Traveler

Currently, I use the Patchouli from Wellington in 6006. Customers who were big on Patchouli in the '70s keep buying it from me so I am sticking with it - but I do find that a lot of Wellington fragrances are pretty "true" to scent type - so maybe check them out. I tested straight Patchouli from NG, BCN, and BCS as well but Wellington's was the only plain Patchouli fragrance that got a big thumbs up from my neighborhood testers (some of them hate Patchouli and swore this one was dead on - which is why they hated it enough to give it a thumbs up, LOL! ;-) Hope that helps!

Oh my gosh, Top, you're awesome!! Thank you for taking the time to create this report. It is incredibly insightful (and helpful) to those of us who are working with Palm wax. Oh, and anytime you want to share your recommendations on other waxes...feel free to lay it on us!!

CS Sex on the Beach Coconut Lime Willowoods Pineapple Paradise Country Blueberry Raspberry Sorbet NG Watermelon All of these are selling great right now. Especially the Sex on the Beach and the Pineapple Paradise. **CS Mango Papaya is one that is also good!

Hi Isbennis, Are you thinking of www.camdengray.com ? They are located in the Miami area. They sell both fragrance and essential oils...along with a lot of other stuff. I have not used any of their products but I am sure that if anyone on this board has used thier FOs they will chime in and let you know what they think. (Florida is truly lacking in suppliers for candlemakers )

Thank You, mzpickles! I will check out both sites today - not familiar with From Nature With Love but I have heard good things about Oregon Trails so I will keep my fingers crossed that they have the scent my customer is looking for.

Does anyone have any suggestions on who might carry a Tonka Bean FO? This particular candle has been discontinued from the Henri Bendel line and a very sweet customer is asking me to try to recreate it for her. I have checked with Sweetcakes, Southern Soapers, Save on Scents, NG, Willowwoods, CS, KY, and am about to check out BCN, Millcreek and Peak. If anyone can think of another supplier I am completely overlooking, your suggestion would be heartily appreciated. Funny, I have never had to scramble so hard to find a Vanilla FO. Usually it's a case of: "Which Supplier has the best one?" instead of "Does any supplier carry this at all?" LOL! Thanks for any input!!

Willowwoods (www.2wwoods.com) has one. Her Yankee "Type" oils have been consistently dead-on in the various waxes I use. I have tried them in GB 464 with great success - hope that helps!

I do a lot of shipping so instead of buying boxes I simply reuse boxes that my supplies are shipped in. I also use the free boxes available from the Post Office. Other crafters give me their empty supply boxes at craft shows when they know I will put them to good use. I use all of my old newspapers (and my neighbors newspapers) as packing material...the same with all of those styrofoam peanuts that my own supplies come packed in. Every little bit helps!

They are now offering Pear Glace Type, Drakkar Type and Angel Type...and a shipping offer until Feb 1st....I got a bit carried away ordering...I love so many of their FOs...sigh ;-) I need to find more time for testing LOL!!

Willowwoods Ocean (Yankee Type) and also BCN's Ocean Mist - they are both popular with customers.

Hi, Try Willowwoods Black Cherry. www.2wwoods.com. I also had the worst time trying to get Black Cherry to throw in 6006. (I too tried NG, BCN, BCS, CS and JS.) It was frustrating. No hot throw that any of my friends and family could smell. I tested them starting at 6% and slowly worked up to 8%. Willowwoods hit it right on the mark at 8%. I have no idea why it throws in my 6006 when the other Black Cherry samples did not. (I LOVED the black cherry samples from NG and CS!) Oh well. That is why we test and test... Good luck!

Home Sweet Home is, I believe, a blend of cinnamon with some nutmeg and clove (and possibly a note of tea in there somewhere....I am trying to recall from my Yankee Candle buying days...) I get mine from Willowwoods and it is a year round favorite with my customers. I also get Cinnamon Sticks from NG and it is very strong in both IGI 6006 and 4794. A big hit during the Fall craft shows. And for a different type of spicy scent (if you have not already tried it) the Spiced Cranberry from NG is really, really nice and a strong thrower!

Hi Cari, You might try Bittercreek South and also KY Candle Supply for those 34-40 zinc wicks...I have not checked BCN but they might have them. Also, in California I know that Yaley Enterprises sells the smaller zinc wicks. Hope that helps with your search!

Tootie, I am very curious about your results!! I use 6006 as well and I love it but I have some GB 464 sitting in my Tart Wrapping/Storage Room formerly identified as the dining room. (We no longer know where the kitchen is because it is lost amid stacks of supplies). If you have some positive results I might just do some experimenting over the weekend and see what happens! Traveler

You know, Ronnie, that is a very good point! I did not even think about the client needing liability insurance because of labeling. (There is ALWAYS something new to learn in this business!!) But it certainly makes a great deal of sense. I will explore it further with the client. Thank you so much for the advice!

Hi everyone, I have a potential (wholesale) client who is interested in pruchasing candles and wax tarts from me. But she wants me to put her company logo on our labels. (Basically removing my business information and inserting hers instead.) I have not done this before and I have two questions that I hope someone more experienced can guide me on: 1. I will be using my label stock and printer ink, so I am thinking there should be an additional charge for this service. Would it be a flat fee based on the entire order OR would it be a small fee per label? 2. Also, should the Warning labels I place on the bottom of the candles still carry my contact information? (I would think that would be the correct thing to do from a legal standpoint, but again, not certain what the common practice is in this situation). Any guidance would be appreciated. I was not sure where to start searching so I thought this would be a good starting point. Thank you so much!!

