heather_dw

I mainly do the Cpop because it's faster. It's bad enough having to wait 4 weeks..LOL

well, at least it lathers nice and smells good :-) Im still trying hard to get people to try my soap so I am still in the "giving away" phase :-) Usually when they get something free they dont complain about color

Well, here is my 5th CPOP scented Georgia Peach (yummy) I thought I was being smart mixing yellow oxide and red oxide but as you can see, I really didnt get an orange.. I used alot of yellow to trying to fix it but oh well.. it still smells good :-)

still no response..how long does it take to hear from this guy...

ugh, I have the worst luck :-(

My oldwillknott scale kicked the bucket after only 3 months and I am supposed to be making candles for a party on friday and a show next saturday. the display wont even come on and its plugged in and everything anyone else ever had trouble with their scale they got off ebay from oldwillknott? I sent him a message yesterday but no response..

wow,.. all those are super cute!

Wow, that actually looks really nice~ I would be willing to test that baby for ya,..LOL

awww thanks guys

Not sure if this is int he right forum, but I saw a lady at a show who stored her incense in these tins and sold it by the stick. I thought that was a great idea.. She didnt make hers though, she bought everything already made.. anyone know where i can get something similar to tins like these? http://www.mysoremarvel.com/html/Incense%20square%20metal%20tin.htm

i get almost all of my Scents at Nature's garden. They are usually pretty fast and I havent had a problem like the one you had, but I am glad she is taking care of it :-)

the thing about "being nice because other chandlers are nice to you" doesn't really apply in this situation. She constantly badmouths me and my products to anyone that will listen.. So even though it was really hard to send someone her way, I think it was the right thing to do :-) She will get her come-uppance eventually I hope.

thanks :-) I've been sitting here wondering if I did the right thing or not,.. glad to know that you think I did :-)

wow, just when I thought you could not get any busier!

A person called looking for me. She said that they got my number through city hall. They were looking for some weird dragon thing that blew smoke?? I knew where she meant and it was my direct candle nemesis! She has tons of tacky crap..lol I told her that it must have been the competition that she saw at the fall festival and she said that she only saw the one booth, which meant that she didnt even see mine. Not sure how she would have missed it but thats another subject,..lol I didnt want to give this lady the competition's number but the lady said she wanted the dragon for a birthday present. I mentally cringed and then looked up the number for her. ugh.. I knew it would be bad karma if I pretended I could not find that number. Hopefully the universe will send me some good vibes..lol

well, as for the prices, I really should be charging more, but people around here wont pay it. My competitor sells for 6 and next show season ill probably bump to 5.. I just hope they dont get upset.. some of them scoff at 4.50..lol we are in a very rural area and they just think "wow, i can just get one at the dollar store in almost the same jar for a buck" right now, im leaving the prices like that to get people to try my candles as opposed to hers, know what I mean? I make more of a profit margin on the bigger items like bears and incense (when i get it all done) and the soap if I can get people to buy it. Im hoping to get some happy customers that will try the other items, if that makes sense

Pretty! Nice curls/shreds!

yeah, the soap display was just kinda put together at the last moment.. Im already thinking of displays for the 22nd. I hate the table sheets I have now,.. they look too sloppy but I am going to work on it. Also, i need to make more room in the booth but i really dont think there is room for another table. I didnt bring a dipped bear or the fish soaps to this show, if I had they wouldnt have fit on the tables anyways.. any suggestions?

Wow,.. i should get me some of those.. maybe if I package my soap with them, people will try my soap, Candle customers seem hesitant to try the soap for some reason :-/

yeah,.. ill probably still make soap no matter what. It's so fun :-) Good thing it is not perishable,..LOL

Very pretty! Im still too chicken to try a water discount though..lol I havent made soap in over a month.. i couldnt find lye and then I was so busy getting ready for shows,.. maybe tonight after supper,...lol I want to do a georgia peach but i am running low on soy shortening and im putting off spending any more money..LOL

And then to top of my day Saturday.. a beautiful sunset :-)

