has reached maybe a 2.5 inch melt pool. I assume that if I'm expecting a strong HT with a melt pool smaller than that then I'm expecting to much out of the FO. Maybe my standards for FO are too low?
  18. I am also new and I use that exact same jar so I understand the struggle. I actually don't have quite as many issues with it because I only use two types of wax brands, a paraffin-soy blend and then a pure soy. I won't go into suggestions because people here have already said some really good pointers. I am encouraged that people said it's a good jar though (yay! We choose well) and that 3 inches x 3 inches or, in the case of the Libby jar, 3 inches x 3.5 inches is the magic number.
  19. That's good to know. I'm currently testing a candle with one size down from what I initially expected and it's taken absolute ages for the melt pool to get anywhere. I mean, it took nearly 4 hours for the melt pool to get large enough and deep enough to finally leave a descent scent throw. 3 inch diameter jar, melt pool was extremely shallow, much less than 1/4 inch, and the diameter of the pool was so small. At four hours everything is fine now. If the wick started longer, like 1/2 inch, then the melt pool wouldn't have taken so long to develop and the fragrance would have been stronger. I'm going to continue testing to see how it functions deeper into the jar. It'll probably burn perfect. I think the fear is that people will become disappointed with the candle at their first burn.
  20. Good info to know! I'm just trying to figure out if some of my para-soy candles need to go a size down or not. I'm currently power burning three candles with the wick sizes I had expected. Candles are halfway down the jar, and they are doing fine so far. Past 4 hours and laser thermometer has the very tippy tops of the jars between 120 - 140 degrees. So, we'll see what everything looks like as we head into hours 5-8. I've only sold about 2 of my candles online. The rest of my candles I've sold to friends, people from church, co-workers. I'm having my own candle party with friends and I like that I haven't expanded the candle portion of my business to far.
  21. Hello. I'm curious what you would do in your hypothetical scenario where a CD24 wick burns properly at the top of the candle but you find it needs to be a CD20 for the middle? If you did size down by 2 whole sizes wouldn't you stand a good chance that your candle would tunnel at the top? Would you try switching to a different type of wick or something to correct this? Just FYI, I never did switch to a hotter wick for my candle issue I had back in January. It's a long story but there was never actually anything wrong with the candle.
  22. This sounds like an amazing idea. I'm still a bit far away from ordering the 25 lb fragrance oil sizes, but it's good to know this opportunity could exist for me in the future. I look forward to following this thread and seeing how things develop. I like the natural scents as well. My shop theme is "Inspired by nature" so I look at a lot of scents that reflect nature. I do still implement some popular fragrances that aren't necessarily nature-themed. The bakery fragrances work amazingly well in my soy wax and I want to add some neat scents in the future like Chardonnay, Library and, of course, Fire Roasted Marshmallow (my favorite for years!)
  23. So, if I power burn a soy and/or para-soy candle what exactly am I expecting after 10 hours? Are we expecting the candle to burn perfectly with a 1/4" deep melt pool and a 140 degree F or less glass surface temp? I suppose that's ideal but how realistic is it? Also, I have found some of my glass jars measure 140 degrees F after test burning some para-soy candles. It has taken almost the full 4 hours before the glass has reached this temperature and it is only along the side of the jar where the wick is slightly closer to the glass or at the very top of the glass where the wick is slightly closer to the glass. These are the candles that have already burned halfway down the jar. How should I consider this test result? Does this mean I need to wick down?
  24. So, I just so happen to come across this post today and I realized I needed to update it. Before, I thought I had underwicked a couple of my candles and I needed to go up one size. I've since learned that's not accurate. What really happened was the reason why the candle at work started tunneling was because winter had hit and the front door to the office was constantly being opened and closed. This resulted in a cold draft hitting the candle all day long. That's why it started tunneling. And my independent testing on two of my fall candles... my original wick (ECO 16) was actually fine. It wasn't to small. What seemed like tunneling in my controlled environment testing was actually just the wax hanging up and waiting to be burned down with future burns. So, I haven't needed to change any wicks yet. What I'm really working on now is whether or not I need to size down (down to ECO 14) for some of my candles. I might need to, especially with my 52% soy/48% paraffin candles. The FO really does seem to matter. One candle fragrance definitely tunnels with the ECO 14 wick while other candles are just on the border of do I / don't I need to size it down? This is tricky.
  25. One thing I learned several months after I started candle making was you do not necessarily want to reach a full melt pool on the first burn. If you have a small amount of unmelted wax around the rim of the jar after 2 hours (or whatever the recommended melt pool burn time is), this is generally ok. This wax will melt down with future burns. With my particular wax choice and jar size, a 1/8 inch thickness of unmelted wax seems to be the sweet spot for me. I've seen other articles say 1/4 inch is fine but I think my candles would tunnel at that amount. 1/4 inch might still be good though for other wax types though so I wouldn't rule that out. I've been making candles for less than a year so if anybody with more experience would like to chime in, be my guest 🙂
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