Candybee

Congrats on the new shop! Hope you do well in it.

When I did Christmas candles on my website I just did a whole page/section just for them. To generate more sales I would simply do a sale. For example, one price shipping, or 10% off all holiday candles. I used the shopping cart to do the sales. Coupons work great too. I would send out a mass email to my customers with a coupon code they could shop online with for discounts or free shipping. Those generated the most sales.

I love experimenting with blends. For pink thou I like: jasmine + grapefruit apple blossom + green tea peppermint + vanilla

I was a member for a few years a while back. One year when my membership ran out I never renewed it. The only benefit I got from them was I got to use their membership logo on my website and had my shop on their members list. We also got a monthly newsletter. For the money I spent I was not impressed.

There's a lot of truth in what Mooshine says. You should be able to do what you want to do.

I don't go by a bar minimum. I go by a price minimum. 16 bars of soap in no way comes close and they knew that. The other issue I had was I knew right away they also didn't get the fact that a reorder takes weeks of curing time. If you are running low on soaps you order ahead of time-- the amount they ordered would have been less than the amount you need to keep enough soap on hand while you wait for your new order. I could see they were just trouble and more trouble. In any event, I turned around and took those soaps to the next craft show the following weekend and sold most of them the first day. So in the end it kind of turned into a lucky thing for me as I now have a new line of soaps that sell very well. Funny how things work out!

I just dumped an account due to similar problems. Customer had a small shop in town. I already had a good well established account with another shop in the same town down the street. My policy is not to sell to more than one account in the same area because of competition to them. So, I explained that and we discussed creating them a whole new line of soaps special for their shop only which would not be sold by the other shop. Fine with me. So I spent the time developing the soaps. I had already explained my minimum to them and the fact that it takes 4-6 weeks for CP soap to cure so when they needed soap they had to order ahead of time due to theirs being made special for their shop only. They asked for 6 scents but left it up to me to create them. So I did. So when the sample soaps were ready they agreed to come out to the Farmers Market to view them and place an order. They never showed. Same thing the next week. So I called and left a message that I had the soap but missed them at the market. So what do they do? they order 4 soaps in 4 scents. Thats 16 soaps. I was not happy. I never called them back. I expect they are the type that would complain about me to others. Ha!! I would love to charge them for the time and money I spent in development and research of a new product line for their shop. Donkeys!! Lesson learned. I will never develop a line of soap for anyone who doesn't pay up front for it. Non refundable that is!!

Ecosoya would work but tends to frost badly with some colorants. The first wax I thought of was paraffin. But really any good tart/pillar blend wax will do.

Scented is being very modest. She makes awesome candles that smell wicked good!! Whatever you are doing Scented don't change a thing!

What Karen means has to do with coloring candles. To get different nuances of a color you can add another. For example, for a darker red you can add one drop of brown or black dye at a time until you achieve the shade of red you want. So technically I could buy red liquid dye and simple add a drop or two of a darker color like brown or black to achieve a 'cinnamon' red.

Where do you get the Wilton crystal sugar? BTW-- I love turbinado sugar except its amber colored so you have to take that into account for your sugar scrub making.

I've seen that at Walmart too. Yes its regular grapeseed oil you can use in your soaps and cosmetics. Have you seen the Olivado oil at Wally's? Its a blend of olive oil and avocado oil. I would love to try it but how would you put that in soapcalc? LOL

For what its worth to me "handcrafted" means something entirely different than handmade. Handcrafted to me means you glued glitter on a store bought card. Handmade to me means you created the card, designed it, put text on it, and added the glitter. So if you buy a M&P soap base, melt it down, use a recipe for goats milk soap you created, color it, put additives in it, pour it into a mold, and put your own labels on it-- to me thats handmade. Handcrafted to me would mean I cut the base into pieces, labeled them, and sold them. Not the same.

Unless you are buying from a supplier in your state that requires a copy of your your sellers statement you should not have any trouble. The majority of suppliers don't require it so go ahead and start buying if you wish. As far as jumbo tea lights you can buy candle molds for larger sizes or use votive molds and just fill them part way. But if you make large tea lights you will have to test wicks other than simply tea light wicks. The jumbo ones may require a larger wick depending on how big you make them.

As others have pointed out different wax types can make a difference as to how fast a scent will throw. Some waxes like pure soy and soy blend can take anywhere from 24 hours up to a month or more for a good throw. In addition to that you still have the variable of the scent itself, some are better suited to some waxes while others may or may not work in respect to scent throw. So its possible to use the same soy wax and have one scent throw withing 24 hrs of curing while another takes 2 weeks or longer. Curing a candle for scent throw is not the only reason for curing. For example, I make palm container candles. Palm wax crystalizes as it hardens. It also takes 2-3 days for the wax to completely finish crystalizing and hardening. It will feel stone hard in just a few hours but that does not mean it has finished crystalizing and hardening. If I burn the candle before this hardening cure time the burn is completely different. Its quite visable if you test side by side uncured to fully cured palm candles. The difference in the burn can readily be seen. The candles just burn better after a 2-3 day cure. Scent wise, palm wax pretty much throws almost any scent I add to it as soon as it has hardened up enough to burn. But there are subtle changes in the scent after a few days to a week cure. The best way to know the difference is do your own testing with side by side cured and uncured candles. It will help you to understand your wax better and how it works after a cure, scent wise, burn wise, etc.

I use the "red" chips for a bright Christmasy red. Cinnamon chips are deep red with a hint of black/brown in it. Perfect for cinnamon. Never used the ruby red cause I didn't need another shade of red.

I was just thinking of peanuts and how some people with allergies to peanuts can still get a violent reaction to food processed or handled that came in contact with peanuts. I think it may depend on the voracity of the allergy for each individual.

I've been adding mine directly to the soap batter. I just stick blend the tar out of it to make sure its blended.

I think some still make them but not a lot. They are not very profitable and places like the Walmart and Dollar stores sell whole packs of them for a dollar or two. I have a ton of them left over from when I made them a few years back. They just are not big sellers and people expect them for dirt cheap. Can't be done with handmade items even tea lights.

It's French for Christmas. That's all. It does have a lovely sound tacked on a Christmas scent and its just for that, a marketing tool to sell more candles.

I use the dye chips and get a solid red. I use the ones from CS. Sometimes I use the cinnamon chip too for a darker red.

Its a good feeling when you make that first candle with a good scent throw. Congrats! 3" inch diameter jars aren't so bad-- try to wick a 4" inch jar like a traditional apothecary. Those are the ones I started out with. Live and learn.

I agree the ash looks great on it. I would just leave it as it is.

Their Rainbow micas are exact dupes of the POP micas.

Thanks ProudMarineMom! I forgot about clays and I have some anise and patchouli.