FarmerJill

Barb, even though I was expecting the cut bars to be beautiful I still gasped when I saw them. Gorgeous!

Really cool! You're making me want to get the molds out. ::sigh::

That is just beautiful!

Yep, I think we all need to get a request in at OBI that they order these, especially since they're way down in stock right now (on the shipping catalog side). Some of those older styles they've been carrying forever and I've already decided I'm not going to keep ordering the same-old-same-old. These new ones look gorgeous!

forgot to add: that rooster is a new one also. The one OBI has now is the same as at JD Wholesale.

Sorry to be a downer, but if swiping a card 6 or 8 times makes you look professional and/or trendy, I'm not seeing it. If it were my card, I'd be out of there in a heartbeat, then watching my accounts like a hawk to make sure every swipe didn't take money from me.

There's no way I'd put up with something like that in front of customers.

Just my opinion, of course.

Of course.

You can take potshots at my professionalism iffen you want but in light of my alternatives I love that little gadget. To each their own.

Candybee, those look very, very nice!

Thanks for the info, folks. I'd like to hear results of test burns.

where are you guys getting this clarus wax and why don't I know about it? Am I really that far out of the loop over here in my little corner of the world?

Candle Soylutions should have fairly reasonable shipping to Washington and they have both sizes of jellies. And then there's Swans, of course. I don't see jelly jars listed on their site but I know Pete has carried containers before that he didn't have listed.

Wendy, check to make sure you have that reader fully inserted. I sat there like an idiot one time swiping a card over and over and not even getting the "swiped too slow" message or any other response. I finally realized I had to push that little buggar down another notch.

Other than that, it's not uncommon for me to still have to swipe some cards six to eight times. Other times I can get it the first time.

I used Oregon Trail's and it got a good response. As far as my own opinion, it's the only one I have so there's nothing to compare it to. Maybe if enough of us have it from different sources we could all send a sniffie off to you and let you be our official sniffer

oh....oh....oh....my, those are beautiful!

Its also a real pain to deal with tallow in anything but a pail. IMHO.

Steve

Oh, c'mon now, Steve. You just roll up your sleeves, cut open that box and dig in. And, as a side benefit, you end up with the softest arms in town from having all that tallow smeared right up to your armpits. :laugh2:

There's absolutely nothing to dread so don't get too psyched out a head of time. It's not like they're some monster in the room - some of them are very nice, some not so nice but ultimately that makes them just another competitor which we all should able to deal with anyway if we want to be in business. Smile, let shoppers know you love your product, smile some more and wish everybody a happy holiday.

Have a great show!

Gotta love Scentsy LOL We had a customer once tell us her rep told her that she could ONLY use Scentsy tarts in her Scentsy warmer. The reason why.... others would catch fire in their warmer

And thank heavens for the customers who are figuring out that scentsy is blowing smoke up their butt. I mean, really, that statement doesn't even make sense. Scentsy melters are *supposed* to work at a lower temperature than ours and their fragrance bars loaded with *more* FO than ours. So if their implication were true that ours have less FO and yet are routinely melted in our high-temp melters, what exactly would cause them to erupt in flames in scentsy melters. That's funny! :laugh2:

When I get asked if my tarts can be used in their warmers the answer is, yes, of course, because there's no big secret or mystery about making a high-quality wax melt that performs well in all sorts of warmers. But I also go on to say that scentsy started out just like me - a couple of gals working in their basement, handpouring (I presume) a good product - until they sold their company to an entrepreneur who clearly likes to brag on his website about how huge the company has become and how many mechanical injection machines he now uses to pour the bars. I always say all that as sweetly as possible but my customers clearly get the message - they can purchase from what has become another run-of-the-mill over-priced international company or they can support me, a local handcrafter who has invested myself in each and every product I sell. And that message always works in my favor.

I do give scentsy lots of credit for educating customers on how to use melts and melters, though. And thank God that they're so expensive.

Thanks for the confirmation, Steve. It looks like I'll be starting out around 6% and go from there.

I've been thinking about getting out an old box of glass glow and working on some Christmas candles for myself. When I checked candlescience's website, they state maximum fo load is 6%. Peak's site recommends 3%. After doing a search here it seems like most of you who use GG end up at the higher rate. Does that sound right? 3% seems kind of low for a container.

Another update here.

Used square to process about 1/3 of my sales for a three day show this past weekend. Worked great. I usually had to swipe more than once - sometimes several times - but that ended up being no big deal. The authorizing and processing went fairly quickly with one or two exceptions. Only two customers requested having a receipt emailed to them, the rest didn't care about getting any receipt at all. Customers thought it was very cool and other vendors were extremely interested. I was tickled in how it made us look very trendy.

I thought it worked great, not only for sales but for our image, also.

When I hear gingerbread, I think of the gingerbread man shape. If it's just a round cookie shape, I think of ginger snaps which isn't a bad name for a candle/tart either.

Technically speaking, the soap does stick to the mold. When you flip the liner over, it's not as if the soap slides out - at least not for me. But you pull the liner away on the sides and then it releases cleanly.

I have a scentsy catalog in front of me....They sell their bars (3.2) ounces in a clamshell type container with 9 bricks for 5.00

Sorry, not trying to turn this into a scentsy thread but just wanted to point out that the stated weight on their containers is 3.2 fluid oz and 2.6 oz net. Then on their FAQ page it says the bar minimum weight is 2.4 oz. That labeling is a little flaky IMO.

.... Chaching,, Chaching!!!

I've always loved this sound

Mostly I just know the $$ results of mine (12X booth fee). As far as what specifically sold, I can't really say because I left the booth in my sisters' capable hands while I went home to pour tarts. Like Kitn, my big three day show is next weekend and I had to get some work done today. Tomorrow the vehicles get unpacked, inventoried and repacking begins. I'm gonna be so glad when Christmas finally gets here

With the Square payment processing, how do you print or offer receipts?

You can email the receipt to your customer, IF they're willing to give out their email address.