pinetreecandles

I wouldn't worry about paraffin bashers, most rely on half truths and the ignorance of the common consumer to sell their products. All you can do is just provide your customers the whole truth and let them decide for themselves. I'll stop with that..don't want to make this a soy v.s paraffin thread. To answer your question, it can be, but like others have said, it takes lots of time, money, and being in the right location can really help also.

Turns out I'm only about 120 miles from there...Think I might register and go. It sounds like fun

I used to do a blend at 50/50 of EcoSoya CB Advanced/IGI 4627. I had the same problem at 70/30 had to move it up to 50/50 to get it where I wanted with 10% FO. I finally moved back to all paraffin as I couldn't get the soy to work well enough for me even mixed with paraffin.

I use Low Smoke Zincs from Wholesale Supplies Plus http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/StoreCategory.aspx?CategoryID=663&CategoryName=Low+Smoke+Zinc I have never had a problem with them in J223. They don't mushroom as much and smoke much less than the standard zinc.

just have to remember what smells great at 12% with one fragrance may not with another. I have a couple scents I have to go down to 6% on vice 10% since they are so strong.

your looking at about .625 oz or roughly 17.72 grams or 3/5 oz. Those are as close as I can get. If you have a scale that does grams, that would be the closest. HTH

Having a site done using osC is tough and you have done a great job taking it from it's stock layout and changing it. I'm on my second remake of mine now and it never seems to be done. A few things I have noticed while looking at yours: If viewed in FF w/resolution of 1280 x 1024, the header and footer are pushed to the right so some of it gets lost in the right column. They look fine in IE7. In IE7, the wording and button are pushed out out the cart block to the right and cutoff. Working with CSS is a pain when trying to get everything to work right in FF and IE. Since 80% of your customers will most likely be using IE I would worry about that more than FF. I just mentioned FF since some customers may be using it. If you want to get people to actually click on your menu links, then lose the category counts. It will free up space inside the menu. Just my preference, but you may want to rename the Unscented Candles & Containers to maybe just Unscented candles. This way it won't wrap underneath and look out of whack. In your privacy statement you say "Cormar Company does not share any of your private, personal information with any third party companies. Please be assured that every effort is made to keep that information private between our company and you." To me, this means that if I create an account, my info being transmitted is secure...if your really serious about your customers information, then think about getting an SSL certificate for your site. I know I won't buy online from any place that doesn't have one. You really have done a fine job in your design and layout. Far better than I could ever do! Keep up the good work and good luck!

I get the same problems with some candle colors, but not all. The lighter colors will do it in direct sun and/or over a period of time. I don't think it's the dye. It might be the FO and wax combination, but I don't know for sure.

I use oscommerce and use the USPS Methods contribution. A fix for the new rates was put out for that one about 2 weeks ago so on Monday it was just a 5 minute install and it was done. It's nice when the authors of the contributions are on top of things or else it can be a big mess.

Very good advice! I have several of each type of jar I use that I refill for testing purposes, but I will NEVER refill a jar for a customer or anyone else for that matter. I do give a small discount if they return the jars. I keep them and use them for testing when the current testing jars need to retire.

I think it's gas prices and peoples salaries not keeping pace with the general cost of most things. I haven't noticed a big decline in attendance at shows, but the crowds are more discretionary in their spending. I also think that candles have seen the height of it's popularity with the general public. There has been large influx of candle makers over the past few years all trying to make it rich quick. Now you see a large decline in candle makers as they are finding out it's not. It reminds me of the earlier auction site days, when they were springing up left and right all thinking they would be the next ebay. I think there are only a few left and even Yahoo Auctions is throwing in the towel. Until gas prices go down and peoples salaries catch up with the cost of living, I don't see it getting any better, in fact it will most likely get worse before it gets better. Glad I'm not in it for the money or I would have given it up long ago.

I haven't seen a tabbed wick over 6". You may have to cut one yourself. 9" is pretty tall and only 2.5" in diameter. That would make it tough to trim the wick.

I did one this last weekend with 3 other candle makers there. One was Home Interior, one dipped only, and the other soy, but I had the only tarts. I made just over 100.00 after gas and booth fee. I think I may have sold 5 actual candles, the rest all tarts. I have noticed, people most buy small 8 oz and under. I think this time of year it will only get worse.

That is right on! I don't like those marketing tactics either. "Don't buy theirs because it's made with xxx, buy mine because it's ALL NATURAL. It may not burn or throw worth a $%^&, but it's ALL NATURAL!"

Candlescience Lavender Vanilla Violet Lime Peach AS Honeysuckle Strawberry

I did a show this past weekend and had a lady who owns a gift shop ask if I carried Tomato scented and Rose Pear scented candles. I said, I didn't and hadn't heard of either one. She said, she has customers come in all the time who ask for those scents. The person she buys from now is unreliable I guess so she is dropping them. She said she bought some of my candles from the Oktoberfest last year and liked them so If I would be willing to make those two scents she would go with me for her candles. Guess my question is, has anyone ever worked with those scents and if so, who was the supplier? Not sure I'm even going to get into a contract with this lady yet, but just doing some research first.

Candlescience Lavender Vanilla Violet Lime Peach Blueberry Cobbler Dreamsicle A & S Strawberry Honeysuckle Berry Peach Just did a show this past weekend and the Top 3 sellers were Honeysuckle, Lavender Vanilla, and Strawberry.

I weigh the container w/lid empty and then weigh the finished product w/lid and subtract the difference. I then put that weight on the label as Net. wt. which is the actual weight of the wax.

I think there are about 4 different wicks that cover the range that the Zinc wick covers. Your better off getting the size of the container or whatever your trying to wick and go to a site that sells the HTP wicks and go from there. You can start with this link. http://secure.candlesupply.com/catalog_page.cfm?queries_index=index7&ProductCodeID=36&ProductSubCodeID=108 Good luck.

I don't do any shows from June - August unless I can get something inside. I did one last September where the temp hit the low 80's and rotating them from the shade was the only way to keep them from sweating and getting really soft. Me, I would sit it out.

Peach from Candlescience is my favorite.

We did one last year, last minute as my Brother-in-law had two spaces, but his buddy backed out 2 days before and he knew we sold candles. We had just moved from Maine about a week prior so we didn't even have everything unpacked! I decided to do it anyway. This fair grouped also, but limited the number. My Bother-in-law sells collectibles so I was with the collectibles and the other candle makers were on the opposite end of the fair. We had an ideal spot too. Even without any type of setup we made 10x the space cost. Have the Spring version of that show this weekend and I'm in with the collectibles again..lol. Helps when his wifes parents are part of the organizers. Seems most shows I have seen around here group crafter's with similar products. Not sure how they all do though. Sorry for hijacking the thread and hope you do better next time.

Don't know what kind of setup you have as in shopping cart or anything, but most shopping cart software has an administrative section in it that you use to change prices, products, ect. If it's something that was custom made for you, then talk to the people who built it for you. Any decent company who builds websites for you will usually give you some training on how to do basic things and will give you all the access you need to do it.

Yep I get that too! I try to tell them in a nice way that you get what you pay for..Half the price will get you half the quality

Just wanted to say that tracing someones IP address isn't very accurate. If you were to trace mine, it would say I live in Texas and if you were to check mine through the IP mapping to see a visual location, it would say North Carolina, both of which are wrong. I check my server logs also to see where IP's are from, just to get an idea, but don't use that info for any business decisions since I know only a small percentage is actually correct.