Debra Phelps

Who is GL. DAH!

I don't remember smelling BCN. I used alot of their scents at one time. I am sure I tried it. I will try the other one. Thanks

I had a beer candle once. It smelled bad, but sold. Mostly a novelty. I might have to try theirs.

I am allergic to soy foods, but I have no problem playing in the soy wax or burning the candles. Everyone is different.

No glue dots for me either. WICK STICKERS, and not BC's.They are on a roll. And very hard to get off. Starrville, Wix and Wax in Texas carry them. The Candlemaker Store is who sells them to the other suppliers. Also, he gets some that are messed up. When he does you can get 1000's of them for little of nothing. I love it. And they still work.

Ok, by no means and I an expert, but I do ship candles to many places. Scotland, the coast of Texas, Cal, Florida, N.J., East Texas, Colorado, the list goes on. So far, knock on wood, I have not had any problems with them tunneling, or burning funny. These people sell for me, so they would let me know. Maybe this helps. I had a store on the coast at sea level and now I am 200 miles up the country. They are the same. The only time I notice a difference is at a show, when the temp is 30 degrees. They tend to tunnel more. During the summer they burn alot faster. They tunnel in the winter, because the jar is cold on the outside and it is harder for the wax to melt. And the opposite during the summer. You get a melt pool fast. :embarasse

It amazes me how much it is going up. Mine was 64.00 a few months ago. They had to go up twice. Now it is 76.00 (6006) He said it was going up again. I can't remember how much. I think my brain blocked it out. I have to close my store this month. I will have to work at home with my website. I noticed the oils are going shy high too. One supplier is out of everything good. He is looking for cheaper prices. IGI sent a letter stating that at the end of the year, we may not be able to get wax. The by products they use for wax, is also the by products they are using to make fuel. Fuel will come first. I am thinking car freshners, sprays, oils, oil burners, everything that does NOT use wax. There will be a way. People love scent. We will find a way.

I make super strong candles. When I started with vanilla pear I thought it was weak. I made it anyway. It is a good seller for me. I walked into a lawyers office and it was filling the whole office. Smells nice. I use 6006. I haven't tried the others, but I do sell alot of this one.

I was smelling a real gardenia yesterday, thinking my gardenia does not smell like that. I use NGs. It is nice. BUT......I am looking for a great gardenia just like a real one. Anybody got one? tia

Millcreek has the best and it is strong. It is also body safe.

I consider all of my cost, label, wick, sticker, jar, wax, additives and fragrance. And anything else I put into the candle. Then I double it for my wholesale price and double that for my selling price. If it cost 2.00 to make, then wholesale is 4.00, and selling price is 8.00. I found when I was testing that most of my friends wanted to buy them NOW. Once I got one down, I sold them one. Soon I was selling them a lot. That helped pay for the testing. So don't be surprised if they want them NOW. Have fun.

I have a store. I hate salesmen, and I am one. DAH! I love it when they leave me samples and offer to call back. if I am interested then I will talk to them. Just leave all the info you can. You got to have a reason that your product is better. When I go out to sell, I leave them a candle, and the facts. I ask them to light it right there. If not, they take them home and not burn them for months. Once they light it up and it smells wonderful, you got um. Most of the time, they buy before I leave. Works for me.

DO NOT smoke in your booth. YUCK! To raise your tables up, you can cut PVC pipe to the lenght that you want. They just slip right on the legs. I saw this at a show, and was impressed. It is easy to cut. I use a slated wooden box. I turn it upside down and burn 4 candles underneath it. It makes a nice riser. It keeps the wind from blowing them out, and keeps young fingers from getting burned. It also smells up your booth. I also take my little stereo and play cute uplifting music. I only do it loud enough for my customers to hear. It makes them dance around and feel happy. And if all else fails, I put my Pomeranian on the table for people to pet. He loves it, and it brings in the customers. You got to do what you got to do. :highfive:

Yes, I have dropped 3 of my suppliers for that reason. I only order small amounts from them and the shipping is not worth it. I am narrowing my line down also. It cost a lot to keep it all up. I drive to get wax and jars. That helps. I had to go up on all my products. So far so good. It seems to be ok. Stay with your new price and see what happens. It may be that the customers are just not buying. The ones that have money will still buy your product. I am giving them more options. I am making smaller candles and votives too. That should help. The main thing, is don't do like the rest of the world is doing, and that is cutting your scent or quality. They will stay with you, if you keep a good product.

