rebeccajo99

I'm not an expert here, but just me thinking and pondering. Since it is only happening with the red ones, I wonder if it has something to do with the red dye. Have you tried this scent without dye or a different dye color to see if you can get it to burn and wicked correctly?

Thanks for posting this tread. I have been looking for new scents too. My biggest sellers right now are: Lavender Amish Harvest Clean Cotton

I did think about that Texas, but I have been doing hot process, which is why I decided to try it with scent. I love doing hot process, but I want to try some of the cool swirl and designs that I just cannot do in hot process.

Thanks for all of the great help. Just need to read a little more, figure out what scent to do and just do it. You all comforted one of my biggest fears.

Thanks. My 3 year old I soap "around" all the time. I tell him that mommy is closing her door for a little while and he asks "to do the danger stuff?" So he understands and will leave me alone. Its funny because when I open the door, he is sitting right by it so he can climb up in my chair so he can tell me when the soap is starting to rise in the crock pot. It is really cute. However, my 2 year old you cannot trust him worth anything. You tell him to not touch and he will touch, (has touched stuff on the hot stove, put his hand in a warm oven) I have locked him out of the room and he will sit there an bang on it until you open it. I would feel like I am being rushed and I don't want to be for the first few times doing it. It was nice when he took his 3 hour afternoon naps, but I'm lucky if I get 30 min ones now.

I'm wanting to make my first batch of CP soon. I've been scared to try because of the lye water sitting around. Since I now have a lock on my work room door, I feel more comfortable having it sit out to cool. But, during my research on doing CP, I have not found an answer to my question. Do I have a time limit on how long lye water can sit out before going bad? I was going to make it up in the morning before my kids wake up (around 6 am) and than soap in the afternoon (around 2:30 pm)... however, if my youngest does not fall asleep during quiet time, I don't trust him enough to leave me alone so I can soap. (he is only 2, so I cannot expect him to:wink2:) Will it be OK to sit out and wait until my husband gets home and soap after dinner (around 7/8 pm) or the next morning before my kids wake up again? I don't want to make up a lye solution and have to throw it out. If it will go bad, then I will just have to wait to try CP until they are both in school or when my husband will be home all day. Thanks in advance

I thought they were different and not the same old. I thought the fan idea in them were nice to help disburse the scent. Bummer about them not selling blanks. Guess they won't wind up in my shopping cart. I did not know about the shipping thing, but I don't think I will ever be close enough for $300. That woudl be nice though if I sold enough were I could spend that much:) I'll have to check out those new colors. I did not see that when I was brousing thier site.

I read somewhere (I don't rememer where now) that when deciding on a show, expect 1-3% of the attendance to purchase from your booth. So, that is between 20 to 60 people. I'm not sure how much your stuff is, so I'll just say $5... Your looking at $100-$300 in sales for the show. I know this is an estimate since there are people who will buy more than $5 worth of stuff, but i would say go for it. The only time I would say no even with these numbers is if it is the first time show (like the others said) because they really don't know what the attendance would be and are just estimating based on population of the area. So plug in your numbers (I use my main product price) and see what you get.

I am beginning to wonder the same thing.

http://www.candlewarmers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?cat=79 I was checking my e-mail today and saw that Candlewarmers e-mailed me about a new product. It looks really cool. Do you know if they sell blank "o" so we could fill them with our own wax combination?

very nice. love the colors.

Thanks everybody for your response and suggestions. Sorry that I just got back to this now, it has been crazy here with my kiddos. I decided not to keep the scent not because of people not liking the way it smelled, but by how long it lasted. Everybody said it smelled great, but did not last as long as my other scents. So, I'm off to the drawing board on trying to get this scent to work and last longer since I got a very positive response on the scent inself.

I have a scent that I was testing in my tarts. My results from my testers made me decide that I do not want to market this particular scent (I was on the fence before giving them to my testers). I have some left over and I normally just keep them for my personal use, but one of my testers said that she loves this scent and wants to buy all my left overs. How much would you charge? Normal price or a percentage off? She already said she will not take them for nothing.

looking good. I really like how even you got the jar levels. I don't know if I could do that The colors are stunning. Great job!!! Keep us posted on how testing is going. Sounds like you are off to a great start. Are there any labels that came with the kit. Maybe we can help figure out what brand/where they came from.

I'm not sure, looks very simular. The etsy shop owner said they use palm wax. When looking at a large picture of one of her jar candles, it almost looks like what my palm wax looks like before melting it down to scent and color it. I wonder if this shop owner took some of that wax, soaked it in FO and dye. I would have no idea if that would even work. Or maybe the owner did what oakbrookcandles said. Took the wax and finely ground it up in a food processer. Her jar candles do have a cool effect to them, but I wonder how she ships them and have them look like that when they arrive at the person's home.

