DonnaP

Guess I must be one of the few odd balls out here....I don't use Goggle search. Bill Jacksonville Fla

Does it drive anyone else nuts to the point of pulling out your hair...like it does me....when you spend so much time and effort getting your candles just right..with great scent throw...and then someone comes in and says...wow those candles are really strong...can't you make them so you can just barely smell the fragrance. Makes me want to pull out my hair...lol Bill Jacksonville Fla

Well lets see..this weekend will be a toss up....candles or lying on the beach...maybe I should flip a coin...Supposed to be sunny and in the lows 80's here. Bill Jacksonville Fla

You may want to do a little more research julie ...but I believe using the max amount of FO in gell is because using more causes the gell to cloud up. I would check a little further to make sure there is no danger in using more FO. One other problem may be a greater percent of FO than that called for is that it may lower the flash point of the gell. Hope this helps Bill Jacksonville Fla

I don't know what the thing she has on her table is packed with ....but it looks exactly like the picture posted on here..but she has a sign on her table saying something about shea butter. I'm going to stop at her table this weekend and see what she has there. Bill Jacksonville Fla

I've never worked with wax yet only gel...but I would think that cutting a slab of wax up should be very simple. I'd try using a small hobby table saw or a scroll saw. I would think they would cut up the wax in a heart beat. Has anyone ever tried that ??? Bill Jacksonville Fla

ooohhh...guess I should have looked before I spoke.. I just looked at the picture of the calabash you put on here. Yep ....that's exactly the thing she had on her table scooping stuff out of. Thanks Bill Jacksonville Fla

Thanks for the info...I guess I'm going to have to stop at the ladies table at the flea market this weekend and ask. If shea butter comes from a nut....what she had must not be shea butter. Unless it was the biggest shea butter nut in the world. LOL Thanks again Bill Jacksonville Fla

I don't know if there is a test to determine which gel is which. But I would imagine that if you sent an email to penreco they should be able to tell you if there is a way to tell. If they can't tell you, I don't know who could...they invented it. Bill Jacksonville

Spend a little time with MicroSoft Excel...get an Excel for dummies book.... Excel spread sheet is not that hard to learn the basics. You probably already have it on your computer. You work with it and just do the basics of a spreadsheet for tracking inventory..expenses..profit/loss ..whatever you want... You can learn as you go and get as detailed as you want or feel is necessary. Bill Jacksonville Fla

Has anyone ever seen or knows where shea butter actually comes from ? My wife and I was at the local flea market... I saw a woman and I believe she was from africa...she had like a heavy ice cream scoop and she was digging something out of a large object. It looked kind of like a giant size coconut...it was huge. As we walked by I thought I saw a sign on her table that said something about Shea butter. I'm wondering now if that is what she was scooping out of this large object. Guess next time I go there I will have to stop and ask. Bill Jacksonville Fla

Cattle Crossing....hhhmmm gives me thoughts of the old westerns on tv...the big cattle drives.... How about a logo with a set of big Texas Longhorn Steer ...HORNS Bill Jacksonville Fla

I buy rough gemstones or the wife and I go to the mountains rock hounding and find our own. I then cut (facet) the rough stones into ring, necklass, and ear ring settings. We buy the findings and I set the stones into them We are working on a way to conbined the gemstone cutting with the gel candles we make... Maybe a gem gel candle with imbeds of precious or semi precious stones. Bill and Donna Jacksonville Fla

Angie, we hear the samething all the time. Even with the forever candles. I agree... I don't know what it is about the gel candles..people just think they are to pretty to burn. Maybe we need to make ugly gel candles, so they will want to burn them. We just recently started offering to refill the candles at a discount, if they bring the glass container back undamaged. Guess we'll see if that gets them to burn them. Bill Jacksonville Fla

My wife wants to try her hand at making wax candles. She already does gel candles. I was looking at the starter kit from Peaks for making votive candles. That is what she is interested in making. Has anyone tried that kit from Peaks. It looks good. Its the scented votive candle kit. I believe for $49. It looks like a great buy for the price. It says it includes a 10lb slab of wax, and the 15 hr. votive molds. About how many votives can you get out of a 10lb slab. I was looking at thier site. I guess when you order wax it comes in 10 lb slabs. I saw where you could order a case of wax...but didn't see a weight on the case. I guess they sell it in like multiples of 10 lbs...is that right. Maybe I missed it... Thanks Bill Jacksonville

