hometowncandles

Thanks Luci, I really didn't know I could do it either, to be quite honest. But it's amazing what you can do when you have the proper instruction. There is a method to floral design, who knew. Until I started taking the course, I just thought you put a bunch of flowers into a container and voila, you had an arrangement. Kinda like candlemaking, there is a whole other side to it that normal consumers don't see. But I really do enjoy it, I would like to open a shop in a few years. I need to get some real world experience, so maybe when my babies both start Pre-K and I have a few hours a day, I can con one of the local florist into taking me on as an apprentice for a few hours day. Hey, it would be free labor for them and great experience for me. I guess the downside would be, that they might not be too eager to help future competition. I think cake decoration would be wonderful, but I have tried that before and failed miserably, but my mom done a wonderful job as well as one of my neighbors. They both make it look so effortless. My poor little roses looked more like blobs of cake icing on a stick. If anyone is interested in online courses www.pennfoster.com has several to choose from, and you work at your own pace. You can even submit your exams and work online if you want to. Well off to fix lunch now, my little natives are getting restless.

I've been taking a floral design class online for a few months now and I am almost finished. I have to make a few projects for my final exam and that is it, I will be certified. (DH says I've been certified for a long time now, but that's a different story). I just wanted to share photo's of my final exam and see what you all think. First pic is of a bridal bouquet Second pic is a wrist corsage and a boutonniere Third pic is a table centerpiece Thanks for looking. Jennifer

How far are you from Knoxville? You might want to check out Aztec International, their site is www.buywax.com I live in KY and called them about some wax and they said they have several drop-off points in KY & TN. They may have one a little closer to where you are. HTH Jennifer

I have a recipe for caramel corn, but I've never tried it. 3/4 Popcorn 1/4 Maple Syrup HTH Jennifer

I am currently testing the GW464 in 16 & 26 apothecaries, I am double wicking the premiere 700 series wicks. I have found them to work very well so far. Most of my scents in the 16 oz apoth are accepting the 750's, 755's, and 760's with a good m/p and very little soot and mushroom. The 755's cover the majority of my scents, but I have a few that I don't dye and that are easier to burn that I have wicked down to a 750 and I have a few that are harder to burn that I have had to wick up to a 760 or 765. You can buy these in packs of 50 from www.soycandle.com I didn't like working with the LX wicks very much, they seem to fall over alot and drown out. And I had a hard time finding the correct size with the CD's, one size might be too large and create a lot of mushroom and soot, but the next size down was too small and I wouldn't get a full m/p. HTH Jennifer

I had this happen last fall with Lonestar, they ask if I wanted a replacement or a credit, I took the credit since I was ordering again in a few weeks. They gave me credit for more than what actually had spilled. They told me then that they had gotten several complaints about leakage during shipping, and they were in the process of getting new bottles with the heat seals on them. Guess what, my very next order contained the new bottles with the neat little heat seals on them.

I'm testing the GW464 right now. I am using 16 & 26 ounce apothecaries that are 3.75" in diameter. I am double wicking with the 700's I have found that on most of my scents the 755's and 760's work really well. I have a couple that I don't dye that I need to wick down to a 750 and I have a couple of hard to burn scents that take a 765. I really love this wax so far, I have smooth tops, excellent cold & hot throw, and very little frost. Good luck with your testing.

Those pics take me back. I can remember going to Gatlinburg TN when I was young, maybe about 6 or 7, there use to be shops where you could watch them dip and carve candles. I remember thinking how neat that was and that I wanted to do it someday. Not sure I'll ever be carving candles, not that talented, but I do make containers and tarts and that's good enough for me. Those are very beautiful.

I don't think either is as much a matter of how long you've been doing it, but how much you've been testing it. I know everybody's situation is different, some people have plenty of time to devote to testing and developing their product and some only have a few hours here and there. I have noticed this sad trend also, somebody mentions selling their candles after only a few months of testing and, :shocked2: , you'd think they had just shot the President or something. Unless they just happen to offer up their written test results in detail, how do we know they haven't dedicated hundreds of hours to testing in that few months. But, with soaps and lotions, it's mostly yehaw's and hooray's because somebody had ventured into the wonderful world of B&B. I love doing both, and right now I am at the stage of using B&B bases, but I still test to make sure I haven't added too much f/o or dye. Don't want to burn somebody's skin because I have used too much f/o or dye them purple because I have added too much dye. I hope to venture into handmade soaps and lotions eventually, but only when I have the time to rigerously(sp?) test them as I have my candles. I think it is equally as important to test both, yes with candles, you could burn somebody's house or cause serious injury if you make a shoddy product, but you could also do alot of damage to somebody with improperly made B&B products. You are working with chemicals after all. Just my Off my soap box now:grin2:

