JAVAEBOY

Bernadette, I'm not sure where you are located, so the shipping from PA may be more expensive, but Candlewic has their High Density Gel for $101.80 for 35 lbs. That would be the equivalent of around $145 for 50 lbs. Not sure if you need any, but that is their new price. FunkyMonkey66, Not sure exactly what kind of wax you need, but the conatiner wax at Candlewic is $71.65 for a 51 lb case. Hope that helps... And no, I'm not a shill for them, they are jsut where I get my gel and votive glasses from.

Unfortunately, I've never seen the ones you are talking about, but they could be made safely if you use either a double glass method, or have the flame extinguish before it meets anything flammable or something that would melt with the heat. Empty shotgun shells do not have any more gun powder in them, so they wouldn't explode. I can see where if the flame came in contact with the plastic casing that remains, it would melt them, but if the shotgun shells are left in the outside of the inner glass, you wouldn't have that problem in a double glass candle. If you want to go for a single shot gun shell in the bottom, you can have the wick go through it, but have something to stop (extinguish) the flame before it gets down that far. I use a small metal bead crimped on my wick to stop the flame from traveling further into my Martini glasses, to keep it away form my fake olives that the wick goes through. I hope that helps a little.

I second the choice from Candlewic that beechcreekcandles suggected. I have bought a couple cases of them and they work out great. It helps if you wait for one of their 30% off shipping specials, if shipping is a big deal.

I know you implied in your original post, but are you sure that the labels are made to print on a laser? There are labels and transparencies that are made specifically for laser printers because of the heat generated to fuse the toner.

I have been buying all my bulk Gel from Candlewic, and have had very good luck with it. I sometimes buy a small quantity 7lb buckets from HObby Lobby or AC Moore (with one of their 40% - 50% coupons) when I'm in need of a small amount, and don't really need a 35lb bucket for awhile.

I just went on the clipart.com web site, searched for "Tropical" photos only and discarded any image with the word "fish" in the description, and still came up with over 3000 photos. I'm not saying these were all usable, but there literally are thousands of photographs, and probably tens of thousands of vector graphics on the site, you just have to get used to the search criteria to use. If you want to find vector artwork on the page, search for items that are in EPS format, or there is an option for "vinyl ready"

You can also try clipart.com They have a few ways of using them. You can download all you want for a week for $14.95. You can search to see if there is anything you like before you join. If you are going to use them alot, the best way is to buy a software package one of the companies sells. It is called IMSI ClipArt&More 3.5 Million. It sells for about $40. With it, you get a full years use of the Clipart.com website. They also have 1000's of fonts that you can download also. I just saw it on buy.com for $30 and change. I've used alot of stuff from there. Most of it is clipart, some photo, and a bunch of other stuff. Ther great thing, is like the photo sites, you can see everything before you download it, and just about all of the images come in various file types. Many are vector, just about ALL of them are jpg or something else useful.

Hobby Lobby also carries gel. It is somewhat cheaper than Michaels or AC Moore. I think the price just went up to 34.99 for a 7 lb (1 gallon) bucket. Since they always have 40% off coupons, I think I bought it with the 40% off coupon for $21.00. Michaels, last time I checked was 39.99 or 44.99, so depending on where you live, and the coupons you have, you can get a deal. One of those stores used to sell a smaller container, but I'm not sure how much was in them though. Might have been enough to do a few wine glasses.

I'm no expert at these things but I have designed a few websites in my life, so my design thoughts are just that. "MY" design thoughts... here are my few suggestions. I really like the major portion of the layout and the colors. BUT... - Instead of having subgroups under each of your major sections, Products, Store Info, Featured, etc. I would have the link be the Title of the section, that then goes to the breakdowns. Not a biggy, just a personal preference. - On the opening page, if people are scrolling down to read the whole page, you may want to make the Contact Us that is in large print, be a link to your email address, instead of making them go back near the top to use the contact us link under the Store Info section. - For me, the scents description page is a little hard to read. I would maybe just use a bold version of the font, or a font that just appears bolder. - Most of it I REALLY like. - I REALLY like the idea of having a guest book. Of course, my likes may not coincide with the rest of the people on the forum, so that is just my 2 cents worth of a contribution. Take it for what it's worth.

