Candybee

I wouldn't give up on the RRDs. Try a lower FO load and the next smallest size wick for your jar. I was really surprized what a difference it made with my CSN wicks so am willing to try it out with the RRDs. But I actually got not only a much better flame and consumption but the HT was improved by lowering my FO load and wick size. I use glass glow palm BTW.

For those of us that use CSN's the Wedo RRD's are the equivalent and both series are made from them. I do believe the CSN is a slightly different version of the RRD but what the diff is I don't know. I found that they tended to smoke and soot a tad more than the CSN. But I have since lowered my FO load and switched to a smaller size wick so now I wonder if the RRD might work for me better now. Anyway, looks like I will be switching to the RRD until I find something better. BTW, you can find RRD's at Candlewic and a much better selection at C&S. Which is great for me because they are both in PA and I already use them for candle supplies and FOs. They may start getting more business from me now.

got it! thanks for the heads up. Well this is really a bummer!!

I just looked over their website and I am not seeing any announcements about them discontinuing their CSN wicks. I see some are OOS thou. So am I missing something?

OMG!!! I have been using their CSN wicks for my palm for years! They work better than RRD and other wicks I've tried in palm. ah cheese and crackers!!!!

I like the pearlescent mica idea. That would be great for my salt bars or solseife or even my pumice scrubs. I had been putting sprinkling white irridescent glitter on some which gives the tops nice sparkle. Unfortunately I did have some complain as some don't like glitter. But perarlescent mica might work. I buy the majority of my mica from TKB and Nurture. Will check it out next time I order. Same here with the lotion, powder, oil, and balm. Not coming up with any sea theme names for them. But I have several months to ponder and come up with ideas. However, I really don't want everything to have a sea name. The labeling and packaging will take care of that so its not a critical factor. Besides, I do like the product names I gave them already. Was just throwing them out there in case something popped into your head since you have really good ideas.

So far my bath/body products with new sea theme names are: FOR BATH: Pearlized Bubble Bath: Mermaid Pearls Bubble Bath Fizzy Salts: Fizzy Bath Sea Salts Pearlized Milk Bath: Sea Foam Milk Bath Bath Oil Beads: Coconut Oil Bath Sea Pearls FOR BODY: Scented body mist: Sea Spray Body Mist I still have these products that I could rename if anyone can come up with something more clever that's sea themed but not too cutesy/gimmicky: Goat Milk & Honey Lotion Body Silk Bath Powder Luxury Body Oil Tropical Butters Lip Balm

I am rethinking the bubble bath name. Its going to be for the kiddies and adults but I am thinking it will probably sell mostly to kids. So should I have a name that reflects both child and adult or focus on the kiddies? I think it must be both so it should be a fun name yet something adults can appreciate too. Maybe the mermaid pearls bubble bath? It will be pearlized bubble bath. Is there a sea name for bubbles? It should also be recognizable as what its for, bubble bath.

Another batch of great ideas Kerven! I'm taking notes! The ocean spray rename makes sense. I was having a hard time not thinking cranberries cause its such a strong branding name for Ocean Spray. So I will change it to Sea Spray Body Mist. I like that! The brine soap I am sticking to its true name Solseife "Sea Brine" Soap. As well as the salt bars are simply going to be called Sea Salt Bars. I have two different "pearl" products; 1 bath oil beads are going to be Coconut Oil Bath Sea Pearls. And yes they are smallish soft gel beads filled with coconut oil that melt into your bath. Second; anything pearlized like my bubble bath I plan to add pearlizer. So I am calling it Sea Pearls Bubble Bath. My milk bath I am calling Sea Foam Milk Bath after your suggestion. Thank you!!! I love it! I am working at farmer's markets and craft shows so my booth is the standard 10x10 foot area. I use 2-3 six foot tables so am limited on what I can put on them. The soap and bath/body product will cover 2 tables. The 3rd table is a seasonal table for candle season. I have not fully decided yet what to do with the candles as that will be for next years seasons candles. So there is room there for candle ideas with a sea theme that will be fun to work on! Re table decor, I am purchasing pool blue fitted tablecloths with an aqua teal overlay tablecloths. I am spray painting my baskets white and gluing various sea shells, starfish, sand dollars, etc. to them. I am still mulling over random decor like fish nets, driftwood, etc and haven't made up my mind but you gave me some ideas on those. I will have precious few room to spare for decor nicnacs so they have to somehow fit in in a way that they can still be seen to add ambiance and not make my tables look like busy clutter. kwim? BTW, my new tent sign will be arriving this week and I am in the process of getting a new biz license. I'm currently waiting to hear back from the town's zoning & planning board for my application approval. Once approved, I can go ahead and get my biz license, tax id, bank accounts, etc. set up. Next will be fleshing out a new website and social media pages.

