BruceCarvesWax

Make sure you click on that last picture, its a hum dinger... would love to have that picture printed out and hanging in my candle room. Bruce

Well the flat twisted taper burned better then the round spiral candle which I didnt figure on. I thought the round one would burn better then the others. The tear drop candle burned fantastic too, but when it got to the bottom the whole deal split into 2 pieces since I had the wick going all the way to the bottom. Easy fix for the next one if I get another one made. I LOVE the look of the tear drop when it was burned about half way down. The round spiral one started out fine even with the melt pool hanging at a 45 degree angle. It went to crap when it got closer to the bottom as the candle became thicker. Bruce

You have a long time to think about how you want to package your product since it will take many months of testing to get a finished product perfected to the point of going to retail. I think your going about things backwards, product always comes first then package. Read posts here and look at pictures, the answer to any question you have is right here on this board. Just remember that you will get 100 different answers to the same question here, its all about testing and what works for you, not what WE use. Bruce

Im gona shave the hair off my wrists BEFORE I do it the next time! Bruce

That looks cool, sorta like the pillsbury dough boys hand! LOL I made one like that but as usual I went about it the other way. I dip my hand in wax then water about a dozen times and took the wax (mold) off my hand set it in water so I could pour hot wax into it as a mold. When cool I took the outside layers of dipped wax off so I had the wax shaped like my hand left. Next time I will use higher mp for the outside layers, it was hard to seperate the poured from the dipped on wax. Bruce

They must use a tealight wick for that kind of burn. I burned mine tonight and it had a much larger flame than this one.. and not drips! Bruce

My main wholesale account started to carry these ... not these but ones like them last spring. His come from France and he deals with the guy from France that goes back and forth. I took some and tried to dip them in scented wax and if you leave them in the wax for more than 2 seconds the wood separated from the foam center. I dunked it counted to 5 to let it soak into the wood took it out and just had the foam on a stick. LOL My guy in St louis has a TRAILER load of these things and they have REALLY slowed down in sales since he started to carry them. I know several others that started selling them last summer. I just saw one of them last Sunday and they still had them on the table from their first order they received last year. Valentines day and mothers day should be the best time for sales anyway so I would say this was the best time to get them in. Bruce

Wouldnt it be cool to have the wicks end where you want and when the flames all burn out it has left a wax shape, like 2 fingers = a piece sign.... or one finger as in you know what? Bruce

I think thats the idea. Mine were hand made so Im sure these are not made the same. I was just playing around. Bruce

Already did, and they are way nice... just don't have my technique perfected yet. They was colorful but not wild, just different. They have a fantastic grain pattern to them. The green ones look just like leaves with the grain pattern. Bruce

Take a regular horse candle and pour a can of red bull drink on top of it. I saw that on tv so im pretty sure it would work. Bruce

You beat me to it Tee! I want HER suppliers name NOW! Bruce

I sure wouldnt expect to double your profits this year just by adding b&b products. A bath and body line takes time to build and perfect just like candles and candle sales. Some customers will buy b&b from you JUST because they like your candles, but I have found thats a MUCH smaller percent of people than I had hoped for. You have to just plug away with things and see how it goes. Double profits this year? The odds are stacked greatly against you but it depends on what your profits are to start with. If you had a profit last year of $2000.00 then adding another line to double it would be easier than if your profits were $100,000.00 last year. See my point? Bruce

That's how most people think at the hobby level but it does... or should change as you grow. You don't become as big as yankee and the others by giving out how you got there. Anyone that wants to learn candle making has tons of resources they can access with the click of a button. Much easier than I had it almost 30 years ago when I started. Ask any large successful company to give you their secrets on how they became that way and see what they say. Some of us just have too much invested in it to blab it all away to everyone that asks. Sorry but its not miracle on 34th street, I don't believe in Santa and its not a perfect world. Bruce

Not too bad. On another candle board many years ago, I won an ugliest candle contest. Bruce

Thats still alot of tarts! You have a great price on them IMO also. With all the very cheap retails talked about on CT, those people with low retail prices need to look at your price and how many you sell a year and take a hint. Bruce

Well, I got 8+ hours of sleep.... and I STILL like my idea best! :laugh2: She may not realize that she is even being rude by asking those questions. Just like everyone comes here and expects everyone else to give them ALL the answers. If shes brave enough to ask I would be brave enough to just plain out tell here the TRUTH. You worked and spent too much time to just give your findings away to everyone. Bruce

You will like this link to the old ct board about carving time: http://www.candletech.com/cgi-local/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=gallery;action=display;num=1097633594;start= Carving is the fast part the dipping takes much longer. Those in the link were carved in under 4 minutes each. Cant use scented wax the scent is oil and just like putting butter between the wax layers they dont stick together.... ask me how i know? Bruce

I hope they weren't just Popsicle sticks? Bruce

Thats like almost 3 pallets of palm unless you have one pallet stacked 15 feet tall . Bruce

Tell her Yankee has a toll free number she can call and get all the information she needs from them. Her---> OH they wont tell me anything because their a business and its a trade secret which i understand. You------> and I should tell you my hard earned secrets because why??? Or you could be nice and give her a free candle, of course the scent on the jar should read "eat sh*t and die". :laugh2: Sorry i'm tired and act up when i need sleep. Bruce

Is it physically possible to make that many tarts a year! LOL If 11,000 pounds were for tarts and your tarts are judging from your site 1.5 ounce that would be..... 117,333 tarts you made last year? Come on now you dont make over 2000 of them suckers every week of the year did you?

Interesting story. I was carving a candle and one of my kids had the drippings from this tiny tiny carved candle. They were too little to make a mushroom from so he put the points up in the air and made a base so it would sit up. I put it on the steps by where I was working and keep looking at it day after day and finally decided to make a larger one from a full size candle. They sell well but this was the first one i have made in a few years. Bruce

Ohhhhhhh yes. If you dont put a figurine in them or dale SR or JR car in them your out of luck. Wedding candles are about the only real sellers for regular carved candles. But then again there use to be lots of regular candle shops like wicks and stix in the malls years ago and they are gone too. Bruce