jonsie

That is beautiful! Your granddaughter will LOVE that

Hmmm, maybe have all the key words on the home page? And then have the specific words on the individual pages? So at the very least they are directed to your home page? Then as time passes you can study your web stats to see what key words brought people to your site, and what pages they first viewed, and then you can make adjustments later.

Hehe, Fresh Cut Grass would be my suggestion I like the idea of mixing that with some leather scent.

I'm for Malibu too. Personally, I hate ANY kind of container I have to dip my fingers into in order to get the goods. Especially if it is going on my face. Any time you put your fingers into a product, you are contaminating it. So if this is something to benefit the face, sticking your fingers into it is only making it worse. I completely understand that filling a Malibu is a pain, and I'm not trying to make any more trouble for you. But I have made the conscious decision in the past to avoid pots in leu of tubes to minimize contamination because my skin is fairly sensitive. Just my opinion, but figured I'd share since I do pay attention to packaging with regards to skin care products.

That sounds yummy! I have a pound of Honeysuckle Jasmine but it smells too powdery to me. Your idea about the Peach just may salvage it. Thanks!

I'm still new to the labeling but I have ordered a few items from http://onelinelabels.com and I've been happy with them.

Hi Deena, welcome to candle making! I'm a newbie too so I am still learning the ropes. The folks at AussieCandleSupplies have been very kind to me and very helpful. Every time I've ordered from them I picked it up from their location in Malaga, and I don't mind the drive at all. I think their glassware is very well priced, I just only wish they had more of a selection. Seems that EVERYONE in the Perth area is using the Metro jar, lol. I really love their Fragrance Oils as well. However, you can probably find cheaper prices by ordering from the U.S. Even after paying the international shipping costs you can get Fragrance Oils cheaper that way. HOWEVER, I find that the scents from ACS just seem ... uhm... fuller? And convenient. So... since I like their scents a lot, and I can get a refill with little downtime, I've decided to make them my primary scent supplier. And primary wax supplier. And primary glassware supplier, lol! Thanks for introducing yourself and I'm glad to help in what ways I can. Best of luck!

Beautiful candles! A couple of very minor technical issues... 1. Title your home page. When editing your index.html page, change the code from: <title> index.html </title> to <title>Military Candles</title> I personally feel it is a lot more professional this way. 2. On your home page, in the photograph of the Army candles, is it just me or do those look more like bars of soap? I don't see any wicks. So my first (and lasting) impression of your product was soap bars and not candles. Bless you for doing something like this. I think it is a wonderful idea. Create a Facebook fan page as well and link it on your home page. Good luck!

Chels, candle making is a very technical process. When you said that you are using a paraffin wax, that doesn't tell us much because there are many different types of paraffins and they all perform differently. So Chuck was correct to ask you what type of wax you were using. If you have any more information about the wax, please post it here. If it was a basic slab of wax from Michael's or Hobby Lobby and it didn't have any descriptive info, then please tell us that too. As for firebombs, many of the seasoned candle makers here have had their share of mistakes that could have burned their houses down. And that is after YEARS of experience. It can happen to the best of us, and it especially happens to people just starting in the candle-making hobby. Crayons are a way to color a candle... true, but they tend to clog up your wick and your candle may not last as long as you'd like. The materials and pigments used in the crayons vary from one to the next. Therefore if you depend on crayons for coloring you cannot expect the same performance from candle to candle. The type of container you are using also makes a difference in the way the candle cools after pouring. What is it's diameter? Does it neck down like an apothacary jar, or does it have straight sides like a metro jar? And lots of other factors... wax temperature when poured, how was it cooled, etc. I'm not an expert on paraffin so I doubt I can answer your questions. But I did start my candle hobby here with this message board and these people can be very very helpful and patient if you open yourself up to them. Good luck to you.

I plan on installing Oscommerce in the next couple of days. Chances are I'll be asking a lot of questions. But if I come across an answer for you, I'll post it here. Good luck!

My own personal experience is that I needed testers. Usually I pour two candles from a batch and I burn one and I give one to a friend and I tell them I expect feedback. Once someone falls in love with a particular scent, and they want more candles like that, then I've charged them about $10 a candle. Here in Australia, the costs for materials for about one candle is $5 Aus so I think a wholesale price of $10 is reasonable. And, yes, in the boutiques here, soy candles in the same metro jars I am using go for $25 - $30.

