EricofAZ

Ok, I'll probably regret this at some point, but since everyone here has been so generous with your information, I should do the same... The narrow base one with the fancy shape on the left was at a local 99 cent store. They had a ton for a buck but unfortunately, don't seem to be able to order more. They just have them when they show up. I'm sure someone in management can eventually tell me how to get them. The one on the right, the straight one with the wide base, was at a "99 Cent Only" store. http://www.99only.com/ The manager has those in boxes of 24 for $26.50 including tax here. He can order as many as I want. It is item #10863 "Ribbed Canister in PDQ" and because I don't pay shipping, I'm glad to give the guy what he is asking for them.

I have some tall, thin 2 oz shot glasses that I bought at the dollar store (4 to a pack). After weighting a bunch of different FO's and EO's, I was able to add a paper label to the glass with fill lines every 5 ml. Its not perfect because not all EO's and FO's weigh the same but its pretty close for gov't work. I'm only making half and one pound candles at a time right now and still happily in the testing mode (as are my friends that get to do the testing now). I suppose that when it comes time to make in quantity, I'll go back to weighing.

I have raw spools of CD's and LX's. Comparing the CD14 and the LX22 (which I think are pretty much equivalent)... They are both flat braided wicks. The LX is "thinner" than the CD, but about the same width. The LX is white while the CD is off white with a brown thread in them. The LX has more fraying. The CD is slightly stiffer. The individual thread size and weave pattern seem pretty much the same for both. For what ever reason, I have preferred the CD's to the LX's in my containers. I think the CD's just burn better. I am priming both with only the wax in the container and no special wick primer or wick additive.

Depends on the wax. Some are a "multiple" pour wax and she has no way of knowing what she got at the store. However, it is great that she is experimenting and learning. I started out on "unknown" types of wax that I bought and enjoyed the daylights out of the learning process. Now I have pounds of bad experiments that are slated for making firestarters.

I used the Ecosoya CB 135 for a bunch of test candles and it was a nice creamy container wax but a real scent killer. So I started mixing it 25 percent with 75 percent paraffin and have been pretty happy with CT, HT and soft look. It is a two pour if you want a flat top. I really don't mind the dip in the top as it leaves a cone by the wick and burns just fine with that pattern. I am going to change to some of the IGI's and test out the 444 and C3 and 464.

I found a dollar store that can order a specific container locally and it takes 2 days if they are in the warehouse. It really is the way to go if the store can get you more. As for the wax, the shipping has a lot to do with how far away you are. I found that Genwax and LoneStarCaneles are the two closest to where I live and they have the best shipping rates for wax. Actually, the rates are quite affordable. I think Lonestar wanted $28 for 60 pounds of wax. So even if another company "might" have a sale or a lower price on wax, if it is too far away, the shipping will be much higher.

Let me say that the programs I use are capable of making any full humanoid shape, right down to facial features, and nature and animal and aquatic... you name it. I am really looking into using this for embeds in gels. Oh, and I have a lot of sympathy. I worked briefly on a case where a lady had double radical surgery only to find that the radiologist mixed up the films with another person and the surgeon didn't catch the mistake.

Ok, I had a reply with images but got tossed from the internet, so let me re-start. Some years ago I bought two humanoid candles with strategically placed wicks. Seemed fun for divorce. Each divorcee could light up the former spouse in ways that only stress relief could understand. So making a boob candle is easy and/or costly depending on the process. 1. Start with the basic shape and add wax to it to make it look right. This requires an artisan. 2. Start with more than the basic shape and remove wax until it is right. Also requires an artisan. Both above just need a few hours of your time. 3. Create the shape in a 3D program that has the ability to convert to a file format that is used by rapid prototyping machines and make a mold. If you have the software, great, if not, it is very spendy. I am about a year away from taking this concept from the image below (boobs) to a subtractive mold that can be made cheaply for one time uses. The image below is a combination of quad and tri polygons with T-spline intersections that, um, in short, = a very round and accurate boob that can be adjusted in shape with just a few easy to use 3D tools. Below is the pre-fabricated shape. It can be modified with gravity both plus and minus, and more modifications that you don't want to know about. The bottom line is that the program can do a fine job of matching shape and be sent to a subtractive printer where a mold can be made and filled with wax with color at various levels.

