RichardLOZ

She is too modest. if you do want to have a "closer look at my darling other half" (and me also), just put a pic up in the faces of candletech thread. Dont let it damage your screens though. My pic not hers

Dustpuppy Yes we do have our own suppliers here, all 2 of them Makes for loads of choice....LOL. Tarrifs & duties etc can be avoided as long as the order is below $1000 AUD, so we are quite lucky there. I guess if we grow to a point where we are bringing way more in, that may change somewhat though.

Yes Dustpuppy shipping is indeed expensive. $53.95 USD for 13 x 1 lb bottles of oil, which at the moment isnt too bas as the aussie dollar is strong against the US dollar so it works well for us. I am just dreading when the dollar weakens once again as then it will become very expensive. Ahh such is life.

Yes I know that dilemma. We were not planning on anything this Saturday as I was working in the morning. Got a call Wednesday night about a cancellation locally for a craft show and knocked it back due to work. In the city yesterday and work on Saturday is canceled. We are now going to do Fairfield market on Saturday and another craft market at Blackheath on Sunday. We did Leura a few weeks back with our gazebo and it probably got to about 28 / 29 degrees. We survived as long as there is no direct sunlight on the soy. Also if I recall you use Ecosoya? We are using a 464 / palm blend which lowers the melt point so it does not hold up as well as the Ecosoya, but both the hot and cold throw are amazing and way stronger that I have experienced with the Ecosoya. HTH

Dustpuppy That is a great idea and one that I have considered and put on the back burner for the time being. The problem would be, would there be enough interest here to sell an entire pallet of jars. Unfortunately we do not have the population, hence the market that you guys have over there. I may however consider bring in some oils to sell here, as the range that is available is pretty dismal. Cheers Richard

Hey there Koala We are actually thinking about doing the Christmas fair at Gosford showground on December 5th I think. Have to ring and find out some details about it, and of course it would be great to know just what the weather is going to be doing on that day. Wednesday this week we did Penrith market and luckily managed to get an undercover spot. I think the temperature hit about 32, and some of the soy jars had just started to sweat. Not too much you can do about that I guess except hope for the best. You should do Maitland market. No doubt you have been there and it is huge. We may consider that one next year after we have a break through Jan & Feb. No point even trying to take soy out through those two months. We leave home with solid wax and bring liquid back......LOL All the best with your market this Sunday. I sure know about the last minute stuff, as I seem to do that all the time

We generally use hot glue, which works really well for soy. We have had some minor issues with palm as it is poured way hotter than the soy, so to some degree what you use may also depend on the wax that you are using also.

Ashleylynn We make mainly apothecary jars using a soy / palm blend. We find that most scents work very well single wicked with a CDN 22 and some of the heavier scents we go up to a CDN 24. Generally I dont double wick for two reasons. 1) I am inherently lazy and 2) I dont really like the look. We generally do 10 oz apothecary jars although have done the 16 oz from time to time. You do still have some time to pour and test, although I would really limit yourself to only 2 or 3 scents at most. Pour each scent using your wick of choice and then burn #completely# right to the bottom of the jar. Ensure that the sides of the jar self clean as the candle burns down and that you dont get any sooting around the top rim of the jar. Some soot may be acceptable, although that depends on yourself. Personally I dont like it and if I get any visible sooting at all, I will try a different wick until I do get a clean burn. A 16 oz apothecary is going to burn for somewhere around 60 - 80 hours depending on scent, so you sure have a bit of testing to do. As I said you do have the time to go ahead and make something nice for Christmas. Be patient, limit your scent selection, select your wicks carefully and test test test until you are happy. HTH

Hi there. You should be good to go after 24 hours. Once the candle has set completely and is completely cold it should be just fine to lid and pack. All the best Richard

Koala You know what? I would love to, however after we had setup on Wednesday we realised that we had not in fact brought the camera....LOL. We are doing markets both Saturday and Sunday this coming weekend, so will try to get some decent pics to post. Sunday is just a small craft market and we will probably only get one table. To display all of our stuff generally uses 4 tables, so Sunday will definitely be a challenge. Cheers Richard

Trapp We can get the standard apothecary, melting pot, bulb, metro & honeypot jars and thats about the extent of it. We have gone out and sourced the jelly jars (which people here just dont get and think its jam (jelly to you guys)). I can get the Libby jars, but there is a 16 week wait for them as they have to be shipped and they work out at around $4.00 AUD each jar. Genuine US mason jars are also available, but again work out to around $5.00 AUD each. People just wont pay the price we would have to charge to order those jars in. Dont even go to things like the rusty lids with handles for the apothecary jars. We would love to get some of those, however it would mean increasing our prices by $4 - $6 AUD to cover the cost of the lid and the shipping. It is so unbelieveably frustrating to see what you guys have available to you compared to what we are able to get. This is why we have started to bring our oils in direct. We have 2 suppliers here who have about 120 oils between them. NG has close to 600 odd, not consider BCS, BCN, Candlewic etc etc and we have access to literally 1000's of oils. We want to be different to all of the other chandlers here and so far we appear to be actually quite successful in that regard. A market we did on Wednesday here went very well for us, despite fighting 32c heat (about 100 F I think). Out rusty tins sold really well, as did some of the rusty tin products we brought in from the states. Not too many other people here do the apothecary jars, probably because they are such a pain to wick and the others cant be bothered. No one else does the jelly jars, but I think we are going to have to push those somewhat as people dont know what they are. We take a lot of pride in the way both our product and out market stall looks. Most of the other people selling look to have made no effort at all in their presentation, and lets face it the first thing a customer sees is the look. Another woman was there on Wednesday selling some soy jars, clams and some B&B product. I dont think she sold too much based on the almost filthy look she gave Tracy as they passed each other on the way to the bathroom. Sorry I missed the look it would have been priceless. Her own fault I reckon for not going to the effort to make her product look great. For all we know it could be miles better than what we do, but based on presentation a customer may not think that way. Thanks for you kind comments on the things we are making, however some of the stuff I have seen of yours, particularly over on the Bittter Creek board are a real inspiration. As I dont use any BC products (at the moment anyway, but am hanging to try some of their oils) I cant really post over there, just read. How I would love to do the firestarters and some of the melts with embeds and stuff, but people here I dont think would pay the price. Most people really have no idea as to how much time and effort goes into producing some of these things. We have gained so many idea from various people here on this board and I do thank everyone for that. Hopefully as our experience increases we will be also able to inspire and help other people as they start this very long and expensive journey down the wax melting path All the best Richard

