Tracy68

Hi, there is really no secret to making these. There is a tutorial already on the site on how to do tilted layered candles (not my tutorial) and in this one they are using paraffin wax (I believe) however the principal is exactly the same for palm wax. I do not measure the temperature as I go about pouring the layers so all I can tell you is that you pour as the layers begin to crystallize over on the surface -enough for the subsequent layer to not completely meld with the previous layer. It's all just a matter of a lot of time and getting the right colour combinations. Here is the basic principal on how to pour tilted layered candles. http://www.candletech.com/techniques-and-ideas/tilted-layer-candles/ With the hippy pillars it doesn't matter if any wax splashes on the side of the mold as you are aiming for a messier type of look. I tilt them in all directions for a better effect .

Yeah, I think Party lite are the other people over here (Australia) doing candle parties. Don't know if it was them or someone else who apparently only took samples for people to sniff and then you had to order from that! What we do is basically take our market stall to parties, which may not be practical for some but as there are two of us doing the party it's not so big of a deal. We always ask what sized room they have for us to set up in and we can adjust the amount of stuff we take - amazing what you can fit on one table! We go to a lot of effort to set the tables up nicely just as we would at a market. We spend on average about 2-3 hours at each party which in comparison to an all day market is a lot of time saved. We find that taking a whole bunch of stuff that they can buy on the spot is much better for sales (impulse buying) so although it's a bit of a pain lugging all our crates in and out it is better for the customers and better for us because then we don't have to worry about pouring for orders. It's all done on the day- they're happy because they walk away with products in their hands and we walk away with money in our pockets. All good for everyone involved Personally I wouldn't try and adjust my prices - sell anything cheaper (not TOO cheap anyway) just because you're worried that these people aren't used to paying the price for good quality candles. If you believe in your product and are sure in your mind and heart that they are worth the price you have worked out then I'd stick to my guns about it. Just me but I reckon if things look too cheap price wise then people may question the quality?

I like the layered one too. Nothing wrong with it!

We began by selling at markets and through that we realized that there were candle nuts out there (those willing to spend a lot of money on what is a luxury item really) It was THOSE people that we began to subtly make suggestions to that they might like to host a party and it really wasn't hard at all to get them interested. From there it spiraled and now parties provide a great deal of income for our business. We've never advertised our parties at all, it's all been through word of mouth. What has helped us is that most of the other candle party people around here charge ludicrously expensive amounts for their candles. They also (from what we've heard) do things like only allow the candle host to be able to get a percentage of sales once the party goers have spent more than $200 (or something like that.) We don't do that. There's absolutely NO pressure sales from us. They get 10 percent of the sales regardless at how much we ultimately make. When you think of it it's pretty reasonable - for us- considering that to sell at markets you have your stall cost (which sometimes can be way overpriced!) No long tiresome speech from us either - just a little informal chat at the start of the party telling people what our products are (soy/palm. Why we started making candles etc) Sometimes we don't even do that depending on how many people are there who have been to our parties before. We of course chat with people through out the party and give plenty of tips and instructions on how to burn their candles effectively and generally just answer all of their questions on an individual basis. We figure that every single candle or melt sold is advertising in itself and it's proving to be the case, so if we have a "not so good" party we don't get too disappointed when thinking of it that way. Friends and family seem to feel obligated and in my experience, well, my friends and family are NOT rolling in money so therefore it's better for us to find and target those candle nuts Don't be disappointed if your first party is not so great - think of it as good practice. If I were you though I'd be trying to find those people who are genuinely interested in having parties because they are mad about candles - they are out there, believe me! (and they are NOT the types that go out and buy candles for $5!) Good luck and have fun with it

Good on him! I just wish I could get MY kids interested in candle making. It sure would help round here.

Thanks again everyone! Scented, I have as yet to experiment further as I did my back in (must have been all those darn funky chunkies that did it!) I don't have a problem with getting wax to stick to the sides of the molds - heat gunning them in place 'seems" to do the trick (so far) it's getting that circle inside circles shape that is the issue but I'm sure it can be solved. When I stop hobbling I'll get around to figuring something out

Thanks Scented. not sure if I'm on the same page with you or not but regardless you've given me another idea that just came to mind to try. Thanks everyone for having a look and your comments. Appreciate it!

Thanks all! Richard likes the squares too. I just wish the two colours hadn't run with those.

Very nice! That mango papaya one looks good enough to eat!

Hi there. Well I like #2 and as it happens I've just been pouring my small pillars exactly like that recently (instead of tilted layers) and I really like that layering effect with the spill that happens as the layers pull back. I wouldn't call these 'prim". As far as I understand it - and correct me if I'm wrong all of those from the US who know far more than I .....but prim stands for "primitive" ? As in country/grubby, more sort of rustic or simplistic like? You know.....something with a bit of tea stained gingham tied round it? When I think of prim I always think of tea stained gingham VERY hard to achieve with palm I reckon as palm wax with it's crystallizing tenancies always looks more 'pretty". BUT, I shouldn't think they would object to these unless the rest of their products are totally "prim"? They look very nice to my eyes Depends exactly what they are after.

Very nice. The photo's look great!

My hubby hasn't stopped going on about them and yes he has tried, and failed, lol! I like the look of these all together, very eye catching. I do think you would have to do them all the same way though to display them or else the plain jars might just look out of place.

Lovely! How did you get the two tone colours?

Thank you Suzy. One last experiment....toned down a bit. That's it, I'm done with chunks for the day!

Some blue ones. Light is bad today so they don't look as blue as they really are.