David Fields

NICE web...Very, Very professional. Your labels must have cost you a TON to have each one individually printed?? We have just a generic label!! How long have you been making Candles!! You look like you have been around the Block?? We have been making and selling Candles for almost 10 years..We do have a Storefront in a Mall in College Station..Home of the FIGHTIN' AGGIES!! We sell lots and lots of Candles...I am with everyone else...just beware of the "Name infringement" issues. We have Sweet Pea..but ours is Oh Sweet Pea...(remember the song??). Good Luck!! Joyce

I get the 10" already bow-tied Stretch Loops from Papermart....You get like 50 in a package for $2.54...about $.05 ea....which to ME is worth it!! Plus, the little bow looks great when attached!! They come in Silver or Gold...I have found the 8" is a little Too short...the 10" is perfect!! Good Luck Joyce (David's Wife)

In this world there are ants and grasshoppers. The person wanting all of your expertise is a grasshopper. Email her: "Upon receipt of our standard $5000 fee for sharing expertise we will forward all information that we have pain-stakingly garnered over the past five years. Thank you for your inquiry."

Wal-Mart does carry the exact same one for $4.54....By the time you purchase them...and pay shipping...not sure it would be cost effective?? Plus you have to buy so many!! Joyce:embarasse

Totally agree...everything looks very professional...and eye appealing. Sorry the turn out was not better...but we have found...we learn a little something at almost every show we did. Thanks for sharing!! Good luck in all your future endeavors!!:highfive: Joyce (David's Wife)

Thanks for looking...I did see this site...but I am looking for a 3" one that is for Pillars.... I know they are out there...I have googled..and MSN'd it to death!! We have a Retail Store in a Mall...and I want to sell them myself...so it's hard to find them wholesale!! Thanks again for your Efforts...I really appreciate it!! God Bless Joyce (David's wife and Loving it)...

Has anyone ever used a "Candle Follower"??? (it's a ring of either brass or silver...that kind of Hugs Your Pillar Candle as it burns down) If so ...do you know where to get them at the best price?? Thanks, Joyce (David's wife)

You might check out Papermart.com I know they have some of the "bakery" type boxes as well...look under food boxes!! Good luck...those are neat looking!! Joyce (David's wifey)

We order candle warmers from them. Good company. Can't say enough good about them. I looked on the packaging and did not see any wattage info. So, can't help you there. We don't have one open or I would look on the bottom. They are made in China. Whomever you spoke with probably did what I did. We have had a few warmers that customers brought back as defective. The Candle Warmer company gave us a credit. We have been using them for a couple of years. No problems to speak of. hth

OK...here we go. We opened up our First "Candle" Shoppe in 2001 in a small town...in a strip center...BIG MISTAKE. You have to have population...and more than just a Storefront!! You have to have constant walk-by traffic. Candles are such an "impulse" item...you just HAVE to have traffic. We have since closed the small store and are now in a Mall. We have been here 2 years and are about to sign another lease. It does pretty well....Not millionaires by any means...but we do OK!! Of course ....Christmas ROCKS!! Retail is a tough business...there are about 6 stores in the Mall that carry some of the name brands....C----E....Y----ee and others...so it's very competitive. We keep our prices low...and do sell lots and lots...mostly to repeat customers...That is what you want!! We still love what we do...we work lots and lots of hours....we do have one girl that works for us on Sundays only...the rest of the time...DH and I run it together...and whoever is not here at the store...of course is Pouring their hearts out!! I wish you luck should you decide to take the plunge....It's a tough business...but I must say very, very rewarding.

Don't sweat it. Reuse the jars - even for resale. Our glass mfg says that stress cracks occur over long periods of time. Long periods. We had a similar question long ago. They said don't give it a second thought.

Just to throw in our 2 cents worth --- IGI is not a favourite wax mfg of ours. When we first started using them about seven years ago, their minimums were small (as I recall one pallet but no yearly miniimums). Their sales reps were eager to get new business. The price/lb for the wax we used was 59cents (it's .82 now). Then after a couple of years the minimum went to two pallets along with price increases. Last year they notified us that there was now a yearly minimum of 24,000 lbs just to be able to order direct. Plus, we were emailed five or six price increases over the year. We were not quite to the 24K min, but were still dropped. They sent us a "wonderful" letter about the advantages of us buying from local distributors. Right! Higher prices, plus, the distributor they hooked us up with did not carry our waxes. IGI has grown and are not really interested in the little guys. Sorry, had to vent.

Actually, letters and adverts CAN be put in your mailbox, BUT only with the proper postage affixed. It is illegal to put anything in or on your mailbox without proper postage (that's the illegality). Carriers are told to pull a sample and estimate the coverage (number of boxes). The local Postmaster sends the offender a bill for the postage. If it is not paid, the Postmaster is supposed to notify the Postal Inspection Service of the fraud. Many carriers don't bother and simply pull out the non-paid items and drop them in the street.