Sounds like my blood pressure candle. Ylang Ylang, Bulgarian Lavender, and Clary Sage with a few drops of Lemon and Orange. And since I burn it in the evening after work, some Valerian Root. All pure genuine EO's. Seems to be best in GG Palm. Edit: I think it is pretty common knowledge that aromatherapy candles are generally FO's not EO's (given the price) so a name change to reflect real EO's is about time. Not sure if that is what you are seeing, but I probably won't release any EO candles as "aromatherapy" given the high rate of abuse.

Hmm, my scalloped 9 oz jars are a $1.10 local, wax is a buck (cuz its a half pound) and the FO is .50. Wick/labels/tags are another .15 at most. Dye is about two or three cents depending on if I use chips (expensive) or liquid drops (negligable cost). So add in paper towels and electricity and I think $3 is about right. $7 for sale might be a bit shy, but everyone I've spoken to in planning out my prices say that they would not go over $10 to buy a 9 oz wax weight candle. I suppose with the right marketing, folks would pay more (Yankee Candle), but figure in the cost of marketing and you're back at the same net income, right?

Grama, I sent you a PM. These were finds at the local 99 cent stores and one store says they can get as many as I want. Candybee, thanks, I was going to go with hang tags for the company information and I like the idea of putting everything including scent on the tags. The base has the warning label glued to it.

I bought some FO's from a private source that was liquidating. One arrived in a glass bottle that was very thick and did not pour well at all. It also did not have much of a CT and absolutely no HT. So I think when it starts to gel, its time for the firestarters.

I do the same and it probably makes for a slightly higher FO ratio, but that's fine for the customer. Kind of like a baker's dozen.

Thanks, yes I have test burned to the bottom of both containers. The one on the left needs a tall (9mm) safety tab. It tends to carbonize if I use a 3mm tab. Yeah, it takes a couple of hours to pool to the edges of the glass, so thanks, that is a point to consider. I probably will abandon the jar on the left unless there seems to be a use for it. It does work well with a parasoy blend and a CD 14. Anyone have any thoughts about the narrow base?

Anyone have ideas as to what makes good bathroom fragrances? I have two containers. The one on the left is delightful, but I was concerned about the narrow base. My co-workers said I should stick with the scallop jars so I found the one on the right that has a wider base. Anyway, the local feedback is that the one on the left would make a good bathroom candle. ie, away from pet and the hustle and bustle of the living room, etc. So, any idea what scents would work for the bathroom? Also, any feedback on the containers would be appreciated. Oh, both of these are about 9 oz of wax. The fancy one on the left is about 9.2 oz and the one on the right is about 8.7 oz. Both are listed as 12oz jars but that means water weight to the rim, not wax weight to the fill line that leaves room for the lid.

I've used the chips and the liquid and probably will stick with the liquid and the dropper tops. The chips are great for small usage and odd colors like Rust or some sort of shade that I don't feel like mixing. I've not had any difficulty with the chips. Been buying on ebay and several of the sellers have some great stuff. The star shaped chips work the best for me. The hexagonal chips take longer to dissolve and are not as strong. Not sure who makes what. So back to the liquid... There are programs on the internet that provide a CMYK or RGB formula for any color or shade or saturation that you can think of and they work for me. The CMYK is the easiest to figure out, unfortunately, nobody makes a Cyan liquid so you have to actually formulate your bottle of Cyan and then buy the MYK. From there, I work out the number of drops of CMYK needed to match a CMYK formula for a specific hue. Once formulated, then it is a matter of how much to add to your wax for the right saturation. This is working well for me, but I'm using up a lot of old half and one ounce glass bottles for those special colors that will last longer than I will.