Candlelady, Unless your work restricts it, you can download Kodak EasyShare without even owning a Kodak Camera. Kodak, (from my hometime of Rochester, NY) provides this software for free, so you have the ability to purchase pictures and picture products right online. The software is a little slow to come up, but is so simple to use, anyone can get creative with it. SteveG

Thank you. I will have to try that those tips with my next batch of beer candles. My problem, was I was getting ready for a my first big show, and was bringing a bunch of Beer candles (45 to be exact) for the biggest festival we have here in Rochester, NY and didn't know how much time to let the foam cool down before trying to whip it. The show went pretty well, I guess. I brought 350 candles, not knowing what to expect, since it was my real first big show. The crowd over two days was estimated at about 250,000 people. I sold a little over 100 candles. My martini glasses sold the best, but my various double glassed stuff sold the most in sheer quantity. With preshow excitement from people who had seen the beer candles, I really thought I would sell more than 11 of them. I also had an intoxicated person, fall into the corner of my booth (so I saw on the news that night) after it was all closed up after the first day, I didn't realize it was my booth on the news until I opened the booth Sunday morning to find 14 broken candles on the ground. Two of which were my beer candles. Next time, I'll be better prepared. Thank you again. Steve

Jen, If you don't mind me asking, what do you do to "whip" the foam and,What are you using to actually make the foam. As I said above, I mix paraffin and stearnin to get a whiter foam, but I have been pouring it fairly hot. I tried whipping it with a cooking whisk, but I guess I didn't do it long enough or while it was too hot. Thank you for your suggestion.

Vicky, I kind of knew you would be the first one to post. No I haven't tried that. I can see where that might/would help the single pour candles like the wine glasses, but I'm not too sure how that would effect/affect the double pour candles like the beer glasses. Maybe I am better off pouring the foam layer as soon as I think the gel has cooled just enough to handle the heat of the second pour. I am fairly sure you have experience making beer candles. When/how did you handle the pouring of the foam layer? I'll try that next time I make some. I figured keeping them in the 250 degree oven for over an hour, and letting them cool in there over night, would solve ALL the bubble problems. I had a show this past weekend, and before I brought any of my martini or wine glasses, they ALL made another trip through the oven for bubble removal. That was a real pain with trying to keep the wicks from falling in, and having to do that to over 60 candles. Thanks for the suggestion. Steve

Ok, I hope this isn't something I should know. I haven't been doing this very long, but I am having a problem with bubbles appearing in my gel candles days after they are made. Most of them aren't a problem, but the ones that are appearing in my beer candles are really getting pretty bad. Now, I'm not talking about the normal bubbles that appear from pouring too fast or too cold. Those I WANT in my beer candles, I'm talking about large air gaps that appear days later. Here is my process. Tell me if I am doing something wrong. First, I set my tab and wick, with a centering device. I then pour my gold colored gel to about 3 inches from the top. I usually let those candles sit for a number of days. Then, I melt my paraffin and stearnin mixture that I use for my foamy top and pour it into the next 2 inches or so of the glass. They look just fine for awhile, but then it seems like I get some small and sometimes LARGE air gap (bubbles) in the gold gel. It just takes away from the looks of the candle when I take them to a show. It also seems like when I make even a solid gel candle, like a burgundy wine glass, I eventually get small bubbles that appear on the outermost portion of the gel within the glass. For these and any other candles that I don't want any bubbles in, I usually place them in a 250 degree oven for about an hour to remove the bubbles. I leave them in the closed oven to cool down over night. It's a little hard to see in the picture I attached, but in the RED circles are some of the small bubbles that appeared on the sides of my glass. Any suggestions to what I may doing wrong? Thank you in advance. SteveG

I've also added stearine/stearic acid to give the foam more opacity. Gives me more realistic looking white for the foam on my beer candles. You only need to use 1 Tbsp per pound of paraffin, according to the directions. I usually use twice that much though.

