jonsie

I think EO University separated their product and shopping cart to http://theperfumery.com. You should be able to log into it with your old EO Uni login.

My candle experience is with GW 464 so I'm in the habit of curing at least 48 hours before testing. Now that I am trying to make outdoor Summer candles, I am playing around with pure beeswax candles and beeswax scented with EOs. Any input on how long to cure the beeswax? Searching the forum revealed one recommendation of 24 hours, but it was an old thread and I'm hoping more has been learned since then.

From a customer point-of-view, I get disgusted with stall holders who talk bad about their competition and would not buy anything from them. Who knows, he may be driving customers TO YOU. Sorry you are in this situation, and that the market managers don't seem to be doing enough to discourage his behavior. I wouldn't pack up and completely switch markets at this point, but would DEFINITELY branch out and test the waters at other markets. You may find that the difference in income from another market may make the decision for you.

I wanted to follow-up and comment on my Fuji Xerox DocuPrint CP205 w. I am still very, very pleased with the quality of the prints, but the actual operation is quite clunky. The paper jams often, it errors out on paper size problems, and the interface through the computer isn't very helpful. But for my low-volume needs and for the price it has been fabulous. I don't know if they offer a version of this in the U.S. yet as I think the Fuji Xerox product line is only available in the Australia Asia region.

Sharon, I'm visiting the U.S. right now for the first time in over a year and couldn't believe it when I saw their new wick! Hmmm, I may have to buy one to test it but I can only imagine it will be a massive flame. Sparks, I created my little candle business around wooden wicks and only offered them at the beginning. Customers seemed to have a hard time lighting them so I have started to offer all my scents with regular wicks. I'm loving the regular wicks now and have lost interest (well, most of it) in doing any more wooden wicks.

I have mainly been using the kind from Bitter Creek North, and they do not appear to have any kind of treatment on them. I am not sure what type of wood it is, but it appears to be an American soft wood. I have a bunch of wicks from BCN if you'd like me to send you some. I have tried another type (I believe it is the same type as Lonestar and others) and those are treated with something, but I am not positive what it is. They felt oily, and if you left the wick out it would appear to dry out. I didn't test/compare the dried out wicks with the fresh ones since I switched over to the BCN wicks. As for wooden wicks in palm and glass containers, I haven't tried it myself. It is possible that the combination may be too hot for a glass container, but won't know til it's tested. Good luck! I'm interested to hear about your results.

Thanks Moonshine! That is very interesting about the CB-135. I can get GW464 for $100/carton (and that's when I pick it up and don't pay for shipping), and CB-135 would have to come from the opposite coast and would cost about $170/carton. But you still have me very intrigued enough to play around with a sample of it. I found an Aussie supplier for 40/42 and may give that a try, but I may order some from here too just to cover my bases. Jeez, I'm going to be neck-deep in Lavender EO!

I was extremely lucky with my first attempt at using Lavender EO in GW464. That first kilo was very fragrant and I could use less than 5% to get wonderful HT, and the CT was just as amazing. My customers loved it. The next kilo I bought from the same supplier was different: not nearly as fragrant, wicking was different, and overall an expensive, frustrating mess. The first kilo and the second kilo were from the same supplier so I contacted them about helping identify the botanical name (the label only said "French Lavender Essential Oil" -- nothing else) and all they could suggest was that maybe I got their old stock of Lavandula officinalis and my second kilo was Lavandula angustifolia. I tried Lavandula officinalis from two other suppliers (all of these suppliers are in Australia) and they simply aren't as fragrant as that very first kilo I used. All of them smell great in the bottle, but once I get them in the wax, the CT and HT are weak, even at 8%. So this is where I can really use some help. I'm currently visiting the U.S. so I'd like to make some purchases before heading back to Oz, but I'm tired of wasting A LOT of money on Lavender EO. If someone would please share what supplier and Lavender EO has worked for you in soy... 40/42, or officinalis, or spike or whatever, I would be tremendously grateful. PM me if you prefer, I'm desperate!

I've been happy with Nature's Garden Christmas Tree in GW464. Nothing sweet or spicy in it, just the smell of a Christmas tree.

I love them too! Worth the price imo. I need to get a few more but local supplier is out of them. Thanks, Pam. Although none of my customers questioned why my wicks were off-center (aesthetics seem to be low on their list), I really like the idea of it uncurling during burning to spread the melt pool around. I still can't believe I didn't pick up on the twisting step before. Still so much to learn.

I gave it a try today with the bowtie wick holders, and I found that the wick stickums would unstick after a few turns (clean glass, poured cool). I think I need a better wick stickum.

I don't know anything about Sizzix, and I only know about the Cricut. It is possible that the Sizzix is a better machine so I won't try to sell you on the Cricut, and instead I'll just tell you my experiences with it. I bought the Cricut Expression and it is great for cutting out their designs from their cartridges on something as thick as Bazille cardstock. Their cartridges are expensive... $30 - $60 new, and not a huge selection of designs per cartridge. If you want to cut cardstock as thick as something like cereal box cardstock, you will need the Cricut Deep Cut Blade & the Housing. I have had trouble cutting anything thicker than that, although it may be due to the version machine I have, or my lack of patience. But the fact that it wasn't simple for me made the Cricut a disappointing purchase. If you want to make custom designs, you will need to hook up your Cricut to your computer and pay for some kind of software that supports Cricut. The only software I experimented with was Make the Cut!, and at the time I last used it, they had severed ties with Cricut because Cricut was sueing anyone that used their name without paying them. I have heard that you can use the Cricut to do printing and embossing but I haven't tried that yet. Back to cutting out shapes... when using the Cricut cartridges on quality cardstock, it does that very well. My five-year old daughter and her friends learned how to read the visual instructions for layering and switching out mats and paper, and they LOVE IT. They make the cutest cutouts and glue them together and absolutely treasure them. I've made some precious greeting cards with it as well. But trying to accomplish anything outside of what Cricut prepared for the general user can be a challenge. It can be done, but there is a big learning curve. Good luck!

