racolvin

The way I understand it, frosted jars were very prone to retaining any soot produced, meaning they were impossible to get clean. Anyone that uses frosted jars that can comment on that?

You're a braver person than I am, I can tell you that. I've been asked in the past to do candles in glasses like that and I've flatly refused. Both would be very top heavy and prone to tip over/spill at the slightest bump of the surface they're on when burning. The glass they're made from is usually delicate and not tempered for use with the heat ranges that a burning candle produces. The liability issues just give me the screaming heebie-jeebies ...

Just to let everyone know, I did hear back from Becky at JS .. Apparently the look/feel of the FO is correct, so I didn't get a bad batch or anything. It's supposed to look like balsamic vinegar and it's very heavy. Her advice was to pre-warm the oil before adding it to my batch, as having the oil warm to begin with helps it to be incorporated into the liquid wax. I'm curious if the rest of you come across these oils that should be "pre-warmed" before adding. This is the first oil I've ever used that looked like this and had this requirement. Have I just been extremely lucky or does this happen more regularly than I'm aware of?

Sadly it's a crap shoot... If you use an Inkjet printer for your crystal clear labels, the ink put down on the label is never thick enough on its own to stand out against strongly colored candles. Pastel colors work best if you can do it. Otherwise, the best I've been able to do with it is to make sure the colors in the label are very "contrasty" with the candle color. My biggest wish is to find a way to print in White ink somehow...

Has anyone else ever used this FO from this supplier before? I ordered some recently - my first order from JS - because I had a customer specifically request this fragrance. When I received the bottle and started my testing, I couldn't (and still can't) get over how heavy and dark it is. I've been making candles for 7 years and I've never seen one like this before. It's almost like balsamic vinegar its so dark. The smell of it is nice enough I suppose but working with it has been a PITA. It almost refuses to blend and bind with my soy wax (GW464). If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. If I can't get it to work I'll have to tell my customer that she's just out of luck, since I haven't been able to find this FO from anyone else. Ronnie P.S. - I did email Becky at JS just now, so we'll see what she says as well.

How do you handle that from a purchasing/logistical perspective? By that I mean, it takes as long for me to make a single 16oz candle as it does for me to make four of the same thing. So if I spend X amount of time making a single black colored vanilla candle but I also have orders for 3 more of the regular white vanilla candle, do you just write off the lost productivity? That's kind of where I'm approaching this from actually. Custom colors for single orders consume both my time and my economies of scale, so it seemed right to charge for that. I give them the option of paying extra for the custom, which offsets my lost time and productivity, or they can pay less and get the standard color that I may already have in stock or that I can make several of at the same time that I could put into inventory to be ready for the next order. I realize it sounds like I'm picking at nits but given the fluctuating costs of materials, the time and effort, etc, it doesn't seem unreasonable to charge extra for the "custom" approach.

I'm curious what you folks think about charging for "customizations" Right now I have a preferred default color for my candles and I color all of them except the ones that I do as "natural/white", meaning no color added. As an example, I color my "Christmas Tree" a dark green, while my "Birthday Cake" is left as the natural/white color of the wax. I do charge extra if they want a candle in a color other than my default, since that qualifies as a "custom" job that I can't guarantee will sell to anyone else. For example, if someone wanted a French Vanilla candle colored in Black, I would charge extra for that since I couldn't make a couple extra for inventory purposes - no one else would want a black colored vanilla candle I am considering going to the natural/white color (non-colored) as my default for all fragrances and having *any* color as a custom, extra-charge, item. I know some of you don't do colors at all, so I'm interested in hearing the group opinions about this sort of approach.

There is one key thing that I *HATE* about PayPal shipping - they insist that they take money out of your PayPal cash balance before anything else. I have a credit card on file on my account and for accounting purposes I would MUCH rather have any shipping charges to towards the credit card. Having talked with them on the phone about it, they told me to empty out my cash balance before doing any shipping labels and my credit card would show up as a funding option, but if there is any cash in my account they'll take that first, no matter what. It really screws things up with deposits and expense tracking, so I don't often use the PayPal shipping option. Which is a bummer because I do like the convenience of it.