Kerven you are a gold mine of clever ideas!! I love the driftwood, seaglass, and glass (with note inside) bottles for decor and will look out for these to snatch up. I do plan to get some sand dollars and starfish. I am planning to spray paint my display boxes white and glue on the starfish and shells and sand dollars onto the boxes. I am also going to paint lettering on the boxes either my company name or some sea chanty or meme. I do have a charcoal and sea clay soap I do not have a name for yet. Maybe I will call it squid ink & sea clay. Will have to think on that one though as some of my customers will think its actually squid ink. LOL I like the sea foam idea for the foaming hand soap but I won't be offering hand soap but it might work on the milk bath? "Sea Foam & Pearl Milk Bath"?? How about something like that? I am liking that already!!! I will not be offering hair spritz but I am doing a scented body spray/mist I need a name for. Maybe Ocean Spray Body Mist? Maybe you can come up with a better name. I will have it available in several sea themed scents but I always like to have an actual product name first then the scent it comes in listed on the label. Not offering miceller cleanse or mermaid shape soap? However, I am using about 4-5 logo silhouettes on each soap label. I have a mermaid, sea horse, octopus, and thinking a fourth like a crab, starfish, or jellyfish. Haven't decided yet. On my goat milk soap I have Capricorn the sea goat logo and my beer soap a pirate logo.

We think alike! I did think of sea salt scrubs but then realizing that they would make skin burn if you have cuts or scrapes made me nix the salt scrubs. Then I was going to do sugar scrubs instead but I have way too many products now and have to cut back. So I opted for the fizzy sea salt and sea pearl milk bath will do for the sea salt arena. Also, they are actually bath products which I want to focus more so on rather than body. Good luck with your rebranding! It can be really exciting but at the same time give you anxiety over worrying if you are doing the right thing. But if you want to move forward then it is probably the best. Me for example, I have been wanting a "theme" type company to have focus on my products for years but could never nail it down. But once I picked my theme everything seemed to fall in place and now I can't wait to start. But this time around I am planning it all down to the colors and type of tablecloths on my tables to the logo and tagline of my company. Every detail I can think of to coordinate it. That is the exciting part is coming up with more ideas to go with my sea theme. Also, my opinion is stick with your sugar scrubs. If they are good sellers for you they are worth keeping. Think more about the salt scrubs. In all my years selling body products I have only had 1 customer ask about salt scrubs. Everyone wants a good sugar scrub. Maybe instead reformulate your sugar scrubs with a new recipe or ingredient. Like a tropical butters recipe or a brown sugar & caffein scrub, or an oatmeal & brown sugar scrub, or maple sugar scrub, or a matcha green tea & french green clay sugar scrub. Just throwing ideas out there. You can match a new ingredient like oatmeal and pair it with a complimentary scent to come up with a whole new revamped sugar scrub. Plus you can use the new ingredient as the new selling point.

Next year I am totally revamping my soap biz to take a new direction and focus. The new soap biz will feature products from the sea/ocean and that's what I am asking for some creative ideas to make it more fun and edgy. The products I will be offering are soap and bath of course. Bath as in more actual bath products but I will still carry body products like lotions and balms and plenty of soap! Some things I am already doing: salt bars and solseife (salt brine soap) sea clay & kelp bars fizzy bath sea salts, fizzy coconut milk bath, and coconut oil bath pearls sea sponges for bath mermaid logo biz colors of pool blue, aqua teal, and white as an accent color ocean themed fonts for labeling and promotional materials So my question is what would you think about adding or doing for a sea themed soap biz? Looking for creative ideas for either products, packaging, table decor, promotional materials, anything biz related.

Thanks all. I did remember that Fillmore has a kick azz butterscotch brulee that smells so good you want to drink it. So I will bite the bullet so to speak and buy the l lb bottle since a 1 ozer won't be enough for me to test in soap. I am planning to mix with a bay rum I have to give it more of a sweet rum note for an oatmeal soap I make.