This is also my 9th year. We make 25% of what we did 3 years ago. I was about to give up, and then I decided to add cheaper things to my line. I started making votives and tarts, buying little things to sell at the shows. It works. They may not have 10.00 for a candle, but everyone has a couple of bucks to buy little stuff. I took my votives to my last show and almost sold out. Works for me. I believe we will have a turn around and things will get better. Just hang in there. Taxes are bad, but do more donations. That will bring them down and it helps the community too.

I heard that at a bird show one time. I made candles in my kitchen for years with my birds on my shoulders. I hadn't heard that at that time. I also had birds in my candle store. BUT, I never lite a candle. It was all the fragrance without a wick. So I am with Vickie on that one. It must be the wick, or the zinc in the wick. I know that I have lite candles in my house with no problem. But they are never close to the birds. Just in the same huge room. I do use the zinc wicks. Carol K on this board would probably be glad to make you some straight soy candles. You might ask for her. I know she is very picky about her product and uses only cotton wicks. I would trust her. Hope this helps.

Millcreek, hands down. I hate Lilac, and I love this one. It sells well too.

Maybe I can help. First of all the bigger companies do ask how much you want to pay. They can make a cheap version, or an extra strong version of what you like. I tell them to make the BEST version and give me the price of it. I used a lot of their scents. I wish they had not changed. Lone Star has a Wisteria that is much like theirs. I like Millcreeks Lemongrass better. It sells better. I have tried to find Happy and no matter who I try, it doesn't smell anything like Royals. I gave up on that one. It is hard to replace their scents. Maybe they will lose alot of business and let us order 1lbs. again. I sure hope so. I can't order 5lbs. of some scents. Ya know. Hope this helps.

I wish I owned the super candle supply house. I would give each candlemaker 10,000 credit line. I would sell every scent from every company. All the jars would be new, and cool. And really cheap. I would sell everything at cost. Because I am so rich I can afford to do that. I would not sell to the public. Shipping would be free. And I would get it to you overnight. Everytime. I would also have great classes for free, and fly everyone in free to take them. Yes.....I would pay for the motels too. I would sell color that never faded and deep pretty color. The best wicks in the world. One size fits all candles. Wax that never fails. Every scent would throw thru the whole house. No need for testing. I got this all figured out. I WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D Merry Christmas to All of You

I have done this 9 years and mine is down this year, quite a bit. I was wondering if others are seeing a fall in sale,or if everyone is doing good. tia:cool2:

This one is sneaky. One year I had a big store. I had a lot of Christmas scents left in red. I took the label off and gave them a Valentine name. Sold all of them. No one ever knew they were Christmas candles. I thought that was cool. Be careful with chocolate mixed with anything. They just don't buy it. Red Hots is popular, I mix peppermint and buttercream. It is called Kisses, just do your own thing. People like stuff no one else has.

You could try a green apple. It smells like a good sweet apple. I mix my own too. It is a top seller. cinnamon, clove, apple and sweet orange.

I agree, that is the best orange I have ever had. And customers come back for it over and over. I don't smell fuel smell with this one.

I decided to make one for me. Without reading any instructions, I used a 26oz. apothecary jar with double wicks. I just poured it at 175 degrees, no color ,just scent. Let is set up. I was gougous. All crytalized without heating jars, or doing anything special. Took it home to burn it. I loved it. It burned leaving a little on the outside to show its affect. I thought.....nothing to it. THEN.......I noticed it was burning thru the pretty edge of the wax and making a belt around the candle that was clear. It was too hot for that area. It ruined the affect. So now I am going to read the instructions. It looked good for awhile, and smelled wonderful. I want to mess with this stuff. But I Think I will wait until I have time. I really think I can sell this stuff. Any input is welcomed.

I can smell it over here in Texas. Man, that is a strong one. Woke up all my dogs. I got a Yorkie, 3 Chihuahua's, Welch Corgi, Long Haired Chihauhau, Pomeranian, Akita, Perinese. Woke um all up.