Nanasnecessities

I have only used the large ones, but here goes. The unshrunk package goes into the tunnel, conveyors made out of round bars roll the package through, steady heat is applied all around and shrunk package comes out the other end. Not a whole lot goes wrong with them, but as you do not control the shrinkage, you might have to redo some of them. However, I would make sure there is some support you can for when it does break. Mostly, the heater goes down, or the bars quit turning. Course my knowledge is on big ones, that do it all day long. Sometimes it is just something yucky on the bars and you just clean it off. Have you looked on ebay? They sometimes have them.

I think music rates right up there with the weird floatie things people add to their site. Yuck. I think it is okay for personal family home pages, but it reeks unprofessioanl to me. I click out as soon as I see floaties or hear music. ps My Dad is on a slow dial up and usually times out before the page loads and the music plays, so I wouldn't, it just pisses him off, lots of places don't have the option for anything but dial up yet.

Does anybody use a machine to get your tarts bagged?

Yes you can. You might have better luck going here. http://wahmservices.com/community/search.asp

If you like public speaking I say go for it, but if you would rather be strung up by your toenails than speak in public, skip it. For some people, speaking in front of a group is no big deal, for others it is the worst thing they can imagine. My dh hates it, he has to do it, but his first couple of times, he was worried to death. I think it is good exposure and it is great for soap makers. I hate having to explain the lye "acid" over and over. My mom is so patient with it, but after a couple hundred times, I just want to scream. Since we have been doing it for so long, it is not so bad in her neck of the woods, but I still hear it here a lot. grumble.... I think it is a great idea, though. Just think of all the ladies you will not have to explain it to individually.

I have a real store, it is just for whoelsalers right now, though. WE hope to open up soon for regular customers, I have some that come in anyway.

yummm, the chicken noodle soup is to die for....

I rented a gigantic warehouse, two offices, kitchenette, bathrooms, two showrooms, and tons and tons of space. It has 4 large bays. Since it was already divided in some places I rented the space out to other businesses. We did have to build a couple of partitions, but it is great for all of use. They pay a portion of the utilities and such and we split the rent 4 ways, (so far) we have one empty bay, yet to rent. It works for all of us. Somebody is always there to answer the phone and get packages. We are pretty diversified, one guy builds stuff from wood, one bay has large equipment that they repair, we have two wholesalers selling stuff. It works pretty well, we got the interent networked and everybody can get on. The bottom line? My warehouse with offices showroom, candle room etc, costs me about 200 a month. Plus I have a helping hand whenever I need it. The only down side is one lady couldn't take the smell and can't come when I was pouring, so it takes a little looking around to find the right people. Maybe you could find a larger place and get some other business people to go in with you?

I have a soap day and do all my soaping on it. (Wednesday) Each batch makes 150 bars, I can do 6 batches. I have had to do more before, but I am comfortable with 6. I have 10 molds, each mold does 50 bars. I have had them forever. We made them years ago when we started making soap. (24 years ago) I now have long skinny ones for my rebatches, cause i don't normally make 50 bars of scented soap.

My state has a posted rule that the post offices are not allowed to scan incoming online postage. I have fought them several times with it over the years. They say that it takes to much time (money) for their employees to scan every box. I fixed it by going in on Saturday just before they close with every package under weight. If they have to add anything to the package, they have to scan it. I get a receipt with amount paid and city for every shipment. I really hate that paypal auto sends those emails as I get tons of emails asking why I haven't taken their package to the post office. They say it is DELIVERY confirmation and they only have to scan when it is delivered.

My Mom was just telling me she went into a bath shop that had ss bowls set into the counters, each bowl had some lotion, liquid soap, scrubs or what ever and the idea was you scoop your own. Mom and all her friends were horrified! She said no way would she try any of it and wouldn't it be full of bacteria germs, etc... She was in a big tourist town and they do the windows with fudge and candle, but she said that was different. The sad thing is mom would have bought some of the items if they had a different setup, she loves handmade b&b. They love to watch the stuff being made like fudge and taffy, so maybe she would like to see it being mixed, but no way does she want to bottle it herself. Seems kinda funny, people love to scoop their own potpourri, candies, etc, but no way to the lotions.... I have been in several of the you pick it stores and they will make it while you watch. they made soaps, candles, perfumes and such, can't say that they were really busy, but it is an interesting idea and certainly cut down on their stick. The bottles they had behind the counter of scent had just the scent name on them. I myself use my own labels on all of my fo, I cover up the ones I can with my label and if their label is to big or the bottle itself has their company on it, I switch to a plain bottle. If you id that and made them in front of people it wouldn't be to bad. They might still think it looks easy though.

