JanetsCandles

Sorry it took so long to answer, been working most of the day. I use Peak and Lonestar both. But then, I'm in New Mexico, so shipping is cheapest for me from both of those. With shipping included, I'm still lower than Hobby Lobby prices. Not sure where you're located, Pipestr, but there is a locator for suppliers on the forum here somewhere. It may help you find what you need easier and someone closer, so shipping is cheaper.

This one comes from experience. Honestly, Hobby Lobby's wax works alright for a generic unscented candle. It's good for starting out. But it never gave a great scent throw for me. If you are feeling oily residue on the outside of the pillar, I'm concerned that maybe the candle is sweating, which is NOT a good thing. I ended up switching my supplier on wax and was a lot happier with the results. And now that HL is raising prices on the wax (locally it jumped to nearly 2.00 per pound), I found that buying wax in bulk elsewhere, even with the shipping costs, it comes out cheaper. I do have an advantage that I'm near a couple of suppliers, so shipping takes 2 days max for what I need.

I use them for votives always. I'll be honest and say I still haven't figured the darn things out for pillars yet. *shrug* But for those, I use a similar "plan b" version, along with wick centering tools.

Anyone know were to get ahold of some unstuffed animals? I've got an idea I want to try out, and I swear I'd seen a website with them, but can't find it again. Any ideas?

If you're looking for scent throw without any heat source at all, your best bet is likely to be a reed diffuser. They are fairly strong and good for bathrooms, ect. Only downfall is that you will have an open container, even though the opening is small. So you have to be careful around very young children, unless you have it up higher.

I actually do different shapes and chunks in small poly zip bags. The work beautifully and my customers prefer them over the clamshells. I also have my labels on the bags that way. Most of the time I sell them as a "single use" bag, enough to put in a warmer by itself. It shows off the shape and on the chunks, seems people love the idea of mixing the scents with them already chunked up.

Sanity would be nice. Between two young children, orders, holiday everything and just being me, I think my sanity packed up and went to Hawaii for some warmth. And it hasn't even sent me a darn Christmas Card yet!

My husband is an angel and busts the wax blocks up for me. It helps tons (I have severe problems with my wrists and hammering just isn't helpful with it)

We use pvc for our waxes in a few special applications where they don't need the shiny finish. If you don't mind it cracking in thin areas, pop it into the freezer for about 10 minutes. From experience, heat gunning the outside of the pvc is tricky at best and gets a little mushy/black/flame-y if you aren't careful. It fully depends on what you're using the candle for. For example, if it's for a rustic look, you can do it in pvc without too much problem. Still can freeze it and pull it. Just picks up the texture of the inside of the pipe.

You can also get them from CandleChem. They are located in Brockton, MA so may not have horrible shipping. They also carry some of the candle glass and other stuff so you can order for multiple products and save yourself some shipping too.

Yes, actually. I have a post in the candle gallery. http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?100862-Halloween-is-really-one-of-my-favorite-holidays I made some out of 4627 in orange/black for halloween here. They came out well, and dark colors were no problem. I'm sure it would be a bit different in ratio to the soy, but you should be OK to get it in the 4627.

I use an old metal votive mold that was badly bent out of shape. Works just fine, but sometimes I have to use multiple pour/measure batches to get the amount I want. Usually only happens if I'm using a huge batch of wax.

Thanks! You now have the Maroon 5 song stuck in my head again! *giggle*

My favorite is the 9 oz oval hex. Can't keep it on the shelves. This makes me very happy!

Could be a couple things, too long in the oven or too long cooling. I get the best results if I pull them out and then pop them as soon as they are cool enough to handle. I made the mistake of letting them chill too long last year and ruined one of my cutters.

I was living in SW Louisiana when Hurricane Rita hit the area. We had a shop down there that carried candles for Pagan groups. After the hurricane, they left because they had sustained so much damage and didn't want to fight with it anymore. So no one in the area had that specific type of candle anymore. I finally made up my mind and started making them myself. Then it progressed to other styles of candles because I didn't like the kind that Walmart carried (they looked like crap 99% of the time). I was making them for myself at the time, as a hobby and doing what I wanted with them. Then I met my (now) husband and we moved out to New Mexico. Shortly after moving out here, I decided to start making the candles for a couple of the Pagan supply shops here and the business took off. I've been adding to it since, and don't do just supply for those shops anymore. I'm one of the lucky ones. I was hobby making them for close to 3 years, formally launched the business in 2009.

Oh jeez. I've got a couple shelves I've made myself, a few of the plastic work storage shelves, a good sturdy work bench with shelving, molds are stacked in big crates (the polyurethane molds and the plastic 2 part molds), the metal molds are on their own shelves. I use shoe racks for on top of the work bench, mostly for colorant and assorted accessories. I also have a couple of those prefab tower type cabinets that I'm using for scent oils, ect. Had to add a couple shelves in there a couple weeks ago. I so need a bigger place. And to think I was running this out of a 3 BR apartment not long ago... :tiptoe:

This is one reason I'm not using the plastics. I'm no help on this one, I'm sorry. But I'd had one a long while ago melt and warp, and I worried about the possibility of a flame. So I didn't use them anymore.

I'm using shoe racks from Sam's Club. Think they were $30 per unit. They fully collapse, have a mesh shelf and you can stack them. When I'm not using them at shows, I use them to hold stock here at home. They work beautifully. Oh, and forgot to say, they also fit sideways on a standard folding table, the 3 ft wide variety.

They want $175 to blend a custom fragrance. Plus look up the contact page for these guys. I looked them up on google maps and they aren't listed, but instead a Chinese food place. Oh I'm cracking up over here!

I sure as heck hope that's a typo there, but I've got a bad feeling it isn't... "Tuberose (Concrete)- Rare Essential Oil- 80 Hour poured candle $575" !!!!! :rolleyes2 :laugh2:That's not the only one up there either. Jeez!

Test for sure! I found out the hard way that "Clean Cotton" is very different from two of my suppliers. One smells like laundry dryer sheets, the other smells... Well it's a fruity clean type smell. Hard to describe but one of my personal favorites. Very different.

http://www.artfairinsiders.com/ That's another good site. They also carry reviews of different venues.

I use poly zip bags to package my votives a lot of the time. I put the warning label on the bottom of the bag with the votive inside it, and the scent label on the front of the bag, with the zip at the top. I would label the votives individually, just in case they were separated later. I'm not sure if you're doing the whole set as a single package set, though.

Yes!!!! I actually have mine that balances on a pouring pot in the back of the work bench, so it's exposed to nothing but the air and is on a stable surface.