sugarysweet95

I've had similar problems really, have often asked people on the board for good US suppliers that ship to the UK, but with little response. I've found that a lot of web sites not always say that they ship to the UK, but they often do. Having said that, i emailed a good few US suppliers the other week (including Peaks) and still not heard anything! I've found that USPS is the best one to go for and you can often not get charged import duty! Candle science ship to the UK, but only via UPS and their mimimum order was $100. Found the money i saved buying stateside went on shipping and import duty!!! They may have changed their policy a bit ago, not checked for a while. They're good at emailing you back. Candle wic is great, they ship via a number of options (including USPS) at pretty good rates and are generally very quick to respond to emails. Not tried any of their FOs, but they have a great choice of wicks and moulds, especially polycarbonate ones which are my favourite.Tried Pourette too (just once so far), which is great for the dye chips and 2 piece moulds, also ship via USPS and had a good shipping rate. Recently ordered some FOs from Day star supplies, Snowtop and Natures garden. All responded very quickly to the emails and shipped via USPS at a good rate. Can't wait til i get the items, want to try out their FOs as i've heard lots of great things from them.Anyway thats about the full extent of my experience with buying in the US. Hope that helps!

Yeah, i think it can be profitable, I've been making candles about 3/4 year now and have sold a few this christmas to friends, but not made anywhere near a profit yet! Though i think that's more my own fault! I spent loads of money buying erverything i could when i first began, so now have loads of bits and bobs! I also tried making loads of different types of candles at once, so took much longer to get them working great, and some aren't still anyway! So i think if you want to make lots of money, it's prob not the right venture, if you enjoy candles and just want to make a lil money on the side, i think it's very good. What I'd recommend first though i stick to one type of candle and a few scents. Decide in advance what you want and just get the absolute minimum! Then you can focus all your attention and testing on just afew candles and be ready to sell much sooner than if you take on too much at once!

I've never used them, but i don't see why they wouldn't be ok. As long as you tested the candle first. The glass may be thinner, but as long as the wick is right it should be fine. (and you have to test whatever type of glass you use anyway!) So i'd say go for it, try a few!!

Sensory perfection is awesome and she's such a friendly lady. Her web address is http://www.sensoryperfection.co.uk/store/Default.aspIf you go to ebay shops and select crafts/candle and soap making you'll find her shop. I find if you want to buy a few, it's actually cheaper to buy them from her ebay shop than website.Soap sudz is another good FO supplier on ebay (on the shop list too). They're a little more expensive, but quite strong. The scents i've tried from 4 candles have been good, i like their solid scents! Wasn't too impressed with candlelicious and not tried candlemakers FOs, tho i find them a great site otherwise. Candlelights is quite a new one. Their address is http://www.candelights.co.uk/ Their customer service is excellent and they have lots of good bits and bobs. Only tried a few of their scents, all of which have been good. At the mo their FO list isn't that extensive, but they plan on extending it a lot in the next few weeks.As for good US FO sites? I'm still working that one out for myself!!!!HTH

What UK suppliers have you tried. I know some great ones, with quite an extensive range. I've recently been looking into getting FOs from US though, as I want to sample even more FOs and because buying larger quantities does work out cheaper, even with shipping. Not tried many so far, but am slowly working my way through them! Not seen the specific FO ur after tho.

Well natures garden has emailed me back and their postage rates are great, so def gonna try their lily of the valley and their lavender! Only problem is that their list of fragrances is very big and lots sound sooo good! Anyway any recommendations? I don't really like food scents, mainly go for floral, fruity and spicy!!!!

Hi, thanks for the tips. I've sent the places emails to see about shipping to the UK! Hopefully it won't be too expensive!!!!

Hi everyoneAt last the web site is back! I just couldn't post anything on the temp board cause for some reason it didn't recognise me!!Anyway i was wandering if any of you can recommend a great lily of the valley and lavender scent? I've ordered both from snowtop already, but was wandering if anyone knows any othe great suppliers for these scents? I want to get a few in to compare!Anyway thanks in advance

The reddi-glo pigment dye chips are quite bright in paraffin candles, kinda flourscent. They have them at peaks and pourette and i got some cheaply from an ebay seller. The floursecent dyes from candlechem are brighter but i had some trouble mixing the dye in properly, but they are more flourescent and their magenta colour is cool.

