soygirl

I use CD wicks, and have just been living with the hang-up on one side, because I didn't know how to tell which way they would curl. So, do you mean by "The wick will curl to the side where the vee points up", the side where the vee is upright, like a letter V, or the side where the point of the vee points up? Sorry if that sounds confusing.

Geek, thank you so much! I could have gone my whole life and not realized that wicks are designed to curl in a certain direction. I honestly thought it was random - you know, some unseen force of the universe or something.

I think it's a little silly, but it gets the gears in my head turning. Maybe one could design a pillar candle holder that contained a drawer in the base for holding matches... Now, that would be handy, more attractive, and totally reusable too.

Wow, Liz:shocked2: It's like you have been able to see into my life for the past two years! Your sentiments echo every single thing I have experienced since I started my business. I agree it should be a sticky.

Ok, this wouldn't make sense if you live in a really warm climate, but I live in Wisconsin, and everyone has a furnace. And those that have central air use the same ductwork that serves the heat in the winter. If I had black coming out my vents, I'd assume it had something to do with the furnace. In fact one time while we were on vacation, our furnace mysteriously "burped", and we came home to find black shadows on the carpet in front of every vent, and a fine black dusty film on all the walls and surfaces. If it's really from burning candles, then why wouldn't it be concentrated mostly near where you burn candles instead of just coming from your vents?? That just doesn't seem logical to me.

I pour from mine directly without a spigot. I've heard that you can't get the last bit of wax out of the bottom with a spigot, so I never installed one. Plus, you have to have the pot near the edge of a counter to use a spigot. To me, that's just an accident waiting to happen. I prefer to have my presto pot towards the back of the counter top. What would be really useful is to have one side of the presto pot actually shaped into a pour spout. Then you wouldn't get drips down the side when you poured from it. I too, don't have any idea what an electric spigot is.

The Candle Cauldron has a good listing of insurance companies by state. You should check that out. I asked my agent about liability insurance, and at first she told me she couldn't find any companies that covered small candle/B&B businesses. Then I mentioned the companies from the Candle Cauldron list, and suddenly she had several quotes for me.

No, but what is it? I've searched on the net, but can't seem to find a description. Is it from a plant seed, like Cocoa butter or what?

I just stand my wicks up in the cup, and when the wax gets to the point where it is a little "congealed" I straighten the ones that are leaning. Some of them just stay straight on their own. I've also heard that you can wait until the wax starts to congeal in the cups and then insert the wicks. I haven't tried that myself. Your timing would have to be pretty accurate, or you would flaw the tops of the tea lights if you wait too long to insert the wick.

Sounds pretty easy. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

By oily, I mean that the balm is firm enough to go in a tube, and dials up nicely, but it gets an oily/slippery film on top. So, it's like the oil isn't binding with the wax and butters. If I didn't have the oily problem, I personally think the recipe is firm enough. But some of my testers have tried it, thinking that it will be hard like Chapstick, and then they apply way too much. Plus, it gets too soft if you leave it in a pocket. Maybe I should try some cocoa butter. Thanks for the offer. I'll PM ya. By the way, my first try back on page one of this thread would have been great in a lip pot. It was firm yet looked very shiny when applied.

I did a search and couldn't find anything. Maybe it's obvious, but I've never heard how it's actually done. Should I cut the wicks to length first, then prime them in melted wax, and then crimp the bases on? Or, should I prime a long length of raw wicking, and then cut it into individual wick lengths and crimp the bases on? Should I just dip the raw wick into the melted wax, or do I have to let it "soak" for a certain amount of time? Do I hang the primed wick to dry, lay it on wax paper, or is there a better process? I'm also wondering if any of you have ever used high temp pillar soy wax to prime wicks? Thanks, any advice is appreciated. -Margie

SOY CANDLES What price do you ask for your standard 8oz soy candle?? I don't sell an 8 oz., but I sell a 6 oz tin for $5.50 What price do you ask for your standard package of soy tarts?? 1/75¢ or 6/$4.00 How many tarts do you place in a package?? Packaged individually, or a cello bag of 6. Do you color your soy candles?? Just the 16 oz. jar candles, not my tin candles. Do you color your soy tarts?? Yes Do you make soy votives?? No. Except for flowerpot votives. Do you color your soy votives?? yes. What price do you ask for your soy votives?? Gift basket of 3 flowerpot votives for $8.50 Do you sell your votives in a package (6-12-24)?? Only as a package of 3.

They aren't exactly advertising a LITTLE piece of the pie for everyone - they are giving the impression that everyone could get rich off of this. Laura, if you really want to get into the candle selling biz, you could just do it all yourself, and probably save some money. For example, I get a website, domain and shopping cart with merchant account integration (I currently only use Paypal), all for just $14.95/mo. I get my product liability insurance for both candles and B&B for $551/year. I am free to order my supplies from the most cost effective supplier, and use the products that work best for me. All of the information that they offer to provide you with is available free from websites and forums like this. There is a whole global chandler community that is willing to give you advice on business start up, sales, advertising, marketing, labeling, and bookkeeping in addition to sage candlemaking advice. Does Candle Wealth assume your product liability, because if not, you will still need to get this insurance yourself, or hope that no one ever tries to sue you if you candle harms them or causes property damage. Remember that if you set your business up as a Sole Proprietorship, your own assets (house, car, etc) are at risk if you are sued. And even if you do win - can you afford the lawyer and court costs to fight a long, drawn out court battle? It's great that they can advise you on wax, wick, container, fo combinations, but you should still do your own testing and know your own product - especially if you are the one who is going to be held responsible for selling it. Does CW get you a state sales tax id or seller's permit? Do they register your business name? Do they check out local zoning regulations if you are a home based biz? Will they set up your website, or submit your website to search engines? Will they track your inventory, do your bookkeeping, or help you with your taxes? I'm not trying to sound snotty, just to mention several of the things that are involved in running a business, that I don't think CW does for you. It just sounds to me like you would still end up doing as much work to start up a candle making business WITH Candle Wealth as without. If you did start your own business, what's to prevent you from eventually getting your own representatives to work below you? Then, you would be at the top of your own MLM. If you love making candles, have a head for business and are a self-motivated disciplined person, there is no reason why you can't be successful at starting your own business. Just my opinion, for what it's worth. -Margie

