nadiap

I use the NG Gardenia in the 135 and it is super strong.

I use 464 sometimes (have been testing it using colours) and it seems to do ok for me... I love Gardenia though One of our suppliers in AU also sells Gardenia and I find that super strong too - but not sure who they buy their bulk orders from - but could be CS

Not much help I know, sorry

Thanks for the update elliecat and also to Stella for some info regarding how to get the manufacturer / distributor to take notice...

I've used up all my 135 now and in any case, I purchased in 5kg bags the last few times, and these do NOT have a batch number but it is certainly something to keep in mind if I get in any more. At the moment, I'm trialing 464 and it's not doing too badly

Hi there... I don't have the box for the Ecosoya 135 anymore so I don't know the lot #... and these are the same wicks and fragrance oils that i have used before that worked just fine...so it is something about this lot of wax. It also burns different it creates a hole around the wick and collapses right away... never have seen the 135 do this in many years of using it.

There are a few of us in Australia too, that are finding the exact same issues with the 135, the sink holes and also glass adhesion - never had as many problems with 135 as I have this winter / coming onto summer in the years I've been using it... I loved this wax, but am now in the process of testing another one, as the 135 is just not performing as well as it used to

I personally, would love to know if you hear anything from NGI as to whether anything has changed... our supplier here says that nothing has changed, but with quite a few chandlers having the exact same issues - I kinda don't believe them lol

I thought the little votive sized glass would be a good starting point, so that if (when) I made a mistake it was easy to remelt and start again without wasting too much. I have a terrible habit of forging ahead without as much thought as I should, so they seemed perfect lol.

Nothing wrong with starting off with a votive glass container and these make lovely little gift sized candles

I think you'll find that you may be able to go down to a htp 73 for that size (pictured) or a cdn 6 or 7.

If you're in Oz, then you're only choices are htps or cdns as you know

I generally twist in jars as well, which does tend to help a little. I twist the wick and then hold with a clothes peg, which for me works so much better than the centering tools for sale at various places, and is so much cheaper at 50 pegs for $2.50 at the reject shop.

Thanks Richard - that's what I meant I use the paddle pop sticks and use a paperclip to hold the wick in place... may not be enough pressure from the clip though if I want to twist as well, so will invest in some of the reject shop pegs as well me thinks

I love reading Stellas' posts - always learn something new and this is one of them

I've a couple of the twisting wick threads, but have to ask a couple of things if I may lol In a pillar I can see how to twist and hold in place with a bit of wax - tip by Stella in another thread, but how would you do it in a container?? Twist and hold in place on the centering device?

Jonsie,

sorry to hear about your problems and hope you can salvage the majority of your jars

I've remelted in the oven and not had any cross contamination with foodstuffs Tammy

Oh it's smelled for a bit, but I leave the oven on with door open to get rid of any lingering smells lol I also often add a bit of extra FO to make up for any possible evaporation of the FO as well.

As for EOs, there is a company in WA for EOs that I've heard good things about, but I don't buy EOs in large quantities, so this company may be ideal for you if you buy in bulk: Range Products

I agree with Bart also, the suppliers *should* notify their customers if any stock has changed in any way. You ring them up asking questions, and all they tend to do is fob you off - esp. if you are 100% sure that there is something different about a particular product you've purchased before.

I have a question in an FBook forum of one of our suppliers about an FO that just doesn't work right. In a recent post, she claimed that they had tested every FO they carry - but when I queried one of them, she admitted it was one of their earlier ones and that no, she hadn't tested it - and that I should use additives to get the wicking right.... ah no thanks ! if going from a cdn 10 to a cnd 14 doesn't work in a small jar, why should I use an additive in the hopes that it works - I'd already spend enough time and $s testing something that doesn't work - I'd rather just not use the FO, not go and buy MORE product in the hopes that it works - easy lol. I'd rather they would be truthful right up front, they'd get a lot more respect, and ultimately more business from me.

PS: Sorry about the length and not quoting.

Thanks ! yep, that helped

I'd love some of the lids for the 500ml bottles, was it the 28mm width tops you got? they would fit the 500ml ACS bottles?

Postage is a bit on the expensive side, but hopefully with comnbined postage it may help if you buy small items... LOVE some of their pillar moulds

On another topic, I noticed that a candle supplier from the U.S. on eBay is now shipping internationally: http://stores.ebay.com/CANDLECHEM-COMPANY I have bought pour spouts from them because they fit my 500 ml bottles. I've also bought the Fresh Cut Grass FO from them and I am pretty impressed with it.

