kat88

I use spooled wick (more cost effective) and coat them which, for me, has been pretty simple and not too time consuming.

I've played w/adding FO's at low & high temps just to see what effect it would have on the throw. I found that in GW 474 if I add the FO at 170 deg., I can actually use quite a bit less FO and still achieve a great CT & HT, quite to my surprise!

I too am searching and searching (have spent numerous hours-literally) trying to find affordable eco-friendly packaging. I do have some companies working quotes and will let all of you know if anything turns up here. I recently told my boyfriend, if I do end up selling my eco-friendly candles, wrapping them in plastic would defeat the purpose.

I have some that I need to get rid of if anyone is interested.

Steph

Steph,

How many do you have and what part of the country are you in due to shipping charges. Man, these shipping charges are killing all of us even on the little things.

Thanks, Steph!

Type of Soy or Soy Blend you use? GW 444 & 474

Additives if any? stearic acid (only if needed)

Preferred dyes? Dye Blocks

Preferred wick (Not sizes)? CSN (Candlescience)

Pouring temp you recommend? 140 for 444, 150 for 474

What you do to prevent frosting? Nothing, hasn't been a problem thus far

What you do to prevent rough tops? Nothing, like the natural look

Do you do anything to prevent wet spots? Nothing, not a problem

I use the 444 and love it. I've been able to achieve beautiful smooth tops and good throw. Although, I know some have had trouble with the tops, I pour at 140 deg.

I've used nothing but CSN wicks and have had really good success with them. However, I use soy wax. For my votives, I use the CSN 7 and it works great! The CSN 5 may work well but like others have said, you'll just need to try it and see. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Sorry, Stella! Yes, I agree, maybe for personal use but NEVER to sell and yes, the R&D, headaches and so on....

I use both the 416 & 474 along with wick screws and have not had any problems with this. I love the 474 and have had great success with it, 416, I don't care for the cold pour. Good luck!

Stella, that is pretty neat and I like the tin, but, I agree, it had to be a long road for R&D. And, why pay $20 for a massage candle when you can buy massage oils that are ready to use? This is a nice concept but I think too many people don't have the proper common sense to use properly!

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that posted on this thread! All of you have been so helpful and it's great to know I have a place to get advice/tips from such good people! I've learned alot from your tips and advice!

I'm w/ Bizzy on this one. It took MANY yrs for this to sink in my thick skull, but pulling down the fo load actually gave me a far better throw than trying to max it out. So, just because a wax CAN hold 11%, doesn't mean you'll get the best results if you do. I look at fo loads kinda like a Victoria's Secret catalog ... just cause they offer super skimpy short shorts in any size larger than a 0, doesn't mean you'll get the best results when you max them out!!

Susan.

Susan,

I love your Victoria's Secret analogy! I recently made a batch for my personal use/liking using only 3/4 tsp of CSN Moon Lake Musk just to see what happened. I arrived at 3/4 tsp because it had a very nice light scent while mixing in the wax - Yes, I do know this is not necessarily the best/correct way to figure FO amounts but, hey, ya never know until ya try it. Actually, these candles had a wonderful light scent that filled both my living room and kitchen! I was very pleasantly surprised at the CT & HT at this low amount of FO but it worked in this case! I've made other batches with the same wax & FO but at larger amounts FO and did not achieve the quality CT & HT that the lower amount did. I also adjusted the temp at which I added FO which, actually, may have been the reason for increased CT & HT in this case.

Have you already purchased your foudational equipment for making a large amount of candles? Be sure to have some sort of a business plan written.

Attend several shows and see where you'll stand with compition in your area. Buy and test some of their candles, This will give you an idea of where you are going to settle in when you debute to the public.

Look around at shome of the shops and who is carrying candles and what brand.

Watch the prices of your supplies and make sure you are able to survive the increases in price of wax, jars, F/O.

Keep in mind that we are not in a good econemy right now and people are holding tight to their money.

These are just a few things to keep in the forefront of your mind. Do the research and then decide.

Fire

Thank you! And yes, I do have everything I need to work large batches and have been purchasing candles along the way, comparing products and prices, have my business plan, etc. So, I guess I'm pretty well on my way but have no plans to start yet as I have other things to take care of such as more testing, filing business structure, etc.

Thanks again.