Nope, no S&H charges added. I ordered some boxes a while back in sizes that my post office didn't have. They just sent them to the post office and I picked them up. I guess if you have home delivery of your mail and packages, then you would get them delivered to your home. My postmaster is really great, she goes out of her way to help me out and so does the assistant postmaster. Oh if everyone were as helpful as those two, then the world would indeed be a better place. Most post offices should have them on hand though. HTH Jennifer Looks like Crafty and I were thinking alike. LOL

What type of stuff are you looking for? F/O's, accessories, tart warmers? It might help if you were a little more specific.

Hey Julie, I'm using about the same set-up as you, but different wicks. I also used the kysoy125 with the apothecary jars, but I used CD-16's and CD-18's in most of my scents. Here's my approx burn times: 16 ounce apoth~70 to 80 hours 26 ounce apoth~90 to 100 hours I would get a higher burn time with the CD-16's but a few of my f/o' were just too hard to burn once they reached the 1/2 way point, so I had to wick up on a few of them. HTH Jennifer

Ok, I'm part Italian and I can prove Amish Ragdoll's theory, if it ain't Ragu, I can't make it. LOL

Candlelady responded to my post on bundt cake candles with some very helpful instructions and information. She said she uses IGI4625 and called that bakery wax. I have been searching for it and have found it in two places so far, candlewic and bitter creek. Candlewic offers it in 60 pound boxes but bitter creek offers it in 10 pound slabs. Think I'll post in the classy's first to see if anybody has any extra to spare so that I can play around with it. HTH jennifer

Candlelady, You are an angel, thank you, thank you, thank you. :yay: My aunt will be so surprised. She is the biggest reason I want to learn to make these. She is my grandmother's sister(actually my great-aunt) and probably the least selfish person I know. She loves candles and anything to decorate her home with, and is one of my biggest helpers. She always keeps some of my candles and bath & body stuff at her house and everywhere she goes she promotes my stuff for me. I can't even begin to imagine where I would be without her help. I just can't get out and about as much as I would like to right now with my two babies, they are really good out in public, but it's too hard to pack one one each hip and try to tote around a bunch of stuff too. And many of the places I sell to aren't stroller friendly. But anyway, I'll do the best I can right now and enjoy time with my babies. It won't be long until they are in school all day long and I'll be here all by myself. :cry2: I know right now there are days I'd like to have a little me time, but I'm sure not looking forward to having them gone all day every day. Ok, enough rambling. Thanks again. I guess I'm off to Wal-Mart. Woohoo!

Ok, I hope this isn't a stupid question with an obvious answer right in front of me. But I have searched with every term I can think of and come up empty. I find all kinds of posts about the small cakes and I can find all types of molds online for the smaller ones, but not the large ones. Can someone please point me in the right direction. I would love to start playing around with these, I think they are so cute. And I have a very special aunt who loves them, I would like to get good enough at them by Christmas to make a few as gifts. Since pre-school starts before too much longer, I am going to have a few hours to myself, so maybe I'll have a little time to practice. TIA Jennifer

I have also noticed that certain f/o's smell different when burning as a candle vs. burning as a tart. JS Chestnuts & Brown Sugar comes to mind. I love this scent in a candle right down to the end, but have noticed that in tarts, after a few days it starts to smell too sugary sweet for me and I have to change it. There are others, but this one is one of my favs so I guess it stands out more. Sorry, not really any help to your initial question, just my experience. Jennifer

