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candlemandave

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  • Makes
    candles
  • Location
    Lancaster County PA
  • Occupation
    daycare

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  1. I use different wick sizes but the same wick type in my jar candles. There is an advantage to using different wick types for different scents because they are easier to know the difference. That's why I usually change the clip diameter or length of different sizes of wicks in the same style. Different scents can need different sizes of wicks and unless you adjust your scent quantity, it is almost impossible to get 1 wick for all your candles. I have found though that I only need two different sizes of wicks to fulfill my needs and prefer atkins pearce cotton wicks which any dist. will id by adding a C at the end of the size.. It wouldn't be fun if you only needed 1 type of wick size...lol...
  2. Hey guys, thanks for the comments. I have been doing a bunch of research and I found out that there are a bunch of different things that you can add to the wax to help in appearance and fragrance load. It appears that the name soy additive or USA could be applied to 1 of 100's of different raw ingredients that chemical labs can create to add to wax to work in soy. I began questioning this when I saw different soy additives (not palm or beeswax) and a handful were a lot cheaper than others. Since I've been developing the soy wax line for my company, I found a need to add something else to help in fragrance load. The GB 444 claimed to have a high load capacity, but I still needed to add a soy addtive to achieve the fragrance load (please nobody tell me I should use less fragrance..lol, I know what I want to do.) The one additive I got cost like $3 a pound once it was shipped and $3 a pound when you're adding it at 6-10% adds up way too much per candle. So I scoured the internet and found some cheaper that I posted this original thread on to see what other people have found. Then, I went beyond this and actually spoke to people from 1 of the big 3 soy producers and to one of their chemistry people. This is how I found out about all of the different things that could work to achieve the results I was looking for and why there are other additives that are cheaper than others that may work or may not. The wax giant stated that they have a patent on their waxes which in the chemistry of ingredients include these modifiers to help with the appearance and fragrance load. Therefore, the reason there are different priced soy additives is because there are different things that you can use to achieve the same goals. Unfortunately, I have only found 2 price classes through suppliers of candle making ingredients with one being tremendously cheaper, less than $2 a pound and the link is in the first thread. The problem I have is I do not know what these additive are specifically. So to "go to bed" with one supplier is going to leave me in jeopardy if that supplier goes out of business and is not willing to give me the precise ingredient they sold as a soy additive. Anyway, my main point to all you fellow candle makers out there is that find these cheaper additives through the candle suppliers and test them out. You may save yourself a lot of money in the end, and one companies soy additive may not be the same thing from another company.
  3. Two Questions to ask Prices you are paying for Universal soy additive... And, has anyone used the UV from these two companies? http://bluegrasscandlesupply.com/additives.htm http://www.cajuncandles.com/uvinhibitor.html
  4. I have a very rudimentary ability at web design. I have golive and with paypal can do all my web work that is satisfactory for me. I use godaddy and have been happy with them except for one thing and that is the mail allotment you are given. It is only 10mb of space which sucks real bad when attachments get added. YOu get a bunch of email addies you can create, but each is only 10mb. It cost to have more space per month from them. But, Google has a new beta email package that you can sign up for and can use this for emails that you will be sending or recieving a large amount of atachments. Yahoo is priced a little more than godaddy and that is why i go with godaddy. However, i do not agressively pursue the internet as a sales method to the world. IE, I if I were looking to advertise with search engines I would highly consider Yahoo because they now own the old Overture system which is pretty powerful for search engines as well as their own. If you have a Yahoo hosting plan you get a discount on advertising through yahoo which may easily offset the $24 a year you save with godaddy. Also, I'd check the email thing out because the ease of having one email place to go is a nice feature, though I kinda like godaddy making me clean my box out more. hope it helps and best wishes dave
  5. Here are two of what I am talking about http://www.fillmorecontainer.com/product.asp?deptID=2&sku=ERMFL%2DZ&sID=72W16F5BQF3C9NJLQJD8WHC9M81587G2 http://www.fillmorecontainer.com/product.asp?deptID=2&sku=ERMFL%2DR&sID=72W16F5BQF3C9NJLQJD8WHC9M81587G2
  6. I have the anchor hocking country comfort jars and was wondering if anyone knew who makes the metal lids for these? Not distributes, but makes. They come in rust, silver and black. it would be good to get a co-op going with these guys. Thanks in advance, dave
  7. In regards to country crafter... Holy Crap That is incredible, I bet they win Anal Insurance People of the Year award every year.....But, honestly, not a bad thing. Your premiums should be much lower than the average policy. I guess you can see why the US sues so damn much. Maybe if we had policies like the such, we wouldn't be able to.
