Gretchen

Knew I saw it somewhere! http://www.candlecauldron.com/fundraisers.html Hope this helps! Gretchen

I saw something on the web about this; forms and all. I've been meaning to look for it again. If I find it, I'll post what I find. Gretchen

Just my two scents; depending on the FO, my 3 inchers can get to a FMP in 3-4 hours for the first burn; nice, steady flame, no soot, clean sides, yadda, yadda. Second burning and thereafter gets to a FMP a little quicker, burns just as well, most FO's keeping the sides of the glass clean. (Some of the heavier scents take a little longer to clean up after themselves!) When I'm testing them I'll burn to just that, the FMP, and I'll also burn longer, and then again even longer (aka- marathon burning!). Customers will do both. With my larger candle, a 4 incher, I have a hang tag that gives all the appropriate info about burning a soy container candle. My smaller candle just has a lable with no info, but I'm in the process of changing that now. Most people don't burn candles appropriatly; just a fact of life. If youve managed to get your candles to burn according to what the general guidlines are; in other words, it's burning clean within the appropriate limits, has an appropriate flame that doesn't get out of hand even through a marathon burn, the jar or glass can be picked up bare handed without getting too hot, and the overall burn time is within reason, then hey, sounds like a decent candle worthy of a sale! The one thing I've learned from this board that I will never again disregaurd; I'll never, ever stop testing! Even if I never change my wax brand, I will always test and re-test! My New's Year's resolution: every day there will be a tester burning! Gretchen

I'm bumping this up. Patiently waiting!

Here's the link, but none of these will work for me. I'm trying to lid a glass, not a jar, so there's no threads for a screw on lid. Thanks just the same for responding! http://www.candlescience.com/site/shop/containers/glassware/hex-jelly-jars.php

I had terrible experiences with the new & improved version. Since you can't test burn every candle before it goes out the door, well... how's that for a dunb statement! IMO, that stuff's not worth your time! As soon as the version one was back, I was on it and I have no problems and no complaints. Gretchen

Hey thanks! I do have a good accountant so that's covered. And thanks for the commission range! That's what I was thinking. Anyone else? Gretchen

I've shipped small, personal orders, but for my wholesale accounts (so far) I've been delivering. Now that it looks like I'll be expanding out of driving/delivering range, I need to figure out how to ship effectivly and successfully; without damage! My tumblers are going to be an issue. They're wrapped in cello, tied at the top, and when I buy the glasses, they come in these fold-over six packs; not something I could turn around and use to ship in. Yup; tumblers will be a real issue. My larger candle is poured in an apothacary jar, whick come to me in cases with the heavy cris-cross dividers, so I can just repack the candles into those boxes. With those, would it be safe to just ship off in those boxes, or, would I need to pack that box into a larger box, with or without additional padding, to ship? (Am I making sense?) Now for using a shipper, like UPS; they're here ALLOT to deliver! Do I set up some sort of account with them for pick-up? How's that work; anyone know? I've read a fwe shipping nightmares here as far as receiving supplies, but I'll bet they work both ways:grin2: ! I'd like to hear what any of you have to say on this topic! Gretchen

I just noticed a nice selection of the kraft boxes at the candlemaker's store. Gretchen

Thank you but, no, not the ones. They do however carry the same lids I use for my jars. Looks like a nice site; I've never used them. Gretchen

Ok; close to 24 hours and no replies! No one using a rep? Are there negitives to doing this that haven't occured to me? Gretchen

...pour to order? i realize cure time is important, but i often pour to order and have no complaints with scent throw. Over the holidays I always pour ahead, and what ever I'm left with as far as the hard core winter scents, i have an outlet for, but in an attempt to get better organized, and geared more towards better business stratagies, I'm thinking to pour ahead. Just wondering what some of you do that are selling. The thought of filling an order by just pulling it off the shelves sounds great to me. Gretchen

Do they exist? Not the ones with the cut work in/on them, just a plain metal lid. I use a straight 13oz tumbler for one of my candles and currently tie them op in cello bags. They look fine and sell well, fo one reason because it's like an already wrapped gift; but I'd like a sleaker look; less packaging basically. They be easier to package for shipping without the cello. TIA-\Gretchen

Apparently a rep saw my candles in one of my retail accounts and expressed an intrest. I am to the point where I would be ready to have a rep, I just don't know quite how that's handled. I realize they work on commission, but that's all I know. Is the norm a flat commission, a sliding scale, complx or simple? I'm also they'd get a 1099 from me at the end of the year, or maybe quarterly? Any insight, even to issues I may not be aware of, would be greatly appriciated. Gretchen