There seems to be a national obsession now with "Fresh and Clean" scents (even underam deodorant commercials are touting "fresh and clean" fragrances....as if other people go around smelling your armpits all day long so you had better be "fresh and clean" under there! ) But this trend has now really caught on with my candle customers. All through the Holiday selling season they demanded Odor Eliminator scented candles! And Fresh and Clean scents along the lines of Clean Cotton and Sage and Citrus. Cinnamon Styx and Home Sweet Home just sat on the shelves....at Christmas...wierd. Even outside of the holidays I was always selling spicy scents...but the interest has really fallen off. Are the advertising companies really driving this new....what is the right word here? Obsession? Fad? Craze? Or do any of you sit back and wonder if people are so busy multi-tasking that they no longer have time to clean their houses?? Are we really stinky people all of a sudden? Or do scent "fads" go in cycles? Anyone want to guess what will come next? In a world where we have so many other types of gorgeous fragrances to offer people I am wondering how much of this is being driven by the media versus truly smelly homes. I know. A bit out there today, but I just placed another order for more smoke eliminator from Nature's Garden and it started this thought process....so I am ordering some samples of additional "Fresh and Clean" scents now....

Thanks for the input Kimdles! I will take your advice and try pouring some testers with 6% FO load only and see if that slows the burn time any. Fingers crossed... BTW, in case you use mason jars, I poured a tester in an 8oz sq mason jar, 6.4 oz cb 135, ECO 10 wick, and 9% Lime Cooler FO with 2 drops liquid dye and it burned very nicely. FMP at 3 hours (a little too quick for the 1st burn, right?), no sooting, steady flame that did not get too big....but absolutely NO scent throw. None. Zippo. I had it in my tiny half bathroom....no ac on or any air flow to bother it....and even standing right on top of it I could not smell a thing. So I have put it away to "cure" for a few days. In hindsight, I think I should wick down to an ECO 8 and maybe even an ECO 6 and do some retesting with this second type of FO/wax/jar combination because I have a lot of customers who admit to being power burners so I am always looking to wick down for safety reasons and a FMP in 3 hours would not be so great for someone who leaves it burning for 5 -6 hours. Anyway...the testing continues....I really do appreciate your thoughts on the process! Traveler

Hi everyone, I am somewhat new to this board. I have been making candles with a parasoy wax and wax tarts with paraffin for 2 years and selling them for one and it has been going well. But I do get mutliple requests for soy candles so I just recently decided to try my hand at learning how to make them. For the past two weeks I have been testing Ecosoya CB135 (Candlescience) in 16oz Apothecary jars with 15oz wax per jar, 9% Lime Cooler FO from Candlescience and three drops Key Lime Liquid dye from Candlescience....I waited 24-48 hours before lighting each candle and I tested them on separate days in a room that was between 72 and 75 degrees....and this is what is happened: 2 LX 14 wicks 2 HTP 52 wicks 2 ECO 4 wicks 2 CD 5 wicks 2 RRD 34 wicks In each case I had a FMP in 45 minutes to 1 hour!! Talk about being surprised! This is much, much too fast! And by 4 hours all of the flames were torches. The HTPs and LXs actually left a lot of soot on the rim of the jars as well as black soot floating on top of the wax. 1 ECO 14 wick 1 HTP 1312 wick 1 LX 28 wick 1 Hemp Extra Large wick 1 CD 20 wick TORCHES!! Each candle had flames that actually flickered and danced and almost came up above the rim of the jars. They all ALMOST achieved a FMP...just a slight ridge of hangup on one side in each jar. mP about 1/2 inch on every jar. Because the flames were so large I had a lot of sooting going on with each candle by the 4th hour with the exception of the candle wicked with the Extra Large Hemp which burned the slowest of the bunch. I will say that the scent throw with the double wicked jars was AWESOME! So I would love to try to find a way to double wick this if possible. The single wicking gave me barely any HT at all. (But I could have started a lovely little house fire with just one of those puppies!) So. Here I sit. Baffled. I thought soy wax was going to be harder to wick because it had a reputation for being more viscous than paraffin. But now I am laughing because I have used all of the smallest wicks I own and have no clue where to start next. Do any of you who are experts with using this wax/jar combination have a suggestion as to which brand of wicks I might try next? Obviously I need to go shopping, but I don't know if I should try to find smaller HTPs or ECOs....etc. Of course, there are not that many sizes I can go down to in those wick styles....and based on the 1/2 inch to 1 inch melt pools I was getting in just 1 hour I am not so sure the next size down in either brand is going to slow the melt pool process by that much....or am I wrong in that assumption? I thought I would be struggling to get ANY kind of melt pool and instead, find myself struggling to slow it down so this candle can burn 4-5 hours properly. Any suggestions for a new starting point?

Hi Candlebuddy, I am new to this board but thought I could jump in and let you know that Willowwoods has a Home Sweet Home Yankee Type that I have gotten rave reviews on from customers at craft fairs. It does smell identical to my nose compared to the actual Yankee Candle...but I know it will really depend upon you and your customer. FYI: I use both parasoy and paraffin waxes and can attest to a strong hot throw in both types. Hope that helps!

Hi Rae, I use 6006 too and I have found that either 2 ECO 8's or 2 ECO 6's will work quite well in a 4 inch diameter container (Apothecary and tin). Someitmes 2 ECO 4's do very well in a 4 inch diameter container with very light fragrance oils OR with candles that I do not color. Try a test with both sizes (2 of each wick to each container) and burn each candle at least 4 times....that will give you a good idea of how the wicks will burn as they get further down. (ECO 4's are pretty powerful wicks so if they are drowning then the two fragrances you are testing must be pretty viscous). Hope that helps! Let us know!