Tia, If you do a Google search for "Bakery Boxes with Window". There are a number of companies out there that make "similar" type boxes. I did a quick look, and didn't see any Brown boxes, but depending on how heavy the contents are, I think some of what you find might work for you. Try this link Hope that points you in the right direction. SteveG

If you have a Hobby Lobby around, their gel which seems to be a LP gel just went up to $34.99, up from 29.99 a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, they don't accept competitors coupons, but usually have a 40% coupon every other week. That brings the cost down to $20.00. I have used gel from Hobby Lobby in a pinch, and it seems to work fine, I don't need anything but LP, so I haven't had any concerns. I usually use 35lb buckets of gel from Candlewic and haven't checked their price lately. Hope that helps... SteveG

I'm with whoever recommended NOT buying an HP. I love my Canon inkjet, and it has 6 ink cartridges. I buy generic cartridges for it through a place online called LD Products, and they only cost me about $7/each. Usually most people go through yellow, cyan and magenta cartridges differently, so having them ALL be separate is great. Mine has Black, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, PhotoCyan and PhotoMagenta Cartridges. Those last 2 save a bunch of ink form the Cyan and Magenta (alone) cartridges. I'm not sure what the going price is these days, since I bought it about 2 years ago, but ANY of the Pixma Canon printers or 3 in ones, have my vote. I'm going to try out the new Kodak all-in-one pretty soon also. The ink for that one is really cheap, and it puts a waterproof coat over whatever you print, if you print in color (like photos), like I have on my label.

grama, I just did a quick lookup on the UPS website, and according to their calculation, (I used your dimensions and weight, and Atlanta to Cincinnati for cities) the estimate came to $27.63, so your shipping cost of $20+ is a good thing to use. Not knowing when you shipped it, or what particular cities it went to and from, we can assume either prices have gone up, or that a good estimate for the original poster could be as much as 35% less than the quote on the UPS web site. That may mean that the actual cost based on my original estimate that I calculated would still be around $130 or so for an individual packaging their own stuff. Does sound high, but 410 pounds of stuff, doesn't go anywhere cheaply.

Lynne, I believe UPS usually has a weight limit of a single box of 75 lbs. This is what I would do. I deal with a local box company, that offers boxes in just about any size you may need. If you have determined that the TOTAL weight of your candles will be 410 lbs, you have to figure on at least 6 boxes. Try to determine the dimensions needed for each candle, width, depth, height. Then try to find a box size available that will accommodate a set number of your candles. Here is a real world example: Let's say your candles are 5" long x 5" wide x 8"high U-Line box company (www.uline.com) sells a box that is 26" long x 16" wide x 10" high (You have to buy 25 or more @ $2.09/each) You would be able to fit 15 candles in that box 5 x 3 candles. Each box would weight about 70 lbs. I did a quick calculation on the UPS website, and if it was picked up from your residence and it shipped to a residence, it would cost over $200. I am sure if you deliver them to the UPS store yourself, it "could" be cheaper, but this is what I calculated using generic cities in Ohio & CT. Hope that helps. SteveG

I have never used these "official" stickums, but, another alternative is something I use from DAP called StikARounds. They come in a roll of 200. They are around 1/2" diameter clear circles that are available if you have a Grainger's store around you. Most cities have one. This is the link for them. They are $5.73 and since there is a Grainger's store in just about every major city, you can get them without having to pay any shipping charges. They may also be available at some craft stores, but I buy them where I buy my high temperature silicone adhesive for my double glass candles. Hope this gives you another choice in case you are in a hurry, and need something that seems to work for me.

