Crowded House

I like the look of the LX (aesthetically).

As for what works best I have used LX, CD, HTP, and Cotton Core. Since Top turned me on to gauging a start point for testing by looking at wick yield I find I run the gamut, especially since each type of wick seems to have a big gap in yield gradiation to wick size at some point.

Admittedly, I have not tried the RRD's or the ECO's, but they do seem to get raves by some so I may try them in the future on difficult projects.

They didn't give you any reason why you were rejected, just a "Thanks but no thanks" note in an envelope with your check?

NE corner of OK would probably be Kris at Gateway (StL).

For every soybean field in South America there is one less coca field.

Soy wax - the anti-drug.

Nah, I'm 37. I just had my kids late.

Well that would an interesting combo. The ones I've smelled are outright hay and trick my allergies lol.

I've always been hesitant to try any hay fragrance because I am allergic to hay as well.

Sweetgrass, though, is no problem.

Snow, it sounds like you're on to something.

I never have to have wax shipped since CS is my local supplier.

*shows a jealous eye to jakalex*

I thought BCN's shipping was always pretty reasonable (although I've never ordered wax from them).

UPS hundredweight is just up a lot from all of the hikes in petroleum.

I noticed that Candlescience is using its own hundredweight freight rate that is considerably cheaper than UPS. I wonder if they're using an LTL carrier instead.

I'd go with red, maybe 8-12 drops PP.

Well, what sort of tricks will the stinky candle do?

They really dont care what I am doing anyway they are busy running around and playing.

I have never had this experience with my kids. Most of the time my babies seem to think they are scarves of some sort.

Mine are 1 and 2 and do not have any school at all. Waiting until they go to bed doesn't help because the little one still wakes up at random points anyway.

The two things that have helped me the most are a) putting a gate up over the room I make candles in and breaking everything up into steps.

The gate was really critical. If I tried making candles with them underfoot it might be really dangerous for them (of course). If I am making candles they may be awake but they cannot come into the room (lucky for me neither can climb the gate yet!).

I only do containers, so there are only a few really critical points where they can't interrupt me (having to do with wax temp, of course). So I break everything up and make it very organized and don't move on to the next step until I have the first one done. That way if I am interrupted I can always go back to where I left off.

As far as those critical points (when the wax gets close to temp, mixing in FO, dye, pouring), I try to make it a point where they are busy; either watching a video or eating. They are learning that when I say I will be there in a minute or two that I mean it.

When I am in between points (just after wicking the jars, or waiting to pour, for example), I specifically give them attention and see if there is anything they need (fill juices, help the older one potty) and play with them a bit, which keeps them from deliberately seeking attention during the critical points most of the time (although not always, of course ).

It's a challenge and things don't always go as planned, naturally. If I'm doing something pretty big I have their dad take them out to play during the entire time from heating wax until the candles are poured.

If you can keep them out of your work area then you can usually develop a routine that isn't any more distracting than a job where you are doing something time-critical but waiting on customers as well. Just try to stay organized and break everything up into smaller steps whenever you can.

Good luck.

edited to add -> I also like to do sugar scrub demos and wouldn't have any room if we did it the other way. That is when they all come into the booth and crowd around because I talk so loud, make a big deal about it and repeat everything the customer says lol (I'm a little bit of a ham when it comes to attention lol)

I had the misfortune of being next to a woman at a show a couple of years ago who was a rep for Country Bunny. She would physically grab people and do a scrub on them.

This wouldn't have been so bad but at least half of the people she grabbed were elderly men who were just trying to watch a guy burn woodcuts at a table across the aisle from us. Poor old folks practically had to fight this woman off. :rolleyes2

Anyone know whats up with this company? I have been trying to go to their site to place an order for the last 3 days and the site is down. Tried calling and I just get their answering machine. ??? Anyone else getting through?

Try here. You can view the products but it appears that they are still resetting up their shopping cart.

Wow...love the Greco-Roman decor! Very classy.

Would the height of the corner presentation preclude you from easily speaking to potential customers who approached from that angle (assuming you're going to be standing behind the tables)?

I've called them before and found them to be very professional and helpful (although I wish they had online ordering, too). Their FO's are fantastic.

On top of my sink holes, now I'm getting crazy frosting!

I've had that happen if I heat gun out a wet spot to temporarily make a candle more photogenic. The frost appears a day later, but only where the candle was heat gunned.

Is it possible your frosting issues are coming from cooling too slowly, or with too little air flow?

I agree with other 444 users. The sinkhole is just inherent in this wax, and is worse with lower ambient cooling temperatures.

This wax seems to cool rapidly on the very outside (bottom, sides, and top), in order to promote good glass adhesion and a smooth top. The side effect of this is that even a very minute amount of air in the wax rises to meet what is already a smooth and already-formed top layer.

Cooling the candle in an ambient temperature of greater than 78*F does help this a little. Alternately, as others have said, the heat gun is your best friend, and isn't a huge deal unless you're producing dozens and dozens of candles at a time.

And this:

Also, I do find that just leaving the candle to completely cool overnight before blasting it with the heat gun helps.

is excellent advice regarding the heat gun. Heat gunning within the first hour or two has the potential to give you cauliflower tops (similar to 415), especially with more citrus FO's.

Mill Creek's Northern Red Currant and their Lemongrass are both good fruit scents.

I agree with Vicky and funnygirl. I've never emailed them but the shipping and products were top notch.

Libbey has a distributor in Omaha and Gelluminations up in Spirit Lake has Eco Soya (if you like Eco Soya) and USPS shipping (although their selection of wicks could be better).

"DO NOT USE ON YOUR SKIN." "DO NOT PUT YOUR FINGERS IN BURNING CANDLE."

I have had a similar "suggestion" on my site for some time. I got the idea after Jimmy Belasco (I think it was him) bragged about frying chicken in soy wax and eating it.

I didn't want anyone eating my candles, even if they do smell good and are made with soy wax. And if we need a warning on clothes irons reminding us to take the clothes off before we iron them, well...

I can right click and copy it, but I use a Mozilla Firefox browser.

I like sockmonkey's solution. There's a free watermarking program floating around out there somewhere that can do that with more transparency as well.

I'm surprised there aren't any soy wax distributors in Canada, considering so much soy is grown there. Are all of the (what, less than a half dozen?) soy wax manufacturers in the US?