somethingtoshopabout

This year due to a lot of things - my mother passed away 6 months ago, I closed my store, I'm selling my home, buying a home in a new city that has an art district that offers many perks to crafts people willing to relocate so I will be opening a new store there... and that is just the beginning! lol - I will only be doing a handful of very small local shows. I have found it really depends on the show. Of the 2 public shows I have done I have had sucess on different levels. One was an out door show in a very small town that ended up getting rained out after only 2 hours and I made a whopping $80.00 BUT I also got a call from a potential wholesale customer as a result of that show. Next was a little bit larger show a few towns over still a very small town I did about 350 for 1 day and got a few orders a week later. As a result of this show I was also asked to participate in 2 invitation only shows next fall and was asked to do a larger Christmas show with the fee waived this year. Next was more like a private show not really a party. One of my dearest friends live in an apartment complex that is meant for mostly ederly and phisically disabled persons. Twice a year (upon request) I do a small set up in their conference room. I make any where from 200 to 500 in the 2 years I have been doing this but I get quite a few orders after the fact. I did this Last weekend and walked away with about 250 but in the last week I have gotten another 250 in orders as a result of that and orders are still coming in so... it depends. I have no expectaions when I go into shows, big or small. I feel this way, This is how I choose to spend my time and I should do it because I enjoy it and the money is just a perk.

I master batch my lye 50/50 if that is what you mean. I just double my lye in my formula and deduct 1/2 of that amount from my total liquid. not sure if that is what you meant.

I think that is part of the problem most people seem to thing there is something more "natural" about soy. To be honest though I have no problem when I get a request for it sending the customer to a friend who makes soy candles. When asked why I dont carry it I simply tell them I have an allergy.

I'm new here and maybe shouldn't chime in on this but.. hey I have never been one to do what I should:lipsrseal lol. Soy is now all around us they cram it in just about everything these days. That said I don't think in moderation it is bad or evil. BUT I have to say I have an auto immune condition that can at times make me very sensitive to my enviornment and things in it.. I have been around candle and soap making my entire life. Learned everything I know from my grandmother. I have, since my diagnosis, always taken precaustions, full gear including mask for soap making, heavy duty gloves for messing with FO's etc. Never really had an issue handling plain old wax. In all that time and in the time I have been doing this strictly on my own (around 10 years now), the only time I have ever had a problem with my health that feel sure had to do with my work, was the one and only time I played with soy wax. With in a week I was very Ill many body chemicals were way out of whack. I spent 3 days in the hospital. Now granted by my own admission my system can be very touchy but wow, and no I am not certain it was the soy wax. But I havent had it in my home or touched it since. To each their own but I'll stick with parrafin thanks. Laura

Well I have all the hand outs from when I had my store. I have info/safety cards for both candles and soap (for the lye a phobes lol). They are usually on the table with the candles and hubby or DD who do my packaging at shows normally slip both in the bag with a re order form :smiley2:. This is just the first time I have really trimmed my jars with anything. I used to just buy pretty jars lol. Most of the do dads are attached to the lid anyway so hopefully they will take a hint lol. Laura

In the past when I worked on a much bigger level I packed everything is cello bags loose enough to get a good look at the pillar. As for transporting to shows I used several plastic totes and tons of styro popcorn (saved it from my incoming orders). a layer of of popcorn and a layer of candles, a layer of popcorn etc... I usually got 3 or 4 layers, sometimes five, depending on the size of the candles. I only recently started adding tins stars etc so I dont know how well that would work at protecting them but I can tell you my candles didnt move much if at all so it would probably work well!

Hi All So I have decided to sell my soaps and candles at the craft fairs this season. Because they are cheap and readily available I am going with JJ's and 4 different sizes but they are sooooooooooooooooo boring. I have dressed them up with a little twine, homespun, tin hearts and salt dough ornaments and I think they are much more attractive now, but.... should I put a separate warning label on them warning people to remove all the trimmings??? thanks for any input Laura