jonsie

In the picture below, I have the standard sized tea light, and a larger size that my local supplier calls "Maxi Light".

My customers LOVE the larger size because they can sample scents without committing to a huge candle. And the larger diameter throws better than a tea. It is a win-win for all of us.

The problem is this size isn't nearly as common as the tea. It is hard to find holders for them over here. So I wanted to know of other names this size might have so I can search on it. IKEA sells some lanterns and glass holders (that's where I got the glass holders in this picture), but I'm hoping to purchase wholesale.

TIA,

Susan

Congrats on at least making a decision! And I agree that Steve brings up a good point on the repeat business. It may end up being a perfect size for you.

As for me, I'm still mulling over my choices. My local supplier had some spare large metros that he sold to me so I didn't have to order from the more expensive supplier. And business keeps picking up for me. But if I had to eliminate a size, I decided it would be the medium. I'm just not ready to do that!

Thanks for the pics! WOW!

Maybe, even if the plastic cups ARE rated, when you refill & burn & refill & burn, the plastic gets degraded somehow over time???

That's the only thing I can think of...

I'm not familiar with people refilling tea lights, so is this done? Just because I haven't heard about it, I guess it doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but that sounds risky to me.

Wow!!! :shocked2: Glad you are ok! Can't wait to see the pics!

Thank you everyone!

So I took a look at the Bug Off EO from Oregon Trails and seriously considering having some shipped to me here in Oz. In the meantime I may tinker with some of the EOs I have on hand. When they list the EOs in their mix and shows Orange 10x at the top, does that mean Orange 10x is the highest percentage, or did they randomly list the ingredients?

Edit to say... I tried to order a few ounces of Bug Off but I needed a minimum order of $15, and I didn't want to ship a whole pound all the way over here (especially if it leaks). Since I can't smell it, does this smell like oranges?

Ty Bernadette!

But I feel kinda stupid to ask... what does "RE/AH citronella" mean?

Congrats! I hope to be as lucky as that one day, but I bet it feels great!

I know Summer and mosquito season is winding down in the U.S., but here in Australia, it's just about to kick off! So I'm thinking it's time for me to try some anti-skeeter candles.

I've been researching and reading up on stuff around CS and the Net, and I wondered, is it necessary to make a candle smoke to keep the mosquitos away? I'd test it myself but for some odd reason, the mosquitos stopped biting me years ago, making me a lousy test subject.

So would a smelly citronella/lemongrass eo candle do the trick even if it doesn't smoke?

That's right, the 28mm width tops fit ACS's 500 ml bottles. The 24mm tops fit NGC's 1# bottles, and ACS's 100 ml bottles.

I have lots of 24mm pour tops and 28mm yorker tops if any of y'all want me to send you some. When I get my 28mm and 20mm tops from CandleChem I'll be glad to send some of those as well. I'm not sure what the 20mm will fit, but should be fun to see if they work on the 10 and 25 ml bottles.

I gave David at ACS the 28mm top and asked him to carry it. He said he liked it and would try to supply it, but that was about a year ago

That's odd, Nadia... hmmm. Try this link instead: http://stores.ebay.com.au/CANDLECHEM-COMPANY

I think the problem was that I linked from ebay.com and not ebay.com.au. Hopefully that fixes it.

Bart, I think you've made a valid observation. Not sure why they'd take away a function that they so strongly defended. Maybe they did it to prove that customers can still get hacked whether they use their service or not. My theory is that lots of services got hacked, not just theirs, so there isn't an easy way to narrow it down to just one source. Anyway, they did remove a function used by their customers so out of respect they should have explained why.

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.

Thanks everyone, these are all good ideas! I order in quantities of 100s for my container candles so the volume isn't too much of an issue. But I am leaning away from using the folder/binder since I think it will be too bulky and expensive.

My work area keeps evolving too. Once I figure out a place to put this huge jarrah wood wardrobe, my work area will open up and feel less claustophobic. Soooo much to do....

Oooooh, that is a very cool organizer, Eric. I could use that for all kinds of things!

Thanks, KG!