I can't get the smell off my hands! Had to clean out my pour pot with like a dozen paper towels and I can still smell it on my hands. I washed them like 3 times with soap, then with vinegar, then soap again and it's STILL there! Kill me ... kill me now

Completely and utterly REEKS! OMG I dunno how I got talked into making one of these candles but oh my heavens what a stench. If anyone ever asks you for a candle that smells like Deer Pee and you just *have* to try it, this is a good one but be prepared to air out your workshop for a week after making them. And for heavens sake, if you make candles in your home or basement, don't do it!

I tried 464 in the votive and tart clamshells - not a good idea. The 464 is too soft and won't come out of the molds without a fight, which destroys them.

I use the Cranberry color crystals from Makes Scents for my Cranberry Spice candles.

I specifically offer a Local Delivery option on my website, for a fee. I deliver with a lovely gift bag and printed tissue paper, etc. But I charge for that service and in fact just recently had to go up on that, with gas prices rising. I only do deliveries once a week (Wednesdays) so I can make a day of it doing the deliveries and try to optimize my gas usage. As an example, I charge $5 for local delivery and by doing them all on the same day and doing the route planning properly, I actually come out very profitable on the deliveries. I might have $60 in delivery charges for 12 orders, but total gas cost was maybe $15 if I do it right. I try to deliver to workplaces as much as possible, since residential could take you just about anywhere. I do reserve the right to ship or change the delivery location if I don't feel safe going into that area. If I don't feel safe going to a certain place and the shipping is more expensive, I'll eat the difference and ship it.

When I made chunk votives I would use complimentary scents. Make a pound of chunks, say in Peach (both color and FO), then make up a pound of French Vanilla (no color) and use that as the overpour, created a Peaches & Cream chunk votive. Dunno if that helps you at all tho

I bought some of those Wick Stick things and ended up throwing them away. 1) The rectangular bit on top would slide around at the slightest provocation, sending things off-center during the first pour 2) Soy wax wouldn't come out of the hollow center of the tube well 3) The manufacturer claims that the wick+wicktab are held in place by the weight of the wax. In practice, when the wax gets soft toward the bottom, the wick moves around and gets off-center, making things ugly with the jar. So I tossed them completely and wrote it off as a learning experience

2 7/8"? That's about as close to 3" as makes no difference Is it a cylindrical container? If so, a single LX22 or 24 should work fine. I use a single LX24 in my 3.25" jars with no trouble at all, but then my wax is GW464

I get mine from Wickman Products (http://www.wickmanproducts.com) They're nice and sharp for cutting raw wick and they have catch tray area on both sides of the cutting edge. They come in a nice gift box as well.

5.5 yrs now. Wish Pam lived here so I could get her to paint on my jars

Are you trying to print color all the way out to the edges, or even overprint the edges just a bit? If so, I can sympathize with your frustration. I use a Canon printer (MP830) and have pretty good luck with it but variations in how the little rollers grab the paper and feed it through can put off your label alignment by a millimeter or 2 on any given sheet. Unfortunately there just isn't much that can be done about that. It's maddening I know. I ended up having part of my labels professionally printed but the design was such that a strategic white space was left open. So I have all these labels that have the exact same thing printed professionally, then I just run them through my printer to put the size and fragrance name on them. That way the alignment issues are nowhere near as frustrating. I do wish you luck!

I used http://www.superiorgiftwrap.com for my bags. Keith was very nice and helpful to work with. For the printed bags at least he was much cheaper and lower minimum quantities required.

I have a wholesale account that has carried the GANZ line of candles and this is one of the fragrances she sells a good number of during the holidays. Does anyone know of a dupe of this or if it is something normal that's just renamed? It dang sure smelled familiar but I couldn't place it. TIA!

lol .. yea but when I search google for "hydrogenated cottonseed oil" I get piles and piles of oleochemistry information but nobody that actually wants to sell a few lbs of it

My understanding is that the stuff Soapers Choice sells is liquid cottonseed oil, not hydrogenated/semi-solid stuff - is that correct?

In contemplating the idea of going with a paraffin-soy blend in the future for my container candles, I would want my paraffin to come in bead form just to make it easier on me, so that's why I'm asking Thanx everyone for the info so far!

I'm looking for, I think, a supplier for hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil. It's my understanding that cottonseed oil is sometimes used in soaping, so I thought I would ask you folks in here Does such a beast exist and if so, where would be a good place to order a small quantity for testing? TIA!