Liz

Not in my experience. I have tried Pure Soys and Soy/Natural wax blends from at least 7 differents suppliers and maybe 10 different waxes. Soy has it's limitations/quirks and I think you have to either accept them or go to another wax. The only "soy"s that I have never had "soy" issues with are those "parasoy" blends that are out there. Gluck though!

Where were you when she saw you talking to this "dirty man"? If you weren't right in front of the "dirty store" I think I'd ask miss goody goody how the heck she knows sooo much about this guy? :rolleyes2;)

Soap and everything is considered a cosmetic in Florida, and yes I think everyone in Florida at these craft shows is "flying under the radar". I was going to get into B&B myself, until I saw all the fees and "hoops" that you had to jump thru just to start. I actually called the state and talked to them about it. Even if you use a base and just add color/FO, you are considered a manufacturer. It's $600 a year just for the manufacturer's permit, then there is a fee to register every product that you sell, which was like $20 per product. So if you had just 10 different products, there is another $200. I stopped asking questions there :laugh2:and decided that B&B in Florida was not an option for me right now as I didn't want to shell out a few thousand bucks (insurance, inspections, etc) to find out if my B&B would be a viable product offering. For those that fly under the radar, i guess good luck, but i'm sure the penalties are worse than any profit you make, and god forbid you have a lawsuit filed against you - even if you didn't do anything wrong, you probably will be held liable as a legal matter just for not registering, not to mention your insurance probably wouldn't cover you due to this and/or they'd drop you quicker than you can say doh!

I think the best way to determine your price is your cost and then factor in what your local market will bear. There are some communities where you might be able to charge more due to demand, or the relative "wealth" of your customer base. Packaging also makes a difference.

Good Morning, I came across Mill Creek and saw their clamshells and a few other things that I was interested in. I've never heard of them, good or bad. I was wondering if anyone could pm or post and let me know whether or not they are a company worth dealing with or not (basically are they a quality company or am I going to receive broken clamshells and junky supplies, bad service, etc)? Thank you Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays

Hi there and welcome to the boards Your question has been asked before (you may wanna do a search for previous input). The answer in my opinion is, it really matters on soooo many variables that there is no straight answer. Right now you are saying to yourself "gee thanks for the amazing insight" Well maybe the following will be of more help hehe How long are you willing to wait to make $$$$? How much money do you have to clear to be "happy"? How much effort are willing to put into it? And once again, How much money are you willing to put into it? Do you have the full support of family and friends? You have to learn the right product mix for your local area. Are candles big in your area? What kind candles are big (pillars, votives, container, tarts, tapers, etc etc etc)? What kind of waxes? What kind of scents? Believe it or not some scents may sell great 30 miles from you, but you cant give it away to the people that come to your store. Some that you absolutely love - your customers may hate. What kind of containers does your customer base like? Are you a good seller? If you aren't you better find one. Are you a good book keeper, if not you'll have to hire one to do your taxes? What are your local business, licensing and zoning requirements? Want to feel safe, do you have business and product liability insurance? Better get some. Do you have a graphic desginer or webmaster type friend or are you one? Cuz you will need that help too. Do you have any contacts where you can get started? Where are you gonna sell your stuff? How many local competitors do you have? Lest I forget, are you willing and able to spend endless hours & $$$ testing each and every wax/scent/product configuration that you are gonna sell? Well you need to do that before you even think about selling. Why? Well first you want to know that your product is safe and secondly you want to ensure you have a high quality product. If you dont have that you wont be in business long enough to make a dime and you could end up hurting someone, and noone wants that. Can you go 2-3 years minimum before seeing anything resembling a decent "profit"? That's most likely the LEAST amount of time it will take. Can you take criticism? You are going to get people that just love their Yankee or other candles when they come up to you. Gonna sell at a flea market venue? Be prepared for people that'll try to bargain with you and say can I get that for this amount? ANd you'll stand there saying "i cant even make it for that" and have to politely say, "sorry". Are you prepared to hear 10 "No's and I'll be back's" for every "wow those are great i'll buy it"? Are you prepared to sink several thousands of dollars into your business right off the bat? Can you afford to not see it come back to you for months/years? If everything goes wrong - are you able to accept that? Will it ruin your financial situation? Is your spouse understanding? Is $ an issue between you? G'luck if they aren't and it is Are you prepared to turn your kitchen and/or house into a candle factory? If you are so lucky to hit it off right off the bat, are you able to meet that challenge? Do you have plans for the best and worst scenarios? Any business is tough to start in my opinion. Each one has there own unique "pitfalls" if you will. Many of the questions above apply to just about any business. What I can tell you is candle making isn't some "get rich quick" deal. And if it is just you, it does require someone that has a great many skills and abilities, cuz if you don't do it no one else will, unless of course you hire them too I think that those are just "some" of the questions that you have to ask yourself before you can even take it to the next step. I am not trying to be mean here by the way, I am just giving you some idea as to what it takes to even get by as a small time candle maker and start a candle making business (or any business for that matter). If after doing some soul-searching and research you think it is for you, G'luck and Go For It! :highfive: One other note, you said "i realise i haven't expressed my love for candles here but it's purely a business question" . If you don't at least like making candles, let alone love it, you will be one miserable person even if you do make big $$$$, after your seemingly countless time staying up all night making and packaging that one order that just had to be made. Any business endeavor requires your full being, love and support to be successful. If you dont have that, you will not put into it what you want to get out of it most likely Anyways, welcome aboard and have a good one! And just to add one more thing - Being in business for yourself is a very tough thing in general. It is not for everyone and it is not for the weak. You have to have the utmost faith in yuorself and your product. It is sooo much easier to just work for someone else and get that guaranteed paycheck. I respect anyone that can make a business from the ground up in any industry. It is very hard work and takes great inner strength to do in most cases. It is a matter of will as much as it is a matter of skill and anyone that can build a million dollar company deserves every penny they get!