What is the difference between cold process and hot process soap. I heard somewhere that one takes a long time to make, and is much more difficult to make, don't know which one. Just wondering is one better than the other...and why Thanks Bill Jacksonville Fla

WoW...I can't believe you all missed the biggest baby scent...... SOUR MILK.......lol Sorry couldn't resist that one Bill Jacksonville Fla

Actually yes, they do sell quite well. We made a lot of red or green or burgundy colored ones for the Xmas season. No imbeds but lots of bubbles. They sold very well. Most people who bought the imbed gel candles, bought them for gifts. The ones without imbeds were bought for the customers own use at home. Bill Jacksonville Fla

Have a question for all you wax chandlers. I believe I know what the answer will be....but want to check with the experts first. The wife and I make gel candles. I've designed forever candle to burn either a gel votive candle or a wax votive candle. The wife and I know nothing about making wax candles. She is interested in learning to make wax candles as well as the gel's she does now. The question is...for now we need wax votive candles to give our customers a choice between gel and wax when they buy the forever candle. We have no idea how long it would take to learn to make the wax votives with the learning curve and all the testing to turn out a good wax votive product. So I'm thinking...buy the wax votives from someone who knows what they are doing and use them with our forever gel candles and then at some point in the future work on learning to make wax candles. We are setting up a permanent candle shop at a large local craft and flea market. There is a shop there that does pretty much only tarts and votive candles. I talked to the owner about buying his wax votives to use in our gel candles or would he prefer we just send people who buy our forever gel candles to him to get the wax votives if that's what they prefer. He said he has no problem with selling his votives to us to use. They are I guess what you would call normal size votive approx...1 1/2 dia...by about 2 in.. something close to that...He sells for $1.50 ea. Does that sound like a fair price...they are colored and scented...I have discussed with him maybe a discount if I buy volume from him, nor have I tested any of his product yet...but they do look good and smell good...but I don't know about burn or scent through yet. So I've run on enough here....how would you all proceed. Thanks much Bill Jacksonville Fla

Actually harley the reason for the mineral oil on shells an other imbeds is to help stop bubbles. As you know shells and such are quite porous. Soaking them in mineral oil help to sort of seal them. There are no problems with the mineral oil affecting the gel that I ever heard of, as gel is made from mineral oil. I have never soaked seashells in mineral oil, I kind of like the bubbles they produce. However the will produce a lot of bubbles. So, my solution is to pour the gel a little cooler and if it is still to much bubbles I place the candle in the oven and leave it there until most of the bubbles have risen out of the gel. I then take the candle out of the oven and turn a fan on it to chill the gel...and wallah...just the right amount of bubbles. Bill Jacksonville Fla

Well thank you very much Bruce for busting my bubble... I had myself convinced this was Miracle on 34th St. and i've been waiting on Santa Clause to deliver my completely equipted candle shop...where all my candles would turn out perfect..every time... Thanks again Bruce....lol Bill Jacksonville Fla

I would not try it. I know microwaving gel is an absolute no no...I'm sure wax would be the samething. I believe you would end up with a huge mess on your hands. If i'm not mistaken..the concept behind a microwave oven is..it cooks from the inside out. Therefore the center of your wax would heat first. You can imagine i'm sure what that means. Big pop..and the inside of your microwave is covered in wax. I think it would be like trying to make a hardboiled egg in the microwave.... BANG and then a big mess to clean. Bill and Donna Jacksonville Fla

Good point Vicky about the pour temps. Guess its time to shoot off and email and ask Scottcrews about the possibility of a silicon high temp mold like they make for imbeds ...guess they need to do a votive one. Guess my main question now will be how much if any..difference is there in the ridgedness of CHP vs. CMP. Thanks for your input Vicky Bill and Donna Jacksonville Fla

Just wondering if any gel chandlers have tried making votive type gel candles. By that I mean the stand alone short pillar type candles. Like the wax ones you see for sale everywhere that you sit in a votive glass. I have never worked with CHP gel, only the CMP gel. I understand the CHP is a stiffer gel...is that correct?? I'm wondering can the CHP be poured in a votive mold and then removed and sold that way. Where you could buy different colors an FO's, and take them home and put them in your own votive glass...just like is done with wax votive candles.

We order most of our supplies..gel and FO's from Gelluminations in Iowa. Would love to find a place here in florida to get them, sure would save a lot in shipping charges. But I haven't found anywhere close to here.