Candybee

I love the way zincs burn I just hate the mushrooms and smoking when the candle is extinquished. But wow do you get a great hot throw with zinc. So for my personal candles I use zincs. Don't use them anymore for candles I sell. They should work great in parasoy blends like 6006. But you will still get the mushrooms and smoke. But I loved the HT, the cool burn, and the less flicker they produced. You just have to embrace the pros and the cons of this wick because it definitely has both.

I take the total of scented wax I want in my jar and then calculate the FO and or additives from that. So if my jar takes a scented wax fill of 16 oz I calculate 16x6% to find my FO % = .96oz. That means I will use 15.4oz wax and .96oz FO. If I use an additive the % will be different. Like Talltayl I use the sum of all my ingredients as my total. In making soap you use % of your oils and butters that add up to 100%. Works the same way for wax fill for jars or molds.

The candles are more of a side sale. I switched from a candle company to a soap company so I am more about soap, B&B. Once in a while I do tarts but I don't want them as a regular part of my line. So maybe for the holidays..

Actually, 2 of my farmer's markets started in mid-April. But they really don't start going until the weather warms up a bit. So yesterday, Saturday, I had one of my markets and it was a beautiful, warm, and sunny day. So I ended up having a very good day saleswise! I was actually busy with one customer after another for several hours. This week I also brought 3 more new men's shaving soaps with me. I think that my demonstrating how to make shaving cream from the shaving soaps always makes a hit. Once people see how nice the shaving cream is it sells itself. Plus I debuted my brand new dog soaps. I make 2 kinds, one with a fleas and tick formula and one for small and extra sensitive skinned dogs. They sold really well and I sold half of what I brought. I was surprised they sold so well but I was hoping they would. (Lots of our customer bring their dogs to the market.) My specialty soaps like facial bars and shampoo bars did well as did my extra moisturizing and conditioning soaps. Last year lemon verbena and ginger lime were the favorite citrus. This year it seems customers are loving my orange spice soaps. So glad I got the 10x orange EO as it really made a hit. (A picture of my orange spice soap is in the gallery.) Sadly, no candles sold. But I sell more candles in the fall. Right now its all about the soap it seems. So how did you all do? What was selling for you?

Uh oh! Its Sunday and I am not getting that feeling of starting soaping this week.

Thanks Suzy. Looks like I need to try some new samples from TKB!

Great job on the swirl. I love the look of using charcoal in soap. I just hate working with it as I always make a mess just opening the bag of charcoal no matter how careful I am! Good luck with the veggie blend. Took me a while to perfect some all veggie recipes that I love as much as using lard or tallow. Veggie fats just don't feel the same-- but I embraced that and by using different combos found some simple recipes that really felt nice on my skin. I like that I can now offer all vegetable and even a couple vegan recipe soaps to my customers. Did you get SMR's sample collection of natural colorants? They have some really nice ones in that. Some of my favs are the clays, spirolina, and nettle leaf.

OMG!!!! This!!!!! Lord do I hate prep and cleanup!!! That work just sucks all the fun out of soaping!!

Alas, I don't have any rosewood Top! Scented-- I do have some bergamot and orange. But only sweet orange, tangerine, and orange 5x. Wondering if it would blend well with pink grapefruit and bergamot? Hmm....

Barnwood and Kentucky Bourbon sound interesting!

Try asking in the general candle section. I know there are a few chandlers here who know a little about candle carving and can help you with that.

Sorry to hear that happened to someone in your family.

Exactly! I don't like to make soap unless I am 100% focused on what I am doing. Since most of the week is gone anyway I just decided to wait until next week. Tomorrow I have to restock, label, and load soaps and supplies into the car for my Saturday market. I had a lovely day planting, weeding, feeding, and doing more gardening things! Its like a tonic. I am feeling rejuvenated!

Welcome to craft server! Do you still CP and LS? We could use your expertise in the soaping section!

I was just going to ask if it would work with other florals and citrus.

Beautiful work! Everything looks amazing!

Could you place the dropper in a pan of warm water. Maybe use some putty to stopper the dropper so it doesn't leak into the water or the water doesn't penetrate the dropper. Or can you flash the dropper in the microwave in 10 second bursts?

