RichardLOZ

TJR - just wow! I have no words. As Nightlight said, you come on here and bark at people with your first post!  Not cool at all!

You may have years of candle making experience that we are not aware of, but right now we don't know that.  Please have a bit or respect for the long term and prolific posters here who actually have a pretty good damn idea of what they are doing, and take or leave their advice at your own discretion.

Just play nicely!

As TallTayl suggested, palm does behave quite differently to other waxes. We find that the first burn is usually quite a large flame, however post that it should settle down to something much more reasonable, sometime even to the point when it gets further down the container you might wonder if you have underwicked.

Palm also generally looks as though it is tunneling, which again is pretty standard, and by the time the burn has fully completed to the base of the container, any hang should have caught up, and you should have pretty clean sides.

Hi there from Australia, and welcome!

Sounds as though you are starting small and slow which is a great way to get into this craft. I am sure that there are some other Canadian's around the forum, who may pop their heads in in due course.

10 hours ago, Lizzy said:

"too busy for all that testing" has got to be the MOST ignorant, careless and plain selfish statement ever! Blows my mind!! Whoever thinks they're "too busy" for testing shouldn't even be in this business! 

Will they still be too busy if what they made contributes to burning someone's house down........

5 hours ago, TallTayl said:

If the kid who started “mancan candles” can do it, I guess anyone can? 
 

I guess so

Yes but unfortunately due to COVID lockdowns, everyone things they are now an expert chandler and are out to make a million or two.......

Lots of people in Australia seem to be making these as well. Personally I think if I had to work with cavities that small, I would kill someone. What a painful experience to put yourself through, for I expect very little gain. The additional effort over standard melts (or mini melts in our case - 13 gram fluted) would decimate any potential profits, just to look cute!

Hey MommaD, seems like some of us are back again. Been a long time for me, but certainly enjoying being back!

3 hours ago, Soy-N-Suds said:

Be careful trying to help they usually get mad if you try to give advice. I have 21 years of candle making and learned by trial and error. I've thought sharing would spare others mistakes I've made but it didn't work that way. 🤷‍♀️

I certainly here you on that point.  I will usually just comment particularly if no one else has answered their question and leave it at that.  I have people come after my comment and totally contradict, but I just cannot be bothered going there - I do not need the drama

5 hours ago, TallTayl said:

I hear you on the “they will do what they do…” Even when I make a picture book someone will not look at it 🤷🏻‍♀️ Do your warnings just have the standard blurbs, or do you have a graphic do/don’t? 

We just use a standard text blurbs. I don't think people here would look at graphics

5 hours ago, TallTayl said:

So I test in as many abusive ways I can think of.  For the tapers I went so far as to test burn them tilted completely  sideways. Buggers burned perfectly 😂😂. It is ALWAYS  a simple draft in someone’s home that causes drama. Tapers + drafts = disaster.

 

As we are now only doing tins (although I am looking into concrete containers - just cannot help myself.... LOL) so they are not really an issue.  When we used to do a lot of jars, I used to test under all conditions, including power burns of 10+ hours just to ensure that the glass was not going to shatter.  Happy to say - so far no issues, but thats' why we also have pubic and product liability insurance to protect ourselves against the idiots
 

my heart hurts thinking I have overlooked something and someone may be harmed by my candles. it’s the tapers I worry most about.  The tins are pretty self-sufficient safetywise. The ceramic are also pretty much light and walk away. my stoneware ceramic fires at >2,000 *F, so a candle is pretty much a non issue. Glass I underwick understanding that  most people do not trim, no matter how much they claim they do. A while back I began to use a hard-to-burn wax at the bottom of containers to slow the final temp rise on the last bit. There’s not a whole lot more we can do. 🙁

 

Wow you go to great lengths to cover the lowest common denominator
 

 

We include all of the standard warnings and disclaimers on the warning label, however we also give an information sheet with each candle.  this has information about us, as well as specific instructions for burning and candle maintenance.

We do this specifically as many people have not burnt Palm candles before, so might be freaked out when they perform differently to "standard" candles.  Our tins always have a pretty large flame on the first burn, which then settles for the second and subsequent, but if people don't know this they can panic. Palm pillars should NOT be lit and left to burn all day, etc etc

We are not just in the candle business, but also the education business.

Ultimately no matter what you say or recommend, customers will do what they do, and unfortunately we do not have any influence or control once they take it home with them.

Check your pour temperature for starters.  I also found that ambient room temperature played a large part in how my tops turned out when I poured.

Its been a long time since I have worked with soy.  I am sure that there may be some others who come along with some suggestions as well.