I'm hoping to narrow it down to just a few wicks once I get all the FOs wicked that I already offer in the timber wick, but I'm finding the wicks for the EOs are all over the place. Once I get them wicked I may be offering to buy off your spares

Thanks, it does help.

I thought I'd give this a try with my CDNs and see if it works for me. If it does then I'll try it with my HTPs and my ACSs too. At the moment each type has its own box and I have to paw through them to find the size I want, and I hate it.

So I'm imagining getting a zipper pocket for each size of wick, labeling the pocket, and putting them into wide ring binders. For example, I'd have binders with CDNs 3 - 8, CDNs 10 - 20, CDNs 22 - 30. Seems it would get incredibly bulky, but at least I could find my size easily.

These also seem expensive ($1 - $2 each) so I don't want to lay the money down without thinking it through.

Other ideas are always appreciated.

Well I couldn't understand the promotion of perfumes ya know. I did not see how it would have been informative. I was thinking maybe someone hijacked your acct.

Well, the website is pretty tacky looking. I guess they make their money from the ads and google links.

Did you see under notes *Animal Sources, the perfume that has GOAT HAIR notes!

:laugh2:

Whoa!!! Maybe this site isn't as credible as I assumed, lol!

Interesting. Is this a shortage of Clove EO and FO? I wonder what caused this.

Sorry, I didn't realize I shouldn't have posted this. Is it because it is selling something?

But why I like it... I have had a hard time identifying the notes in perfumes, and I had wanted to make candles with more perfume-y scents. This helps me to recognize the notes in the perfumes I am familiar with. To me it seems like a wonderful database of components to the different fragrances out there.

I stumbled across this web site while googling an essential oil. Wow, this is EXACTLY what I have been needing for me to understand perfume and fragrance and how to identify its notes:

http://www.fragrantica.com/

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

I personally love colors in my candles and will continue to work with them, despite the occasional hassles with frosting.

In my particular suburb/market, many of the customers do not want dyes or sythesized fragrances, so, in line with what what Stella described above, I offer two groups: FOs with color, and EOs with no color.

Although I like offering colored candles, producing the no-color EO candles is such a breeze.

I'm not sure I can answer your questions, but did you mention up there how much FO you added? And how long did they sit before you burned them?

Coconut and ChrisR, thank you for the input. I feel better informed. I think I will play around with making some melts and see how the customers receive them. There will be some who won't care about tossing it, but there will always be those who will save it and attempt to make their own candles. I'll do my best to discourage that if they ask.

Eric mentioned buying back wax to make firestarters. Those aren't very popular here, but could I add more scent to the wax and sell it in little drawer sachets? Or... sell the FO in a dropper bottle for them to re-scent the melted wax? Chances are I am overthinking things right now, but this is just how my mind works.

Tribalvixen, I got your melts and I love them! My first wax melts as a customer And I love how the feather palm looks. And I also like how easily it slid out of the melter once it cooled off. Do you pour your feather palm into the clam shells?

And flowerbaby, sorry I can't help you, I haven't poured my first melt yet

The inconsistency in crops, for example, can have a big effect on the performance of the EO in a candle system.

Very true. And the difference in suppliers too. It can mean the difference in a couple of wick sizes.

Making melts and tarts with EOs makes all kinds of sense, but for me, making candles with them was not cost effective, in both labor and material cost. I happily use them in soaps and other products but not in candles. Even though people may ask for essential oil scented candles, are they willing to pay the price for them? In many retail markets, the answer is no. In some markets - upscale spa and decor places, sure. The question is, where are you marketing your candles and how much will your customers pay? If they are willing to meet your price, great. Rock on. But if they are not, think long and hard before you put much more time and materials into something that you may not be able to justify economically.

All of my FO candles are at a flat rate. All of my EO candles will be priced individually. I understand individual pricing is a pita, but the customers at this particular market have already shown they are savvy enough to understand why. As for these customers, they are mostly professionals who don't like artificial colors or ingredients, prefer slow food, organic, you get the picture. I don't sell my products as organic or natural, but they seem to know I'm not there to screw them. All in all, I feel confident this is the right thing for me to do with this market and my candle product development. However, if I was 10 miles out in any direction it would be a different story.