Wessex

OK, funny story. This past Saturday I went over to my brother's house for my niece's 15th birthday party. Figured I had given her enough money for presents over the years (easy out - "for the car fund", LOL), so decided to give her a wax melter and some tarts. Had no clue what color of melter or scents she would like, so took 5 melters and about 25 scents (1 clamshell and 2 tarts of each). We are sitting around after dinner and I brought the stuff in from the car so she could decide what she wanted. Ended up getting rid of all melters and about 2/3 of the clamshells and tarts. There was my niece, SIL, stepmom, SIL's mom amd SIL's aunt there and they just went to town! Looked like a pack of hyena's on a zebra carcass, LOL! Of course I did not charge my niece or stepmom, and only charged cost to the others. But they tried their best to pay full price. I just did not feel right charging money to family (and almost family members). Oh, and I had a Plumeria candle for my stepmom, and some others that had been riding in the car, and those disappeared, too! Man, I REALLY want to have a real house party now :smiley2:! Thought some of you might get a kick out of this. And my family pulls no punches, so if they did not like something, they would have told me. But at least one of every scent was taken. Oh, and the Oakmoss and Amber that has been discussed lately was a hit. Cheers, Steve

It is definately a very nice thing to do, but you might want to do as Candybee says and donate locally. I have done several combat tours and we were constantly getting packages from many sources (at least this last go-around, not so much in Kosovo, Bosnia, Desert Storm). The VFW, base MWR's and FRG's, and many schools, groups, etc. would send us things we could use (as well as alot of things we didn't really need, but the thought was appreciated). In fact, my last tour in Iraq we would get 150 boxes at a time for our company (135 soldiers). It was a bit of an overload. It is definately a great thought, and I thank you for all the troops still overseas. But I think the unique nature of your products would be better appreciated locally. Again, thank you for thinking of our troops overseas. Cheers, Steve Now if you made chewing gum that would be another story. We could never get enough gum. It was great for the long combat patrols, but did tend to get a little gritty, LOL!

OK, just poured some candles with the new wax. I know they burn well with the old wax. They are scheduled to be tested Thursday, so will let everyone know if the new wax burns the same. Probably be sometime beginning or middle of next week. I am using the CSN wicks. Cheers, Steve

I had a lady this Saturday say " yea, it has two wicks" about one of my candles. Other than that, have had no feedback from customers. The Status jars that I had to double wick for good burn properties have sold just as well as the same jar with the single wick (different FO, of course). Myself, I like the single wick, but have to do what is best to make the candle burn right. Cheers, Steve

When I first opened the bag it did have a smell. Now it has a definate "wax" smell, but not unpleasant. They are a RSPO member (for about 5-6 months). My guess is IGI was waiting for them to gain membership to start dealing with them. Or something along those lines. Cheers, Steve

I just made some by pouring a PB/444 blend at 145 degrees and using a toothpick dipped in dye to give a few swirls. Looked just like the ones from the site. Would be a pain to mass produce, but not too bad for a couple dozen at a time. Swirl when too cool and color does not disperse right, too hot and mixes too much. Have fun. Cheers, Steve

OK, finally received the new IGI wax from Aztec today. It is Britz Wax (Britz Networks Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia). It is in small bead form rather than flake form. I poured a tester (unwicked and unscented) to check crystal formation. It appears very similiar to the old stuff. The top does look more like a starburst wax, however. But does not appear to have any sinkholes. So far looking good for a replacement wax. The tester is still cooling, if there are any problems I will let ya'll know. Again, it is an unwicked tester for appearance only. I will make a full tester for burn properties soon. I am a little worried that the burn characteristics will be different because the wax is in bead form. If so, I am out of the palm wax game. Cheers, Steve

Never had a wick float. The wick tab keeps it in place. Never had one shift to the side, either. I use the wick pins. Cheers, Steve

Lilac throws like a beast in palm wax for me. Have a tester going right now and it is all over the house. Here are a few suggestions that moved well for me at an "accidental" house party this weekend (post about that one later). These were in soy tarts, not candles: - Red Velvet Cake - Sun, Moon & Stars - Blarney Stoned - Chocolate Covered Cherries - Agave Lime Here are some popular ones in palm candles (don't know how they throw in other waxes yet) - Green Amber - Black Raspberry Vanilla - Blackberry Sage - Butt Naked (of course, LOL! Best seller for Christmas, too.) - Nappa Valley Harvest (NG type) Cheers, Steve

