redraider

I am in Texas but I get my insurance through America First Insurance which is part of Liberty Mutual

I really like ICS Salty Sea Air

For some reason the Blueberry pomegranate from The Candlemaker's store smells just like grape.

Leather for sure. I would also do one like a men's cologne. I can't keep enough of the Just Scents A&F Fierce in stock. Men and women both love this. Also the French Vanilla & Oak from RE/AH is great as well as Cracklin Birch from NG. All 3 really are gender neutral and sell like crazy for us. You can change the names to football related. Touch Down, Locker Room, etc. We did a fundraiser for a baseball team a couple years ago and the boys named all the scents. Can't remember what they called leather, something to do with glove but the A&F fierce they named locker room and it sold like crazy.

We have been shut down since Christmas and are still shut down. Waiting on my new 200lb wax melter to come in and we are building our new shop. Kinda getting ancy. Ready to get new shop completed and moved in so we can start making product again. So excited though because we are going to have double the space as before and I will be able to work on candles during the weekdays when I am caught up at my real job and not have to haul everything home to the barn and only work on nights and weekends.

I make a good Pina Colada, never mind. You meant FO not to drink.

The Indonesian Teak is to die for. It has become my personal favorite to burn.

Kind of like Butt Naked. People pick it up just because of the name but once they smell it they love it. We even rename it for fundraisers and it is a top 3 seller year round.

maybe I should try the polypro bag. Can you smell them when they are in a box double bagged like that? I really can't take the tarts for very long.

My left over candles I have always boxed up and stored in the closet in my spare bedroom at home, along with the fragrance oils. The melts on the other hand I put on sale. The main reason is they are so strong that I can't stand to be around them. I know that sounds bad but all the scents mixed together in the closet make me sick to my stomach everytime I go in that room. I do pull out the ones that I will burn myself or family and friends.

Cinnamony Vanilla. #1 seller along with Bird of Paradise. Both of those are custom formulas we have mixed for us from Agiliex.

I am gonna have to get one to try.

Sounds like you have some great things coming. I am laughing though. Different parts of the country are really different. I can see myself here in Texas working with the churches and also the wineries but knowing my luck I would get night & times mixed up and about the time the wine started flowing in my shop that would be the same time all the Baptist and Church of Christ ladies would show up for their promotion. Then I would be out of business and need more wine.

Thank U Steve!!!

I don't notice it when I am pouring but when I burn one that is what I pick up on. Good Luck

That's what I was thinking. I will get someone to purchase one of their candles for me and compare. There is room for both of us and really our target markets overall are different. We are mostly fundraisers with no store front. They have a store and are mostly retail. Actually there are several other candle companies here. All the ones with storefronts have gone out of business except one and this one I am talking about just opened this summer. I would love to have the exposure just to boost our fundraiser business but really if we get too much additional business we will outgrow our little room in the barn, at least from August through December, and I don't want to have to pay rent.

interesting. I think the Mulled cider from Lonestar smells like either rootbeer or DP when I burn it.

Do you get any real benefit from those?

Thanks for the info. I really just want to be able to answer people if they ask me about it. We are known around here for our candles being really strong and long lasting and I don't use any additives and tbh there are some if I made them any stronger you would have to have an exhaust fan going. When I worked in the animal feed industry we used to call all those additives foo foo dust, lol. I guess I am just jealous that they got free advertising on the morning news program here. Wonder if I can demand equal time? I'll just stick to what I am doing. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Yeah I saw her add it. Scooped it from a plastic container. Couldn't tell if it was a powder or a pellet.

I was watching the local news this morning and there was a story on there about a local candle company that caught my attention since I am a local candle company as well. Any way the lady they were interviewing said she found a "cheat" additive that she adds to her wax that allows her to add more fragrance oil to her wax than "other" candle companies do since they don't know her secret. She even showed on tv exactly how she makes her candles including how much wax, how much oil, how many drops of dye etc which suprised me. Any way she pours 2 lb batches and uses 3.5 ounces oil to each batch. Does anyone know what additive she is talking about. That is about 11-12% oil. I don't know what type wax she uses since I missed that part of the show however on her facebook page it shows parafin blend.

Mercy, I wouldn't be able to function this time of year without ours. I can fill it up at the end of they day and come out the next day and squeeze about 150 candles out of it and then fill it up for the next day. I got lucky. We purchased an existing business when we got started making candles and she already had the 100lb melter so I haven't done it any other way. I do use a presto pot for melts however. This time of year I can't imagine surviving. 600 candles with a presto makes my feet hurt just thinking about it. Don't know how much a turkey fryer cost some where around $150. You can get a 70lb water jacketed for about $800 from candlewic. I am thinking of investing in a second one just so we can increase production for the fall months. You figure if you could pick up a couple more 600 candle fundraisers it would pay for itself pretty quick. However most fundraisers usually aren't that much but you never know.

Lots and Lots of luck!!!! Fundraisers are the way to go. Folks gotta raise money more than ever. With all the budget cuts at schools it seems there are more and more organizations looking for options to fund their activities. Good Luck!!!

We use a water jacketed melter that holds 100 lb of wax and it has feet on it, spout and I can't imagine doing it any other way. Word of warning however, make sure you have a backup heating element around. They will go out overnight just like a water heater and it happened to us last fall in the middle of fundraiser/show season. Happened on a Thursday, I called and ordered first thing Friday morning and paid for express shipping. Received it Monday and my husband installed Monday night but we were not able to start producing again until Tuesday morning. 4-5 days production lost with about 2000 candles to make. Now that reminds me, I need to order another heating element.

Best of Luck!! Mine starts in just over 2 weeks. Still trying to get organized. We have 5 fundraisers going on at the same time.