Um, Monkey Farts is still a top seller. Like a guy who is secure enough in his manhood to wear a pink shirt, I'm sure she be brazen enough to walk the runway with Monkey Farts. More seriously, Egyptian Musk.

I once saw a glued textile "painting" on the wall at an IBM facility that looked like, ummm, well, ... anyway, someone bought it. Seriously the idea of scrap being used gets attention from a lot of different creative sources. I know a group in Tucson called BICAS that uses old bicycle parts to weld together to make art. The kids made a dinosaur that was pretty darned attractive. Of course, scrap wax and wicks and wood or shredded paper seems to do a good job at making firestarters for campfires and fire places. I'm sure you will find something unique.

I mentioned this practice of not scenting the lower end of the candle to some co-workers and got an ear full of stories about how they experienced this same thing, or how they knew a friend that gave up buying candles because they lost the scent half way through. Apparently BS Candles has been in business for many years and has many franchise affiliates throughout the country. Soooo, I think I'll include something in marketing that my candles are evenly scented throughout and disclose the actual wax weight and ml of fragrance used. The weight is necessary because a 12 water ounce jar filled to the rim with water is one thing, filled to a candle fill line with lighter wax is more like 8.5 ounces. The only downside to disclosing ml is that folks might start to associate ml amount with HT and we all know that isn't necessarily true.

So the short name of this new company is "BS Candles"? I was thinking that it would be good marketing to disclose the amount of scent in a candle. I would think that the U.S. Department of Weights and Measures would be interested in any commercial sales that seek to mislead the buyer regarding the weights and measures used in the product. It is the same thing as turning back odometers or making the gas meter run faster than the actual flow. On a slightly different note, there are candle companies that are selling "aromatherapy" that use FO's instead of EO's. Chamomile for example, is pretty spendy and there is a company here in Arizona that claims a good throw and a one pound chamomile candle for $16 bucks. A full ounce is about $108 bucks of the real stuff.

Trust your nose, and if you don't, sniff some coffee beans and smell the wax again. Oh, that reminds me of a joke. You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you ought not to pick your friend's nose. Hehehehe. Now you know why some sellers on ebay write "Comes from a smoke free home."

I just made a container with Just Scent "Christmas Snow" which looks to be off their list now. It is pretty citrus/balsam ish. I guess it doesn't help if the FO is not on the current sale list, but I am guessing they replaced it with something else. I did resist the urge to make the candle yellow colored.:lipsrseal

Everyone here is great. I bought some pine pet bedding at the pet store. 12 cubic inches was like $3. Two cubic inches made about 100 fire starters. So that is about a half a penny per firestarter. Costco had these small dixie cups, 600 for $9. So a penny and a half per cup. I did notice that the scent was gone once a test burn was underway so I won't be adding scent to them. I have some junk wicks to use, but really, they seem to be fine by just lighting the waxed wood on fire. About .7 ounces of wax works. That fills the cup about 1/3 of the way. At eleven cents per ounce on average, that comes out to about 8 cents. So the total cost is like a dime each. Should be a good money maker and of course, the beauty of this is they are recycled junk wax.

I, too, would like to know who the supplier is. Also, I'd send them an invoice for my labor to deal with their misrepresentation (unless their product is so necessary to my business that I will take their behavior with a smile and say "please, sir, give me more").

Ok, so scent is only for CT and sales. I like the idea of pet bedding. I have a shredder at the office, anyone try paper that has been through the shredder? What makes it burn so fast? Wax never burns fast for me with a wick, but does the wood really consume the wax that much? I guess I better try a few. Great idea about the wax cups. They would be more expensive than the cupcake paper, but if they reduce residue and dripping, then I think they would be a must for folks using firestarters indoors.