As far as I know.. the LLC is not a tax paying entity. Profits, losses etc. flow directly through and are reported on the individual members tax returns.

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/Forms/BusinessServices/533.pdf

Above is a link with the Ohio SOS information for you.

Since I am not from Ohio, I am not sure how all of their procedures work..

Maybe you can give them a call...

ETS: No renewal fee's that I am aware of..

Island Girl, thank you so much! My boyfriend & I are preparing to start an LLC for a totally different business in which we will be partners, however, when I eventually do the candle business, it will be on my own. We have done so much searching for forms and specific information on the LLC and never came across this link! And I'm usually able to find anything on the internet that I'm looking for, may take some weeding thru the usual junk, but eventually find it. Thanks a million! We were pretty sure we were going to use LegalZoom to prepare our LLC. But this has alot of the information & verbage for which we had been searching. You're awesome!

Talk to an accountant and see what s will work best for your business, and make sure your personal assets are covered.

One of the biggest benefits of creating any type of legal entity as opposed to a sole proprietorship or general partnership is the liability protection.

If someone (visitor, merchant, affiliate network, or whomever) sues your legal entity, you are not personally liable. However, if you are just operating as a sole proprietorship or general partnership they can potentially take all your personal assets (car, house, etc.)

You can incorporate your business yourself by going to your states website.

It cost me $125.00 to become and LLC ~ (disregarded entity).

Island Girl, Thank you for your concern and information. I do know that the LLC is better protection for personal assets but was concerned about extra start up costs. Although, in the long run, I realize it could definitely be worth it! What are the basic costs of maintaining an LLC such as renewals, filing fees, things of that nature, not the typical business expenses of s&h, taxes, etc., just the LLC? Thank you!

I am in Ohio and thinking of eventually expanding my candlemaking hobby to selling (homebased business only). Does anyone have any suggestions on whether I should start with a sole proprietorship? I know the differences between sole proprietorship, llc, etc. and have already researched insurance, state laws, etc. I only want this to be a small homebased business with retail/wholesale sales enough to support my love of this craft and maybe come close to break even point. Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Now, keep in mind, I don't think this would be illegal as the Nat'l Candle Assoc. wants us to use these symbols. If you go to the bottom of their page where it reads "Introducing the New Look...", you can right click on each picture and either save or copy them into MSWord or something. I tried it and it worked.

Thanks!

Where is a good place to get a VARIETY of colors, like a sample pack or something like that? Most places I seen you have so buy so many of 1 color, I want a couple different colors to try first!

I don't use the dye chips but the dye blocks and believe only difference is that w/the blocks you have to cut/break them up. Which, for me, is no problem. I get mine from Candlescience and 1 dye block colors up to 5 lbs. of wax. So, for 89 cents to color up to 5 lbs. of wax, I thought was a pretty good deal especially just starting out. Candlescience has several colors available in the blocks and I've had no problem with them at all.

Which wick did you decide on for these votives? I just got this wax and and bunch of new wicks and am ready to test

I currently use CSN wicks. On the votive, I used CSN 9 but should have wicked up one size. I have about 7-8 hours in this votive with probably 4-5 more hours left. I would like to get at least 15 hrs out of my votive but not sure if that is going to work for me yet on this one. I'll keep you posted. I used CSN Moon Lake Musk and since this was just for me, I decided to go light on the FO (3/4 tsp.) For this low amount of FO, I'm getting a good CT & HT that is just a good light aroma filling my kitchen and living room. Honestly, can't believe that you could even smell it with this low amount but, it worked for me. I do love working with the 474 wax. I tried the 416 and found that I do not like pouring at low temps, just don't have the patience for it. Good luck!

I have read many threads on wicking and the best tip was to cut a card board circle of the bottom of the jar and mark the center, I then put my wick on the center mark and draw around it

Then i needed a way to make sure I was positioning the cardboard circle evenly every time under the jar

here is my tip

I made a mold of the bottom of the jar with tin foil, just wrappped it around the bottom of the jar to form a sort of cup -then insert the card board circle with the wick center circle drawn on it

All i do is set each jar inside this tinfoil mold and then using a straw to hold my wick, place it on top of my drawing that I can see through the jar bottom.

Hope this is helpful !

What a great idea, so simple & handy!

