PurpleHippie

I've tried many of the ones listed here. OOB several were great but for the life of me I could never get a strong scent throw in soy or parasoy. All were very light IMO.

I hope someone else responds to your post but I just wanted to let you know that sometimes certain companies have specialty made lids for their containers. It was mentioned on another post some place. Good luck in finding them, they are different.

I also orginally started because I thought I would save money making my candles instead of buying them. HaHa! If had only known! I don't have an exact figure for how much I invested but it was several thousands! Once I added up all of the wax, different containers, tons of FO and all of the shipping charges it became VERY expensive. A few years later I got tables and a tent set up for a booth. The events I sold at required proof of insurance in order to sell. A kit is a good way to start out, everything you need in one package.

So we are not suppose to use hot glue to stick the wick base to the container or is this a reference to actually removing the wick and attaching them to the taller bases? Darn it! There is so much different information on various sites. What about wick stickums? Which I love depending on the supplier you get them from.

Soothing and elegant as mentioned in one of the previous post is exactly what I thought of. I like the font! Sometimes too bold of a font and bright colors is distracting and not in a positive way. It can be annoying. You did a very good job!

Very nice! I love the river, what a wonderful place to set up. I would want to spend all day out there just for the scenery.

As stated above It will depend on many variables. Some wicks seem to consume wax at a higher rate than others. I find palm burns longer most of the time but I find that more of my FO's give a better throw in other waxes. So it's a trade off.

Good information posted above! One thing I have noticed is that sometimes the same wick size will be shown on different supplier sites with different information concerning the suggested size container use. Of course the wick may burn differently in paraffin than soy. With soy you usually have to wick up a size from paraffin. I normally try to test and find one single wick that will work for a container that is less than 4 inches in diameter. Any container wider than 4 inches I normally have to use two wicks. However, with soy I sometimes had to start double wicking with containers that were 3.5 wide and larger. That isn't a rule, it's just what I discovered in my testing. As for if soy will burn longer than paraffin, it just depends. I have used certain wicks in soy that consumed the wax very quickly so my soy candles were lasting just as long or even less than the paraffin I made. It is always a trade off when making candles. I discovered some wicks gave me a much better hot throw but burned too quickly. Others burned longer but might have slight mushrooming. Another might not have any mushrooming but burn with a curl producing a uneven melt pool. What is the diameter of the container you are wicking?

I think that is a excellent idea and would possibly help in some way with having more safe products available. However, I probably have thousands of wicks that I have spent a lot of money on that I would like to be able to use before changing to the 6mm.

. That's a good one! I don't know why these type of problems seem to happen more with handcrafted/craft show businesses? I honestly don't think these people would ever dream of asking these type of questions at a major retail store. I think you were very wise to not get into bashing or making negative comments concerning the product you were asked about. I think it is very unprofessional when that happens and totally unnecessary. Answering just like you did with a comment like "I am not familiar with ____ products but I can tell ______ about mine" is so much more professional. You handled the situation well, just take pride in making the best products that you can and be prepared for the next group of weasels headed your way. After a while you will be able to find the humor in those pathetic people.

I think you handled that very well. I have had run ends with these CW and MB people. JMO but that is my main problem with them is this rude behavior and pushy attitude at craft fairs. We had one stand near the booth with one of their candles and try and stop people before they reach our area:mad: I have never understood if it is the type of people those companies are attracting or if it is the companies themselves that are training and encouraging that behavior. I won't answer the question concerning where I get my supplies. You can't walk into McDonalds and ask how to make the secret sauce, or call Yank-- and ask what wax, wicks, FO they use to make their candles. So why would someone have the nerve to think they could do that to anyone else? It's rude and I think that makes the companies they are representing look very bad. As for the photos, I hope this doesn't happen to you but...I had someone do that once and the lady purchased one of my candles. She was also asking alot of where do you get this and that. TWO MONTHS later she had a booth at a local market, her set up was like mine and she even used the same colors for her signs and table decorations. Her labels were in the same font and color and almost identical to mine. We had a very unique item used in as a centerpiece on a holiday decorated table. Guess what she had used in her booth! Now I may be wrong but two months is hardly enough time to accurately test all of your candle products and be ready to sell to the public! No, I wasn't flattered at all!

