chiptooth

I haven't poured anything in this yet, but thought I'd share. I got this sample jar from specialty bottle. I used to use them as a supplier when I did other crafts and thought I'd check out what they had. They will only send you 1 free sample jar out of their specialty line. This is a 9 oz. oval hexagon. The front and back of the jar are sort of a flat square the sides have the traditional hexagon look. They are 76 cents a piece for a dozen if you buy more the price goes down. I'm anxious to try this jar out. I usually use the classic dodecagon, but this jar is cheaper and I'm hoping easier to wick with soy.

I just got a sample of Baby Hugs from Snowtop. It smells great oob, but I haven't poured it yet.

I just was browsing greenleaf since I saw so many posting about it. Which type of Greenleaf are you using and did you add anything?

word of caution on the tins. I purchased watchmaker tins from one of the co-ops and poured my sample fragrances in them about a year ago and took it out the other day do add some more and noticed some of the lighter fragrances have lost their smell. I'm not sure if maybe the plastic in the lid might suck the fragrance out. I have switched to making wickless candles in baby food jars (with a 1 yr. old, I have plenty). Just haven't figured out how to transport conveniently yet.

Thanks for the encouragement. It actually was just good to be there. The benefit was for a home for children with severe disabilities and illness, so knowing that just having one of the 27 tables there to draw people in..to sell more tickets was a great satisfaction. The tealites we gave out were just plain ol' store bought tealites that my SIL got for about a penny a piece from a store that was closing. We found out about having the table Thursday evening and no way had time to prepare 400 free items. I thought about putting a round label on the bottom with my business name, but my printer is out of ink and lo and behold...called yesterday to see why I haven't gotten it yet (dell) and apparently DHL lost it!

I bought a pillar mold and the reccommended wick from same company as wax and mold was purchased. The mold has the wick hole, but I also purchased a wick pin. The mold came with a mold plug. Since this is my first attempt, I'm thinking if I put the plug in the mold...the pin obviously won't sit flat. Do I need to seal the hole with something to use the wick pin and forget the plug or does the wick pin cover the hole enough that wax won't leak out and if I need to seal the hole, will the GE silicone II do the trick? Next question. Been making votives for awhile, using same wick (reccommended by supplier of wax and wick)for each fragrance and testing seemed to be doing okay, now seem to have a little bit of hang up and almost a wick drowning. I am using a small cotton (44-32-18). I think I saw on the boards that the best wick for 100% soy is a RD something..can't remember the # and got sort of lost searching the posts. Any hints of what to try next would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all, I posted on saturday about the country club invite. What a bust! The whole set up was very nice. They had white table cloths on every table and then skirted front and back (nobody was seeing any of your ugly packing boxes!) My SIL sold I think 3 candles and about 6 "tarts" I sold 3 aroma ornaments! Believe me..there was alot of MONEY walking around the place, just none of it was leaving anybodies pockets. How the whole think worked was this: It was called a Chocolate Sunday. The tickets were $20.00 and all the proceeds were going to the children's home. I believe the country club donated the space. Anyway. There were numbers 1-27 on the tickets. There were 27 vendors of all types, crafts, catering services, pampered chef, a shoe store, bakeries, gourmet cookies, etc. As the person visited each vendor you gave them their freebie and marked the number of your table off the card. So basically, everyone was stopping to get their free tea light and said oh how nice our stuff was and they'd be back after they got all their freebies. Freebies were pens, nail files, etc. and lots of chocolate....covered pretzels, donuts, fudge, biscotti, cupcakes, gourmet cookies (all mini size). As the people walked in the front door they were given a big shopping bag and a plastic food take home tray that they could put all their food samples in. It was actually kind of gross when you were handed a ticket with chocolate smeared all over it and was sort of comical to see grown ups all dressed up with chocolate spots or smears all over. There were children as well with tickets. They were dressed to the nines as well. So all in all even though we didn't sell like we thought we would, we were only there 3 hours and it was all for a good cause and we did a lot of people watching. Hopefully all those who took business cards and said they'd call to place an order.. will (yea right!) I still haven't unloaded my car but plan on doing so tomorrow and will try to get some pics posted in the gallery of all that I stayed up doing until 4 AM on Sun.!

I know this has been mentioned on here somewhere before, but where are the best online sites to get different metal cookie cutters for the aroma ornies. I'm looking specifically for the breast cancer ribbon and a hat.

I'm not sure of all the actual "rules" 'cause this was a last minute thing, but I do know you have to actually give a free item. We are both pouring some tarts...hers are paraffin, mine are soy, so we'll use the tea lites just as back up I guess. I'm planning on printing up some coupons to give out with a discount. I usually don't really do anything for Spring 'cause its a slow time and too much running around with baseball, but if I get orders, I'll gladly do them. I want to concentrate on testing for fall / christmas.

To make a long story short, I got a phone call last night from my SIL who has had a candle business for about 8 yrs. now. Somehow, somebody related to her husband called in a favor. She is the chairperson of a fundraiser to benefit a childrens home and it is being held at an elite country club on Sunday. She had 30 vendors (crafts people and retail) and 1 dropped out. She thought of my SIL and her candles...even though 1 with PL will be there. Anyway, my SIL hasn't really been doing many candles so she is low on stock. She called to see if I had anything. I can't take my soy jars 'cause she sells paraffin jars. Anyway, I really don't have anything much on hand, but since I am off today and tomorrow...I'm gonna be a wax playing fool with hurricanes and bears. The beauty of the whole thing....no table fee, the linens will already be on the table, it is only from 2-5 so my whole day isn't killed, there were 400 tickets sold already ($20.00 each) I guess it is an icecream social, so they get to eat ice cream sundaes and walk around and hopefully BUY!! The only catch is, they get an empty bag upon arrival and are supposed to go to every vendor to get a "freebie" for their bag. 400 plus is a lot on short order, but we figured we would just give out a store brand tea lite. I guess that's what PL lady is doing too. Anyway, I'm just picturing all the local "money bags" shopping. Should be able to make a couple bucks in a few hours! If I get real enthusiastic and get some help from kids and husband, i may be able to throw together some glycerin soaps as well. I guess this turned out to be long anyway. Wish me luck and I'll post results. I'll try to take some pictures too.

