gerrie

I also agree with Stella. It's very hard to make a living from selling candles and b&b products. The market is saturated......BUT...yes, it can be done. It usually takes time, and a lot of money and work. I think Stella pretty much said it all.....work your butt off doing both (candle business and day job) till you really feel you can quit your day job.....and have a good education so you have something to fall back on.

I had the same thing happen about a year ago. I had put mine in jars, and one developed mold, while the others didn't. It was the fact that I couldn't figure out WHY the mold appeared on only one jar that scared the living crap out of me. I never made lotion after that........cause I couldn't pin point the problem. To this day, I think there was something in that jar...but I just don't know. So your thought that there may have been something in the bag is a very good possiblility, BUT, who really knows

Building, or even remodeling, is very expensive!! It's nice to have 1500 sq ft, but with the economy as shaky as it is, I would just go as big as you can afford. If you have some extra money, go bigger, you never have enough room, but don't go in debt for it. In a few years you may find the economy is stronger and business is booming, then you can add on. Sure, it's easier to do it the first time around, but sometimes things just don't work the way you want them to. Just make sure in your plans to have the best and easiest options for adding on at a later time if you need to.

Your candles are always so pretty, and these are not exception.

Welcome back!!!! I'm another one who always enjoyed your beautiful candle creations, hope you'll be posting more pictures real soon

One idea is to just pour into the entire mold, then use a metal or plastic putty knife to scrape off the excess......the same idea as if you were pouring into the lip balm trays. It would be a real time saver if you're pouring a lot of them.

I test from beginning to end, because just like Luci said, things can look so good till the end of the jar, and then it all falls to sh*t. I only use certain type of jars, and I have some of each of those set aside that I test in. I might add, I have tested in these same jars for 7 years, and have never had one break on me. BUT.....I will be the first one to tell you that you shouldn't refill jars for customers, the glass does lose it's integrity and you never know when that one container will break and possibly injure someone or cause a fire. I realize that so I always test on my stove top or on a glass plate JUST incase it does decide to give out on me. It's just not worth the risk to refill a jar for a customer IMO.

Bill at Candlewic told me the only wick that had a "direction" to it was the RRD wicks. Now that was about 6-7 years ago, I know new wicks have come out since then and RRD could have changed, so that's old information. Just a FYI tidbit.

You'll be kicking yourself that you didn't buy one sooner. I have a Minolta, and the ink for it runs about 80.00 per color, but in the long run it's much cheaper and less time consuming than messing around with the ink in a inkjet.

OMG!!! I don't even make soap, but even I can tell that is one scary soap. Thanks for the play by play, you did an excellent job, maybe you should think about hanging up the soap and going into TV Anyway, thanks for the laugh of the day

I don't make soap, so I'm no help there. But I will be sending prayers to you and mom. Hang tough, you have to stay strong to help her through this, you can do it. It's so important that she sees you're not falling apart, even though you have every right to.

I'm with grama on this one.

I always enjoy looking at your candles, and this is no exception. They are just stunning.

I feel the same as Bruce. Just seems a bit to busy for me, my eyes are all over the place instead of on the candle. You want to focus on the beautiful candle, so I'm not sure you need all the other "stuff". A more subtle background might be good. Think you just need to try several different techniques and see what works best for your website.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. If it was my unity candle I wouldn't have used the swarvoski (sp?) crystals like that, but they are on DD's wedding dress so she wanted to tie it all together. Plus I was surprised at the price of those little darn crystals, but hey, it's her wedding and it's what she wanted. Seems since she got the dress everything has to be "bling" now, if it doesn't have "bling" it's just not going to work comforscents, I use Avery.com for everything, so I just inserted the words that DD wanted and printed it out onto the decal paper.

Two weeks ago I didn't think I'd ever be ready, but I fianlly have everything done, with 3 whole days to spare, talk about waiting till the last minute to get things done :rolleyes2 . 45 prs of flip flop M&P soaps for favors, and unity candle is finished. Other daughter who got married needed 120 pr of flip flops, so this was an easy one. I used every last bit of soap thatr was in my pyrex cup when I was done and ended up with the multi layered soap, which I really like. Wish I had done them all like that, but only ended up with 3 of them:laugh2: I did a lot of different bright colors, but they are packed away, only these "problem" soaps are left so that's all I could take a picture of. Unity candle turned out pretty good, wish the decal wasn't so noticable, but I don't think there's much you can do about that, besides trimming much closer to the printing than I did. Leaving Saturday for Miami, sailing out on Sunday, and DD will be married on Grand Cayman 7 mile beach the 22nd. Wish us luck getting to Miami, never know this time of year what Mother Nature may throw our way.

