2rottndogs

Well... I've never had a problem with anything I've bought from FOH...what few oils I have I liked well enough that I bought them in much larger quanitites and would continue buying them. As far as the negative comments...keep them to yourself. The time to say anything was at the time of the problem... don't wait until she's going out of business to p*ss and moan. That's as good as back stabbing. If someone doesn't have balls enough to deal with a problem right up front, then don't complain later. And for those of you that feel it necessary to complain on someone else's behalf...the person that had the problem should grow a back bone and all you wind up being is a sh*t stirrer. Kimberly

Crap! I hate seeing suppliers that I use have to close. It's inconvient and so very depressing to see them not being able to make a go of their business for whatever reason. I hope someone is able to by her business and keep it going with the same quality of fos. I love the oils from FOH! I need to make sure I'm paying attention so I can buy when she's relists her inventory. I have some fo's that I can't be without. Kimberly

I have space in the back room of my salon that's for candles only. Shelving, cabinets, an 8 foot counter that is for candles and then all the undercounter space...one being under the 8 footer and the other under a 6 foot counter and sink. I come back out at night and pour candles. Sometimes I might pour a dozen jars and another night I might only pour a couple. Depends on how things are selling and what's selling. Some scents don't sell as often as others, so I might hold on pouring those until I have a number of jars I need to pour. Kimberly

I talked with a friend of mine in NY that makes candles and I talked with Beth from the insurance agency that I've been dealing with... I'm going to probably go with Indie. Beth says that Debbie would encourage me to find someone cheaper even if it's not through them. Kimberly

Well I've got to be honest all... when I'm dealing with an agent that has access to MANY insurance companies, I'm at a loss when I'm told not only do they not want to handle my business but that I can't get a reasonable rate. I want to go through someone local so I can ask questions when I have problems...plus I like the fact that they get to know me and me them. I guess I'll have to call other agents and see what they come up with. I hate to squash my dreams of expanding because of this. One other question...how many people are selling without insurance right now? Kimberly

I'll make a short story even shorter. I was looking into liability insurance for my very small candle business. I approached my local agent who handles my insurance for my home, my jeep, my husband's truck and my salon. She tells me she'll look into finding me a company that will handle my candles. A couple of days go by and then I get a letter from her. She tells me in the letter that it's been almost impossible for her to find an insurance company for a reasonable premium. The premium she thought she could get was about $400... the premium from the 1 company that was willing to take on this kind of business was almost $1000. Direct quote from the letter... "...apparently there have been some major fire losses associated with this type of business so unfortunately, the premium would not be $400. I actually had a difficult time finding a company willing to do this at all." Is this the same reason everyone else is getting that has trouble getting insurance? Debbie (insurance agent) expressed a concern of someone burning a candle inappropriately. I'm going to talk with her on Monday and express my concern that a candle appropriately labled with burning directions... such as... "never leave unattended"... how does it become my responsibility? How does moronic actions dictate that I'm at fault? You leave your candle burning and go out to dinner... I'm going to have a hard time swallowing that I'm somehow at fault for the burning of your home. This insurance crap has been very frustrating and I have an opportunity to expand into a local store. I'm reluctant to make that huge step because of insurance. Just had to vent some of this... it's been eating at me for days. Kimberly

Speaking only for myself... I don't give a rat's behind about embellishments. I don't care about the jar, the lid, the lable or any of the hangy thingys off the jar. When I pop that top, it's the scent that grabs me and then the color. When I buy a candle, I don't care about glass adhesion, I don't care if the top is smooth and frosting doesn't faze me. I want a good smelling candle that scents the room it's in. Now as a candle maker... glass adhesion is important, I expect the tops to be smooth with as little frosting as I can achieve. I also expect my lables to be perfect and my jars to look their best. Kimberly

Scrubzz, thanks for the links. Stella, that was more of what I was looking for... especially being able to measure the fractions of ounces. Kimberly

Can anyone recommend some scales for me to look at? I'm looking for scales that measure more accurately than what I'm using. I'm ready to get back into custom mixing my fo's now that I've recouped all the info that I lost when my husband threw my candle book out. Kimberly

No, not sweet grass... sweet fern. It's a plant that grows with wild blueberry plants here in Maine. Has anyone heard or know of a sweet fern fo? Kimberly

I'm a bandana gal. Kimberly

Makes you wonder if the candles were ever test burned before production. Makes me wonder if whatever building they test in is still standing. Kimberly

Thanks Stella and Meridith for answering... both replies had information that I was looking for. I feel I have a much better comprehension of wicking up and down. There comes a point where if I think about something long enough... it just becomes even more muddled and confusing. Then I start second guessing every candle I've poured. I'm finding the more I test, the more I see the differences from fo to fo...my problem was I didn't know what to do with the information I was seeing. Both of you helped clear up what I was seeing and what direction I need to go in when I see it. Thanks bunches! Kim

I've done a search, but haven't really found what I'm looking for. When to wick up is my specific question, but I'd like to know when to wick down also. Right now I'd have to say that 98% of my candles are wicked with an LX 20. I have a couple of fo's that didn't throw like I expected and so I put them on the back burner to be tested when I have time. I had planned on wicking up and seeing if that made any difference. I don't have a clear understanding of what to look or smell for that would tell me I need to wick up or down or if it's an fo that's a waste of time. I would appreciate any explantions given as this wicking up or down thing has always been very confusing for me. Kimberly

