Wessex

Ok, you now realize that Barb and Rae can't be anywhere together ever again. Just like the President and Vice-Pres can't be together in case something happens and they both get hurt...

Cheers,

Steve

Just couldn't let Rae show you up, LOL. Very very nice! You both do such beautiful work! Now the wait begins for the cut pictures...

Cheers,

Steve

If you are relisting for the first time, you have to click all that BS. Once it is done you should not have to do it again. I do alot of copy and change on my listings, so it is usually really quick. It is like the 1 page listing page on Artfire.

Cheers,

Steve

There are alot of people who just guesstimate because they do not test. There are also alot of people who just outright lie. I recently say a seller claiming that soy wax candles last 50 times longer that paraffin. That is just an outright lie. These people are just looking for a sale, and not repeat customers. Be honest with your customers and it will serve you best in the long run.

Cheers,

Steve

I renamed some left over Christmas Tree (or was it Mistletoe?) to Enchanted Forest and it sold quickly after the holidays.

Cheers,

Steve

Looks like I am going to have to redo my labels. I, too, fell into the commonly accepted practice of using the term "natural" when refering to palm wax. Pretty much did not research it deep enough. I guess the only thing that makes me feel a little better is that I never really pushed the candles as "buy them because they are natural", but as "buy them because they are sustainable (lets not get into that one!) and look cool and make a great candle". Now I am going to have to go back through everything I ever wrote, labeled, etc to make sure nothing is misleading. At least I never intentionally misled anyone, so that makes me feel a tad bit better (but not much, I screwed up and did not research it deep enough). At least I don't label my products organic, LOL.

Hanging my head in shame,

Steve

How about blending a few FO's to create your own? CS's lime cooler is tart and sweet (and STRONG). Maybe add a little graham cracker (possibly even CS Hansel & Gretel's House assuming this is for candles and not B&. It may need a little lightening up with a few drops of straight lime.

ETA - I just made a cotton ball sample of this at 1:1:1 CS Lime Cooler:CS Hansel&Gretel:NG Lime Cilantro - Yummmmmmm. I'm going to put this into some 4633 and see how it goes. Thanks for the inspiration!

Okay, I am holding in my grubby little hands a tart of Lime Cooler, a tart of H&G, and a tart of Lime Cilantro...eyeballing the empty wax warmer across the room...

Cheers,

Steve

It is very easy to just put in it is handmade. Don't see the reasoning behind it, other than the few people who are listing resale items and honestly do not know they can't do it. I am going to give Etsy a few months to see what happens. I am getting a few views, and alot of people have been adding my items to their favorites, treasuries and a few added me as a fovorite site. I do not expect anything to come from it, but there is always hope, LOL. I just wanted to try Etsy, as I do well with wholesale, private labeling and local shops. Just wanted to say I did it. But it still boggles my mind that the Etsy Admin people treat the site as their own little kingdom! I mean really, how do they have the balls to do that!?! I feel alot of contempt for their Admin, but still have to see how sales go. Just a sell out, I guess, LOL.

Cheers,

Steve

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?5492-Supplier-Abbreviations-and-Links

I use Natures Garden (NG), CandleScience (CS) and Peaks for 80 % of my FO's. They all have very good FO's, but as with all suppliers, there are a few duds.

Cheers,

Steve

Very Nice!

Cheers,

Syeve

How about a vanilla? Vanilla goes with everything! Or maybe sandalwood? I am on a sandalwood kick at the moment (just poured Wild Currant Sandalwood(NG) and it is very nice). Or lets go way out on a limb and put a little Oakmoss & Amber or a straight Amber in it? I have no idea how they would work together, but they were the ones that popped into my head.

Cheers,

Steve

Again? Again with your spam?

Just a word of warning on the 8 ounce universal tumbler and the crome silver lid. It does not fit all the time. I use the universal tumbler and the silver lid and it is a nice tight fit, but because there is some variance in the tumbler, about 40% of the tumblers I order do not work with the lid. I have a whole bunch of cases of tumblers here that I can't use, LOL. But they are only about 45 cents each, so what can you do. I buy the lids by the case at Fillmore and the tumblers at EAC. Might have to check at the Jarstore, as that is where I get my beanpots.

Cheers,

Steve

Oh, and the lids fit the 7.75 ounce Lexington nicely, as well as the 8 ounce Status and a few others. It actually fits the 12 ounce Beanpot, but looks rather funny. It is a most useful lid.

The devil's in the details, Steve. Palm and soy waxes are MADE from OILS ("made" means they don't start out that way), which are chemically extracted, treated then refined, then have stuff added to them to make them more manageable as waxes. I don't make this stuff up - read the links supplied for yourself. Those oils have to be super-hydrogenated to be hard enough to stick a wick in, for goodness sake!! Soybean oil is liquid at room temp. Palm oil is liquid at temps a little higher than room temp. There is nothing natural about them as waxes except the soybean and palm fruit where those products originate. It's a long journey from there to the stuff that arrives at your house in the bags.

This issue isn't gray at all - it's pretty black and white. Beeswax is wax right from the hive! Bayberry wax is wax straight off the leaves of the plant. Only straining has to be done to clean up the plant residue and debris from those waxes to use them. They are natural waxes. They occur in nature in wax form. The rest are not.

I am seeing y'alls reasoning now. I was just not thinking it through to the logical conclusion. I really hate it when logic and reality team up and kick my ass, LOL.