Its been years since I used M&P bases so what I used may not be available anymore. I do know that the Stephenson bases are pretty good as I used them myself. The SFIC bases are toted as being more "natural" as they don't contain some of the synthetic lather ingredients. You will have to try out several bases to determine which works for you. Do you want to go more natural or opt for more sudsy lather? Some bases except more additives while others lose their lather if you add more than a tablespoon of additives to a lb of base. Re the difference between M&P and CP as I mentioned CP is soap made completely from scratch. You use lye, liquids, and fats to produce it and it takes some skill and chemistry knowledge to make it and care working with lye. With M&P it is a ready made soap in a block. M&P is definitely the easiest to work with especially for a beginner. I did for a few years before I started making CP soap. I am glad I did as by the time I started making CP soap I had gained some knowledge of working with different additives, oils, butters, milks, etc.

Your friend may also want to know how long you were burning the candle or how long it had been burning when it finally broke. Also, I know its too late now but it would have helped to check the surface of the glass top of the credenza to see if it was retaining heat from the candle as it burned. I know it sounds crazy but different surfaces and the surround can make a huge difference when burning a candle. A candle can catch fire for example if you place it on a windowsill next the the window glass.

I see they carry both the SFIC and the Stephenson bases. And yes it matters which base you use as not all bases are the same or have the same ingredients. Also, with M&P you don't need to wait for it to cure. The base is ready made soap so all you have to do is melt it, add scent, pour into a mold, let it harden, and its ready to use. You did not say what kind of soap you were gifted. Was it M&P or CP, HP? Again, it really depends on the ingredients in the soap but each method is different. CP/HP soaps are made from scratch while m&P are ready made soap bases.

This is sad news. I have a lot of both soap and candle scents I use with them. Maybe in soap I will have better success. But sometimes changes can make the scent fade, morph, or accelerate so fast its not worth it. The acceleration happened with the last change they did to their lavender and I still have a 5 lb container I am working my way through.

Sounds like I need the original artwork. I was hoping I could change the images that I have to make them my own but I see that won't work and I don't want to use anything but my own images. So I do need a graphic artist after all. The images I have are examples of what I want. Plus I want the images to be vector images with a transparent background. If either of you are still interested PM me and I will send send you the images.

I have 3 grahics I downloaded and want to make changes to them to make them my own. They are all silhouette vector images. Besides making the changes I want them all to be transparencies so when I copy them onto my labels, promotional materials, etc., they show up as transparent with only the image on the page. Do you know how to do this?

Belinda, I used it as a mixer with CS Cranberry Marmalade and a bit of C&S Orange for a cranberry citrus candle. I use palm which had a great throw with this blend. But on its own its a great scent if you don't like bothering to blend. As soon as I got this one I knew I wanted to use it it is that good!!

Hmmm, I'll check and see if I have another preservative that's paraben free that I can use for a scrub. Still considering the silk but mostly as label appeal.

Yes its lovely in wax. I used it last year in my fall candles and it was a good seller.

I really like that name Fraunu but it is a bit too long. I finally decided to go with Candy's Soap & Sea Bath. I just like the way it sounds when I say it. Also, I started working on some labels with my new name, logos, sea fonts (downloaded a bunch of adorable sea fonts), and colors. I am really getting into it. Once I made the final decision on the name it was like a great weight had been lifted. Plus I have the go ahead with the name to really get into the sea theme with my products, signage, promotional materials, etc. I am as happy as a clam now!! Tee hee!!!

Each wax has its own unique melting and flash points. Melting point (MP) is the temp at which it will melt. The flash point (FP) is when it can burst into flame or burn given a nearby flammable heat source. The FP is pretty high in most waxes but should always be known to the person working with the wax for safety reasons. Check with the supplier for the manufacturer's specs. Most candle wax suppliers include this information with the description of each wax. If you don't know you will need to tell us what wax you are using and we can help you determine the temps to use it. Knowing those temps will help you solve your problem. I believe you will need to melt the wax then add your salt. If the salt has a low MP, lower than the wax, it makes sense to add it to the liquified wax. I have never tried mixing salt and wax and would be interested in your experiment results. I am concerned if salt has characteristics of water when it melts. If so, the wax may pop and sizzle when you add the salt. If this happens you want to watch it closely and make sure it doesn't escape your melter or spray you with molten wax bits. Hopefully, some more will see your post and add their knowledge as mixing wax and salt is new to me.

Looking for a good buttered rum type to use as a mixer.