Kathy

I am in Ohio and thinking of maybe expanding my candlemaking hobby to selling (homebased business only). Does anyone have any suggestions on whether I should start with a sole proprietorship? I know the differences between sole proprietorship, llc, etc. and have already researched insurance. I only want this to be a small homebased business with desired sales of $5,000.00/year or less. Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

May I strongly suggest you pick one to start with? Starting with that list is enough to give you a coronary before you get just one of them fully tested. If you buy multiple shapes and sizes to start with thinking you'll just pick one at the beginning, before you know it, you'll have one of each (and usually multiple FOs as well) sitting there saying to yourself... what a mess! Been there, done that

Best advice I've ever seen given anywhere on this forum is to start simple. One shape, one size, a couple FO's. When it's fully tested, pick another size.

Satin, Excellent advice! When I first decided to try candlemaking and found Candlescience and their great prices, I was so tempted to just load up my shopping cart! But, fortunately, it was before Christmas so, I had to be careful w/$. Also, I know how I am when it comes to a new hobby or idea and get myself in way over my head immediately. So, I took it slow w/2 waxes, two molds, wick sampler pack and 3-4 FO's. Thank goodness I did! Because at that time, I had no clue how much testing and re-adjusting pour temps, FO amounts, wick sizes......oh how you all know the list goes on:grin2: . However, I am so glad I got into making soy candles and absolutely love it, well, let's just say I'm a soy candle addict now. ALSO, THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR GREAT ADVICE AND TIPS!!!!

Too bad there wasn't a grant we can get to cover the cost of R&D. HaHa:highfive: People keep bugging me to sell but I want everything to be right when that time comes. I think that testing will be an ongoing effort as long as we make candles.

Ah, yes, GRANTS WOULD BE GREAT, wouldn't they?! I just started making candles in mid December and I'm hooked! I would like to eventually sell and already have some candles that are doing very well, quite to my surprise! But, I've already spent alot more money on this stuff than I thought I would in this short of time! But, hey, it's fun and therapeutic, for me anyway. Although, it does get frustrating at times.

I've been using V-1 for my votives and tarts. Starting out, it worked like a dream. Poured beautifully, released wonderfully from the molds, smooth as silk. Lately, though, I've been having issues with cracking big-time, and nothing I've tried seems to help. I'm running low on wax and am going to have to order more, and I thought I'd see if there were other options out there - I'm loath to invest in a case of V-1 only to have it keep wigging out on me.

So, I've tried the V-1. I've also tried the RobNat palm wax from Taylored Concepts, which works well and releases nicely, but its density is less than that of the soy wax and I find tarts made with it are more prone to get banged up in shipping. Yeah, tarts are made to be melted, but no one gets excited about opening up a box of wax crumbles when they were expecting pretty star-shaped tarts.

Are there any other waxes out there that have the same easy release quality that I love about the V-1? If you know of any, or have any suggestions as to things I might could try to get the V-1 to go back to its previously well-behaved self, please, please share!!!

I use GB 474 from Candlescience. I haven't made tarts w/it yet but have made several votives. They have all litterally slide right out as they were tipped over. I love this wax!

I made my first batch of votives yesterday with GB 474. When I unmolded, they literally slid effortlessly out of the mold and have a beautiful creamy smooth texture! I love this wax! I used straight 474 to test. I will let you know more when I add FO and color. There was no need for re-pour on all but one and that was one I deliberately left unwicked. I'm going to try my boyfriend's drill press for ease of wicking and will let you know how that turns out.

Well, I just lit one of my new votives w/GW 474! I had planned on allowing to cure for at least 48 hours but, I've been sitting here at the computer and can smell it from here. Thus, I couldn't take it any longer ! I should have wicked one size up but it is still doing well considering. It has good hot throw. I used a small amount of Candlescience's Moon Lake Musk, which is well below the recommended amount and I'm surprised it has such a good throw. But, I love the scent of just a plain soy candle burning, that soft natural scent of soy, IMO, is very nice. So, I thought I'd go light on the FO and see. I think it smells very good and I notice just a hint of the soy itself throwing, which I really like. Others might not notice this but I do, guess that's just 'cause I'm hooked on making soy candles!!! I'll let you know how the burn test turns out especially considering I should have used larger wick.