beekeeper_sd

Just another example of sick people doing sick things

There must be a trick to this. I melted BCN lip balm base, added their strawberry flavor oil (which doesn't have much flavor to me even after adding some sweetner), and used a spoon to fill the tubes but it's messy and I kept having to remelt the base. Next time I'll try placing on a cup warmer or griddle but is there a better way to fill the tubes? I tried a syringe but it clogged as soon as the base started cooling.

Man, can't believe the syringe didn't work for you. Did you use a big syringe? I go to the veterinarian office and get syringes made for cattle and they work perfect. If the lip balm gets too cool, simply squirt it back into the melting pot and keep going. I can sometimes do 50 lip balms without having to remelt.

Try getting blue blueberry muffin candles with yellow beeswax and yellow FO. I could never get them blue so my hubby always made fun of them and called them "moldy muffins", they smelled wonderful but were GREEN! LOL

I prefer the beads. The last bucket I got was flakes and I find it very dusty, as Jeana said, and is harder to measure out the exact weight.

Beeswax does make very nice scented candles but I don't know that I could see any benefit to using it for tarts. Since you are not actually burning the wax in a tart, seems to me you would be wasting good beeswax.

Adding beeswax to any other wax IMHO is a waste of good beeswax. I've heard just about all the reasons to add it including: help scent throw, candle burns longer, better wicking, etc., etc. I know it personally can bring it's own problems such as cracking when cooled. Does it really actually help? I guess it really depends on who you talk to LOL!! In and of itself, 100% beeswax make beautiful candles and I don't and won't mix it with anything else.

Amen!!!

The theme from Psycho keeps going through my mind! Eek eek eek eek! What next? I want to display grandma by wax dipping her dead body and sticking a lovely decorative candle on her head and sitting her on the fireplace mantle! WOW I think your potential customer needs psychiatric care. lol

I agree with ChrisR. I have burned my candles as soon as they are completely cooled and have had no problems. Don't be intimidated with beeswax, I have always found it very easy to work with.

Have tried putting honey in lip balm also and, like kitn says, it justs mix in.

That is awesome. I was featured in Golden West's monthly newsletter so I know what a boost this is to your confidence! Congrats! Let us know how the mead soap turns out. I always put honey and beeswax in my soaps.

Being a commercial beekeeper, beeswax was my first and only choice. I love how easy it is to work with and how beautifully the candles burn.

I totally agree with SherriLynn, we don't even mess with shows that are not juried. Some of our shows cost us upwards of $240 for booth fees but we come home with $1500-$1700 for a days' work. It does take some time to weed out the shows that are not going to make you anything but it also takes a lot of guts to go for that first $100+ booth fee!

From Nature with Love gives you 5 free 1 oz. samples. Not sure if there is a minimum order to get the samples as I have ALWAYS exceeded any order limits! LOL

The baker's racks I found were at Ben Franklin Crafts but I have seen them on the internet and at Hobby Lobby. Make sure to get folding ones so you can carry them easier. Oh, and I have seen wooden folding shelves at Office Depot.

Oh, didn't mean to say you didn't look professional or anything. Your booth does look good just a little to sterile for my taste.

I also used 4' tables. After having bought and used an 8' table I found I had much greater versatility with the 4' tables. I also had two small folding bakers racks and could arrange my booth to fit just about any application. The one thing I found out over the years was that, the closer you get your products to the front of your booth, the better your sales will be.

I agree with Whisper Girl, you need some color and not so much "preciseness", if that's a word, in your display. Mix things up, set your risers on an angle on the table, set some candles on the table open, etc. Do whatever it you can to make your booth "inviting" and casual.

Find a theme and decorate your booth in that theme. My theme, since all my products are made with beeswax and honey, is of course bees. I had little bees made from jingle bells hanging from my awning, tablecloth weights made to look like bee skeps, etc. It makes for a little extra stuff you have to carry around but can really make your booth stand out and that's the most important part of selling at shows, GET PEOPLE TO YOUR BOOTH!

Totally agree with everything said here. My policy was, you buy a dozen and I will give you the 13th free. However, if someone did buy a large amount of products or was a repeat customer of large amounts I would often give them a discount. You are always going to find someone who wants something for nothing. I too have given people directions to WalMart and told them good luck.

Great video. Mind if I ask what kind of mold you're using?

I used two electric roasters for several years. They work pretty good and are "water jacketed".

My husband made a banner holder for our indoor shows out of electrical conduit. Using straight conduit and screw-type elbows we formed an arch that we would hang the banner from the top of the arch with cable ties. As a base I enlarged the drain hole in two large clay flower pots, set a length of larger diameter conduit through the drain hole so that the conduit stuck out the bottom of the pot, then filled the flower pots with plaster of paris. When set up, the flower pots sat upside down on the floor, the smaller diameter conduit arch set into the conduit in the flower pots and the banner hung from the top bar of the arch. Then, since my products were all made with beeswax or honey, I painted the flower pots to look like bee skeps.

Does any of this make sense? It wasn't perfect in that it could be a little unstable unless it was up against the wall but it did work.

Sounds like sour grapes "no name". I too consider myself a sucess story as does my husband and family so I guess I'll be satisfied with that. Kind of feel sorry for someone who has to try to make others feel less to make themselves feel better. Good luck with that "sucess" no name!

I did it! My husband and I are commercial beekeepers and I quit my job as a legal assistant because I felt I was not devoting enough time to my business to make it work. I did a craft show practically every summer weekend and had a website selling my products. Quiting my 8-5 allowed me to expand my product line and, with every item I added to my line, I found new a whole new customer base. Within 2 years I had completely replaced my salary. I could have probably done so sooner but I put a lot of money back into my business every year.

It can be done but it is a lot of hard work and, believe me, you won't be able to do with just internet sales. You have to get out there and physically sell your products. Craft shows are a lot of work but also can be a lot of fun and you meet the nicest people in the other vendors.

I did all my own photography and it was challenging but, once I figured it out, really kind of fun. The most important part I found out, and that's why my ealiest pictures didn't turn out well, is lighting.

I bought a cheap, clamp on utility light (the kind with the silver reflector), would clamp it on the back of a chair, drape some material under and behind my products, place the products at different heights with colored boxes and tins, and add things like small rocks, nice small silk flowers, etc. and snap away with my digital camera. Would sometimes take 6-8 pictures of each product and compare until I came up with the best ones.

It's kind of fun seeing the results.

P.S. notice my profile picture, I took that one! Also, don't forget to light yoiur candles when you take the picture, it makes a big difference.

OMG Look at all the time I wasted learning to make the perfect candle when all I had to do was have a candle party with my girlfriends! I LOVE parties!!!!