Well, forgive me if this is a bit long, but thought you guys might want to hear how my last 2 weekends went. The first weekend (the 16th-18th) started off rainy and cold. I was ticked off to see another candle person set up across from me. I was so mad because the organizer put me in this building because there were no other candlemakers in it. Well, she had a bunch of candles but they were all just flat on the tables,.. no displays. The candles looked manufactured to me. Well, she came over and asked "do you make all these?" when i responded yes, she just laughed and said "I just buy and resell all mine"! Well, Friday was just awful, but of course it was the slow day of the show too. Mom came on Saturday and was selling like a champ! She stood outside the booth for a while and when people lingered she would say "soy candles,... they smell great... blah blah... here smell this one its my fave" and she was pulling people in. After that, we decided that whenever anyone lingered, I would pop out and say "ohh you have to smell this one, its my favorite of the day and I have been asking people to smell it to see if they agree with me" Then I would go on to say how it is so hard to pick a favorite because there are so many yummy ones to choose from,..lol Saturday we sold a ton! it was great! Sunday went okay but we still went home with more than 300 bucks (which is about 3 times my usual profit for a small show like this) The best part was that there were 5 candlemakers in this small show! 3 of them were soy (including my nemesis), a home interiors and this lady across from me who had "log cabin candles" (whatever that is). I was worried about the show on the 24th because every time I mentioned to people that I would be selling next weekend, nobody knew what event was going on until I told them. It wasnt advertised at all. We were also hoping that the rain from Rita would hold off. Well it did, but it was super hot.. in the 90's with high humidity. It was super slow and I told my mother that if I could sell 2 cases, I would consider it a success. Well My nemesis was there of course.. I swear she must have had over 1000 jelly jar soy candles.. she just had one tiny strip of label for the scent name and no warning labels!:rolleyes2 She also started telling people that she "made her tartburners". Her stuff is from that SMC company) or whatever it is called) where you pay to become a member so you can buy their stuff for cheap and resell it.. Needless to say, there is no way she could have been making these things.. Well.. day went on and I started seeing alot of regulars,.. all my pumpkin pie and candy corn candles went first of course,.. just like the weekend before! I had a lady ask for 7 tartburners for christmas presents (so now I need to order from Jackel,..grrr minimum order kills me). Also, a lady I knew was gushing over the candles and how cute the jars were and asked me if I would put a small seasonal display of candles in her Flower shop on consignment! she said that she gets alot of teenagers and just people who need a small quick gift and she says that even though she doesnt imagine it will generate a super amount of sales, she said it would be great for those people and my regulars who would like to just walk into a store and buy one of my candles. Neat :-) I am supposed to take her some candles this week. One of my buddies from the Chamber of commerce came to talk to me and ask me how I did. She proceeds to tell me that my nemesis is telling people that on the previous weekend, she made 300 less than usual and on the current show, she only made 1/4th of what she usually makes. I just smiled and said.. "well I'm doing great, so can;t complain"..lol I feel that I made a few really good contacts these last 2 weeks and I am really hoping that this is the start of a incline/increase for my business and a sort of decline for my nemesis. Bruce knows this lady and says that she is always nosing asking if his sales are down because hers are. He says that she probably is not getting the return customers :-) Bruce knows what he is talking about so I hope she is right. I sold alot of candles and people were even starting to understand what the clamshell melts were for. I guess my small little town is catching up with the world :-) The only thing I could not sell was my CP soap. They were all very impressed when they found out it was made with lye and took 4 weeks to cure etc, but they didnt get any. I think I just need a better display. I just kinda had them in a basket. My mom says that I shouldnt really have soap unless im doing lots of B&B stuff like lotions and stuff but I really dont plan on getting into all that.. Looking at the pics, my booth looked kinda crappy but I think next year I will have some sort of covering that doesnt look as sloppy as those sheets. Not sure what exactly though :sweat: I really need to find a way to generate more display space without going out of my 10x10 :-)

Wow, that is very pretty!

I have been using the "left over wax" I get for pours to pour into jars,.. ive got a few of them now and I wonder if anyone has tried to sell these? I know there may be a few customers out there that think it is neat, but I dont want to seem weird when I tell them I have no idea what all the scents in the candle layers are,..LOL