BEAUTIFUL!!! I am very envious! Currently I am using the guest room but only a corner of it. I WANT MORE SPACE!

I like the idea of charging them the wholesale price! You need to make some kind of money in there

Opps, my first response was based on me confusing GW 444 and GW 415. Candlechic, I'm sorry I don't have a direct answer for you. Soy is just kind of tempermental this way. You can try pouring at a hot temperature like 165. I had good luck with that temperature using GW 464. You can also try some Coconut Oil as that helped me smooth out some tops. You can also try cooling your candles more slowly, buy putting a box over them or setting them into a warm oven (but turn the oven off ). It might be your FO, it might be the humidity in your climate, it could be a lot of factors :/ Best of luck to you.

That is a wonderful idea. I am from south Louisiana and everything helps. No contribution is too small.

I wish I could help you but I don't have any experience with corded wicks. Good luck!

I haven't tried any clear labels so I'm no help there. Best of luck to you finding something you like. And you can imagine how jealous I am that you are going to the U.S. Please eat at some Chili's and some Cracker Barrel's for me, hehe.

Thank you Richard, I really appreciate your response! I'll give them a call on Monday.

That's right. Since you are just getting started and getting an idea of what fragrances you like, no harm in using the 1 oz'ers. But, yup, as you make more batches of a scent you like, you save a lot of money by purchasing in the larger volumes. I think I know what you mean... is it like a thin layer of residue on the inside of the glass container, right above the top of the candle? If so, that could either be from moving the candle while the wax was still in liquid state (or splash from the heat gun), or maybe as the candle cooled down, it shrunk down to a slightly smaller height, leaving the thin wax layer on the glass. Lol, some of the veterans here could give you better ideas because those are only guesses from me!

Frosted glass is nice for hiding flaws too Nice job!

How many candles did you make from each 1 lb of wax using the 1 oz of FO? And you are saying only one candle from each batch would sweat? Makes me wonder if the sweating candle was either the last candle poured (or the first) in the batch and the FO had either collected at the bottom of the pour pot (or risen to the top). So if you aren't continuously stirring between pours then I'd suggest to give that a try. So you are pouring directly from the 1 oz sample bottles? Those should be accurate enough. But that size is the most expensive way to use FO. And you may already know that but it needed to be said I use those little prep bowls, but it's all your personal preference. I still feel like I'm improving my "lab" every day and I might find something better tomorrow. But I prefer to use anything glass since it is non-porous. And that is the kind of scale I have and how I do it. I'm not sure about testing the sweaty ones. Someone else can give some good advice. And I'm not sure what you mean about the thinned out wax?

There is a certain style of glass candle container that I would love to have, but I can't seem to find it here in Australia. I can find the sizes and style I want on Alibaba, and some of the manufacturers on there seem willing to negotiate below their minimum order requirements (of 1000, or 20000, etc). So what's holding me back? Alibaba scares me. Large sums of money would need to be exchanged but I don't know what kind of protection I can have as a buyer. I don't even know where to begin with a purchase such as this, such as what questions to ask, or what guarantees or risks to expect. I heard a rumor that Paypal is teaming up with AliExpress. As I recall, Paypal is good at protecting the buyer, so that would be good news if it's true. But I'd love to hear some positive experiences before I'd be willing to take a gamble.

Oh dear! It's 3 am here in Australia and my brain is still asleep. But I at least wanted to say for now that: 1) Thank you to everyone who responded to my original question, and 2) I am not offended being called, "hun" or "sweetheart" or any term of endearment. I'm from the South, and I miss it while I'm here in Oz. However, I'm enjoying it when the old men here call me "love" in their Aussie accent MzPickles, I appreciate what you are trying to say and thank you for wanting to help. As suggested in the thread, I think the idea of sharing your thoughts in a PM might be the way to go. That has usually worked well for me. But thanks for trying to help.

Is lavender supposed to smell soapy? Even if it's in a candle? I really don't know what a proper lavender should smell like so I feel like I have a lot to learn about the classic scents! For what it's worth, I used some Bramble Berry Lavender in some GW464 candles and the CT and HT matched the OOB just fine. But I am definitely detecting the soapy smell in the candle a lot more now than I did a couple of months ago. I didn't know if that was typical of the lavender scent.

I could use some suggestions on what to look for and ask about. Any input is appreciated!