I'm having one of those weeks. I just don't feel like making soap but I know I have to. I have 2 big orders coming up and they will wipe out a huge chunk of my stock so I have to keep up. Problem is, I am having one of those weeks I just don't feel like making any! Instead, I have been catching up on my yardwork and planting spring flowers and loving it! (Normally I hate yardwork and just do what needs to get done!) So in a way, the yardwork is working like a vacation.

I feel bad for your wife! I know the feeling! I do have one scent, a gingerbread FO, that gives me terrible stomach cramps, diarhea and migraines when I make candles with it. Thankfully the respirator has helped with that.

I have a pretty good relationship with my wholesale accounts. I have one that the shop owner comes to the market and buys what she wants off my table. I tally the soaps and give her the wholesale price. She buys a ton of soap from me several times a year. This method works great as the soap is all ready for her to sell. Another account is a private label for a foundation. They selected 12 scents for their line and I have special labels I make for them. Since I let them select scents from current stock I only need pull the bars and put their labels on them. I let them know if anything is out of stock and they know they have to wait 4-6 weeks for a special order. Most of the time they will just take what I have and the next time they order they will fill in the missing ones. For me what works is wholesaling soaps that I currently carry in stock. If they want something not in stock it becomes a special order and they have to wait until I make it and its ready to sell.

We are entering a new age of cyber attacks. Attacking company computers and encrypting files and holding them for ransom is becoming the new rage and so far is turning into a very lucrative business for cyber criminals. These criminals often re-attack their victims every few months to extort even more money. I have read several stories of businesses that have been attacked and the chaos they can create is extremely damaging. They are so good at it that some individuals would rather pay the criminals than having to deal with the damage it can cause. These cyber attacks are definitely on the rise and the FBI expects they will increase exponentially in the coming year. Being prepared is your best bet. Look specifically for anti-virus programs that protect against ransom malware. More and more companies are including these in their computer protection programs. I was attacked and it was by far the worst computer infection I have every experienced. Even after I was able to clean out my computer it took days to delete my files and the psychological impact was huge. Its like a home invasion complete with destruction. I never want to go through that again! Plus I am not a big corporation. I run a very small home crafting business so imagine my surprise that these criminals are attacking home businesses and individuals as well as the big guys. So really no one is safe!

There are some effective ways to deal with this: 1. Back up your files regularly. In the event you are infected and have to delete your current files, your backup files can be reinstalled onto your computer. 2. If you are on a network unplug the infected computer ASAP so it doesn't spread over the network to other computers. This is for computers on networks only. Not for a personal non-network computer. 3. If you are infected-- don't turn your computer off! Turning your computer off and back on again will lock in the install of the malware. Instead, run a complete systems scan immediately with your antivirus program to root out and destroy the virus or malware. If you have to, run several malware or antivirus programs. There are several free ones on the internet and many of the large well known companies have free versions. I use AVG, Adware, and Winferno all for free. The AVG and Adware found and destroyed all my ransom malware. I use Winferno to clean out my registry after so my computer runs more smoothly. 4. Sadly, and very importantly, delete all infected files. This will take time, maybe even several days. But unless you are willing to pay these people to unlock your encrypted files deleting all of them is your only option. Besides, they are now useless as they are fully encrypted. 5. You can also find anti ransom malware protection programs, install one, and run it if this happens to your computer. But more importantly, they can help detect this type of malware before it can infect your computer. 6. As always, NEVER open unfamiliar emails. Since it is known that one of the entry portholes these villians use is email it is even more important to delete any suspicious email. Also, beware of delivery company emails like authentic looking UPS emails. If you know you don't have a UPS delivery be very suspicous. If you are expecting a UPS delivery, contact UPS on their official website or call them for delivery information. Many of these ransom pirates are using delivery emails to fool potential victims as a means for delivering their viscous malware. 7. Use an antivirus program that also scans websites before you open them. McAfee is just one example of this. They have a program that allows you to run your cursor over a website directory before you click on any website. It will alert you if it detects a potential threat on that website before you click on it to open it up.

Or maybe red vibrance and really red together might make red? LOL.... so many choices... so little time!

Does TLB have neon red? I think I have only seen neon pink?

Thanks for the tip. Tomato red sounds promising! I need to order the neons from TKB so maybe I will order a sample of the tomato red. But I still think the really red and red oxide mix might do the trick. Gonna give it a try next time I need a red color.