Because it's impossible to tell which is which looking at the flakes of wax, and because NGI DID screw up on the lableing of the cases a while back, and, because you have no idea how long the case you got was sitting in the distributors... call NGI and read them the batch numbers off of your cases. Based on my path of experiences with this was (waxes), it's the quickest way to find out exactly what you have. Because you said you had some air pockets, I'm guessing that was the version 2; the lable would/shoud say 'new & improved'. I had (still have!) several cases that were miss-labled, per NGI after reading them the batch numbers. As for scent throw, I'm down to .0468 PP for most of my scents, and though cure time does help with the cold throw, both the hot & cold throws are definatly strong enough, and I get my FO's from several vendors. Gretchen

TOMH- thanks for the info about Candle Science. Henry- I could hold it for you:p I did send an email to NG asking what they suggest we do with this stuff; are they taking it back from the suppliers, etc. We'll see what I get for a response. Gretchen

Sorry, I forgot to say; I went on the NG site. All they have listed now is the CBA. DIdn't they have a tab for the New & Improved stuff before? There was no mention on the site of discontinuing the new. Somehow I thought there would be. Gretchen

How do you all think we can be SURE we're getting the original CBA when we order from our suppliers now? Have any of you ever 'returned' unopened cases of wax to your suppliers? I have 3 cases of the new & improved junk. Gretchen

OMG! Just a little pressure!!!!! Our local paper just called and will be running an article on me ; I think she said two weeks. Their photographer is coming omn Monday! Holy sh--; gotta get this place tidied up! Great time to have wax troubles, huh! Not that they will know that, just adds to the pressure gauge! Speaking of that, I just poured two tesnew CBA and steric at 2%; dropped down a wick size in my smaller candle, the 3", for the apoth jar I kept the wick size the same. I just can't fathum that a CD14 could possibly get accross a jar that basically 4"! We'll see how it goes. I read somewhere else that another candle maker is using the old and the new CBA 50/50 and loves the results. No steric. Wouldn't it be kind of funny if it was really that simple?! Gretchen

I don't know how esle I would melt my wax; when I'm pouring I usually go through 50-100lbs in a day; that's not pouring every day. Now that the 'season' is basically on our heels, I'll be pouring about 300# a week until the end of November. That's why I'm feeling kind of frantic with this wax issue. I'm like down here in my little workshop, have my routines pretty well in place, things running fairly smooth, and bam, a wax issue. I generally enjoy a challange, but I really hate wax issues. Production stops, and my routines and all that I've become comfortable with gets tossed in the air! There has to come a point where the challanges are new scents, new styles, new customers! Jeana- Ergo is a candle company and Jimmy is the big boy behind the company. Check out ergocandles.com. If you do, be sure to check out their photos of the plant! Oh, and get a load of the pricing! I've only tried two other manufacturers wax besides Ecosoya. The reason I've stayed with Eco is because i do a large apothacary jar and really want to stay with single wicking. I love the look and feel of their wax, just not the problems over the past year. From reading about the many other waxes, it sounds like there are plenty of 'issues' out there with many of the available waxes. SOunds like I'm not alone! Henry- so these are burning hotter because....? I was basically marathon burning, so they could stand to be trimmed, no doubt. But then I know the customer will burn them that way. The old CBA didn't get so hot during a marathon burn. I have one store that lights one up when she opens at 10 AM, and it goes all day until five. She has told me she'll often hold one up to show a customer how 'soot free' the jar is! Gretchen

This has been bugging me all along; WHY do we have to go through all this mixing? I can understand having some basic additives like the steric, vyber, and I even half understand the beeswax as an additive (I don't really understand any of these as additives, but I sort of understand the the rational, given the fact that there are all the variables with color, scent, and wicks). But when I say mixing I more mean adding different waxes together like the KY and the CBA, or any of the possible combinations. Do you get what I mean? I mean, don't you think that candle making is complex enough? Why does it seem to be increasingly difficult to consistantly get the same results, from canlde #1, to your 100th candle? I'm not critisizing anyone who is mixing waxes; we're all in the same boat basically, just trying to produce the best candle we can given what we are all looking to acheive as the end result. Since I mentioned Ergo before in my ranting, I'll use them as an example again; do you really think that guy was busy mixing different waxes together in his early days? Maybe, but he surely isn't going to all that trouble now. It just seems unreasonable to me that beyond a basic additive, and I'm not really that in favor of adding those either but will since it seems I have to, it has to be so incredibley difficult to acheive the grand final result we're looking for. This is candle making not rocket science. It should be just a tad easier. OK; I'm done. SOrry but I just had to! Gretchen