Hi Dogmom, I don't use 464, I use C3... I use the 3" status jars and the majority of the jars are LX 20's. OCCASIONALLY there is an LX 21 or 22. So far I've not had to wick down, but found just a couple of fo's that need the wicking up. I get a great throw, a nice burn, anything that hasn't caught up in the beginning burns is usually gone by the time I hit half way down the jar. HTH. Kimberly

I have a candle that I poured and for some reason, there is a bubble like place on the top. This bubble stands about 1/4 to almost 1/2 in. and it appeared over 48 hours AFTER the candle had been poured. I have poured a tester and the tester came out fine... the same night I poured the retail candle, I had poured 6 others in varying fo's. All the candles were cooled and cured exactly the same way and none of the others look like this. I poked relief holes in the candles and then heat gunned the tops the next morning. Everything looked smooth and clear. After 2 to 4 days of curing, I pop the top off the jar and there is a small bubble... as time had gone on, the bubble got larger and larger. And I SWEAR!!!!! the bubble looks bigger today than it did a week ago. Has anyone else encountered this problem before? Kimberly

Hi Valerie, Try using less oil and see if this helps. I use IGI 1288 and through testing, I've found that I usually don't need to use the full load of fo. I don't go over my 6% and more often or not, I'm using even less than that and still getting a good throw. Somewhere on here, I think Top explained to me once that mottling waxes don't necessarily hold as much oil because of what's in the wax to make it mottle and paraffin in general doesn't always need the full load of fo. That's a very general explanation and I could be wrong, but I think that's fairly accurate. If you did a search on your wax or mottling waxes or even went back to where you bought your wax... you might find more information. I haven't worked with my paraffin for awhile...dealing with soy right now...but you should be able to find something. HTH. Kimberly

Same here... I got mine at the dollar store for a buck each. I think I have about 5 dozen sitting around, bought every one they had. Kimberly

Hubby is off the couch for now, but I'm sure he'll do something else that will put him there.:rolleyes2 I have everything in an index box with cards and it's marked do not touch. You guys just have no idea after all these months of thinking everything was lost what it felt like to come across these test pages and see the very candle fo's that I based my retail line on was all written down. Don't get me wrong, there are still missing candle combinations... but the ones I found were the ones that I was just broken hearted about loosing. Kimberly

I have been working on candles all summer long as much as I could and I think I have finally nailed down my 12 oz. metro jars with the right wicks. I have 13 candles done up to test burn and so far 5 have burned beautifully. They are burning good, throwing great, no soot, no flickering, great melt pool about 1/2 way down, sides are all caught up by then... so on and so forth. It feels so great to finally nail something when I've been testing and testing and testing some jars for what seems like forever. Now that I've gotten some of the hard stuff a side and will probably just need to tweek here and there, maybe I can spend more time here chatting and reading. Kimberly

Remember when my husband cleaned my candle room and threw out the binder that had all the fo's, names of candles, combinations, tests and so on.... You'll never believe what I found tonight!!!!! :yay: :yay: I was getting the salon ready for an inspection on Wednesday and I came across some "old" tests I'd done on some jars that hadn't really worked out the way I wanted them to. I was going to throw them out when I thought maybe I'd better look over them since I still had the jars that didn't test well. I thought maybe when I got ready again, I'd try testing the jars more extensively. So anyways, I'm looking through the tests and making mental comments about things I'd change when LOW AND BEHOLD!!!!! I found tests of candles that had the combinations of fo's I'd used and what I'd renamed them!!!! Of everything I thought I'd lost all these months.... the ONLY candle I didn't have in that stack was "Aunt Sandra's Hot Toddy" and I think I've found that one using the ole sniffer. I have a girl that comes in and wishes I could make my Compass Harbor candle again.... AND NOW I CAN!!!!!!! Kimberly

I have all I can do to get a jar candle to come out right and look at what you post!!!! I am in awe! And when I can find pressed flower hurricanes such as you've done, I willingly pay an arm and a leg! Stunning, simply stunning! Kimberly

Hi Kathy, I don't have any pictures of my apothecary jars, but I can describe how they look. 9 times out of 10 my jars will have a quarter to a half inche melt pool half way down, there will be no hangup on the jars and my wicks will have a very average small to medium flame. I use 2 cd 8's most of the time to wick my apothecary jars. Once in awhile I'll have to wick up, but I've never been able to wick down. The jars are no hotter than any other candle jar I've bought from others. Kimberly

Thanks everyone...all the suggestions were helpful, now to find the one that works for me. Kimberly

I can't seem to figure out the easiest way to do this. When you're working with a paraffin that sinks at the wick and you have to do a repour, what do most of you do if you're pouring more than one scent? Do you have containers set aside with a little bit of each wax and scent, remelt that little bit and then repour? I might pour 7 to 10 different candles and I can't find a way to comfortably solve this problem. Seems like I have alot of little containers every where marked to go with certain scents, or I'm pouring only a couple of candles at a time. I hope my question is clearer to everyone else, because reading back over this sounds very confusing to me. Kimberly