This weekend I tried: 20% virgin coconut oil 20% refined shea butter 20% refined mango butter 40% soy wax Vit E. Flavor oil I think it's the vitamin E. I am using the capsule kind, and it's not just vit E, it has soybean oil too. I am adding only a teeny little bit, but maybe I should try the recipe without the Vit E, to see what happens. The other reason could be that I am only melting the ingredients together. Maybe I should try "cooking" them for a little bit to bind them together. I am afraid to cook the butters though, because I don't want them to get grainy. I made a control batch of my vendor's lip balm, and it isn't oily at all, so it can't be the flavor oil that is making my recipe shiny, because I added the same amount to my control batch. It is also still too soft. I should increase the soy wax even more, and cut back on the coconut oil, I guess. I'll keep trying, and keep everyone posted.

Yes, you can, but it has to be a soy pillar blend. I add a little cornstarch to mine, but I don't know if that is completely necessary. Let it cool until it starts to form a skin, and then start whipping it, otherwise you're just wasting time. Then, once peaks start to form, work REALLY fast, because you only get about two minutes to work with it before it hardens and you have to melt and re-whip it.

You could also try the area by the popcorn. That's where I found it, because it is used as corn popping oil.

I'm bumping this back up, because I'd like to know too. I found this in an archives search. I'm wondering if VCO is less drying than refined CO in a lip balm/lotion bar recipe? I've read that VCO can be used straight as a moisturizing balm. Anyone know from experience? Otherwise, I will let everyone else know in a few days, because I am getting some from the nutrition store tonight.

I am going to try again this weekend. I've been waist deep in trying to get my new Peachtree Accounting Software set up, so I haven't had time for any R&D:sad2: Maryann, thanks for the tip on rubber-banding the tubes together. I'll bet that would work great. I'm going to try adding Mango Butter to my mixture of Soy wax, coconut oil, shea butter and vit E. I'll let everyone know what percentages work best.

That was my initial thought too. I've made a lot of wickless candles and tarts in soy wax, and personally had no problems with my own testing. I have heard of wickless candles "spitting" wax out of the jar when they melt through at the top. I don't know if it was soy or paraffin in these cases. I suspect that it was because they were using an inappropriate warmer, such as a coffee mug warmer, which gets hotter than a candle warmer. I have also heard of soy wax tarts smoking. Couldn't this be due to excessive FO? Couldn't fragrance oil alone smoke in an oil burner? I'm pretty sure I've heard of that happening too. Some soy waxes are capable of holding more FO, so if people "super scent" them, they might smoke for that reason. I'm just trying to present all of the possibilities here, because I can't think of any logical reason that a vegetable wax would be more dangerous than paraffin on a candle warmer. Another thought: if vege waxes are supposed to be more "explosive" than paraffin (according to the aforementioned candle warmer instructions), why can you melt soy wax in a presto pot, but you are supposed to melt paraffin over a double boiler? Maybe they are referring to palm wax? I've never worked with that before.

Thanks for all the feedback. I currently get my apothecary jars from Fairway Glass, and they are great for quality and service, but Fairway doesn't carry bulb jars. Can anyone recommend a company that has 9 oz. bulb jars? I haven't had much luck finding places that carry them.

I tried straight coconut oil on my lips once, out of curiosity, and it was quite drying. It felt good at first, but awhile later my lips were dry and tight. I've also heard from several sources that too much coconut oil can be drying. Even the PVSoap site says so. Anyway, that was my reasoning. So, as much as 33% coconut oil should still be okay then? Thanks so much for your input edensong. Those look like good recipes, and one looks pretty close to what I might already be using:wink2:

Their prices for jars seem really good. I was going to request some samples, but I thought I'd find out if anyone knows from experience how their quality and customer service are. TIA, Margie

Your camera may have a button that tells the camera to focus on what's in the foreground, rather than the background. All my close-up pics were turning out blurry too, until I figured out what that button was for. It had a little image of a tulip on it, so I'm thinking what's this for - taking pictures of flowers? The instructions that came with my digital camera were bad. But, now that I'm learning - from trial and error - how to work it, my close-ups are turning out much better. I just thought this might help. Good luck with your camera. Your candles look awesome. I can't wait until I have some free time to start experimenting with pillars. I only hope mine turn out half as nice as yours. -Margie

If she won't buy the order now, maybe you can find another retailer who is interested in taking the same order. Or you could try to sell the whole order on Ebay at wholesale cost. Then you wouldn't be stuck with all that backstock. Not that this is the worst time of year to have extra inventory... It was smart of you not to offer her COD.