Reese

I have a cork board that I use to put my orders on. Which hangs right over my work tables/area. They are in the order that they were received. If there is a rush order then it goes to the head of the line with a big red rush written on it. If the customer is not in a hurry for a order then it is done by that date that they requested it by. Once the order is complete I take it off the board and place it with the items to be picked up or shipped that way I know to call the customer who is going to pick up there order and let them know it is ready. I also keep my labels in a accordian file pre printed in every size that I use. Once it's ready for a label I just go the the letter pull out the correct size.

My sharp also came with a CD to program and the cable to connect it to my register and laptop to upload. I just load all of my information into the laptop and upload the information. On my register it keeps everything in the memory from day one. So if you use it year after year your grand totals will be just that. What I like to do is at the end of each year I clear everything out and start fresh for the new year that way I can see from year to year what sell's and what dosen't. The only draw back to doing that is that you have to unplug it, take out the back up batteries the reload everything again into the register but since my information is saved on my laptop it makes it alot easier. HTH

I will ask for a 50% deposit or payment in full from customers that are new and have never ordered from me before. If they are repeat customers and I know that they will pay once the order is completed I don't ask for a deposit or full payment. If you ever get into doing large order such as parties or weddings ALWAYS ask for a 50% deposit no matter who they are since your going to be spending alot of money upfront for your supplies. HTH

I'm changing the packaging for my pillars after the first of the year and want to use boxes for my 3x3 3x6 3x9 pillars. I've looked at sunshine container and papermart and not sure what type of box to use. Does anyone else package their pillars in boxes? I've been using cello bags and ribbon but I'm want a more professional look for wholesale customers.

Comfort blend for me all the way. Have tried all the others and I always come back to it. Best cold and hot throw out there in my opinion.

I bought a slab of this wax and it is a PITA to work with and it's not cheap. In order to get the star burst effect you have to keep the wax at a certain temp or it won't work. I won't tell you how I know that After several attempts at using this wax maybe 2 out of 5 would turn out half way decent looking. HTH

You know that saying "Guns don't kill people. People kill people. WELL MY REPLAY ON CANDLES THAT START FIRES IS: CANDLES DON'T START FIRES!!! IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE BURNING CANDLES START FIRES!!!!

I ate everything at the shop and was still hungry Gee now I know why people were looking at me funny in the bank today

OMG I ordered a 1oz sample of this and I'm in scent OVERLOAD!!!!!!!!! I have a big work area and have opened my roll up door and I still can't stay in the shop work area. Not sure about this one. Has anyone else used this FO? What did you think? Have to go now need to go outside and breath some fresh air before I get any HIGHER!!!!!!!! LOL

Gen Wax is located in the LA area here is their web link: http://candles.genwax.com/home.htm HTH:)

I have found the bigger the mold the more they seem to leak. First is the mold sealer new or have you used it more than a few times? If it has been used before use new sealer only on bigger molds. I have found this works the best. Also, you may need to use more sealer than usual and spread it out further and make sure the outside is edges are sealed tight. HTH

I use orange and spiced cranberry, really good seller for me.

I have a 80 lb water jacket wax melter (it is divided into 2 halfs 40lbs each side so I can melt 2 differnt types of wax at once) and 3 presto pots. I use the presto pots more when making smaller batches. The larger water jacket wax melter is great if your doing large amounts and have the time to wait for the wax to melt. It takes almost 3 hours to melt the wax and I set the temp to 200. You also have to make sure you check the water level everyday. If your going to invest in a wax melter of that size I would get a direct heat melter and not a water jacket melter the direct heat ones are much quicker. JMO hope this helps.

This must be the theme across the USA for fire saftey this month. A couple of the fire stations in town will be holding their open house and candle saftey is the topic. It was even quoted in the newspaper by the fire department spokesperson that the possible cause of the Great Chicago Fire was started by a candle. What makes this so ironic on my part is that I sit on the Fire Board for our local fire department that teaches fire saftey. Who better to teach candle saftey but a candle maker. Oh well we can tell people how to burn candles till we're blue in the face but their is always going to be people who DO NOT burn candles correctly. What can we do?

Started these on Tuesday and they wanted 25 by Friday at noon. Thank goodness it's in the small 4x4 square mold so I could do several at a time.

These are hurricane's that I did for a wedding. I made 14 of the smaller and 1 large for the head table. They are going to use them as center pieces with flowers around the bottom.

So what do you think? The candle is a 3x9 pillar with the wedding invitation on the outside of the candle using tacky wax. Then whipped wax and put on the outside placed the shells, flowers, and ribbon. One of my customers had requested this as a wedding gift.

Yes it is scented Blackberry Sage. That seems to be the fragrance of choice around our house.

This is one big Momma This things measures 6-1/8 x 24" and weights 31 lbs. Had this mold made for a customer to make hurricanes for them and when I placed the order I thought hey what if I have wick holes put in and make a huge candle. There are 5 wicks in it and I'm going to put it in my fireplace. I've done 2 hurricane for them so far and man what a PITA to pick it up to pour out. The first time I tried it on my own and 1/4 of the wax ended up on the floor The next time I did one I had to have help lifting it up to pour the center out. Now I need to figure out how to clean up the bottom. Ummm don't think it will fit on a cookie sheet

Thanks for your help.

I had a customer ask me what would cause a gel candle to explode. Since I have never worked with gel I was not sure how to answer the question. If any of you gel users could give me some type of idea as to why this would happen I would appericate it. Thanks, Reese

I just recently saw a program about how yankme makes some of their candles on the discovery channel. If I remember correctly they use the wax pellets add color and fragrance then put into a big machine that then compress the wax pellets together, drills wick hole and inserts wick. From there it goes onto a conveyer belt and is box by employess. It was just a short 10 min tour of their plant. Did not see how container candles were made.

It would depend on their policy. But I will call each and every time and let them know that there were damaged items and what they were. Most of the time they will credit my account or send replacements with them paying the shipping charges. HTH

Ok this is a work in progress. The pic's for each item are only temp and will be replaced with professional photo's but wanted to throw something up there to get an idea as to what the site is going to look like. Let me know your thoughts and comments. www.pjcandleshoppe.com Thanks all Reese Forgot to add click on the thumbnail for the larger pic then roll your mouse over the candle.

Has this person heard of the word "SLANDER" ? Let us know how things turn out. Good luck