Oh, you shouldn't have told me about this, LOL. I will be at Bragg in April helping run some OPFOR training for deploying troops. Wonder if they will miss me if I do the craft show instead, LOL! Just kidding. I don't do craft shows (too much of a chicken, they are lots of work :smiley2:), so can't give you any specifics. But as a consumer, I would want to see little clutter about the booth, and tend to not stop if you are sitting behind a table not paying attention to the people walking by (reading a book, etc.). Be friendly, engage everyone, and smile your ass off! Good Luck. Hope you do well! Cheers, Steve

http://www.jackelus.com/index.html That is the JKL website if you wanted that one. You can't see their products unless you have an account. You can get a catalog in the mail if you have a tax ID. Cheers, Steve

Just saw some of the price increases at OBI. Some of the warmers are up a crapload! Way too much of a percentage jump! I think alot of the warmers I used to get are going to be replaced by warmers from JKL. Just got their new catalogs and they have some cool stuff (that is now cheaper than OBI). Sorry OBI, that cheap Chinese crap is not worth those prices. Not venting, just letting them know how I feel. Cheers, Steve

It throws great for me in GG Palm, but could never get the wicking quite the way my paranoid, anal-retentive self liked in my containers, so only sold votives and pillars (feather and featherburst). Sorry for the continued hijack :smiley2:. Cheers, Steve

Alot of places carry the Green Irish Tweed, popular scent. Blarney Stoned has been kinda popular in the last few weeks. I get both of mine at NG. Cheers, Steve

CS Asian Amber is actually one of my new top sellers :smiley2: in my "spa-like" line. Cheers, Steve

Gotta agree with above. Larger wicks do not make better burns. I also have several jars that need double wicking. Even some jars that I can single wick with one FO, but have to double wick with another FO. Cheers, Going up a wick size just leads to torchy flame and tunneling. Steve

Get ready for the firestorm. Testing is NOT an option, it has to be done as there are many variables (even including temperature and humidity in different parts of the country) . Not to discourage you, but I have spent thousands on testing. If you are making candles for yourself, all the testing is not really needed, as you are basically testing as you burn your own candles. But if you want to sell, testing is not an option. Website information is a good starting point, but many people will tell you that the info is sometimes way off. Cheers, Steve

Didn't they just raise their prices a few months ago? Steve

Damn, I feel like I am charging too much at 14.99. I like the 12.99 price point, as I am trying to sell my tarts. More profit in those. Cheers, Steve

That's some expensive stuff on their site. Good to know they use an "exclusive" soft wax for their melts, LOL. Does anybody really sell the 2-in-1 warmers for $19.99? Seems like a hell of a profit margin. Cheers, Steve

Pillar palm wax (feather, starburst, tortoise shell, etc) is in a pelletized form. Container palm (the GG and crystal I am familiar with) is in a flake or powder form, it will have "dust" when measured. Now these are the IGI palm waxes that I am familiar with. There are numerous "off-brands" like carried by Candlewick and others that I am not completely familiar with. HTH, Steve Oh, and I use CSN wicks from CS, but CDN's work also, if you can find them. Other wicks for vegetable waxes work, but I have found the CSN's to be more predictable.

I also check every warmer I get, from OBI and other sources, as soon as I get them in. The only problem I have ever had with an OBI warmer was one of the nightlite warmers. The tab that holds the body on had broken. I called them and they credited my account. Would have sent me another one, but I had bought the last two, LOL. I have only been selling them for about a month, but hopefully none of them will start coming back. Cheers, Steve

My shipping from OBI is very reasonable. The $300-500 they recommend is for LTL shipping, through a freight company. I placed a smaller order that took two boxes (large one and medium one) a few weeks ago and shipping was about $27, not high at all. HTH, Steve

Hey, get away from my labels, LOL. They were made with Avery Design Pro. Just takes some patience and playing with it to get the basic labels down. Cheers, Steve

Just wanted to add this to the thread. Last night I was test pouring some blends with 6 oz tureens. One of the pours I did was straight 646. Figured as long as I was at it, I would pour into a metal tart mold, a 2 oz. portion cup and a clamshell. Tureen turned out perfect (like I assumed it would having tested in other jars). The clamshell was OK, slight bit of roughness on top, but pops out fairly easily. Portion cup looks good, but will not release very easily. And tart mold was very hard to release without putting it in fridge (and that causes frosting). So that is why I always use a percentage of PB in my clamshells and tarts. Just putting this out here for some of the noob clamshell/tart makers. Now must go pour some palm candles. Cheers, Steve