I have been waiting patiently , ok maybe not so patiently, for a sample pack of wicks from wickit for over a week now. I understand that they are free, with the exception of paying shipping, but I need to get them so I can start testing my new wax. The only wicks I have on hand are the CD's and they are too big for even my hard to burn scents. Therefore, I am going to break down and order some from soycandle.com so I can get started testing. I am going to go with the premiere 700 series, but there are sooo many listed for each size container, I have no idea where to start. So if anybody has any suggestions, they will definately be appreciated. Here is my set up, I will be using GW464 no additional additives, 6.25% fo from various suppliers, dye flakes from KY, double wicking a 16 & 26 ounce apothecary jar with a diameter of 3.75". So if anybody uses anything even close please help. I don't mind ordering several sizes to see which works best for me, but like I said, there are just so many for each size jar, I don't know where to begin, and I don't want to empty my bank account of wicks alone. TIA Jennifer

It amazes me how little tolerance I now have for a poor burning, smelling candle. I never really had given it much thought until I started making them myself. And now that I know how a candle should and shouldn't behave, I just can't believe some of the shoddy National Brand candles that you can buy. Not saying that all commercial candles are bad, but it certainly sheds a new light on things when you understand the mechanics of a good candle. I think this is why so many of the big names do well, most people who don't make them don't understand that it shouldn't tunnel, or leave 1/2" of wax on the sides as it burns, and that you should be able to smell it burning, not just when you are standing over it with your nose stuck in the jar. So many people are Brand crazy too, my sister being one of them, they figure if it's a popular brand, it has to be good, even if it's not.

Hey, You may want to check out www.impact-mfg.com it doesn't specify on their site where they ship to, but they have manufacturing facilities both in California and Asia. You have to buy in bulk from them, but if you can use that many, it's cheaper in the long run. HTH jennifer

Could you use one of those plastic things carpenters use to spackle? Not sure what they are called, maybe a spackling tool. They come in various widths, if you could find one about the same width as your mold it might work for ya. You can usually get the little white plastic ones in the paint section at wal-mart for less than $1. I use one to smooth out some wall filler before I painted the walls in my last apartment. Somebody had been really rough on the walls. I bet the neighbors were glad to see them move out.LOL

I don't mind a reasonable flat rate handling fee, if I'm notified up front. I guess the two things I hate the most are those places where the shopping cart does't figure shipping and there's no mention of a handling fee, until you get your invoice, and then And places that don't offer USPS shipping on anything. I know there are alot of restrictions of shipping f/o's but $8.64 to ship 100 wicks UPS, come on now. I know there are some places that will ship USPS for something lightweight like that if you call them, but there are still others who use only one method of shipping and aren't about to change it. I guess I'll just have to stay away from those two type of places. Ok my rant is over now.

That's horrible! I am a soft spoken person by nature so I already have to speak up for people to hear me sometimes. I can't imagine having to scream at all of my customers. I did a show last year at our local mall, they had a music showcase as well. It was located right across from my booth, but they had it set up inside of an empty store so you could barely hear it out in the hall area where the booth's were set up. I hadn't really given it much thought until your post, but I can definately see where extremely loud music could be annoying and a loss of potential sales. Hope at your next show you are located far, far away from the DJ and anything annoying. Nobody should have to suffer two shows in a row. Jennifer

Wow, did I read that right? $6 for 2 ounces of f/o? And you have it shipped? You may want to shop around some for your f/o's I have several suppliers I purchase mine from, and I've never paid that much. (DH say's I'm a cheapskate) But you can find good quality oils without paying an arm and a leg. Also, if you are just starting out, you may want to purchase a sample pack or two of f/o's. Many of the suppliers such as JS and Peak, two of my favs, offer price breaks on 1 ounce lots. If it's a quality oil,(I've never gotten anything bad from either place) then one ounce per pound is a good starting point. There are times you might have to add more or less as a matter of personal preferance(sp?). HTH Jennifer MNHORSEMOM~looks like we had the same thought at the same time.LOL

I have been pouring some tester candles with the GW464 in the past few days, and I had that happen with one of my scents. But it was just slight, not nearly as much as you had. I was using midnight pomegranate with a very deep purple dye. So it may just be a combination of the f/o and the dye or something. I'm in the process of changing my wax so I poured 20 testers and that's one scent is the only one I had problems with. Outside a small amount of frosting (I can live with that) here and there that's really the only problem I have had so far with the GW464. I really love that I get smooth tops, that's something I hardly ever got with my previous wax. But I normally heat mine to about 170, add my dye chips and mix them well, and add my f/o. Cold throw is great and I'm just waiting on my wicks so I can see how these baby's burn and check out what kind of hot throw I'm going to get.