It may also be helpful to state the wax and pour temps that you are currently using as each wax brand can perform somewhat differently.

Very sorry to hear about your husband.  Keeping busy they say is good for you and especially if it is something that you enjoy doing.

31 minutes ago, sherry said:

Hey Richard, what made you stay away for that long....

  

We moved house and where we moved to we could not get into markets as the already had a candle person, you know the story, despite that fact that what we did was very different.

We have now moved interstate and so far so good, seem to be well received, so we will see how it goes over the next few months.

Hey Sherry, and welcome back.  I have also only just returned after 7 years of not pouring anything.....

Sounds fair enough to me - and then if they still do it, a quick slap upside the head should resolve the issue 🤣

Welcome BrooklynSunshine to the wonderful, frustrating, enjoyable world of candle making. Take your time, look around, search and ask questions as needed.

We don't really worry about cure time for our Palm melts. Just got an order from an old customer last Monday.  Poured Tuesday (as we did not have that scent on hand), shipped Wednesday, arrived Thursday, and I suspect that she would have started burning Thursday night.

Candles I do like them to cure for at least 48 hours.

Yes we love working with palm, and in the Aussie heat it does hold up really well.

Ultimately I will bite the bullet and get our old scents from NG, but will worry about that sometime in the New year....

For anyone who may be interested, here is a cost template that I put together a long time ago. All fields in green can be changed.  Some of the others have formulas associated with them, so be careful.

Feedback most welcome

All prices currently in Aussie dollars, and weights in grams.  You should be able to replace those with USD & ounces if need be.

Hope this helps.

Pricing Template.xlsx

I did create an excel pricing workbook some time back when I was on the board before.  Happy to re-share that if anyone is interested? If people want it, I will create a thread on the business section.

We make our melts with Pillar Palm which as you would be aware has a pretty high melt point.  We have never had any issues in either electric or tea-light burners, and have never had any customers come back with any comments about them not melting. If palm works in pretty much any burner I don't expect that you would have any issues with what you are producing with a much lower melt point?

57 minutes ago, franu61 said:

It was pretty, but really?

 

Seems to be a thing these days, glitter and botanicals.  Why cant people appreciate a candle for a great burn and great scent. People really enjoy complicating their lives I guess?

1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

all I can do is mind MY business, stay in my lane and grow MY people. Well, and help people who find their way here make the best products they can to build a durable company that thrives. 

Yes and that's about the size of it, and exactly what we plan on doing.  At least I know that what we produce burns well, is safe and will lead to great customer satisfaction.  Already I have had an order form one of my old customers from years ago, who said she has been looking out for us since we stopped. The website has only been live for about a week, and only has about 6 products on it as we have yet to take new pictures.

Always willing to learn new things and help others where I can, but otherwise will also stay in my own lane, and try to bite my tongue on the FB groups.  I am not a prolific poster at the best of times on FB, so will just observe....

/Begin Rant

I was fliting around FB yesterday and managed to join about 5 or 6 Australian Candle making groups, and just reading some of the comments was quite concerning!

People who have never made a candle before, looking to start with Woodwicks, people chasing scents that are not available from their usual supplier for an order they have, wondering if that same scent is available from an alternate supplier, not considering that perhaps it may also be a different formulation and will need to be tested. People doing pillar candles in Vanilla and wondering why the colour is not white, then remake it only to find the same issue, then remake it again in a different scent to ensure it is white - no consultation with the customer, not testing the new scent, as typically vanilla does need wicking up, so if they used the same wick for their alternate scent......

People asking what wicks should I use in a particular jar, as they have an order to get done.

When we started, we spent at least 12 months testing, then testing again, then testing again.  Even now are almost 10 years experience doing this, we have tested each and every scent / jar combination from scratch as things have, and obviously do change.

Also went to a market on Sunday that we are thinking about attending.  Two other candle people there, both extremely cheap.  One was essentially just melt shots and clams, the other was Apothecary jars. 450 gram Apothecary jar in Soy for $20 AUD is insanely cheap.  She would have been lucky to be making $5.  All were double wicked, and it took me picking up 10 - 12 jars before I could actually find one where the wicks were reasonably centered. I mean really! If I have a candle where the wick in not centered for any reason, it does not make it on to the stall.  it does not get gifted to friends and family. It could be bloody dangerous and damage something or cause fire in the worst case scenario.

So much has changed since we last produced candles, however it looks like more fly by nighters and people out to make a quick buck have increased.  Maybe COVID drove everyone stir crazy, so they all thought - I have a great idea! I will make candles to sell and will not have to work a normal job any longer.....

/End Rant