That does sound like a bummer, but I do think that is what anyone should expect to happen in this type situation and therefore you should take proper precautions before ever letting your ideas out like that. I doubt it is reasonable to assume any FO company is just goin to go thru all the work to formulate a new scent and go thru all the trouble that this would entail, just to make a few pounds of the FO and just sell it to one person. They did offer you the exclusive right if you bought just 50 pounds - I would personally have guessed it would take a much larger commitment - 100's of pounds if not more - to get an exclusive scent for just "me". Add to that the fact that the smell you want was one "found in nature" and not really something entirely made up by people and you have even less grounds. That being said, it is a good lesson to everyone here, that you must always cover your hiney :undecided

Hi, Other than reading these forums, are there any other web sites with concise, general info which give a new B&B person a good & solid foundation on how to make the various products? Packaging? Safety issues? Labelling info? How to's? B&B recipes, etc that you all would suggest:confused: thx Liz

First thing that popped into my head before the sun has come out here Is what steps should a new B&B person take to avoid "contamination & sterilization" issues when producing B&B products as I am sure this has to be a major issue in these products? 1) do we have to wear those sterile doctor gloves when we mix bases and stuff? 2) how about those little blue air filters to prevent our germs from getting on the stuff? 3) do we have to clean out our containers where our products end up going in? For instance, when we order B&B containers (jars, bottles etc) to put our product in, what do we have to do to ensure that they are not contaminated by whatever gazillion little "buggies" that could be in there:confused: Do we have to wash out every container with hot soap and water? Or is there some other process that we have to use if any to ensure that we aren't putting our good products into a bad situation. What can we do during the production process to ensure no contamination during the process, if anything. Basically that kind of preventive stuff Thanks Liz

I just wanted to drop in and say hello to everyone here in the B & B section. My name is Liz and I have a small little candle business down in Florida for the last 4 years. I've been a long time forum lurker here at candle tech, for a couple years I guess now Anyways, I've always been impressed with what alot of you gals here create and I figured i'd like to throw my hat into the arenato and start learning how to make this great B&B stuff I've already been ordering some supplies to test and learn with and I'll be reading up on all the info we have in these awesome new forums that we have Anyways, I just wanted to say hi and warn everyone that after reading all the past topics, that I'll probably be creating a whole lot more with questions Take care Liz

I went to an interesting website about soy, it's called soytrends.com. Unfortuantely you have to register to view the stuff, but even they said the following regarding "blends" and they are a "soy" site. Question: What percentage of a candle must contain soy wax to make the claim that it is a soy candle? Answer: There is no set amount needed to make that claim. Some manufacturers are placing candles on the market with as little as 10% soy wax and still claiming a soy candle. We recommend that you use at least 51% soy wax in your formulation to ethically make a claim. So it would appear that there is no "industry/legal" definition of a candle blend. I think it is mainly up to the ethics of the manufacturer.