redraider

I feel your pain. My sister informed me that we ran out of Cinnamon Vanilla yesterday. This is a custom blend and we have to order #50 at a time. That made me throw up a little!!

I use the intuit gopayment and it works great. I have no monthly fee which is great since I mostly do wholesale. Works good on my iphone but I really love it on the ipad. I even bought a $15 stylus to use so customers can actually sign their receipt. I can't print receipts on site but I can email or text them. I had over $3000 in credit card sales at a show I did in November and they didn't hold any of my funds. They were all there within 48 hours.

I charge wholese price for the groups we do fundraisers for which is double my cost. The group then sets the price for what they want to charge which is usually about 3 times my cost. Fundraisers are 90% of my business. When I do sell retail i try to charge close to what my fundraisers accounts sell them for. I don't sell them for less because I want the customers to be shell shocked when they see the fundraiser price. i can't see being able to charge 4 times cost.

I agree, Elements Apple Cobbler Delight is great.

We use their Indonesian Teak and it is wonderful. I call it an all around fragrance. Men like it, ladies like it, not sweet, not fruity, not spicy just a good all around fragrance. I have many customers that burn them in their offices.

1. Average batch size 4 pounds 2. Average number of fragrances on hand at any one time 150 3. What is your typical fragrance oil purchase quantity - per oil? 5 pounds 4. What is your typical order quantity for wax? 10 cases 5. What is your typical order quantity for glass? full pallet=1200 6. How long to do you keep wax (assuming you don't change) before you no longer use it? always use it up, takes anywhere from a week to 2 months 7. What do you consider the shelf life of fragrance oil? a year under the right conditions 8. Is the shelf life of FO a factor in determining the quantity of oil you purchase? yes I do reduce the amount of wax i keep on hand in the summer just due to the extreme heat here in Texas. Doesn't hurt the wax itself but I just don't like to handle it myself. Gets everywhere.

The Candle Makers Stor (Grade A) is wonderful

Cinnamony Vanilla, Christmas Splendor, Bird of Paradise, Cozy Cabin, Christmas Hearth, Santa's Whiskers, and a few others. Trying to finish up the last of fundraisers for the year.

We have 100# water jacketed melter. Love it. Just make sure you keep a spare heating element on hand. They go out every couple of years but it sure hurts when it goes out this time a year on a Friday night and you can't order one until Monday and then have to pay overnight freight just to get up and running by Wednesday. Lost 4 days production last month. Candlewic saved us, they had a replacement in stock. Go with 220 volt for sure.

900 Bird of Paradise for a fundraiser

On our fundraisers our average cost in materials is $4/candle. We sell them for $8 each to the organization so we are getting more than a $1. I am lucky in that I don't have to pay rent or utilities on my building since it is a small room in the "family" barn(huge metal building). However dad has already complained that we are encroaching on his space and that we need to get our own building. Don't want to have to do that since we are so seasonal. 8 months of the year we are able to contain everything in our space. September through December not so much. This year has been a challenge since we usually burn our empty wax boxes etc but since we live in Texas that has not been an option due to no rain. We actually received 1/4 inch yesterday so this reminds me I should go burn tonight when I get home from the day job. Anyhow, I know I am new to posting on the board but hopefully this helps.

90% of my business in fundraisers. We don't do percentages. We have a flat rate wholesale price per candle. The organization decides what profit they want to tack on(usually $5/candle) and that is what they sell them for. They take orders and collect payment up front. Once they have their total they send me a check for my amount. We make the candles, deliver and everyone is happy. Also most fundraisers are not taxable where I live so I don't have to worry about that. No matter how you decide to do it you should probably get a form put together with all the details that each party signs so that there is no confusion on either side. I always get paid before I deliver the candles. If it is a new customer I only require 50% up front and the rest upon delivery but at least they already have an invoice for the total so there are no problems.

Everything Holiday/Fall oriented. We start a 5 day show on Wednesday and there should be 15,000 people there. My first show. I don't know what to take so I am taking everything. Scentsy will be there as well but we are in different areas.

I use a 16oz glass measuring cup and fill it to 12 oz. Pour 5 at a time. i think if you switch to the blend you will find that if you do get some outside of the mold you can clean it very easily with a paper towel. You get better with practice.

I got the kind that has the different attachments I think it is a hamilton beach. Plastic handle but the whisk is stainless steel. Make sure you get the one with 2 speeds and use the low speed. I messed up the first time and bought a high dollar one that only had 1 speed, HIGH. I had wax everywhere. It does create bubbles but jut let it sit for about a minute and you can skim those off with a spoon. I got mine at Walmart.

It does create some bubbles but I let it sit for about a minute after I mix and most of them go away. If there are any left they are right on top and I skim them off. Just a way to save my wrist.

I use a whisk all the time on heavy oils. I even invested in an electric whisk because after breaking my wrist I don't seem to be able to whisk for 2 minutes. Best $20 investment I ever made.

It sounds like by the names of the scents that these are fall fragrances and many of them contain a high level of vanilla in them which makes them very "heavy". You might try mixing with a whisk instead of a spoon for about a minute. This will create some bubbles on the top but just tap the side of your container before you poor and most of those bubbles with go away. I do this when using any heavy FO and it keeps the fragrance from settling.