beau's_mama, I have a photo on my label, therefore my reasoning for touting the superior print quality of ink jet printers. It's kind of ridiculous to mention putting a 4 x 6 or 8 x 10 photo on a bar of soap, but I'll consider that your unique way of telling me where to go with my ideas. As someone who has been in the computer and printer field for 25+ years, I was just throwing out some industry knowledge to try to make sure people had ALL the facts. In case anyone is interested in the latest advance in ink jets, I have a friend who works in the R&D department for the Kodak ink jet printer division. They use a technology, that uses a coating to prevent their inks from getting ruined (running) if they get wet. I have tried out my labels on them, and they look great. There were some early problems with reliability, but since the production of them has been moved to a new facility, the earlier problems have been resolved. They even have the least expensive ink cartridges on the market when it comes to cost per page. Still not in the realm of the cost of laser printers per page, but depending on what you have on your labels, it may be worth a look. I won't bore anyone with more facts, but I just thought "some" people would be interested.

The website says it can be used with many other label software products, so I am fairly sure either it will work with Avery Software, or that you will be able to find someone that has gotten it to work with it. If not, there are usually ways around it, you just have to know what you are doing. I would look to see if there is a forum for Primera users. Usually someone on a forum like that should be able to help you. Let me know if there is anything I can help you out with. SteveG

yan_yolay, I DID say that the laser would be cheaper per page to print with. As for the quality of the print itself. I have tried the newest lasers versus my Canon inkjet printer, and for photo's there is no comparison in print quality. The laser printers dots are quite apparent when I look at it closely. Now as a comparison, when I print on the larger office laser printers, there isn't as much of a difference, but I would still rather see the photos off my $99 inkjet printer than the $800 color laser printer at work. As a comparison, the Canon Pixma ip4600 ($99 MSRP) has a color resolution of 9600 x 2400 vs. the highly rated Dell i1230c ($230) with a resolution of 2400 x 600. Even on the Dell website, the main Complaint, is color photo printing. No doubt, if I needed spot colors or needed to add color to presentations and handouts, I would go with a color laser, but photographically, I stand by my assertion that there isn't a color laser at any price that can print as cleanly as a decent inkjet. One other factor, is that most inkjet printers will also allow you to print on continuous paper for a banner. Is the cost of supplies for an inkjet prohibative for large jobs, ABSOLUTLEY. If I was printing brochures and colorful handouts in quantity, I would choose a color laser printer, but if photo quality is the most important thing for you, and you want to print 4 x 6 to 8 x 10 photos, then a inkjet with the right paper is the way to go.

Just to clarify some facts about color laser printers, I speak as someone who has been around laser printers since they came out at about $2500 for a black laser printer back in 1984 or so. Laser Printers are almost always going to cost less to print with than Inkjet printers. There are really only 2 drawbacks to "color" laser printers. The first one, is that although the cost per page is relatively low, the cost of the 4 toner cartridges that are included, usually equal the cost of the entire printer these days. As an example, my brother-in-law has an HP, that cost about $400 at the time. The new cartridges are each about $100. So by the time you replace the 4 cartridges, you might as well have bought a new printer. The second drawback is usually the photo quality isn't as good as with Inkjets. Laser printers usually have a print resolution of 600 dpi whereas even a lowend inkjet printer has a resolution of at least 1200 - 4800 dpi. This makes the most difference in photos, but can be seen in many different situations. Inkjet printers use a mixing technology to form their colors, whereas a laser printer tends to put dots next to each other to simulate colors. If you want to think about it in the candle world, think of how someone would make a purple candle. We would get some blue (cyan in the printer world) dye and some red (magenta in the printer world) dye, and mix them together to get the shade of purple we want. That is the way an inkjet printer works. A laser printer type candle on the other hand, would make half the candle blue, and half the candle red, and spin it fast enough so that the viewers eyes would see a purple candle. It isn't quite that simple, but I hope you get the idea. yan_yulay, As far as finding the labels, Avery makes a number of sizes of round labels. There are a few others out there, but I actually buy the 2" round labels to use for printing my Warning labels. They don't have tons of sizes, but usually you can make due with one of them. They have some while, silver and even gold labels. You have to look at what they were designed to print with. Some are designed for laser printing, some for inkjet. You have to be careful which ones you buy. Hope that helps... SteveG