I use a pair of sort of needle nose tweezers (actually they are the tweezers used in a dentist office) to hold a few hair pieces on the tip of the bears ear and then use kitchen tongs to squeeze the heck out of the rest of them. They sometimes get a bit mis-shapened but I just squeeze the opposite side with the tongs and get them back in shape, put on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and fluff with a fork.

I began my soy candle making experience with bluegrass supplies. I liked their soy wax without the cottonseed. As far as fragrances, I haven't had one that I didn't like and used to order from them exclusively until I found this board and found other suppliers. The cranberry punch is one of my top sellers along with hot blueberry muffin. I've never had a problem with their customer service when I've called directly to place an order but it seems like shipping is rather slow.

Those are really cute. Now you've got my mind wandering with ideas. Can I ask what you used for the flower mold.

I managed to snag a new job and decided to treat myself to a new hairstyle, highlights, and an eyebrow waxing (not happy with the highlights...too light, too non-noticeable, but she said she would redo it or add more if I didn't like it for free since this was the first time she was with my hair and wasn't sure how it would take) at salon owned by a girl whom I graduated with in high school whom I never really hung out with or anything in school. Anyway, the girl doing my hair is a sister in law of a girl I met at my kids' school who makes jewelry who does some of the same craft shows I do... Anyway, I asked her if she and her SIL were doing any of the spring craft shows and she said that they were only doing a couple of open houses. She then asked me what I sold again 'cause she really didn't remember what I had on my tables. When I said candles, the shop owner perked up and said "oh from PL or HI or where?" When I said I made soy candles and some other things she said..."bring some in the next time and I'll put them in my display 'cause I'm always looking for new things". Guess I better get busy!

Sounds like things are really shaping up for the convention and sounds like it will be a blast. I'm about 85% sure that a friend and I are coming but just for the day. I'm trying to arrange for whole familey to come Friday night and my husband can hang out in the hotel pool with the kids while us girls have fun at the convention and we have relatives living relatively close so we could meet up with them over the weekend, but not sure yet.

Thanks for all the great ideas, however, I've been to 2 of the craft stores that advertised the cups in their flyer and they are sold out and aren't getting anymore due to them being seasonal..maybe next year.

I found really cute teacups with saucers with shamrocks on them and want to pour some up for st. pattys day and thought about white tea and ginger but have no idea what it smells like. I need to order a fragrance fast, so I can get these tested!

Okay, made it to the basement to dig one of the cups out. Across the widest at the top is approx. 3" and it is almost 3" high. The narrow bottom part is approx. 2" They are made by Darice. I was in the store where I got them today and they were supposed to have the shamrock ones and of course they were temporarily sold out, but they had all different kinds with the saucers for $1.97. They had them with Lily of the Valley flower design that said mother and some that said grandmother and sister and friend, then some just all over floral and some that were with scroll red hearts. I'm thinking "mothers day"

guess that would help.. Will do when I get my lazy rear down to the basement. I saw the same place now has cups for st. patricks day and am thinking green tea and ginger would be good in those. They are only $1.97 for the set.

I found really cute tea cups and saucers with a Red Hat Lady theme and thought I'd pour these in passionate purple from JS and make up a gift basket with a dipped bear and some other things I found red hat. Any ideas on where to start with a wick. I am currently using the mill creek soy..not the EZ soy.

Ran into a local chain grocery store last night and my husband happened to stop by the candle display because the type of jar caught his attention. They were a very thick glass almost hour glass shaped with a wooden lid. They were called wood wix or something like that. The wick was a piece of wood...not a skinny stick like piece of wood but rather about 1/4" maybe even 1/2" inch wide. The containers showed many wet spots. There was a nice 3D sort of label on the outside front but I couldn't find an address on the warning label on the bottom or on the label under the lid. The promo for the candles was that as the wood burns it has a crakling sound like a fireplace. They had many fragrances but the name of the fragrance was on the warning label and hard to find. I sure would like to buy one to burn out of curiosity sake and then of course, if it burns well and smells good, I'm gonna have to figure out what kind of wood the wick is...Any ideas, Anyone?

This sounds like it will be so much fun. I'm very hopeful that I will get to go and trying to get my other candlemaking peep to go too. If my husband doesn't have to work, he and the kids will go to...hang out at the pool in a hotel and then we can take them to the football hall of fame. He has relatives near by so I'm sure we'll hook up with them as well....if not, guess it will just be us girls!

Thanks for the info Donita. I will definately take you up on the offer of buying some dried flowers to try when I'm ready. Right now I'm trying to finish an afghan for a baby gift (due 3/7) and trying to get things together for my son's first birthday 3/11, after that things should slow down a bit so I can play with some more wax.

As usual....such an inspiration. Thanks for the tutorial albums. They are a great help. I have attempted to dry my own flowers but have not been very successful. I thought before that you had mentioned some dried flower web sites but don't remember where I wrote them down. Could you point me in the right direction again, so I can add these to my list of projects to try. Also where do you get your 5055 wax and additive?

I ran across Deborahs site about 8 years ago when I first got into melt and pour glycerine soaps. She has expanded so much since then. I ordered some things from her back then and was very pleased with the customer service. I had to call her company a couple of times too with questions and she was very helpful and knowledgeable. I'm glad this was mentioned on here because I had actually forgotten about that website.