hometowncandles

I tested it a little while back, to me it smells just like tanning oil, not so much coconut.

HTH

Jennifer:)

Well, considering the circumstances, I think you ought to be proud that you made $100!

I am glad that I at least made my booth fee and my gas money back, but I'm just a little bummed. There won't be a next year for this particular festival, but this has definately been an excellent learning experience for me. From now on, I'm going to be a patron before I'm a participant.

Have a great day all

Jennifer

Sorry your show turned out to be a 'bahm'.

I have found, though, that most organizers will listen to constructive critique. They need to know you were not happy with the way things were run but also why. They could not have done anything about the weather but there were those that were controlable. If they are receptive, you have the chance help all potential crafter attendees and possibly help to make it a productive show. If the show had 3 years behind it, could it be that this particular group was not the one to put in charge? If that is the case, "go over their heads" and let it be known.

Sad to say, this is the same group that is/has been in charge the entire time.

I'm fairly certain they aren't receptive to ideas of others, when I approached the lady in charge and explained that I was there to set up and this was my first time and wasn't sure where to go or what to do, she said "just have patience, we're working as hard as we can".

I didn't demand that they allow me to set up right then, I simply didn't know what to do or where to go. So I'm pretty sure she runs the show and if it's not her idea or if she's not ready to deal with something, then sorry 'bout your luck. The guy that was doing all the leg work was super nice though.

I'll never do it again, it was my first and last time doing it and you can't make me do it again. It was fairly local, within 45 minutes of where I live, so I thought why not try it.

It was outside, so I went up the night before and set up my tent, tables, etc. The show is set up along main street and in an adjacent park. This is the 6th or 7th year the festival has been going on, they are soooooo unorganized, you'd have thought it was the first time.

Set up was from 6-10 on Thursday night, I arrived a little early, because I wanted to get started setting up right at 6 or shortly thereafter. An hour and 45 minutes later, I get to start setting up. The committee in charge of the festival didn't even get there until 6:30, then they had to block off the street and clear out traffic. Rather than having some type of plan as to where they were going to put everybody, they just winged it, placing people as they showed up.

Most of the vendors are on the main street, but not me, I'm in the so called park right between the carnival and those huge ,bouncie things. Day one was horrible, the only adults who even came down there were parents with their kids. By the time they got done at the carnival and those huge bouncie things, they were broke.

There's a grand total of three vendors in the park, me, a girl doing henna and glitter tattoos, and a guy selling baseball cards. The only one of us that done any good was the tattoo girl. She got alot of the kids and teens that wandered down there to go to the carnival.

On the main street there's a dozen or so food vendors, some booths with informational materials on various subjects, ONE crafter, and a guy selling $1 flea market items. So that makes a grand total of TWO crafters in the whole show.

It rained the week before, so I right in front of my booth was a huge puddle of water, right behind my booth, was a huge puddle of mud.

It rained all that morning, finally cleared up around lunch time, the humidity was so bad you couldn't hardly breathe. I had to take the kiddo's with me, which they usually enjoy going, but it was so hot, they were miserable, then they made mamma miserable.

Around 5:30 they came through and told us we had to shut down because of a tornado warning that had been issued until 9:30pm. Fine by me, I was more than ready to go home, from 8am until 5:30pm I made a grand total of $100.

It was suppose to be a two day show, the weather forcast for the next day was similar to day one, so I went up that morning before they blocked off the street and loaded up my stuff and came home. There was no way I was putting my kids or myself through another day of purgatory. Not for another $100anyway.

Lesson learned, scope out a show before committing to doing it.

I have a lady who is a huge PITA. She's super nice and she places a fairly large order every other month or so, but she's one of those people who always wants special favors. Can you make me this, can you find me that, can I get that in a bigger candle, she's never satisfied with what I have.

She's really hard to please too, she doesn't like foody scents at all and only likes a few florals, so that doesn't leave much for her to choose from since approx 80% of my line is food or floral. I mean, I can understand her wanting something new every now and then, but this lady ALWAYS wants something new. I really would like to ignore her, but I just don't have the heart to, like I said she's really nice, just a PITA when it comes to candles.

Has anyone done this one? I know some of you live really close to London, I live fairly close and have been considering it for awhile now.

If anyone had done it, is it hard to get into, do I need to apply early? Are there good spots and bad spots, are there places I need to avoid, or request to be put somewhere else?

I've never been, althought dh and I have talked about it for years now, I really don't know why we haven't gone, just one of those things I suppose.

I had a show this weekend and it was a complete bust. I made my booth fee, gas, and enough to buy the kiddo's something to eat, so it wasn't a total loss, but not something I will consider next year.

Anywho, any info on the Chicken Festival would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

Jennifer:)

Oooohhhh! I "DO NOT" need more samples, still haven't tested all of my C/S samples from their sale. But who can pass up 40% off.

What about white lettering?

I had the same thing happen this past November. I've been doing this same show for 3 years now, this year was the worst. They had also dropped their booth fee, but decreased the size of the booth by so much, I had to purchase two booths to get all my stuff in.

