shopkeypurr

hey don't think it couldn't happen. I almost burned my shop down trying to use a torch. Kodoes to you! They look wonderful. After the bad exeprience i had with a defective torch that ended up engulfing my hand in flames i will never touch one again.

Those are just beautiful!!

wow those are cute!! I've never seen something like that before.

I make salt bars and can tell you that the next day after i unmold the CP soap that has salt i have to slice it asap. If i let it sit too long it will not slice well. Salt draws moisture to it. I don't think it necessarily makes the bar harder but it does dry faster. Citric acid helps lower the PH. Many companies use citric acid in their lotions and soaps to bring down the ph. I use it one teaspoon per pound in lotions sometimes.

I love it.. Great colors and nice curves hehehe

Congrats on your first pillar!! looks great!

Yes the possibilities with these roses are endless. I think you could have a lot of fun just seeing what you can come up with for color combinations and such. Enjoy!

The companies i buy my accessories from email me the photos of the products to use but i ask permission and fill out a form to get them. How hard is it to ask people to use their own images? Its a shame we have to go to such lengths just so someone wont use our own images on their web sites.

It depends on the size and shape of the jar on what i'll use. I usually have a 2x4 label on my large round container candles and also have a candle poem on a hang tag with a charm and tied on with ribbon. On smaller candles i use hang tags. Veronica

When i first put up my web site i had a few of my photos taken. A women made a web site and posted about it on a yahoo group asking for opinions on her new web site. Low and behold there were several photos from my web site. All of which you could clearly make out my labels and company logo!! I mean talk about nerve!! I emediately said to her on the list she posted about her web site... its nice and all except i would appreciate you not taking my photos from my web site and claiming them as your own. I said anyone with half a brain can clearly see the labels on those bottles and jars and see that my business name and logo are on them. I don't think you can get any lower than that do you? Now i also put my business name across the Images as well.

Have you tried painting the tips another color or pouring the tips in another color wax? you know how some roses have different colors running along the tips? I think that would look awesome too. I just love roses in any shape or form.

i doubt that. I don't make gel candles or rustic anything. I"m into victorian style, i don't do country at all. Her stuff is in a store that sells all country style decor and rustic type items.

yes i've seen your items in the Angels touch and decor shop across the street from me. Veronica

well its true what they say that the first year is the hardest. I mean the start up costs alone are a killer. Inspections, repairs, fees, signs, advertisements etc. I had a lot of customers yesterday due to the article but i'm expecting a lot more the rest of the week. My husband kept the shop open late last night because we had a flood of calls from people wanting to come in after they had dinner. Usually we close at 7 but since the article hit we've been busy and i'm not going to close up if we still have people coming in. Thats just silly. So i went home at 7 and my husband stayed here till 9. We might do that all week just to handle the flow of customers. We are making sure to tell people that we normally close at 7 so they don't think they can come here real late and expect us to be open.

great shop!! I love the size of it and your set up. I'm in a tiny little place so don't have the ability to do what you've done. I love your displays they really show off the colors of the candles. good job!! How long did it take you to set that up?

i would go with Old Dominion Candle Co. the other one is old virginia candle company right? I don't think thats too close with the names. Yours is Dominion the other is Virginia. check to see if the name is registered first and then go from there. If its registered already then you have to start over. I wanted my shop to be called Lavish Lathers but that was taken so i put my name on there. (Veronica's lavish lathers) About 6 months after i was in business the "lavish lathers" closed down. sigh:mad: But on the up side everyone knows my name when they come into my shop lol

I've sponsored our high schools year book and with that i get an advertisement in the year book. It depended on the size of the ad as to what the fee was though. I was asked to sponsor some local baseball teams but that would mean my business name going onto the shirts and me having to pay for the uniforms. ITs called a donation but its very expensive so i didn't do it. I know a lot of businesses that will sponsor a team and in exchange the team is named after that business. My friends who own a funeral home sponsor a little league team and its called Galzarano's. It doesn't say funeral home on there thank goodness but he told me that as sponsor of the team he pays for the uniforms. Unforms for a full team of kids can be very expensive.

i list all of my ingredients on my soap labels. I actually had one lady who had to be 3 sheets to the wind tell me that she couldn't use my soaps because she had high cholesterol and her dr. said no fats. OMG i about died. Her friends all hit her and said you don't eat soap you ding bat lol. we all laughed so hard it was unreal. I swear people could hear us all the way outside on the street in front of my store. We all had to explain to the women that you would have to eat the fats to have it affect your cholesterol that it wasn't caused by stuff you put onto your skin. I think some people are just too stupid to live.

its not framed yet but its laminated and hanging on my wall. The local town historian always takes articles written about any business in our town and laminates the original and then prints up several copies. This morning when i opened up he walked in and handed me this enormous yellow envelope filled with full size copies of the article and one original that is laminated. I had 2 other articles about my shop done over the past year but this one i like the most. Even the photo isn't half bad.

The article about my shop just hit todays paper. I celebrated my one year anniversary on May 20th. wow i've been here a full year now!! Time really flies doesn't it? I had written to the local newspaper a few weeks ago trying to get an article done in time for my anniversary sale but they had other stories lined up. The actual anniversary was May 20th and today is June 5th. Better late than never i say. Business is great with lots of people coming in saying they saw the article and they had to drop in. My shop may be small but its my pride and joy. http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/147-06052007-1357775.html

wow those instructions are so easy!! Guess i have something new to try out Thanks for sharing that. They look awesome!

OMG i wish i could do something like that. Thats awesome!! any tutorials on how to make something like that somewhere? I'm guessing you start pouring iwth the lighter color and then add more as you go up or well down the candle? That truly is beautiful!!!

I love it. One suggestion: Use the space on the lid to your advantage. Put a round sticker on there with your company info, logo, weight etc.

simply beautiful!!

The color is mocha. Just 3 drops and don't mix. Pour it into the mold and let set up a bit. Then hit it with the heat gun. It mixes a bit when you pour it and then as the wax melts from the heat gun you can see the color starting to move around. Thats if you use a polycarb. mold anyway. As bubbles are released and rise up it makes a pretty swirl. Also i would take the wick and swirl it back and forth. That would move the color around a tiny bit as well. The candle with the coffee beans is done with liquid colorant called ivory. The coffee beans only cover the outer 1/2 inch of the candle and are in a higher MP translucent wax that is not colored. After it is unmolded i went over the beans lightly with a heat gun to remove a tiny bit of wax to show off the beans more. I went down a wick size as well so that it wont burn to the edge. My customers keep coming back for more.