racolvin

If it's the same diameter jars I played with a while back, a single LX-24 would work for me using GW464. Dunno about C3 since I don't use it.

There are basically two ways to do it: wholesale or consignment. In a wholesale arrangement, you sell them to her at a discount (be sure to charge sales tax unless she has a Tax ID), and then let her sell them for whatever price she wants to charge. You should be sure to set some minimums, both on the total dollar amount she has to spend to get the discount and on the number of candles per size and/or fragrance. By that I mean she has to spend at least $100 (after discount), and say perhaps she has to get at 2 of any given size and fragrance. You'll have to figure out what works best for you honestly. As for consignment, that's where you place your product at her shop and she makes no investment up front - you still own them as your inventory even though they're in her possession. She sells them and she gets a percentage of the sale - certainly less than she would have had she bought them at wholesale prices. Where she might have gotten 40-50% discount if she purchased wholesale, with consignment she might only get 15-20%. Either way has it's pros and cons. I personally prefer the wholesale arrangement because at that point my part of the transaction is done and I can move on. With consignment, depending on how you've set the terms with her, you could still be on the hook for breakage, theft, and whatever doesn't sell she could send back to you and you're stuck with them. Does that help at all?

The right ambient temp and humidity can impact it as well. I don't use C3 but I would get that "C3 circle" effect you describe on occasion when I didn't pour hot enough compared to the ambient temp. It's true that things will naturally cool from the outside in, but it's also true that it will happen from the bottom up. The hotter liquid wax will stay on the top, so if you sit and watch it, it should cool from the bottom and sides first - sort of a reverse melt pool Anyway, I get my best picture perfect results when I see it starting to cool evenly from the bottom up. If it starts to set up randomly throughout the candle or if the sides cool too quickly, it usually means that the ambient temp in the workshop is too low and/or I poured too cool.

So far I've tried GW474 and the GW416 and I don't like either of them. Getting them out of the metal votive molds is fine but getting the wick pin out damages them to an extent that makes them unsellable .. is that a word, unsellable? Anyway, I'm looking for some suggestions on a soy solution for votives that doesn't produce a terribly brittle result. Any pointers appreciated

I never could get a single wick to work in a 4" apothecary with 464 so I've been double wicking all this time. Hmmmm, interesting development....

Inez: I never create custom scents for anyone, so in that sense you're a step ahead of me. I'll change the name of a scent to something that makes it seem unique, but it's just a regular scent from the bottle That said, I do offer custom colors but I charge more for those than I do my standard candles. By standard I mean that they take the color that I've pre-selected for that fragrance. The custom color choices are also predetermined, since there's no way in hell I would spend the time to work out a totally custom color mix. So if a customer wants a 16oz candle in a standard color, I charge $18.99 per candle. If they want it in a custom color, it's $21.99. Of course wholesale accounts get discounts on these for bulk purchases but those are the starting points. Does that help at all or did I miss the mark for your question?

Kristi: What is the diameter of the jar?

Be careful with that recycling label stuff .. The votive and tart clamshells I see most often are made from PVC, which is technically recyclable but NOT in your little blue curbside box. I don't pretend to understand why that is but that's what the guy from Impact MFG told me and they're the ones that make those things If you can find ones made from APET, that WOULD be curbside recyclable and would merit that mention on your label. Most customers aren't going to take the PVC ones to a special recycling place, they'll just throw it away. I'm actually waiting on a quote from Impact to make a 9 and a 12 cavity votive clamshell mold from the APET material. We'll see how expensive it looks

Suds: I went ahead and typed it all out for now. When I get into my editing process, I'll probably do something along the lines of "everything in the BRP program plus the following ..." As for the discount thing, I've had that bite me in the past, so I made a point to be very specific about that bit from then on Thanx for looking at it for me!

Nope, not a bit This is all in the idea/experiment stage to be honest. I got the idea for it after I visited a local fabric store. They had signs up all over proclaiming that the guy that sharpens scissors would be there soon. I asked the manager about that and she told me that he makes the rounds of the different fabric places in the area and it always brings customers in. While they stand around and get things sharpened, they're shopping for other stuff If I can make the idea work, it allows me to do things like refills and customer loyalty programs without having to pay for my own retail shop. I can invest my $$ in marketing and promotion and bring my SRPs with me, rather than spend $20k starting up my own shop. I guess that's where I get disconnected, mentally. If they're going to edit a PDF, they'll need the full version of Acrobat. If they've got that, they've probably got some flavor of Photoshop. The template itself is nothing but a blank document of the right dimensions, so there's nothing to see in a PDF version of it. It's meant purely for them to get to work editing it right away. As you said above, most of the business that want this sort of thing already have the means to edit it With gas at $3/gallon, I charge a nominal fee ($10) for wholesale deliveries under $500. I could easily spend $6-10 in gas alone on a round trip to a wholesale account, much less the 45 -60 minutes total time. It's still way cheaper to them than if they paid shipping for an order of Yankee candles.

Tahlula: Thanx for taking a look for me And don't worry, I've got a thick skin after all these years To address your points a bit ... 1) All I can say is that it's a work in progress. Your point is well made, its just how I do things. I write and write and then go back and edit it down. If I don't get it all out there at first, I tend to forget stuff 2) The value to them, beyond the 15% cut, is the foot traffic and advertising that I do for them. When I go to chamber events, networking events, in my email newsletters, etc etc, I'm pushing the position of the SRPs for those refill events and for the web order pickups. The refill customers and web order customers are folks who might not have gone in their shop in the first place, so while they're waiting to place their refill order, they're wandering the aisles of the shop. It's more chances for the shop owner to sell them something else that they otherwise wouldn't have had. About the template - I don't get it. A PDF file would be useless as a template since it wouldn't be editable, right? The whole point was to put a document out there that could be edited and sent back. I'm probably missing something but I dunno what it is ...