Jonsie, I just checked that link and a few items, but all said no international shipping? How along did you buy from them may I ask? I'm liking some of their warning labels

I have lots and lots of wicks lol Keep them in the ziplock bags they come in but stand them up behind each other in size order in a box. I also label the front of the pack with the size jar I would use them in. Works for me

Hey Richard, come on... spill! This is great news!

I agree ~~ spill !! I seriously need some glassware and everywhere has run out

Thought I'd ask here under this thread - as it is aimed at the Aussies

does anyone here use the 135 from NCS?

Lots of people - including myself are having horrible problems with this wax lately. Sink holes, wax around wick popping up, terrible wet spots, bad frosting, hairline crack (circle) right around the wick and various other issues?

We are thinking a possible bad batch of wax or they've change the formulation without telling customers. I've been using this wax for a few years now and never ever had these problems before. Anyone else??

Nadia

5,500+ by a company in England that converted the money into pounds and then out of pounds into USD. I was hit with currency conversion fees as well LOL All of it was done in 3 transactions of the exact same amount of $1483.17. There was no little transaction amount to test the account their testing amount was 983.24.

Same, I was hit on my Mastercard Credit Card, not linked to any accounts. They tried a small amount of $24, then tried for $1500 but my card would have been well over the limit so didn't go through. Few days later, another small amount, then they finally managed to get $450 converted to pounds and yes hit with a conversion charge lol The only reason they got that was cause I moved money to the card to pay for some NCS good The bought some airline tickets apparently - Sheesh !! wish I could afford to buy some airplane tickets for myself !! lol

Still waiting for fraud paperwork to come through, but received my new card today.

Interestingly enough I have never purchased from ACS, but, my last transaction was only 5 days prior with the soap company in WA. That was my only transaction on the card for over 3 months, there are no direct debits either

Know another lady who purchased from the soap company - which I believe may be affiliated with the candle company (or some believe anyway and her card was also hit.

The funniest part was westpac charged me an overdrawn fee as well LOL

Hopefully you were told you'd get that back - I was. Well, all fees associated with the fraud would be refunded is what I was told.

Also, be careful using paypal, don't leave to much in your account - there have been reports of that being targetted also - no-one /nothing it appears to be safe.

It does appear though, that it's not just candle companies - it is very wide spread and small / large businesses have been hacked and their customer info has been compromised. Geez, for all we know, it could actually be the banks that have been hacked into - they'd never tell us would they LOL

Didn't know about this company, so many thanks

NG however, are very good at packing these boxes as was Bert from Bert's Heaven Scent and Aroma Haven also is good. SGS now have two new retailers and they are both going to use Flat Rate Boxes and ship internationally, so I am hoping they will pack well too.

jo

I have to agree totally - NG are terrific at packing their boxes - will get the most items into the box as they can. I order a variety of items besides the FOs and it's all packed up to utilise every bit of space in the box. I end up have to use a much larger box in some instances due to bulk of what I buy, but again, more bang for my buck in the way they pack it up for me - can't fault them at all !

May I ask who SGS is? I"m a FO fanatic and always on the look out for new ones lol

Guys,

Looks like this is good advice. We have checked our records and have had a small transaction yesterday from an overseas vendor that we have had no dealings with. If the skimming is candle supplier related it is pretty easy for us to determine where as we only deal with one company using credit card.

Keep an eye on your accounts.....This is certainly real! Thanks Nadiap for the heads up!!

Bart

Thanks Bart, PM'd you a few mins ago with more info. An update for the others - Looks like nearly $100k has been skimmed from candlemakers alone - we found more people who had been skimmed after putting up Beware notices on all our Facebook pages. And it hasn't stopped, so be very aware of your accounts - even if you haven't purchased in a little while - particularly from a company who prefers offline mode for transactions (won't name names for obvious reasons). One poor lady hadn't used her CC for 2 years - but the number must have been stored on the system that was hacked, and she lost a heap of money before the bank cottoned on and stopped the card. Some very scary stories out there !

Thats terrible Nadia I hope they catch the thieves. Thanks for the warning I will keep an eye on account. Time to start using visa prepayed I think

A lot of the ladies are worried as you can imagine so until things are straightened out, they will only be doing bank deposits... they have to anyway - until they get new cards or get reimbursed the money that was taken from them We are all being very wary as only 1/2 hr ago, we heard another lady's card was skimmed - about 5 lots of small transactions, but the bank picked up on it and stopped her card. Seriously worrying for sure!

If anyone is interested this is the breakdown of what fits into the boxes that NG ship out:

medium $45ish large $58ish

We can fit 8 of our 16 ounce bottles in a medium flat rate box.

