Trae

To me it smells like grape Bubble Yum. Trae

I use CD3's with J50. Works with every scent I carry. HTH! Trae

Didn't do as well as I'd expected. Total was $484. Not a huge amount for a 4 day shop. The woman running it told me that the parents at this school were big spenders. Well, apparently they're not this year because with the exception of 3 items, everything over $10 came back to me. Again, it was the items in the $5 range that sold. It was funny to see what the difference in sales was between the two schools, and they are only a few miles apart. The first one, my jelly jars never sell but I always sell out of soaps.and gels. The second one, I sent a load of jelly jars and only came home with one, but the soaps didn't do too well. Luckily, I have a few people coming by this week to look at what I have left. Hopefully unload what xmas stuff is left. Have a good day! Trae

Yes, there were other vendors besides me. The school orders the cheapy dollar-store type toys, mugs, paperweights, etc to stay along the $1-$5 guidelines, then they bring in crafters to kinda mix things up. There was two other candlemakers besides me, one being a local competitor, but they both do only 2 sizes of Mason jars. So I left my jars home and brought my gels, soaps, firestarters and hurricanes. There was also a vendor that had hand-painted candles done with that one-stroke painting but the candles were store-bought. I think there was also a jewelry person too. When I went to break down my display I noticed the other vendors had quite a bit left. It was funny to see the difference in what sold at my open house and what sold at this school. What sold out at my open house barely sold at the school. I can't even base my inventory on what sold the previous year because every year is different. I did do another school's holiday shop so I'm waiting to hear from them. We had a snow day last Friday so they are a day behind getting everything counted up. I'll keep ya posted! Trae

Didn't do as well as last year but still good. Total was $840....$100 less than last year. Have to give 10% to the school but I'll still walk away with a good amount. I can definitely see that people are going for the $5 and under items. The inventory I had left was the higher priced items. Big sellers were aquarium soaps, holiday trinket soaps, hot cocoa mug candles and votive-size gel candles with xmas embeds. Still had a lot of 16oz preserves left but I can sell them throughout the year. Still waiting to hear from the second school. I'll post those results when I get them. :smiley2: Trae

In my nine years of candlemaking I've only had two people ask if I use a metal core wick (that was when all the lead hype was going on) and one other person mentioned the mushrooming, claiming it didn't "look nice" while burning. Otherwise, most people just assumed mushrooming was part of the candle after burning Yankme and dollar store candles. The other day at my open house, I actually had someone ask about the gel candle exploding rumor. Haven't been asked that in quite some time!

I use a 51Z in that size jar. Works great. Trae :smiley2:

I did notice a slight difference on my last two cases. Seemed softer and stickier than before. I really didn't have to change anything with wicking except one or two scents that I originally used a 44z and had to wick up to a 51 in a 8oz JJ. I wonder if IGI played around with the formula after taking over ?? :undecided

I got some small paint brushes that have a metal handle and black bristles to "stipple" the wax onto the hurricane. Just pick up a blob with the brush and dab it on. Then throw the brush away when you're done. The brushes are sold at Home Depot in a bag of 100. I guess any cheapo brushes would work. HTH! Trae

Didn't get as many people for day 2, but still did $461 so that makes a grand total of $1206 for the 2 days. Split up what was left and packed it all up for the two school holiday shops. Now I can start XMas shopping! I'll post the results of the school shows at the end of the week. Trae

Today was the first day of my two-day open house. Had about 20 people show up and did $745. Hoping lots more show up tomorrow (I sent out over 100 flyers). My biggest seller was my basket of Christmas cookies candle. Those were flying off the shelf. Also my hot cocoa mugs, gingerbread gel candles, peppermint candy gel candles and believe it or not, I sold a lot of seascapes! I'm just glad I can finally breathe! Besides the preparation for my open house, I have to set up next week for a school Secret Shop. So whatever doesn't sell at my house will go there. Also, I got a last minute call to do another school's Secret Shop so I busted my hiney making more stuff to send to that! I really didn't want to turn them down even though it was such late notice. The school is in a very upscale area where they have BIG spenders. They said I will be the only candlemaker and they woiuld take whatever I have. I figure whatever I sell is a bonus! I'll post tomorrow's results. Have a great weekend!

I use CD-3 wicks for tealights, which are pretty rigid and stand up on their own so you don't have to anchor them while pouring. Trae

You should be able to hit those jars with a heat gun. Just watch you don't light the wick with it! As for the answer for your customer, just tell her candles are like wine...they get better with age! As long as they are wrapped or covered, they should be fine for quite some time. Sorry you had crappy shows. Trae

What I do is pour the gel when it's cooled to the consistency of pancake syrup (on my presto pot, the thermostat is set between 200-225). I wait until I can put my finger into the gel without burning myself and then push the embeds in with the eraser end of a pencil. If you still have too many bubbles when you're done, just put the candle in a sunny window for a few hours and it will clear up. HTH! Trae

I'm getting ready for my annual open house this weekend. Running that for two days, then Monday I have to set up for a school Secret Shop. I was also invited to do another school's holiday shop for next week so I'm trying to whip out as many candles as I can to try to cover all three shows. Pulling some late nights and getting up early to start all over again. Prolly sleep for a week after all this is done! LOL! Trae

They're wax pinecones. Gotta love silicone molds!! Trae

Scented with Christmas Tree

I just used some mod podge and either roll or sprinkle the glitter on. They burned fine too. Wax looked a little lumpy but no problems. Trae:grin2:

I'm really happy with how this turned out. Scented with NG's Mrs Claus Cookies.

here is a pic of some votives and a pillar I put diamond dust on. You can usually find it with regular glitter in the craft store. Right now they are putting it with Christmas glitters.

I use diamond dust. HTH! Trae

Figured since not everyone likes pine, I'd scent it Twigs & Berries.

Suds, I have no problem at all getting the votives out of the molds. I use wick pins so a gentle tug and they come right out. Only had to use the freezer once in a rush. Trae

I use 4786 for my votives and tarts. The votive goes in a glass anyway so it actually ends up being a container candle eventually, right? LOL! Anyway, I've been using this wax for 4 years with votives with great results. Trae :smiley2:

Has anyone found these yet? So far I've been to WalMart, Dollar General, AC Moore and Michaels and not one store has them. Were they discontinued or something? C&S has been out of stock since summer. I have a few people interested in them and I only have one left from last year. TIA. Trae