Interestingly enough, for us here in Australia it is actually cheaper even with the shipping to bring our oils in. Locally a 1 lb bottle of oil ranges from about $24 through $32 AUD. Our last order from NG oils came in at aroung $20.50 AUD including the shipping. I only wish that I could get jars chipped cheaply as the selection we have here is pretty ordinary. The other thing we get shipped is all of the rusty tin stuff, jar toppers, stars, hears, wire, punched tin warmers as there is nowhere here in Aus to get it, so we dont have too much choice. I just work out the cost of each item including the shipping and add 100% for selling at markets. BTW, we sell a 10oz jelly jar, palm for $16 at markets, 10oz apothecary, soy for $16 at markets and they both range between $10 - $13 wholesale depending on the customer, so we dont do too badly I guess. Cheers Richard

Very nice first candle. I shudder to remember what our first ones were like Cheers Richard

Wow, thats even way more expensive than we pay down here in Australia. I think that our dollar is about the same value against the US dollar as your is, so at the moment buying from the US for us is at least 30% cheaper than buying locally, and that includes the shipping. Cheers Richard

You want to see the shipping from the US to Australia!!! 13 lb of oils is $53.95 and our last order of rusty tin stuff from Factory Direct in Ohio was $150.00 just for the shipping. The problem we have sounds similar to you guys in Canada, trying to find a decent supplier who carries a good range. Wax here is fine and we do use some oils sourced from local suppliers (although I imagine they still originate in the states). Oils, jars and accessories are the issue. OIls I can get from the US, and generally even when shipping is included it still works our cheaper for us then buying locally. Jars here are really boring. I have just managecd to source some of the Libby jars, however it will take 16 weeks to have them ordered in and they work out at around $4 AUD each with lid. Thats outrageous, but what can you do? Ahhhhh such is life in the candle world. People in the states just dont know how lucky they are with the selection of products they have to choose from. Cheers Richard

We make our mini cinni's with feathering palm and then ice them with a pillar soy. The soy covers the feathering quite nicely and sets nice and white. It is just dribbled on with a spoon. HTH Richard

All very beautiful work. What some of you guys come up with in wax is pretty damn amazing Cheers Richard

Well I did try the dixie cup or at least something similar that I could get here, and it seemed to work ok. Yes there was a little spillage, but I think with some practice it would get better. I was pouring into a tiny 7 cavity rosehip mold. Now that I know they work and that they unmold nicely I can go ahead and make a decent sized rosehip mold, followed by a cinnamon stick one so that we can do some hips & sticks jars / bags. No rush on that though as I dont think the Aussie summer is a likely time to be selling hips & sticks Thanks to all for your suggestions...... Cheers Richard

I guess it depends on the scents. We used to pack some together, but they were complimentary scents such as baby powder / moonlight path, lilac / vanilla etc. Richard

They look great. We have thought about latered tars, but it just seems like so much work.....LOL. Well done. Richard

Kim Pics are taken on a JVC high definition video camera (only because we dont have a real camera....LOL), so by default they come out of the camera at 1920 x 1080 resolution which is pretty large. Tracy then reduces them somewhat in photoshop. HTH Richard

Its a great site. We have just recently had 2 reasonably large orders delivered from there, including rusty tin cutouts, wire, candle plates and some punched tin warmers. Great prices, although shipping to Australia is a real killer. Such is life. Richard

Tins look great, nice presentation. Well done Richard

Hi there, we have used both 415 and 464 soy, both quite successfully. Over time however we have experimented with blending and now use a custom blend of 464 and non crystalising container palm. This gives me a lower melt point overall and for most fragrances a perfect burn, with absolutly no hangup or residue on the jar sides. We use primarliy 10 oz apothecary jars with a 4" diameter. Prior to blending with the palm we used 100% 464 and also had good results for most scents. I just prefer the burn and the look with the palm blended in, less frosting and next to no wet spots. Get a sample and test. You will find that pour temperature is very important, and some scents and colours with frost more than others. I have also found that I get almost no wet spots when I pour into clear glass, and get quite visible wet spots when poured into frosted glass, go figure. HTH Richard

Thanks to both of you for the response. I figured that I would have to use something pretty small and even then spillage would still be an issue. Should be able to tell in a day or so as I am still waiting for my silicone to cure before I can unmold the real rosehips ready for pouring wax into. I should be loads of fun pouring things that small...LOL Cheers Richard