That is how I judge a throw also. This is JMO and based on the people I sell to so others may have different customer needs. Most of my customers use their candles in large spaces and not just small rooms. Whenever they consider a candle to have GREAT throw it is one that will have good throw in larger areas. I also have high ceilings so I will test with the ceiling fan on low and tell my customers that have high ceilings to do the same. That is what works for me, it may be different for others. Scent throw has so much to do with each individual persons sense of smell. What one considers GREAT is mild to someone else. I have to say that I agree with the comment TOP posted about a good throw being achieved at a lower %. Once again that's just my opinion. You have certainly been very busy with all of those FO's!

I am not sure about this or if it was here that I read it, sure someone else will comment. I think someone had located a wrap sold at walmart/grocery stores that was ok to use. If I find it I will post again.

Ah, so that might be what caused it! I certainly do not mean to make a comment that you may already be aware of so this isn't meant as an insult in any way. Even with a ton of testing as I am sure the company did there is always someone that has a skin issue that others didn't experience. If your selling you may want to consider having insurance if you don't already. My face was red and blochy and I wasn't very happy:mad: So many people are very particular about their skin and if they had to go to the doctor about it they might want reimbursement for their expense. Back in my super model days I may have wanted reimbursement for my pain and suffering:laugh2: but I just tossed the stuff out and used bendryl cream.

You do want a tester that is going to be honest with you. If the items were given as a gift and not for feedback then I would say the tester was being rude but if you asked for her opinion then that's what she gave you. I would rather a tester be honest with me then have a product that people were not satisfied with and not have a clue. The information already posted here is probably one of the reasons she was not pleased with the tarts. Would she let you borrow her burner so you could test your tarts at your home to see how they melt and throw with her burner? Do you have any FO from another supplier to test?

If you start with containers start with testing one size first. When you are pleased then move on to another. When I started I purchased every size and type of container that I thought I wanted to make, small tins, large tins, small glass, large apothecary...I must have been insane at the time because I started testing several different sizes at once! Start small work your way up, take good notes!

My presto pot:yay: ! What a time saver!!! Second would be my scale.

I didn't smell anything burnt in the Pumpkin from CS. I only needed a 7% load, don't know if higher % and certain wick combos would make a difference. Glad to see scent throw reviews including wax, and wicks used. So many FO's smell different OOB then they do in the wax and when burning. I know what you mean about not being really surprised about a new FO. Honestly, if I just made what I like I would have A LOT less FO's! I have some that others are crazy about and if it was left up to me they would never be made!

There is one from Candle Cocoon, I belive it is a Pumpkin Coffee(not sure of the name). IMO it smells more like real pumpkin without spice or at least not much spice. Ever carve a pumpkin or get it right out of the can before milk and spices are added? I actually prefer some spice with a pumpkin FO but some are too heavy on the spice part.

I don't know if this is really what your interested in but when I saw the post I had to respond. The mineral makeup I used is a store brand(infomercial) and it made my face ich like crazy! Plus it really didn't provide enough coverage for me. I don't know enough about it to comment on what exactly caused the iching. I hope someone here might know so that you guys might avoid it if your going to make the product yourself.

I located these using the search feature. I hope it helps with your question:) There were more but I think these cover it pretty well. http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52211&highlight=polypro http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53086&highlight=polypro http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54290&highlight=polypro http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49146&highlight=polypro

For the most part,no. it was more of a concern of mine then anyone else.

The candles that I had were several years old and they were soy candles. The cold throw was nice but the wax looked like it had become a bit puffy, almost a little like a marshmallow. Of course the wicks did not burn correctly any longer. Every wax is different. "Born on Date" That's cute! Good tracking method!

Some of the best advise I have seen on this board! Same holds true for wicks. I wash my containers before use and I find that helps. The coconut oil actually increased the wet spots I had in the wax I was using. Every wax can be different. Wet spots are more of a problem for me during the winter.

I posted on another topic that I had problems with some containers that I ordered from them in the past. That is nice of you to share that information with others.