I've set up a nice excel spreadsheet for my candles. I make pillars so use the same sort of wax for each candle. I worked out how much it cost for each ingredient per 100g and then how much wax i used for each mould! So i simplye put the figure in for the cost per 100g of each ingredient (i find i generally use the same amount for each type of candle / fo) and then, for each type of mould, times these costs by the amount of wax each mould uses. As its all on excel, i can easily change the costs and see how this affects the price! I reckon it could work the same for the different sorts of candles too.

Thanks for the info. I'm more just testing how good a scent is / if i like it at the mo, so short cuts for that are fine! Obviously i'll test them more when i come to make some for selling!!!Thanks

Well to be honest i've only tried a few FOs and just tested the candle generally, not specifically for FO!!! Just wandering how ppl particularly test FOs and the quickest way to do it!!!Lol!!!!!! I was also wandering if people make one sort of candle for testing FO in general, was just thinking votives may be easy to test FO for, but was wandering what other peopl do!!!

Thanks for the tip. Was wandering how you then go about testing them? Do you burn one candle at a time? Lots at once? And how long you leave them for and how do you measure FO?Thanks

Hi EveryoneI'm thinking of extending my line of FOs, only there's sooo many cool ones out there, i'm just wandering if there's a good way of testing for FOs. I'm not thinking in terms of actual selling standard, but just whether or not you like the scent / what the throw's like / how much to use etc. Anyway i was thinkin i could make small votives to test the FOs, but was wandering if anyone has any other ways they test for new FOs. Also how long on average should i leave the candle before lighting? I make straight paraffin pillars btw. Thanks

Thanks for all the help, got quite a lot to go on! Not so good on my acronyms though, so was wandering if you could tell me what TCN, LS and DS stand for? Oh, is DS Day Star? Thanks

Thanks, i'll check those out, what does the TXCS stand for? I take it NG is natures garden.Thanks

Hi I noticed a few days ago there was a thread asking for everyones favourite FOs and suppliers, but i wasn't quite sure what the FO was for. I thought it best to start a new thread rather than my new qs be a bit lost in an old thread.Anyway I generally make only paraffin candles (mainly pillars and votives) and was wandering what people's favourite suppliers are for paraffin candle FOs?Thanks in advance

Well, I'm London at the moment, but not for long as just visiting! Thanks anyway. Erm, as for the fragrances from natty cat, not sure which ones i want lol! Maybe you could give me some ideas of what you have? I'm just wanting to try some new FOs and see what they're like, as you can never have too many FOs!!! I don't generally like the bakery / food FOs though, so won't want any of those! Could you PM me a list or summit, with the costs? Thanks

HiI live in the UK and am wandering if anyone in the UK can recommend some web sites that sell good FOs and have decent shipping to the UK? I've tried Candle Science, but they have a minimum order value of $100! I've ordered stuff from candlewic and pourette, but not their FOs, so are they good?Thanks

Does anyone in the UK know of some good US sites that import quite cheaply to the UK? I've searched the board and found a few websites which are good, tried candlewic and candlescience, peak never give me a quote. I'm really after sites that have good value FOs and votive / tea light wicks?Thanks in advance oh and i've also tried pourette and candlechem too, but was wandering if theres any more good ones?

Thanks everyone. I tried stearine and the dye dissolved much better, but not all, so i'll try melting them before as well. Fingers crossed, lol!

I love doing chunk candles, they're so cool and very easy to make. I just just whatever i can be bothered getting at the time to pour the wax for chunks in. Only several things u need to watch, mainly that the wax won't melt/ stick to whatever they go on, hence the foil (or i use greaseproof paper, but ice sube trays/ tart moulds etc would be fine too, as long as can take the heat) and also that if you're cutting the chunks, that you don't use a best tray that may get scratched!!! (I often tip the slad of wax partialy set onto a chopping board or summit, then you don't scratch!!!)The best thing i found for chunks was a real cheap non stick metal tray. I just can pour my wax right on (if i'm too lazy to find some greaseproof paper) and then cut them on the tray (as i don't care about em getting scratched) and the chunks come off fine when its set. As the melted wax goes round them the surface of the chunks doesn't really matter. You can also do chunks one scent and add to the mould/container and pour over in a different scent / colour. Hope that helps

Thanks, thats prob it, I wasn't too accurate with measuring it out as was just playing with it really, so that was prob it.Would that make the wax burn better or worse?

Hi, thanks, i'll try that. Will using stearine help with candle dye chips that don't always dissolve too?Thanks

Sorry, meant to say degrees centrigrade. Some of the dyes are pigment, and their much much worse (though sometimes they all melt in wonderfully and other times not, even with the pigment dyes) and some of the dyes are just ordinary colours!They're v noticable little flakes in the wax which can ruin a nice pillar candle!