  8. Yep, the post office gives free ones that are flat rate boxes which means you can ship anywhere in the 48states for the same price. The problem is that you are limited. I was surprised when I first started selling candles at the cost for boxes, but they can be pretty salty. I once saw a box at Walmart one time that had in big blue writing.."This box cost Walmart $1.23, please do not throw away." There are a few options and it all depends on where you live and what is close to you. It is probably safe to say that buying from someone online or through a mail catalogue will not be your best best option because shipping cost on boxes can add up quick. So, where ever you buy your boxes, factor in shipping. Places like your stores that are shipping services will sell you boxes, bubble wrap, kinda like the office stores do. They charge a whole lot more than a lot of other places. Also, unless you go directly to UPS or FEDEX to ship or have a home pick up, it will cost you more to ship at places like FEDEX KINKOS. But, if you are only shipping a few things, then office stores and shipping services will be a place that you can buy a few boxes. In most cases, the cheapest place you find to sell you boxes will be from local box manufacturers. Look in your local yellow pages or if they are not in there, ask local businesses. These guys usually have the bubble wrap or know where to get bubble wrap. Also, if you look at usually the bottom of boxes you'll see a black stamp that will have the style of box and where the box was made, it's a long shot, but you may get lucky and find a great connection that is close one day by looking at these. I wouldn't go out there looking at boxes hoping to find your source, cause you'll see boxes from all over North America. International Paper is probably one of the biggest makers in this country, but don't even try it. These guys are huge and don't deal with smaller companies. Last but not least, if image is not a very important thing, you can go to businesses and get their boxes after they have stocked their shelves. Just ask the manager, and there is a good probability they will direct you to a pile of broken down boxes. I personally use these a lot and I love the feeling of "Cool, saved a dollar on this." I put a sticker on each box that states, though not pretty, our company saved over a dollar and we recycled this box." I also have blue tape that covers other manufacturers information. I wasn't sure if the labor cost was worth going this extra step, but it is. I save a bunch of money every year doing it this way. You do have to be carefull in regards to what box you get. You have no idea where its been and it could have held things like bug spray or something. So, do this at your own risk.
  9. Actually it is not broken but when you choose a scent and then you recommend a scent at the bottom, you show a different style jar for the scent that is then featured. I clicked on this jar thinking I was going to see that jar style, but it says the page doesn't exist...it does it for all the scents I checked out
  10. OK breath deep, sigh.... laugh....breath deep....Images of the middle finger...ok sigh... I see some people thought I was talking about the mixers that they put the paint cans in and it shakes it like a Shaker on Easter Sunday. To you all, no, this is not what I am talking about... What I am talking about is what is used for drywall or paint. They measure anywhere from less than a ft to a few feet. They come in different styles too which there is one that is patented and blends so much better than any other out there. Anyway, they fit into a standard 3/8" drill, one that you can buy for like $15, or you may already have one, the mixer is about $6 for a small one. I made stands from wood to hold the drills in various sizes. I have sizes for the small pourers and I have sizes for 100qt stock pots that I had ball valves welded into. I can then weigh my blended, hot wax out, add the color and scent I need, set the pot under the thing I made (or move the mixer over the pot if its the large pots) and turn on the drill and its mixing. Then I move on to the next batch and don't have to sit there churning a pot. Instead of buying these very expensive blending melters, I made them for a little bit of nothing. I've been doing this now for 7 years and ever since I started using the little mixers, I have never bothered to sit and stir over and over again, when these mixers do it so much faster and better. You ever had little flakes show in your wax that is the additive not blended too well, especially beeswax? I am not saying you have to get one of these or you'll never blend it well. But, having one makes it a lot easier. To this day, when I am testing a new scent, I'll use the small mixer with my hand held drill and mix it up in less than a minute. My whole point to begin with was that you need to blend your mix well or problems can arise. Since I make candles on a larger scale, I guess I forgot what it was like to make only a few candles.
  11. 3 things I can think of.... 1. the type of scent you are using...I have scents that use much hotter and I mean much hotter wicks than other scents. 2. Blending thoroughly could be a problem. You wanna blend the daylights out of it...best suggestion is to go to home depot or some paint store and get yourself a metal (not plastic) paint mixer that hooks onto an electric drill. They come in different sizes so you can use your judgement on which to get. 3. too much oil can cause it, though what you said (1oz pp or less than 6%) is not really that heavy, so probably not the answer. However, maybe adding some additive could solve the problem. W/ that said...welcome to the wonderful world of candle making...keep track of all your variables and eventually, if you keep good records, you'll get r done. Through my years of experience, I've found groups of scents that are very similar in regards to burn characteristics to the point that if I test a new jar, I will know that scents a,b,c,d and e will need the same wick size as f. That way I only test f and know the others will work. But, until you've tested a,b,c,d,e and f enough times to conclusively see they are similar, you have to test each scent to see its properties. Good luck to you and remember to keep it fun... dave
  12. Hey, I was reading that someone wanted a excel cost analysis and did one up. Shoot me an email and I'll send it to you, or if there is anyway to post a link to an excel file, I'd simply post it here.
  13. I did it, email me if you want it and if you have any questions..also, be sure to check it out because I am tired of looking at this thing for now. IF there is a problem I can fix it no problem... I'm not sure how to post a file, so you'll have to email me to get it.
  14. Is it like that with all scents or just a one?
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