Islandgirl: Thanx for taking a look at that for me and giving me your thoughts As for that template, it's a Photoshop document, so you'd need something than can open a PSD file - either full-blown Photoshop or Photoshop Elements I would guess.

All: I'm working on fleshing out my wholesale program - now called the Retail Partner Program I'm still working on it but I'm interested in your feedback on the direction I'm going with it. The link below isn't connected to the rest of my site yet (so the general public won't find it) but if you could look at it and give me your thoughts, I would appreciate it: http://www.madisoncandleworks.com/wholesale_info.html Thanks in advance!

I've done it many times but usually only for those events that get *some* level of visibility - free advertising isn't worth it if only 10 people see it To that end, I generally stick with donations to organizations of some size. Silent auctions for the Junior Leaque, the local hospital foundation, firefighters association, reasonable size church groups, etc. I know it makes me sound like a cheap bastid but if you give something to everyone who asks, eventually you give yourself to the bankruptcy court

I don't know that it has a particular name. I just asked her for commercial (business) insurance that included product liability. Best I can do is suggest you contact my agent. Her name is Kim Oliver and you can find her info here: http://www.anpac.com/agent_loc/Results.aspx?AL_Criteria=35758&AL_SearchBy=ZIP&AL_Criteria2=#

I buy mine from Candlewic but several other places carry them as well. Alabaster does for sure.

There is a wick tab called a Self Centering Wick Tab specifically designed for this purpose. It's almost (not quite) the same size as the bottom of the votive clamshell, so that it basically falls in place with the wick centered. The trick is to keep the actual wick centered when you pour and as the votive cools. The best way I've found is to have the wicks pre-made with the self centering tab and a pre-primed wick (I use LX-16) that is nice and straight and COLD, like from the fridge Since you have to pour into the plastic clamshells at lower temps anyway (below 140F or the clamshells will soften and melt), and this would be lower than the melt point of the primer wax that's on the wick itself, so it should stay upright on its own. Does that help?

To those that make votives in quantities for wholesale accounts: How do you make yours? Do you have piles of individual votive molds and wick pins? Do you use those metal votive molds that are attached in a row of 6 or 8? Do you make yours in the little 2-cavity plastic clamshell votive molds? I think we can all agree that making tealights is a PITA and for me, making votives isn't much better. I like the idea of the plastic clamshell votives but that's just 2 at a time. If you've been making lots of votives for resale, how do you go about it?

Talked to my agent and got a website: http://www.anpac.com/

Just as an FYI for folks out there that may have trouble locating an insurance program in the USA ... For the last year I had my insurance through the Indie Beauty Network and the insurance program they offered - same one as the Handmade Soap Guild uses. Trick is, you had to be a member of either organization to get the insurance. At the time it was quick and easy, which was what I wanted. It turns out that the IBN membership didn't do much for me beyond giving me access to insurance, so I went looking for another supplier - no point in paying the membership fees on top of the insurance costs. I'm happy to announce that American National Insurance will cover chandlers, soapers, and other handmade crafters. I got my policy here in Alabama for $350/yr with more coverage than the IBN policy, which cost me around $500/yr (membership included). American National has agents in all 50 states so you should be able to find one in your area. If you're in Alabama, Mississippi, or Tennessee, I can put you in touch with my agent, since she now understands the situation Just contact me privately if you want her info.

I'm a GW464 user myself. I use it because I can get it locally but it does have it's issues. How Laura manages to get it to have "almost no frosting" I'm not sure but it WILL frost like snubbed prom queen if you're not careful. That said, if you get your conditions and pour temps right, it's a beautiful wax to work with.

As far as I can tell, it's still what those in the Army would call a "Charlie Foxtrot" situation and not likely to get any better any time soon. I charge sales tax on every sale as if they're buying it from me locally and then asking me to ship it somewhere. I don't market to customers outside my area on purpose but the few that have come in paid my local sales tax like everyone else. I personally have no intention of jumping through hoops to collect some obscure amount of money for one customer in some town 3 states away and trying to send a check for all of $3.00 or something like that to their taxing authority.

That was uncalled for. You're entitled to your opinion based on your own experience but that doesn't make you right and the rest wrong or "inexperienced" Depending on the manufacturer of the glass, some champagne flutes and martini glasses aren't even meant to be cleaned in a dishwasher, much less withstand the heat of a candle flame. Whether or not the glass is tempered and annealed properly for the temperatures involved is the question, not how "thick" it is. The idea of the candle being "top heavy" and more subject to spills, etc certainly depends on the shape of the glasses but the typical champagne flute is on a tall stem, same as a martini glass, which definitely makes them more prone to being knocked over than a 4" diameter apothecary jar. If you wish to take those chances that's certainly your call.

For those of you who don't regularly go to the IGCA website, the NCA just released an advisory for "massage" candles: http://www.igca.net/members/NCA%20lotion%20candle%20alert%200108.pdf

IMHO, definitely a scam. If you charged the card and did your thing, just about guaranteed that it would be a stolen CC and would get charged back to you after you've shipped them somewhere at an unholy price.