Thanks,

Steve

With that volume it sound pretty good. The places around here that charge by the square foot usually charge $1 per square foot and then a 3-5% admin fee on sales. I have not taken that plunge yet, just don't think my volume would support it. Have been thinking about zipping down to various beaches where I know people and putting some items in, but just not sure about it at the moment. The straight up consignment stores I am in charge a straight 30% of sales, no rent. I can deal with that because if it is a slow month, I am not throwing away money on a space that is not supporting itself.

Cheers,

Steve

Natural, to me, means it is found in nature. Palm wax and soy wax are not found in nature, the respective oils are. They are indeed made in a lab or manufacturer plant where they are refined and hydrogenated (a nickel catalyst is involved). That really doesn't smack of "natural" to me. One can claim that the starting materials are natural but the final product is a man-made material; because they are not found in nature.

That is a good point, never even thought about it that way.

Steve

Stella, we are just going to have to disagree on this one. I think you are being very nit-picky on the semantics. Palm, soy and paraffin waxes are all natural waxes in that they are not formulated and made in a lab. True, the method of making the final product involves alot of not so natural processes, but the wax itself is still a natural product. (e.g. - Peyote versus LSD)

As far as organic beeswax, I talked to a beekeeper last year that was in the process of being certified as organic. Can't remember all he said, but what stuck with me is that they had to have an area of 3 miles (I think that was what he said) around the apiaries that was certified as being organic (no pesticides, etc). So if you don't own a whole bunch of land and control what goes on around the apiaries, it is hard to get certified. I'm sure there is much more to it, but just going on my discussion with him.

Cheers,

Steve

I use "Natural" on my labels with Palm Wax. Put it there a long time ago and never really revisited the issue. I am just going to go with the looser interpretation of it being a vegetable wax, therefore from nature, therefore "natural". I did use "all natural" quite some time ago, but quickly removed it. BTW, I say the wax is "natural", not the candle. Fine line and maybe a little iffy...

At least I don't use "organic", like I see some chandlers doing on candles that are DEFINATELY not organic. Are they intentionally lying, or just ignorant? But it really pisses me off (one of the sellers on Etsy with lots of sales uses "organic" even though their candles are NOT). Of course I probably should not be throwing stones, as I use the word "Natural"...

Cheers,

Steve

BTW, can you all tell that Etsy has turned me into a very Grumpy Guss, LOL.

I was in some type of Treasury thing tonight and got "pounced". Had no idea what that was, had to look it up. Lots of interesting things on Etsy! I was checking my Google Analytics tonight and had alot of page views coming from google, so apparently I am getting the hang of the SEO thing. I also had ALOT of pageviews coming from Craftserver, which is weird, as I just added my Etsy shop address today. So how were people here going to my shop there as it has nothing to do with my name here? Weird stuff. Now I have to figure out how to get my Facebook page running to get hits from there. And all that while I try to keep up with my retail accounts here in "real" life, LOL.

I agree that Artfire looks cheap. Barely getting any views there. And I have to really start adding items to my Etsy account...maybe I should just stick with what I know. As far as the resellers, I have reported whole sites that are basically OBI clones and nothing gets done. Admin are a bunch of idiots and asses, IMO. Etsy will soon turn into Ebay redux and the real crafters will move on. But as long as the Etsy people are making money, they do not care. Frickin idiots. Really want to head up north and start smacking them around and asking what their malfunction is. Crap, getting grumpy again, LOL. Sorry for the rants, too little sleep, too much FO fumes... But at least I have my first Etsy sale. I thought it would take longer to make that 5 bucks, LOL. Of course have done absolutely NOTHING to promote my shop, mainly it is for local people from around here to go look at stuff not carried in my retail accounts.

Cheers,

Steve

I disagree about being near the ocean. I know when the sea is near because I can smell the difference in the air. Of course, you definately can smell the salt marshes and tidal mud flats, they are not "fresh ocean" scents, LOL. But I do not find those smells bad at all, but not something a customer would want in a candle! But as far as the coastlines, I can definately smell when they are near. Not as strong as some of the ocean scents, though.

Cheers,

Steve

I don't see any Spam links! What a bad Spammer, LOL.

Steve

Hi Candybee,

Thanks for sharing this informative link about scams skimming here.

I have read and will follow these tips next time I will use my card to prevent from scams skimming.

I already have the SquareUp, but went to check out the Intuit. Pretty much the same deal as SquareUp. So I thought, hey what the heck, I can give it to my assistant and let them use it instead of trading the SquareUp reader back and forth (I know you can get another reader from SquareUp for free). So I filled it out and got approved without any problems. Now I have 2 different paymant options, LOL. Now the only problem...I don't have an assistant, LOL (delusions of grandeur!). So why did I get another account? Dunno...

Cheers,

Steve

I just have not had any time to play on Artfire and only a little time to play on Etsy. Finally started a Facebook page today, I am so not into online selling. I much prefer the face-to-face way of doing business, but have to make the leap sometime. I just find it funny that the atmosphere on Etsy is like the old Soviet Union. Don't rock the boat, stay under the radar, and the Admins (little Nazi's) won't pull some arbitrary crap on you or your shop. I truly think the Etsy powers are treating it as their own little kingdom. I am definately staying away from the forums! I did find lots of "hate Etsy" sites and blogs, LOL. Seems they have really burned ALOT of bridges. But it is relatively cheap to post items, as long as you don't have to keep relisting. I will figure it out sooner or later.

Cheers,

Steve

I still have wax on my wall, LOL. And if doing it once wasn't stupid enough, I did it a second time...

Cheers,

Steve

If you use the beanpot jar, wait a little longer to get a thicker crust. Ask me how I know...

Cheers,

Steve