I have not had a chance to since starting this post. My youngest outgrew his nap and we started counciling for his attachment issues since then and my soaping time has been cut to almost nothing. I have 1 night a week to work on things now (if I'm lucky) when my husband is home.

What a great plan Candybee. I'm still working on finding those $100 shows, found a whole lot of $35 and less shows However, this was my first year of actually selling, so I figure some of my $35 and less shows may turn out better as my name gets out there. Best of luck to you in 2011 and hope you make all of your goals.

shoot... I started a thread thinking one of these wasn't started yet. How did I miss that. grrrr Somebody can delete my other thread then:) Well, My main goals are to get my oatmeal soap perfected, add more scents to my tart line, and get my wholesale/resale information completed. I have other goals too, but those are my main ones.

Tina I'm glad that your other candles are going well for you. Don't hesitate to ask if you are having troubles figuring out your wick chart. Best of luck to you

I don't think this thread has been started yet. What are your business plans/goals for 2011. Here are mine (so far). I break them down in sections and strive for completing #1 by the end of the year in each section. The others are what I want to do once #1 is completed. Soap Goals: 1. Find my perfect oatmeal soap recipe. 2. Start soaping with EO's. I've been doing EO research, now just need to bite the bullet, buy a few and try/test them out. 3. Make my first batch of CP soap so I can eventually start making salt bars and those cool swirls I see on this board. Candle Goals: 1. Test more scents in tarts. 2. Start testing wicked candles (again for the upteenth time) Business Goals: 1. Get a wholesale/resale orderfom and booklet put together. 2. Add some new lines.. .some ideas I've been throwing around and testing Bath bombs, lotion bars, jewelry, etched glass.

Tina Seeing the answers to your questions makes me think that you did not search the forum first for the answers. There is a wealth of knowledge on this board and you will want to learn to use the search feature to gain that knowledge. People do not mind answering questions as long as it isn't something that is asked multiple times (and sometimes daily). That will help you out in the long run in your candle making venture. I will now quickly answer why your 2 candles are not burning the same. You used different fragrances and dye colors. Those 2 things effect how the candle burns and you may have to use different wick sizes for those combinations that you used. So my suggestion. 1. Do a search for wick guides. There are websites that give some nice starting points for wick testing. 2. Keep burning both of the candles that you made until they are gone. Keep track of flame height, melt pool, temp of jar, flame height and all that stuff. Many candles who look like failures at the beginning turn out perfect and many canldes who look perfect at the beginning turn out to be failures. 3. do some more reasearch on and off this board to gain knowledge on your wax, jar your using and your wick choice. I have been testing candles for almost 2 years now off and on. As one of the other posters said, this craft is very confusing at times and you are like ... what just happened there. Keep trying, keep researching, and keep asking questions. You will get there.

couple of questions... Are they scented with the same scent and amount? Are they dyed the same color and amount of dye? When were the jars poured and how long after pouring did you start test burning them?

I live in Michigan where my coconut and palm oils are always hard this time of year. I've been brainstorming ideas on how to make it easier and quicker on me for these oils. This thread has helped me as well, so it was NOT a stupid question. My teachers at school said that the only stupid question was an unasked question. So far what I have been doing with mine is filling a presto pot with some water and setting my container in there to warm up and melt. I've been contiplating getting containers and pouring the amount I need for my soap recipe in each container since I only make 1 recipe, but then I didn't know what to do if I was testing new recipes that called for a different amount. Thanks for asking the question and giving me some ideas too.

Thanks. I will check out Flickr. I have been looking at etsy, but it seems like everybody does CP, which I have not tried yet. I want to, but have not had a chance to with my boys. It shouldn't be any different since I should be able to mix the lye water and melt my oils in the morning before they wake up in the morning and soap it in the afternoon during quiet time...but that just hasn't happened yet as I've been sleeping as long as possible because of my youngest right now and my youngest is not napping or staying in the room for quiet time. He just wares me out and I do not trust leaving him alone for the time it takes me to get trace and pour into a mold:laugh2:. I agree, I would have never tried soaping if it wasn't for this board. Before I found this board, I read all about it and wanted to, but was scared to try. Everybody here encouraged me to try it out and I love it as well!!!! Like I said, your soap is absolutly amazing. Gives me something to strive for:yay::yay:

Thanks everybody. I will make up a new batch with less oatmeal. Maybe I will throw one of these with the more oatmeal at my sister-in-law to use just for fun