BruceCarvesWax

Makes a great incense too. Never had a chance to test it in a candle, im behind by about 300 scents on testing. Bruce

I have been trying to make candles that look like brains for years, just didnt have anything to compare them too..... Bruce

I have heard this a thousand times, and very few of those people, maybe 4 or 5, have the skills and direction to survive the first year or two and to turn it into a full time job that will support a family on its own. It takes years of hard work, testing and never ending commitment to making better products... oh and lots of money too. I spent 2k in 30 minutes last week ordering fragrance oils and other supplies, no wax or jars even. I order jars this week, its gona cost me over 3k for that. Good news is that if you can survive long enough, you can make very good money at it. Do the leg work yourself, everyone has an opinion (and you know what opinions or like) test and use your own not someone elses or you will just have products like everyone else. Try to stand out from the pack and make quality safe products you can be proud of. More than half the questions I see here have no real answers, what wax do i use, where to buy the best scents, ect, everyone thinks theirs is the best and everyone has an opinion on where to buy from, what to use and what not to use. You have to test and find out on your own what "you" think is the best. I have no clue how much money I have wasted on buying oils that other people thought were fantastic, and after testing them found out they were not strong enough for me. Keep a "real" job for a year or two or you will have no chance to develop the kinds of candles you need to make a living at it. Bruce

You know, one of the best reasons for you to weigh your ingredients is that it's the only way for you to figure your true cost of making a candle. Wax, FO, etc are sold to us by weight not volume. I bet Yank-me knows to the penny what each candle costs them to make. If you just want to make candles, measuring volume may be fine, but if your in business you should always weigh. Bruce

I just ordered some samples from them yesterday AM and a few pounds of the Black Raspberry Vanilla with the samples. I just hope the order comes in quicker than the first order. It took 17 days to get my order the first time. (This is my 2nd order) I LOOOOOVE the smell of the be-delicious perfume and had to put a sample of that on my list along with a few other interesting ones. They have lots of cool bottles and other packaging that I have ordered. Bruce

Thats cool. I never used dye chips, but I make some of my mushrooms with powdered dye and use a blow torch to make the colors run all over. Bruce

Great stuff!! Bruce

Nice!! Bruce

You can also get the white ones and some of the Scott products are thicker and absorb more liquid (wax) faster and better. I have one of the dispensers that you find in the restrooms for paper towels and only use the white one. I have about 10 rolls of the brown ones just sitting around in the basement. I guess I better put some by the sink in the basement to dry my hands with. Bruce

#1 Each wax has it own oil limit. You should check with the manufacture to see if it can hold 3% or 12% and DONT go over that amount. If a fire is caused from excess oil in your candle, you will be taken to the cleaners. #2 Fragrance oils are not measured be a liquid volume (shot glass). They are measured by weight. Get a postal scale (digital if you can). Some oils are heavy and some are light in weight, thats the reason you use a scale. I guess if you only had a few scents you can take a shot glass and weigh out the % put it in the shot glass and mark the glass, but that seems like double the work to me. After all this, its just a matter of if the scent is strong enough for you at the % you are using. In general start with 1 ounce per pound and go from there. Bruce

Just remember that tealight wax is more of a container wax and when you stack them up, you are creating a pillar candle. The wax should just blob up as it burns and run all over the place. I would warm the tealights on a hot plate to heat up and level the bottoms/tops and stick them together that way. Bruce

I managed a store for many years (19) and yes sales reps are there to make money, but the retailer is the one that makes the most money from selling your products. I WANTED to talk to reps that had good products that could make ME money. I really have no clue what Michael is talking about in the first part of his post, any store owner/manager that is not willing to take a phone call to set up a meeting is not interested in making money. No one should be so high and mighty that they cant be bothered by a phone call or to talk to a rep in person. Its not like the marketers that call us at home at night and want us to switch long distance or get another credit card. Another thing, if I ran a store I WOULD want to know how my employees react with customers and vendors. That is one of the biggest problems in retail, no one wants to say, "hey, your not doing what you are getting paid to do". You don't have to get into it right now with her, but if you get products into the store, later down the road you could mention the problems you had and how you almost didn't set up the meeting with her. GOOD MANAGERS / OWNERS want to know! Wait till she has been back for a week or so, call her OR just show up and give her the basket and ask if you can set up a meeting to discuss your products and your ideas on making her lots of money. You have to remember that sales reps are few and far between now days. The manager before me hated to talk to reps because of how many there were. Now days most buys are done at corporate offices and orders taken on the net or surveys sent to you by vendors, you don't see peeps anymore. Maybe its not the same in the big citys, but in small town usa, this is how it is today. Bruce

You just want to make sure they are for wax, and not for warming oils. I think most of them just get too darn hot when you use them for wax. I take a thermo and test to see how hot the wax gets before I sell any melters. I have about 20 that I am stuck with because they get the wax too hot for me. If it gets too hot the tart will lose its scent too fast and the wax could even start to smoke from the heat or worse, catch fire. Bruce

Damn peppercorn! Bruce

Dang, if I could just get you two guys together and do a Vulcan "mind meld" on you all, I could be the wax master for sure! Continue please.... I always have liked a good tennis match. Bruce

I really like those! Bruce

I have tried to wick that peppercorn and never could get it right. If I cant get it after a few tries, I set it back and play with it later. Well, its been over 2 years.. so I guess I dont want peppercorn in my line up. It does smell like Black Canyon... alot. With that scent from Lori and the black color, it would be a wicking nightmare for me. Bruce

I started out with a ezup look alike and look alike is right. They are not made very good and it didnt last 3 months (one day a week is all we used it) before we were looking for a "real" one. Bruce

I put the a/b combination in my jars, and know alot of candle makers that did the same and decided to quit adding uv. They said if they are not in the sun, you dont need it and its a waste of money. I still use it, 1 scoop per 10 pounds of wax. I dont see a big change when I dont use it, except on purples which fade quick in sunlight. I dont get much or any fade from house lights because of the jars I use. I think the UV just gives you a few more hours of safe zone with the candles. I can take 2 light purple candles and set them in the sun, one without and one with uv. The without one, would fade to gray in maybe a hour, but its not that the other will not fade, it will fade, it just might take several more hours of direct sun to fade them. Bruce

I really like them.Bruce

Oh, Hey! You might also find something that will work in the home improvement stores back where the paneling is. I think I remember something that you can buy in long strips and cut to size. Its that stuff that you use to put in the edge of the paneling or to join 2 pieces together. You can probably get a 6 foot piece for a few bucks. They have tons of that type stuff and I bet you could find something that would work in that section. Bruce

http://www.pourette.com/product.asp?Product_id=27556 HTH, Bruce They also have the clamps and stands for plastic molds.

Ummm, because fully naked people might offend someone silly! Bruce

Great candles! Fantastic photography! Bruce

I like it! Bruce