We can fit 13 of our 16 ounce bottles in a large flat rate box.

We can fit 30 of our 4 ounce bottles in a medium flat rate box

We can fit 49 of our 4 ounce bottles in a large flat rate box

We can fit 13 of our 8 ounce bottles in a medium flat rate box

We can fit 33 of our 8 ounce bottles in a large flat rate box

We can approximately fit 90 of the 1 ounce bottles in a medium flat rate box

We can approximately fit 150 of the 1 ounce bottles in a large flat rate box

In the group I belong to - we do group orders to NG and it saves us all on postage costs as we split the costs between us. I also do orders on my own and even with freight costs, I'm still saving money. I do also onsell the fragrances on one of my FB pages

I believe I contacted CS ages ago and they told me to contact NCS insead - as they do not ship out of US.

Another company that will ship to AU is http://saveonscents.com/ Not sure if anyone here has tried them - but they have some lovely sounding FOs as well.

Hey guys,

sorry to butt in with an off topic to what you are discussing (though I have some comments on those as well) but this is extremely important if you buy goods from either ACS or NCS or NG using either your CC or a debit card.

I belong to a chandler group of 37 ladies on Facebook and in the last week 8 of them have had their cards skimmed or compromised - all cards were stopped by their respective banks. So this is more or less a heads up to keep an eye on your cards for any unknown transactions - they start off small $5 and then they move in for amounts in the 100s and one lady had an attempt at $17,000.... if you need any more details just PM me. Don't want to say too much on the board for obvious reasons.

I don't use any additives, but do have some of the Universal additive here (approx 350gr), but I don't believe it's the one you're after though - sorry !

Worth noting is that Gala's website prices as Ex-GST so you will need to factor that it. Orders over $400 are shipped free to your nearest capital city, then attracts contracted freight costs from their to your location.

Bart

I've purchased from Gala a few times now. If you don't purchase $400 worth of glassware, the delivery cost is $25 - which isn't bad when you compare it to either of the other 2 companies.

This week I received delivery over 132 jars and a few other bits and pieces and delivery cost was the standard $25. One item of 36 jars was out of stock - they gave me an estimated delivery time - was annoyed as they didn't let me know at time of order - but after a phone call found it isn't too far away - and that as it was *their* problem, I will not be charged any extra for delivery costs.... can't ask better than that.

Pouring at 85 or above tends to produce deformed clamshells (with the ones I am currently using....may not be the case with other makes/brands/suppliers of shells).

The clamshells you use must not be from either ACS or NCS ;-) if I pour wax over 130Fa (54C), I get an absolute mess leaks right through the bottom.

I used to be able to pour into the NCS ones at 140Fa with no probs (ACS always had to be poured lower) - but they must have / had a new supplier, because I had to go right down in temps. Can't tell you how many shells I lost :-(

In fact, even pouring a batch of say 6 - I pour 2 in a row at say 130Fa (54C), there is no guarantee that the 3rd and 4th (which would be cooler), won't spring a leak !

In saying all that, I have never tried any Palm in clamshells - I'm afraid I don't like the look of them myself (personal preference of course )

Hiya

3 or 4 months they were out of clear honey pots in Jan or feb and I had an email from them then saying it would be 6 weeks away....and here we are almost the end of October..very annoying

Strange that ! Shayne himself told me that they were not going to stock any honeypots in the future - when they sold out that would be it. I used to buy boxes & boxes of the frosted.

Now ACS has been inundated with orders for these, and they've run out too, will be months before they get any more in so how can Shayne believe they are not a popular seller.

I'm not into feather palm, so can't help with the co-op there, sorry

Have any of you tried any of the package forwarders available in the U.S.? I even see some pallet forwarders and I was wondering what they might charge for glassware. Sorry for deviating so far from the original topic.

I recently read of this forwarder - not used them yet,but thinking about it :-) From what I read don't seem so bad - particularly if the company in US doesn't ship to Australia.

http://www.hopshopgo.com/hsg/welcome.do?l=en&c=

I see that NCS are now into soap and body care making supplies. They are getting their oils for these from Sweetcakes and another supplier {cant remember which one}. Maybe the've lost the plot a bit lately because the're too busy getting the soap side up and running? Shame on them if thats the case!

Have you seen the prices of the soap fragrances ??? That is unreal !!

PS: Had a shipment from NCS today and it came via Fastway - not Aust Post - looks like they changed couriers

Tealights (clear cups) - forget them, I've been waiting ages and then they only offer in one lot of 2500 which has now gone - wanna bet they all end up for sale on ebay :-)