sugarysweet95

Hmmmm Just come across this post and i have to say - people really need to calm down and see things from both points of view. Some people are just lucky and get the right combination of wick / scent / additives their first time! Sometimes you're unlucky and don't find out the right combination for ages!! Juts one of those things and to be honest, none of us knows what's going on in people's lives. I'd been making candles for months before i found this board and ok, i had lots of questions, but i'd also managed to perfect a few candles by then anyway. I love this board and have learnt so much and some people on here are absolutely brilliant. However some people tend to express their opinion in rather a harsh way which causes all these arguments on here. I know some people think that people should be grown up to take what you're given, but i doubt many people like being outworldy criticised and so, does it really hurt to spend a few minutes phrasing things in an informative, nice and helpful way? And i know this is all MY opinion, but well, my friend has a great phrase (not sure where it's from) but: It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!!!!

One thing i will add with buyin from the US - watch out for customs charges. If the value is over £18 then you may have to pay shipping charges. If it goes thru a special company, like UPS, you'll always pay if it's over. If it's with USPS you may or may not pay - so be careful, it can be quite expensive as you have to pay handling fees too (i've been unlucky a few times)

Hmmm, my recent adventures on paypal have left me thinking that prob not worth all the effort!!!!! They've become too much of a monoploy and milk it for all they can. Anyway not sure on the reasons you've not got a credit card, but I only recently got one (and i'm a v v poor ex-student with a nice large student loan). But I've found it such a useful item. The cost of converting currencies on my card is much lower than paypal and i don't have to pay it off straight away!!! LOL!!!!!

Hi First time i've posted on the soap boards! I'm hoping to branch out into making soap (melt and pour soap) and was wandering if anyone in the UK could tell me what's needed to be able to sell them? I thought you needed very detailed info on the soap itself, but have seen a lot at craft shows / markets with no ingredient lists at all. Obviously i'll test my soap, but trying to get MDSD (or whatever it is) seems very expensive so i want to know all the facts first. So what do i legally need to sell soap in the UK? Thanks

His ebay.com shop is called http://stores.ebay.com/READY-SET-GLO/Store-home.html There's a website too, but can't remember what that is, i think it may have worked out cheaper, as i think it was free postage, but i'm not sure.

If you're lucky with the bidding, you can get a few bargains on ebay. but you do have to keep an eye out. I didn't use to have a credit card and i used a bankers money draft to send the money to the US. It's like a cheque, only drawn on a US bank so it can be cashed in the US. It cost me about £8 to get and took a week or so to come, and then i had to forward it onto the supplier, but i got a lot of stuff at once and still saved myself a lot when compared to me buying from the UK. (this was with candlewic). Now i've gotten a credit card so it's much easier to pay for things, and there's always paypal but they do have a rather steep conversion rate) As for fullmoons - some of their stuff is ok priced and they do have a good range, but i don't get a lot from them (their micro hard is the cheapest i've found and i use that all the time for chunks)

I always pre - wick my pillar moulds - i just find it so much easier than adding the wick later. You should really poke relief holes in all candles around the wick as sometimes large air pockets get trapped in the candle which makes the candle a bit dodgy to burn. Aluminium moulds aren't that cheap in the UK, but ebay is a good place to look, you can be lucky with the bidding sometimes. Also importing moulds from the US can actually work out cheaper.

I've not tried making glow in the dark gel candles, mean to though, but i've bought some glo powder and used it as an overdip in paraffin candles and to make embeds glow in the dark. It work really well and the glo powder works for ages. I got my from ebay seller in canada - they ship worldwide though and have a web page - tho can't remember that now. The sellers ebay shop is http://stores.ebay.co.uk/READY-SET-GLO It's the UK store, but i'm sure they have one in the US too. Hope that helps

Is TN candle supply the Tennesse candle supply? I've just checked the supplier abbreviations link, and it didn't hace TN, but i thought that tennesse might be the one you meant?

Couldn't you just add more wax to the melt down candles though (not a lot, just enough to get the percetntages right) ? That would mean that you can use the extra fragrance needed? Just a thought

Ebay in the UK has some on auction, but there not all that cheap. In the uk this web site has some too www.sensoryperfection.co.uk

Hey!!! I go on the board usually quite late when my brain isn't always working as well as it could be (not that it ever is anyway!!! LOL!!!) Bits and bobs covers all aspecs of candle making equipment, hence i did not elaborate!!!! LOL!!!!!