I think the SFIC is one of the best out there. Love the way it lathers, and is non drying.

Oh Camay, I don't think you were slamming them at all. I just read your statement to him and he was confused I think about the woodsy smell. He did admit it had more of a pine smell (sounds like woody to me), but I didn't say your name or tell him about this board. I guess I was more after a true lavender scent, not a woody (or Pine) scent, and that's why I was going to change my order to all #1. But if you think it's just a richer scent then I may really like it, I just kept thinking woodsy scent, and that didn't set with me right I guess. I think I'll be happy doing it this way, a mix of both, and if I find I really think one is better than the other then the next time I'll order only that one. I also have ordered from them before (not lavender) and never had a problem, I do think they are great people to work with, and you're right, their prices can't be beat. Sorry if I read something into your post that wasn't there, I just wanted to make a good sachet, and didn't want a woody scent, I was after a nice fresh lavender scent. I do apologize if I offended you by telling him what you had said. Since I didn't mention any names I didn't think it would matter. In this business I think we each have to decide what is best for us, I only asked about the 2 grades of lavender to get an idea from those who had tried both of them, which had the best scent and color. In the end I will decide for myself, but you're post helped me learn about the difference between #1 and #2. Thanks again.

I don't know why things have to be so complicated . Camay, soon as I read your post I called to have my order changed. I did order 5 lbs of #1 and #2 and just planned to mix them together. I told the guy what you suggested and he was really confused. He proceeded to try to teach me about Lavender, and told me usually the Lavender that they sell for sachets is the number 2 lavender. He said that the longer the lavender is on the stem and growing, the stronger the scent, but it will lose some of it's color, that's why the #2 is stronger but not as colorful. He was very surprised at what you had said, but also said that just like anything that grows, one crop can be totally different from another............oh my, don't I know that from working with soy wax So he talked me into keeping my order the same, and that way I can see for myself which I think is best. It did make me feel good that he actually didn't try to sell me 10 lbs. of #1 which would be more money for them. I always like that type of customer service. But I do thank you for your suggestion, it helped me learn a little more about Lavender and they way they grade it. And by next week I will be able to see for myself which I think will work best in the sachets.

Sockmonkey, everything you said is exactly what I've been thinking myself. I think just to be on the safe side, since I need to get these sachets done soon and want them to have a really nice scent and appearance is to order 5 lbs of #1, and 5 lbs. of # 2 and mix them together, that way I'll have a chance to see the difference, and I won't have this nagging feeling that if I had bought the more expensive grade I would have had a better sachet :rolleyes2 I did call Atlantic Spice and they did tell me that the Ultra is for culinary purpose, and it doesn't even smell as good, so that eliminated that one.

I need to make some lavender sachets, and I was looking at Atlantic Spice for the lavender. They have several grades of lavender...#1, #2, and Ultra. Has anyone bought any of these and which one do you find is the best to use for sachets? I figured out that my wholesale price would be .65 for each 1/4 cup of lavender in a organza bag (using grade #2). Does that seem right, seems like a low price, but I figure I can make them for .25 to .30 per bag. My other thought is that some places sell the lavender for 23.00 a pound and Atlantic Spice is only something like 12.00 a lb. for the best (ultra). Any thoughts on this? Just wondering if the 12.00 a lb. lavender from Atlantic Spice is as good as someone else selling theirs for 23.00 lb. TIA

I agree with Sag, the 15 is a odd number if you're selling 6 at a time, 18 or 24 would be so nice. I find the 15 mold is fairly heavy, can't imagine what the 100 would be like to move around.

If you're doing a small batch, the zip lock bags work great. I mix in my lotion, color and FO in those bags, but one suggestion.......use the freezer ones, the sandwich bags have a tendency to come unzipped, and you end up with your lotion all over. Then just snip the corner of the bag and squeeze the lotion into your bottle or jar.

I think that would be a great idea, I'd jump all over the chance to get a larger jar, and yet be able to try some sample colors. Great idea!!!

Okay, I agree with what you said Chickie and feel very strongly about it. It is NOT a good size to work your mineral make-up with. I had a few of those jars when I was testing some mineral make-up, and I ended up not using them because of the reason you already stated.......you can't get your brush in them. I for one do not like them. I'd rather put the powder on a piece of paper and swirl my brush in them instead of trying to get the large brush in that tiny opening and end up spilling part of it. In fact, I'd rather pay a bit extra for the jar with a large opening for testing samples. Just my 2 cents worth.