I use a bluetooth enabled phone and a cordless headset. It goes on one ear and has volume adjustments and a button to click to answer or hang up. My regular phone lines (home and office) are through the cable lines. I have an option to "follow me" I put it on all my phones, including my cell, so when a phone rings, it rings everywhere. So when I am pouring or whatever I just use my jabar ear-thing and can use wireless one finger buttons. It is much clearer than a headset and people tell me they can't tell.

I put owner on mine. I have Chandlers in this area, lawyers and realtors, so it would confuse people. Cute that it is your name though, maybe you could make it into something cute?

I have seen them in potpourri. They seemed to hold the scent well.

old williamsburg candles are also sold through dollar general, They say 5 oz on the label. The jar is a bit smaller than regular square mason and if you melt one and check out the jar you can see that it has a thick bottom. Our vendors mall carries them. Several people change the label and carry them for baskets. They have a huge frag list and change with the seasons.

I finally had to call them, they told me they were having trouble with their siute, I faxed in my order, but you can also just call and tell them what you want. It usually takes 5 days for the postman to drop them off. You do not have to pay for any am priority, global priority or express stuff. ps I don't use the express stuff, way to high!

butt crack scented, wanted rose scent on the label though.

how about racey? pasioante kisses bootylicious butt naked Love Spell?

Did you leave them a sample to try? Maybe you are contacting them at their busy time? Some places might not be interested in candles in the summer months. I am sure it is not your product, but may be they are waiting until the fall to order? Maybe she is trying to unload her other mass produced stuff first? opps I guess it could be a him.. How high is your minimum? Did you offer them exclusive to their area? Maybe they want private label? If she has already expressed an interet.... Summer is a tough month for sales of candle stuff... She might also be waiting to see what is at Market. The fall season market if in the summer for a lot of the country. She might be wanting to wait and see if there is anything like your stuff there. maybe you can rent an area of her store, or you might try a percentage thing, you stock her and she gets so much? Then when she sees how well you do she will want the whole profit? If you have a lot of whoelsalers right now maybe they will give you a reference on how well you sell. One lady (sells village and circle e for years and years) told me that she tried the handmade route but the makers kept going under or couldn't produce enough for her, so she only sells manufactured. OR you could let her know that you will only offer her the exclusive for so long then you will go elsewhere, most stores have competition and they would rather have your excusive product than have their neighbor have it... just some ideas for you...

You have 5 posts and most of them have been mean to me. Nobody lives in my house with me but my husband. He is not your friend, believe me. I only post my opinions or any helpful information I may think of. Actually I normally pm it for obvious reasons. I have been in business for many years, which I pm'd you, but you insist on spreading untruths about me. I have been on this board for longer than that...

strange that you should know that the warmers are in the old tri state building.... I don't think I am the ones exposed here. Perhaps allie you are in the same town maybe even the same house as earthgrown??

I have a card that has dollar amounts on it, when they have bought so much they get something free, example free gift pack when you spend 50 dollars. It works really well for me. I had a stamp made for me so nobody could just fill it in. They keep it and love filling it up, puts my business name right at their fingertips.

edited because I am not playing this game with her.

beware of some of the small ones. I had a customer tell me hers caught on fire. I think there might not have been enough holes in it. She didn't buy it from me as I don't sell the small ones, she said she got it at the dollar store in the incense part. It had a brown overglaze and a little bear sitting on the edge.

I sell the square mason for 6 bucks, 2 for 10 and 5 for $20. It is $1.50 for me to make them. I don't carry them in a whole lot of scents so I can make them in bulk. Many fundraisers for me. I wouldn't do them at all but some people want a candle instead of a tart. I sell them online for $6, my shopping cart doesn't do the 2-10 deal, so I don't offer it there. My competition sells the jj for the same price, but hers are soy. I don't know how much it costs her though, she buys in bulk also. Since we are in the same building we agreed to sell them at the same price. HI, circle e, our candle and village candle are also in the same building. I only make one size, with one kind of wax and use a couple of wicks (if I have too, of course). If it is a bugger to wick, I just don't make it in candles. Perhaps you can have your mom sell tarts for you at work, that way you can get them hooked on your wonderful scents and then they will buy your more expensive than hi candles cause they will already know they are better than HI. You would be able to sell them much cheapers as you don't need as much. I sell mine $1.00 each 12 for 10