FarmerJill

Sales were definitely up. And based on our sales for the last few months we've decided tart melters must be the new "in" appliance this Christmas. I was afraid I had way overstocked on them but sold so many we had to do a quick reorder, just barely getting them in time for this past Saturday's show. So that was a surprise. Hand in hand, our tarts in the 1 oz portion cups were huge sellers. By contrast, jar candle sales were down and pillars held about the same or maybe slightly down. For people who were shopping for gifts rather than for themselves, no doubt the melter and a cute little bag of tarts looks like a more substantial gift than a candle. New for next year? I dunno. I keep thinking I want to switch to a different jar. My sisters say I'm crazy. However, I do know I want to finally join the ranks of you soapers and when January rolls around will be mixing up my first batch of CP soap.

Candles and Supplies used to carry what I think you're talking about, Pixie. You could get either a star or heart design that was attached to a heavy wire that you could just slip around the neck of a jar. They had a clearance sale on those about a year ago and I haven't seen the item since.

Be careful of purchasing the cheapest. I did that once thinking I really got a bargain; that is, until I started using them. The black paint used was obviously not a paint meant for metal. It flaked off and I ended up with hundreds of tiny black specks in the top of each jar. A real pain.

This is the line that had me cracking up. Satan will get you every time. At least that's what my mother used to preach to me.

Holly, I tried selling it with its original name. When that was only marginally successful (the other Christmasy FOs are much more popular) I renamed it for year 'round and still didn't move much of it so will drop it for this next year. I think it's one of those niche fragrances. And I can't blame customers - even though I really like it I've noticed when I'm reaching for a candle to burn it's never, ever that one. Don't know why.

I haven't had any soy candles go bad cosmetically yet but I did find some interesting ones, smell-wise, on a back shelf a few days ago. They were fragranced Winter Blast and half of them smelled as good as the day they were poured while the other half smelled like old, gone-bad Crisco. Nothing like bad vegetable shortening, huh?

I use the 1 oz cup but it actually only holds .8 of an oz. I sell mine for 75 cents each, buy 5 get a 6th one free. They sell very well.

I get them from webstraurant.com I don't know about all the different sizes and shapes but the 1 oz ellipso are polypro. Search for them under "portion cup".

I have one account where the gal always calls them truffles. I don't know why. I always refer to them as tarts so it makes me smile when she calls up to place her order for more truffles.

Sometimes surprises are the best results. Cool pillar!

Jackie, the thing about those glass measuring cups is if you don't preheat them, they can quickly and drastically drop the temperature of your wax, especially in your cold basement. Warming up your pour pot ahead of time will help. Congratulations on your first!

I think Gordon Ramsey would agree. He puts that stuff in EVERYTHING.

We partially change the name by replacing the name "Amish" and use part of our business name instead. But we're a farm so that makes sense when people see it on the label. Otherwise I wouldn't change it at all. And, yes, we sell it year 'round.

Thanks for the info. It never even dawned on me to use that setting so I guess I'll have to give it a try.

Interesting info, Candlelytes. I use the same wax and heat to 185, pour at 155. Always had very minimal frosting and smooth tops but now I might have to play around with temps once the busy season is over.

Blackberry Scone

Does anybody else notice an odor from the shrink wrap or is it just me? My sisters tell me no problem but I notice it not only while I'm doing the shrinking but even weeks and months afterward. It tends to tarnish the candle scent. Plus, on rustics, using shrink wrap seems to leave a little bit of shine on the candle. Not what I want on rustics. Richad, I like the convenience and protection of shrink wrap but I've been looking for some other packaging alternatives, too.

Do you think they mean something like NG's hillbilly homebrew? That's kind of a spiced apple-ish woodsy thing. Can't remember if I ever got a whiff of alcohol with it.

What I've done before is use a little paint brush to apply spices inside the mold on the features I want to highlight. You have to have a light touch pouring, though, or the spices will just float away.

I'm not usually into cutesy stuff but I was asked to make something as favors for a shower. So I did a few of the flowering loofa soaps using the muffin tin method but then started playing around with some molds and liked it better. The yellow one was with clear base which is what the tutorial recommended. But, wow, I really like using the white base because the color of the loofa shows through to make a marbled effect. The hearts are 3 oz. molds with mini loofas. The hummingbird is bigger with a fullsize loofa on the back. Ditto the pink one which I turned over to show how much loofa sticks out of that thing. It's a handful but it works great in the shower

This it? www.goplanetearth.com I see where they have the tube molds but not for the shaped inserts. I'd sure like to find a source for these, too.

I got mine at DollarTree. The multi-color were 6/$1 and the white/cream ones are 4/$1. I think you can use the ones you've got, though, just by using something else for a mold. For example, when I compared the muffin tin to my 3 oz. heart-shaped molds, they held about the same so I thought why not use the hearts instead. It worked so well that I'm going to go get some larger scrubbies to experiment in my bar molds. Hope it works because I'm wanting them to be more bath-size.

I thought Swans carried a lot of containers but just doesn't list them on their website. Or maybe you've already checked and they don't carry what you want. At any rate, I'm jealous about how close you are to them! I'm at least four hours away and keep wondering if it would be worth it to make a trip or just keep paying shipping.

In my experience you'd have to put 'em in a pie to turn a man on.

Holly, I use 6.7% FO in soy wax. My portions cups are the oval ones from the WEBstaurant Store. What percent did you use when your portion cups went bad?