But,as long as they are reasonably priced, I'll continue to do shows. My main motivator for doing shows is to get out and see people. And the rest of my motivation is to make enough to cover my cost and make some extra to buy more supplies to play around with.

The ones I feel really bad for are the ones who do this for a living, I really hate to see all of the suppliers and crafters going out of business. It's just so sad.

DH is also my wax mover of choice:)

That's a niftly little cart, I wouldn't mind having one of those

I'm not sure their shipping calculator is accurate, I ordered 2 cases of jars, sample f/o's and 2 cases of lids, shipping was quoted at $24.00.

I wanted to wait and make sure I had ordered all the samples I wanted for now, so I didn't place my order right away, but waited too long and it wipped out my shopping cart.

I went back and ordered the exact same items as before, but this time shipping was $16.00. Fortunately that's what I was charged, I'm glad I waited. LOL

I got one of those at K-Mart for $14.99 a couple of years back, it was in the luggage department.

I use the following in bath and body

Cleopatra

Oatmeal Milk & Honey

Midnight Pomegranate

Pink Sugar

They all sell wonderfully

I have found, it depends upon the area I'm in. I do a few shows each year. The shows I do closest to home, candles do better. I do a couple of shows each year approx 30 miles from my home, and B&B does far better. Go figure!

I too get a good throw with this, I use KYSoy125 with 1oz pp in a 8oz square mason with a cotton wick.

If you sign up right now and enter the promo code at checkout, you get the first year for $.77 per month. This is available to the first 777 people to sign up or until 2/4/09.

I'm not ready to re-do my site yet, but I couldn't pass up the offer. I know I'll be ready in less than a year.

I use my kitchen in the winter when it's too cold for the kiddo's to go outside. I have a workshop in back of the house that DH had built for me last Spring. But, he didn't have it wired up on it's own breaker, so now when I plug in pots and the heater and somebody turns on the bathroom light, I throw a breaker. So when we get our taxes back this year, I get my very own breaker. He's so tired of the kitchen being a mess.

But in my workshop, I just have two of the long banquet tables set up, I mix on one and use the other to pour. I'm sure this is similar to how others do it, but as other's have said, you'll just have to work with it to find what flows for you. I'll bet I've changed how I've set my stuff up a dozen times before I found what was the most comfortable for me. Good Luck, just start moving stuff around, you'll find your comfort zone.

I too use a metal pour pot, I will lay the side of my pour pot against the counter top when I'm pouring to help steady it a bit.

I keep a small piece of paper towel in hand to wipe the spout after each pour, and to get the spilled wax off, I have found it's easier for me to scrape it off after it has dried.

If I try to wipe it while it's wet, I usually end up scooting the clamshell and making a bigger mess.

HTH

Jennifer

Too Cool

Wow, those are some wonderful suggestions. Off to find some samples to order, dh is gonna kill me. LOl

I would love to get 'into' the fundraising arena. Around here, though, most every school already has 'their' candle vendor. And most of them, apparently, will only 'do' one candle event a year.

Any advice on getting 'into' the market for those who are doing this successfully? A good fundraiser would be a huge bonus to my family. Especially in these economic times.

Maybe take some of the groups a sample candle with a fundraiser brochure, that's what I'm doing, especially the ones who have never purchased from me before. Let them see that your product is better than what they are currently selling. I know alot of the schools around here do the Home Int. candles, hopefully I can change all that and get em' som good candles to sell.

I also gave candles to all the teachers at my DD & DS's preschool for Christmas this past year, and now they are talking fundraiser. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and I'll do the same for you.

Good Luck

Jennifer

Ah man, I just got my order from AH/RE today, guess I'll have to order more.

TY for the suggestions, I'll have to check some of those out.

I ordered a chunk of coal mold from flexible molds, coal is a huge industry around here, I'm going to use it for tarts for a show this summer.

I am having a hard time deciding on scents that would be appropriate for black chunks of coal. I'm thinking licorice for one, but not everybody likes the smell of licorice. I thought blackberry too, even though they are more of a deep purple. But the only blackberry I've tried was KY's and I wasn't crazy about it. Most of their scents I adore, but this one just wasn't what I was expecting.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

TIA

Jennifer

What's the best kind of fryer to use, or does it matter?

I am hoping(fingers crossed) to start doing fundraisers soon with the 8oz square masons. I have had 3 inquiries and am waiting to hear back.

One is my DD & DS's preschool, they have a meeting this Friday to decide what type of fundraiser to do this year. I gave all the teacher's a 8oz candle for Christmas and they all loved them. Some have even purchased more since then. So I'm hoping that'll help sway them toward doing my candles.

If I get that fundraiser, I'll definately need more than a presto pot. All the parent's and teachers will be taking orders for the fundraiser, that's a little over 100 people. Trying to keep my expectations reasonable, but I get so excited thinking about it.

Sorry, didn't mean to hi-jack, I'm just excited, did I mention that already.

Have a great day

Jennifer