These look GREAT....Love the colors...Where do you get your Baby-Powder ? I have tried several different ones...but the scent itself seems to change the white or Pink to a weird color...I need one that stays TRUE!! Joyce

The problem has nothing with the scent load. The problem is with one of the ingredients in the FO - vanalin (I think I spelled that right). Vanalin is an ingredient in all vanillas and in lots of other FO's. The vanalin has to be incorporated into the FO when hot or it does not blend and bind. The mfg can be at fault, and we can be at fault when it sits in the bottle for long periods under different temps.When we use the FO, it separates from the FO and does not bind with the wax and seeps to the bottom, sides and top of the candles. Heating the FO before adding to the wax will help/eliminate the problem, but you lose scent. We pour it off (trash). It does not burn and will drown wicks. For us it is not worth messing with. We just make a note of the scents that have the problem and adjust. HTH

no can do.

I definitely agree with Scented. We've been doing this for over ten years. Full time for the past five. We now make a living from our craft, but we both put in lots of hours. More than when we worked for the "man". From my opinion it takes big, big bucks invested to make serious profits. To compete you have to buy in bulk, which means large areas for storage of raw materials. Then you need upgrades in equipment for processing and storage of finished goods. Next you have to have consistent sales. "Nickle and dime" sales take up lots of time. Time is a commodity you fast run out of. Now, to make candles and sell whereever as a hobby is no problem. But, again looking back at all of our mistakes, when you really want to make enough to make a living, you must treat it like a business and make business decisions. No love of the craft, pie-in-the-sky ideals, no cutting corners. It is lots of hard work with no guarantees. We know many people who invested 20-25k to startup and lost it all after a year. Would we do it all over again? YOU BETCHA. IT'S A TRIP!!!

Ok...we are looking for a vintage looking lable on a "paint type" small candle Tin?? Any ideas?? We are wanting to get into making the "travel" type tin candles...and also some of the Small Paint can looking tin!! Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.:highfive: Joyce:D

We don't care for Google either. We have a store. We get many, many calls a day for a hotel here in town. A google search will give OUR telephone number instead of the hotel's. We have done everything under the sun for the past year to stop it. Once we finally got in touch with Google, and the problem was stopped for about two months. The hotel says they have tried everything they can but can't get their number to pull up. For a while we would give the hotel's correct number to callers, but after we started getting repeat calls (the callers admitted they did not write the number down and decided to call us, since we knew the real number) we tell the callers they have the wrong number and hang up. The hotel is fine with this. They are as frustrated as we are.

We order direct from Anchor and Libbey. Anchor has a 25 case min for an order. This is their initial wholesale price. At 200 cases of the same item you get a 5% discount (I think that is the %). At the 300 cases level (you can mix items) there is the same 15% discount. Libbey is worse. Again, I don't remember sitting in front of the screen, but I believe there is a $2500 min per order, plus $20,000/yr. The prices are good. The main advantage for us is the availability of the glassware in large amounts. The shipping works out better when the loads are palletized. But, again, for us always having a constant supply of glassware is a big plus.

If you are using the accrual acctg method, you can add the shipping costs to the cost of the items. When you inventory, the cost of the items on hand includes their portion of shipping costs. Or, if you don't add shipping costs to the items, the shipping goes under its own line called "shipping" or "freight" or something like that. Then on the Schedule C it comes off as a business expense.

We buy supplies in bulk. Our votive cost is .20. We sell them for $1 each or 6 for $5.

Might be able to add something here. One of our daughters is a tax accountant for a major acctg firm...If you complete a schedule C (I think that is the form) for business profit and loss, you must do a yearly inventory. It should be as accurate as possible. Any estimations you do should be consistent year to year. The IRS looks for consistentcy and reasonableness and written records. The inventory is necessary to compute Cost of Goods. The beginning year's inventory plus all of the stuff you bought to make the stuff you sold less the closing year's inventory is your cost of goods which is deducted from your sales (along with a lot of other expenses). So, unless you are not reporting anything (sales or costs or sales taxes or anything else) from your business, you must do an inventory. HTH

addendum: The week before Christmas a man came in and started asking questions while we were waiting on customers. The line had four customers in it, and he just came up to the counter and started asking. He has come in ofter because he is a distributor for gift things. We bougjht once from him to help him out, but the mdse was overpriced and of poor quality, so we had been telling him not interested. This time he says he wants to start a business here in the states and transfer it to Brazil where he wants to go as a missionary. He said it would be so good for the poor Brazilian children if we would just help him get started and maybe help him with supplies and things. My wife tried to be polite in front of the customers. My testosterone was up, so I couldn't spell nice. I said, "Kelly, the answer is NO". He asked why, and I told him loudly in front of the customers, "Because it is our business. Period." He was very embarassed and offended and left in a huff. To top it off, he brought his daughter with him. Guess he thought that would help. I am beginning to like the simple word "NO".

We have had this problem for years. After trying to be nice and polite, we now say "NO". If they persist, we say "Look. It's our business and our livelihood. The answer is always going to be no". I have noticed that there are two kinds of people in our business. The ants and the grasshoppers. We give the grasshoppers nothing but a courteous no. They are simply looking for a way to make money without actually working. They want to quit their boring jobs, make tons of money with little effort, and stay home with the kids. That type never lasts very long as a chandler. The people we say no to are always offended, but what the heck. How do we not offend them unless we give them the supplies and make their candles for them. Not offending people is over-rated anyway.