Not sure about the US ebay, but there's often silicone moulds / embed moulds on ebay here in the uk. They are still quite expensive though, as they usually have lots of bids. This site has some, but again there not that cheap www.sensoryperfection.co.uk Shes a great seller though!

The only red hot cinnamon i've tried is candle science, so can't compare to others. It smelt great to me, no burning smell, but a nice sweet cinnamony smell - reminded me of these sweets called fireballs we have in the UK!!!! (a few of those will make ur mouth explode!!!!!)

I've been looking into making my own moulds, and it's very expensive to use silicone. You don't get much for your money! I did find a site on it. http://www.hirstarts.com/moldmake/moldmaking.html#sources anyway it was giving tutorials and using the different types of silicone. You can get putty type silicone and liquid silicone (both of varying sorts). For the putty silicone you press the shape you want to make a mould out of into the silicone and let it set. The liquid silicone is poured over the mould and then it left to set. The silicone comes in two parts which you mix together and then use. There'sother things you can use which are cheaper than silicone. One is gelflex - i'm attempting to use that this weekend so i hope it works!!!!!!

What is the difference? I have no tin moulds to try it out in, so was wandering if it's worth buying tin moulds specially? Would you be able to post a pic - one with tin, one with aluminium? Thanks

You could use the red dyed wax to make some chunks. That's what i do sometimes when i overestimate how much wax i'll need. You can keep the chunks for ages, maybe until you get some more wax? I find that when the colour goes slightly wrong and i try to fix it, it goes even more wrong!!!!!

Maybe they don't understand what you mean by a votive holder. If you specify glass, tight fitting container then it might help people remember moe - you could always have a little note on the candle - like on the safety notes, about how to burn them in the correct container! I'm thinking of branching out into votives and could never afford to other a votive holder with them - i'm simply not large scale enough to afford them!!! It's quite worrying though, to think that people don't always obey simple instructions......

Just wandering how you pour with these mixing bowls? Do they have a spout? I find the larger saucepans never have spouts so it's very difficult to pour from!!! Pyrex jugs all have spouts so i can pour from the jug directly!

Yeah, it does take quite a while to melt, but i put the wax on to melt and then sort out all my moulds, fill em with chunks etc, maybe even have a cuppa tea and use it when it's ready!!! Don't need to stand over it and watch it melt like you do with metal pans, and it's soooo much easier to clean!!!!! (so i can nick my mum's jugs and not have to be scrubbing the wax off it for ages before she can use it again!!! lol!!!!!) Boiling water and lots of washing up liquid and a washing up brush work well for me, give it a good scrub, then i just use a tea towel to dry it. I always find the wax likes to stick a lot more to pans and unless it's just off the hob, it never just comes off with a paper towel.

And we in the UK still moan about our NHS - think we should start being grateful!!!!!!! Luckily we also don't seem to have the same number of sueing cases either - though it's going up sadly!

Hehe - i think you need to remember that pants means summit different in the uk - basically, it's not trousers, it's what you weat underneath trousers!!!! LOL!!!!!!

If you poured down the mould, but weren't filling the whole mould with wax it would leave left over wax on the side which is a pain to get rid of. It's especially annoying if you're doing different coloured layers!!!! If you're filling the whole mould with one pour, then yeah, i see no reason why it wouldn't work fine.

I have the opposite problem, my dye always looks lighter. With pillars it's easy to just top up to the wax limit, but with votives i find it much more difficult. I can never manage not to over flow the candle and so it's gives a messed up top. I've found that not quite filling up to the top of the votive mould in the first place, and the infilling to the very top of the mould works great. Except the dye, even though it's the same wax, just remelted whats left and poured a little hotter, is lighter so it creates a slight line

I make tea light and little pillars out of yoghurt pots with my old candle wax. I;ve never noticed that it didn't burn as well or anything, well unless it had too much dye in, but wicking up will help with that!!! I don't like throwing anything away!!!!