ROFLMBO!!! I shall never, EVER forget to twist a wick from now on!! Bet on me to vent any frustrations out on the poor things THANK YOU!!! Although, I wonder if I may have contributed to other people's confusion. This isn't the first time I've refered to directional improperly. That is a great illustration. And that explains the slurping noise I hear while testing my candles. Very true, I can't imagine what all I've learned from the Stellanator. I'd much rather openly confess my ignorance on candle issues here than have a customer educate me. Big thanks to Stella and everyone else who takes the time to share their knowledge here.

Aah, gotcha. Am I the only one who has misunderstood the term "directional"? Seems it has been thrown around and taken on different meanings here, but it may all have been in my head. Thanks for the clarification.

Am I understanding this correctly... CDN's are not directional wicks? I've always found they curled in the direction of the ^ thereby offsetting the flame location in the candle. Maybe I don't understand the definition of 'directional'? As for twisting, how many twists would you give a container with 3" height of wax?

Thanks, I saw your suggestions about twisting, but didn't understand it til now. I'll give that a try.

I'm hearing candlemakers point out off-centered wicks as a flaw. But if you are using directional wicks, wouldn't you want to have your wick off-centered to account for the curl?

Thanks! I had heard of Snowdrift here on the forum, but never went since I didn't plan on ordering from them (I'm in Australia). But I found their information on sprays very informative. Great site! I ended up testing straight perfumer's alcohol with some Lavender EO, and although I couldn't smell the alcohol after a spray, hubby said he could still pick it up. I'll see how it smells after a week.

Here are a some good suppliers for soap materials here in Australia: http://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/ http://www.seoc.com.au/ http://www.aromatherapysuppliesaustralia.com/ http://www.heirloombodycare.com.au/ http://www.newdirections.com.au/ There may be a few others, but that's a good start.

Hi Joysous, it is hard to predict what a volume of FO will weigh since some FOs are thicker than others. For example, if you measure out a Tablespoon of a heavy FO like Vanilla, it would probably weigh a little more than a Tablespoon of a lighter FO like Lemon. But you can take a quick guess at it. For really loose and dirty guesses, I'll say 1 ml = 1 gram FO (30 ml in a fluid oz, so fluid oz = 30 grams). In reality, it is more like 1 ml = .85 grams, but each FO is different so when the calculations are important, weigh and measure carefully

I'd like to make a simple linen spray to sell but I'd prefer not to use cyclo or polysorbates or preservatives. Am I mad? Should I just give it up now? I have a bunch of perfumer's grade denatured alcohol. Is it ok to mix this with distilled water? I don't like the smell of it at all, but I understand it evaporates pretty quickly. Would it be ok to make it and sell it if it's made with vodka or everclear? I find their odors are a lot easier on my nose. If using vodka, can I dilute it with water or do I need to use it straight? Thanks in advance!

How did I miss this thread the first time? These are gorgeous!

Hi JoysousDesigns Welcome to the addiction! NCS is http://www.naturalcandlesupply.com.au/, and you may be aware of ACS: http://www.aussiecandlesupplies.com.au/. There are other good suppliers but generally they operate in smaller amounts. There are plenty of suppliers in the U.S. that ship internationally, and sometimes it is cheaper to go that route. If you need some suggestions I can PM you some names.

Whew, a lot to catch up in this thread. Sorry for not quoting, but thanks to everyone who commented and made suggestions. Overall, I want repeat customers. I want them be able to buy one of my candles and have a certain level of confidence in the quality, so I like Stella's suggestion of a 4 oz tester for each box of wax, and each new batch of EO. I think I can swing that, especially if I can buy my FOs and EOs in large quantities. Bart, I agree that our suppliers SHOULD provide disclosure when making a major change, just as our own customers would expect us to. But considering they hardly have any competition and are extremely busy as it is, I doubt that is going to happen. I think that they should make an effort to provide a batch number and date on their FOs and EOs, but that simply is not going to happen, so I'm just going to give up on them completely for EOs. Overall I've been happy with the local EO supplier, Range Products. They provide a batch number and date on most EO labels but I'm not sure if they offer 2500 ml volumes. I haven't tried their FOs yet. If their EOs smell dodgy, my nose may not be discerning enough. Some of their's is pricier than the candle supplier, but if I can count on long-term consistency from them, it will be worth it to me. I haven't ordered from SEOC or New Directions because their prices tend to be about the same, if not more. Bart, thanks for the link to FPI Oceania. I may give them a call to check prices. Tribalvixen, I understand your hesitation about using EOs and some of the risks. I try to avoid anything questionable but there is still a lot for me to learn. I think it's time for me to get enrolled in some classes, and in the meantime I've ordered Essential Oils Desk Reference to get me started. Thanks everyone.

Thanks KG, that is a great help. I think I'll order some from NCS and give it a try. I doubt I'll add it to my regular line since the people around here prefer spa scents. But being this was a special request that could lead to more business, it's worth a go.