Crowded House

I'd also put a cell in for pour temp, since you may want to play around with that a bit. I applaud you on your otherwise very comprehensive note taking system and desire to make a great candle instead of hoping for a line of 28 fragrances to sell by Christmas 2006. Welcome!

I suppose by that definition I would have been confused about the whole turkey fryer thing myself.

Okay, sorry, I thought it was obvious. It would make one hell of a tart warmer though, wouldn't it?

From their site: I do like the way Candlescience packages their 2oz. tins. Everyone else I've ever ordered tins from has just put them in a plastic bag in a box. Never had damage problems either way though.

Turkey Fryer Now your turn. What is a fire extinguisher?

Doesn't this just explode into fizz?

Seriously, one would first need to know what sort of wax you are using for your pillar before suggesting a wick size.

If you smoked in the house then it is on your walls, carpet, furniture, curtains, bedding, etc, etc. Burning something to clean the air probably will have limited effect even if it is an excellent candle. Your best bet is to wash/clean everything in your house, including the walls and air ducts.

Soy makes you gay! World Nut Daily strikes on the side of paraffin with this startling discovery. Man, oh, man. Who knew? :laugh2:

I like ecosoya's pillar blend for votives and tarts. BCN carries it.

I'm not much for leading people on, so I'd probably just point out that the insurance company she emailed me with wasn't the same as the one she told me she worked for at the show, and ask her if that would affect how much my rate was going to be. I'd expect not to hear from her after that, though.

I agree. No one will buy your stuff if they don't know it exists. Being a smaller candlemaker does open you up to the niche market that really wants the type of customer service that comes from good smaller candlemakers. There's a good portion of the candle market that wants the "Hallmark" feel with their candles, and being catered to on an individual basis as only small businesses can makes them feel that they have a friend in the industry that makes the product just for them. Of course I think that extends to other products as well. We have a local dairy in our town that can't keep milk on the shelves it flies off so fast. But they like that "local, family feel" about their product so they decided not to expand. I think that is a good part of their appeal.

Ooookay there, Di. Have a nice day, and thanks for your input.

Yes, that's what I said. You used the same sort of hyperbole to make your point about paraffin bashing that you accuse the soy makers of using to sell their product. "Murdered"? Are sales really that bad for you? Or could it be that the soy people here were commisserating with the paraffin makers that they also see something wrong with the hyperbole used to sell soy candles and it has affected all sides in a negative way (although hardly to the point of killing the candle industry)?

No, actually I found it funny that you would engage in the same sort of hyperbole to make your point about paraffin bashing that you accuse the soy nazis of using to sell their product. If you'll notice I also laughed at Top calling drugs "a renewable resource"; of course he has the ability to commit such acts of hyperbole without being quite so prickly about it. Personally I see nothing wrong with paraffin candles, unless they're the dollar store kind that travel here in boatloads from the Pacific Rim and have the tendency to turn people off of candles altogether. Many people have submitted pics of beautiful paraffin candles here and I find the carved ones absolutely gorgeous (and as far as I know you can't carve soy at all). Using hyperbole to sell your product has the unfortunate side effect of killing your credibility about said product, and it affects all sides. It doesn't mean the soy people all used it and now "the murderers are all crying victim". In fact, according to Tess, there are no "murderers", and her well-made paraffin candles aren't suffering a bit from it. Score one for the educated consumer.

So Di, you really think the soy nazis have hurt paraffin to the point where the paraffin industry is dying? That's what I was laughing about...for those who understood it.

We...murdered...paraffin?

At my last craft fair this guy comes up to me and says, "Soy candles, huh?" I said, "Yep." He said, "They're great - plus you can put the wax on your skin!" By the time I'd formulated the words, "Um, no, actually...." he'd walked on. Hopefully he found a nice B&B table somewhere.

BCN has some very good throwers at 1oz PP, IMO. Are you sure you're not catching a cold? There have been several days this season where I wasn't congested or anything but I couldn't hardly smell a thing (including my candles, dinner on the stove, etc).

You can't get the fragrance oil and the wax separated and start over fresh, no. You can remelt and repour the candle, though. If you just want to do this at the hobbyist level and don't want to invest a ton of money you should be able to find a postal or kitchen scale and a glass thermometer at almost any big box store for less than $15 combined.

A little off-topic, but I think if we stopped using paraffin for candles and food we'd find something else to do with it. That is how deisel fuel started out, after all (as a byproduct).

See, I find a lot of merit in packaging and claiming that your product is packaged in a "green" way. Many people want candles but want to contribute to landfills as little as possible. Packaging in recycled materials and packaging to a minimum is a great (and legitimate!) selling point. Of course once again this can apply to candles of any wax.

Here, maybe?

Interesting, Top (and thanks for the heads-up about what constitues "renewable resources"). re: 0006 - obviously a subjective aesthetic observation, and a selling point. re: 0007 - a little from column A, a little from column B. I have noticed a difference in the "odor" of paraffin vs soy vs beeswax (have not tried palm or other waxes purposefully) and they all smell different to me without FO. Saying they "may" increase airborne compounds by being burned in an enclosed environment applies to any wax, obviously. re: 0008 - absolutely true, unless the price of paraffin vs soy is being artificially controlled. Most paraffin waxes are almost twice the cost of what soycandle is letting the GB wax go for. re: 0009 - obviously, YMMV. Actually no, they can't. Just like Ford can't show the road through an empty windshield and claim they have the clearest windshields ever, companies must make claims that appeal truthfully to "a reasonable consumer".