Nine times out of ten I pour all of it at one time. I did, however, forget to turn it down once, and yes, the color definatly changed. Usually, I fill it, bring it to temp over a few hours, pour all or almost all ofit, fill it back up, turn the temp way down, and start all over the next day. If I'm not pouring for a couple of days, I turn it off. Not sure I like the idea of adding the steric directly to the warmer. At least not until I have this better worked out. By then, they'll probably change the wax again! Gretchen

I can dump probably about 25# into my warmer at one time and I do. The wax is always ready, other than I turn the temp down at night to about 100, and back up in the morning to bring it up to about 180-190. That's why I was melting the steric in the microwave; I just ladle the wax into my pouring pots. With the wax at 180-190, could I just weight and add the steric dry to the pouring pot? And the steric that is now in my pyrex, and has hardened back to a solid, can I still use it? Do you have a suggestion on which way I should go with the steric, up or down? I'm thinking up, right? It did solve the problem with the hiden sink holes and pockets, but like I said it is ultimatly burning too hot. Gretchen

I've been using the new CBA; actually the new and the old at the same time, not knowing it in the moment! Takl about pissed off! Calmer now!LOL!) Anyway, the new CBA by itself won't burn; not for me, and with the same wicks I was using in the older version. I'm pouring a 16oz. apothacary jar with a CD16 wick (3 7/8 "), and a 10oz, tumbler with a CD12 (3"). Those wicks worked beautifully with the older version, not with the new. As suggested from this board I added 2% steric, and at first the burn was terrific; great flame, great throw, and talk about a long burn time! OMG! Like it was looking like my 70 hr. burn had the potential of bumping up to maybe as high as 90 hours! (That's good and bad, I know) Then about a third of the way into the candle the flame was just too hot and a tad too big (duh!) and the sides of the jar were getting sooty <(sp?). So, now what? I never used any type of additives before so adding the steric was new to me. I melted it in the microwave in a pyrex measuring cup, which took forever and even the pyrex got really hot. Adding the steric was a pain in the butt; I'll do it, but it really disrupted the 'flow' of how I work. Since I don't really understand the value of additives; well I understand that the steric will make this wax harder; how do I juggle the steric? My brain tells me that adding something to make the wax harder, would allow the wicks , I'm not sure how to explain my logic; it would have seemed to me that if anything, I would have had to bump the wick up with the addition of the steric. So, if any of you can guide me with the steric; do I go up or down? And what is the best way to melt it? You do melt it seperatly and then weight and add to the wax, right? Or can you weigh it dry and add it directly to the pouring pot? That would be so much easier, but I'm guessing the answer to that is no. I liked the older CBA. The scent throw wasn't great the day after the pour, but curing solved that problem. The hot throw was fine. And frankly, no wet spots would be great, but they really didn't bother me, nor did they seem to bother any of my customers. And finally, just my opinion but, I really wish they (meaning the manufacturers) would quit dicking around. If they're trying to improve on what they offer, that's great, but to send a wax out with obviously not enough testing being done prior, is ridiculous. In one years time this company has pulled one wax off the shelf before bringing out it's replacement, which left me high and dry; then the CBA comes out, and less than six months go by and they basically replace that! Then, to make matters worse, they screw up with their labling, putting the old lable on the new wax; leaves me with problems again, and now are saying they may bring the older version back? For crying out loud! Some of us are trying to make a living at this! Wonder how Jimmy-boy at ergo would feel if his next truck load came in different than his last?! Bet they'd call him first! I had no notice. Didn't know there was a new version until I came onto the board. Translation, didn't know I was screwed until after my delivery of 400lbs! Oh, and some of that shipment was new, and some was the old, mislabled! I have two roasters here, each about half full, and frankly, I have no idea wich wax is in them. Worse yet, it's highly possible that one or both of them have a little of both! Guess where that wax is headed!? When does it get to the point where, like Jimmy-boy, we can just pour candles, AND sleep at night? Sorry for the rant. Any advice about the steric would be greatly appreciated! Gretchen

From what I've poured so far, I'm happy with the scent throw, but I wasn't unhappy with the original CBA's throw. The cold wasn't as strong, but after a proper cure it was fine, IMO. I was happy with the first CBA. This stuff gets wet spots too. The one thing that I have to say about this new stuff is, with the addition of the steric, no kidding, these puppies burn FOREVER! And beautifully! I ahve a tumbler here, same wick as I used with the first CBA, 10 oz of wax, 10z. pp of Fo, that used to burn 45+ hours. This new stuff with the steric, well I don't know. So far, two burns, for a total of about 16 hrs. and it's only down 9/16". I'd like to hear opinions on that. I've never had a candle burn so slow and so perfectly; well should I say, so far, knock on wood! Today it went for 11 hours! We'll see. Gretchen Oh- the throw was great and this one was just poured last thursday, but the steric was added yesterday. Don't ask; wasn't fun, but turned out great