TallTayl

When i do that, i typically pour into another bucket on the scale juuuuust to make sure. I haaaaate rebatching that much

Do you normally weigh the soap pot before adding additives and such? It has saved my bacon loads of times!

if you're certain it is all really, really, really well bended in the mold give it a shot. If some stuck to the sides and may potentially be a different texture, well, different story.

Yup, happens to all of my 'sweet' scents. Some go practically solid in the bottle. Warm water, patience and a good shake.

Do you have a review period in your WS agreement? I generally have at least a yearly evaluation to see if the account is a good fit. Exclusives do no good without a whole lot of volume. You both need to make money to stay in business i would open a dialog with her to hammer out a few specifics. As a couple noted above, her current exclusives can be for scent, name, style, type, or any combo. She can have an exclusive on names, styles, etc., but why would you want to limit your income potential within your local market? You have loads of skill to develop lines that suit many different shops. This is also where private label comes in handy. They have an exclusive on their label, but you are free to sell other PL anywhere you please.

I use clear top tins with a clear label, then a semi translucent label on the tin side.

Tins are especially hard to wick well. There's a thread or three about them in recent history. Will look around. In short, if a 3" tin burns to a full MP on the first normal burn (3 hrs or less) it will be scorching by the middle. By the bottom i would consider it downright dangerous.

If i had to put only one, it would be on the packaging closest to the actual product. In this case on the tin itself. How many times have i purchased two or more of the same tin type candles and only the top was labeled. I pulled the tops to sniff and could not remember which top went with which candle!

Thank You again everyone. The bottom start trick worked! I made a couple hundred tapers, mini tapers and celebration candles today! Next up: bayberry. Might as well get going on the Holiday Season while the melters are raging hot. I look forward to just picking and packing those lovelies instead of molding day and night. Maybe i will have a chance to really enjoy the season this year

I think underwicking a bit will make a few creepy drips without ruining the whole candle. Thinking bloody pillars would be nifty too! Priming the wick in a small container separate from the main dip tank would work. Heck, i'd even paint it on if i had to! It really only needs to be colored for a portion of the taper. Crackling, now that's cool.

JCandle, i would buy a set of each of those in a quick second! Gorgeous, beautiful and genius. I make beeswax, and have wondered about the bleeding idea. I wick to not drip, so making them bleed right is a challenge. Just color the wick? It does not bleed into wax as you dip? Nifty! B, JC is completely right. It is all market driven. I have worked hard to cultivate a specialized market for colored beeswax tapers. Took a while to find the right fit, but it pays off. Molded traditional tapers don't sell well for me. There needs to be something different about them.

That makes total sense. Ha! After i wicked and dipped 7 frames! am a little slow on the uptake tonight Guessing the double ringer is the same? Start on the inside bottom and work around? Am loving these so far. I need a slightly deeper melter, but am figuring it out. So much nicer than fighting with the urethan molds! Thank you both!!!!!

What is the trick to starting the continuous wick on a candle dipping frame like this? My mind is not working to figure out how to start it so that i end up with 5 pairs of joined candles. The rest is super easy.... But I always have to cut one pair apart. You tube has failed me

She wants you to pay for her R&D and basically fund her business. You are not her bank. I have one like that and had to change my company policies and prodecures to stop the bleed. I wrote an amendment to the contract charging her for any and all R&D time and materials. You just know she will not like the first passes, or even the second, thirds, etc.... It adds up fast. And takes away time from your other delighted customers. What pushed me to do it?.... She had a small lab make her some lip balms. Thinks nothing of prepaying the lab requirement of 1,000 unit mins, paid development, etc.. Why should I foot the bill?

"No, thank you" is a complete answer The amount of time she has already consumed has cost you more than the top line on the first prospective order. Good advice on requring a Tax ID. That weeds out many of the tire kicker/time suckers.

I bet it happened when manually entering the address for the label into Stamps.com or whatever program they use for shipping. If your confirmation is correct, it is human error in the next step.

If you click the more info button they show the micas in cp, mp, etc.

Which scents did you use? And from where? The temps mentioned should be fine. If the scent is intended/safe for soap, they need to expect to get to temps high enough to gel and still remain. Anchoring for FO is different from for certain volatile eo. Some people swear by clays and such, but i don't mess with any of that. I'd rather have scents that perform as they should.

There are loads of reasons for scent fade. When you cut into a bar, do you smell anything? Sometimes the scent is still there, but faint on the outside. When you use it does the scent return? How are you storing and curing your soap? Citruses are known to fade along with many others. There's no general rule about how much Fo to add, it really depends on the fragrance and the published IFRA limits to use. You used about 4%, which for a typical soap scent could be a little light for cold process. Many from NG, for instance, recommend 5%. Are you doing hot or cold process?

If it was all just a out the melt pool any old wick would work the same, no? The burning of the actual wax fuel plus the scent need the right temp and characteristics of the wick to release fragrance efficiently. Plus, i have had amazing throw from very little to no MP with various waxes. Palm container wax, for instance, weeps into the general area of the wick, combusts and releases lots of scent with very little wick compared to soy. And a few tea lights with the right wick, wax and scent fragranced half of my house with less than 1/4" melt pool depth. I think it is more than just what first meets the eye

The smell will be different on each. I find the melts to give a more true scent of the fragrance or essential oil. In a candle the combustion changes the scent. If using essential oil in a candle often the scent will distort somewhat since they are not designed to be burned as candle fragrance oils are.

Pure Beeswax tea lights are the hardest of all to wick. Beeswax tends to need height higher than width to melt and burn into itself properly. Tea lights are the opposite and will often drown out within an hour. Depending on your wax, (for instance if you have very pure, fresh and light cappings) you may be able to get a half way decent burn with a primed 4/0 or a 3/0, but you will need to test quite a bit to be sure. Get ready to line up dozens of samples to test from start to finish. If you get a new lot of wax, prepare to start testing over again from the start because each wax batch is very different. I have found that beeswax hardens a lot over time, so wicks that work well with my wax today can often be a bit too small a few months from now.

Market research is eye opening, isn't it Over the years I have learned a very important lesson: i don't need to make the text book perfect candle/soap/cream/shampoo/conditioner/insert product here. I have to make the product that meets (or exceeds) what people in my target market expect. Nothing more. Find your niche and produce for them. It may take a while to figure out what your target is, and you may restart several times, but with time and dedication you'll figure it all out

I can see it as a note in a blend where another (like lime) takes the edge off the off-bits. I have the sweetcakes natural strawberry lip flavor. It is "better" than many other strawberry type flavors, but still not a shining star alone. Blended with crafters choice chocolate mousse for a chocolate covered strawberry it isn't too bad. I am still hunting for a strawberry daiqiry scent. Have blended most of the strawberries available with notes like champagne and am making tiny steps forward. Will let you know how the naked aromachemicals work.

Nothing meant to be sassy people detect notes differently. Like cassis... To some it is the best scent ever. To others it is exactly like cat pee. Or cilantro... To some herbaceous and delicious. To others tastes and smells like soap. Lucky me... I am in the second of both of those examples when i sniff strawberry flavors and fragrances an off taste actually develops in my mouth. The selection of strawberry aroma chemicals compounded to make 'strawberry' is fairly limited. Aldehyde C-16 seems to be common. I'm waiting on an order of aroma chems and several blended accords from Perfumers Apprentice to see i I can pick out exactly what it is.