cybersix

That's beautiful!! Congrats on the shop and on the sales!! I wish you a great success this is a great opportunity for you!

Agree, but then they think they can sell and that's when disaster happens. A friend of one of my friend refused to buy a candle from me because time ago she bought a cute candle in a coconut shell, it took fire, and started to burn the piece of furnitures around it. So... I can't stand books and people like that!

Thanks a lot! Grazie mille! Lo spero anche io!!

Thanks everyone!! I don't love fair so much, until now the few I made were boring, luckily I had a friend in the booth next to mine. This time no friend, but since it's near where I live many other friends told me they will pass by. I hope. I am not too good at smiling and talking with strangers. But how do you manage to survive a whole day out in the freezing we're having??

OMG I so hate cold!!! The past year after the whole day out in the freeze I couldn't even drive back home, it seemed as I was no conscious of wha I was doing. Terrible! I hope there will be lots of people, I found out they had to make a selection to assign spaces and I've been confirmed. I will be the only candlemaker it seems!

Hi all! I'm getting ready for a craft fair on next sunday (8th december). I already did two fairs past year, all in all things went well but I couldn't stand the cold. This year the city where I live decided to put up a fair and the great thing is it's inside a hystorical palace. The fee is really small, only 5 euros, I have just to take the candles and the table cloth with me. Lighting and heating are already there, along with the table. So I decided to jump in. I have about 120 candles ready, some are pillars, some containers, in 12 scents. I have melts and little scented sachets also. Really don't know what to expect, I am still new to this city and no one remembers if this fair already took place in the past years. I hope I will do well!!!! Thanks for reading

Hi everyone, I was shopping around with my best friend and found these little containers. I thought they're cute, bough them and made some small candles I will bring to the fair on Sunday. I wanted something festive, I made red wax scented Home for the holidays, and I plan to add a red ribbon to each. What do you think? Thanks for looking!

Looks really good! Mottling is something I had not mastered yet!

I like Peak's Beach Daisies. It reminds me of sun, sand, flowers.. like a beach. I rename it Mediterraneo here in Italy.

It's ok for me to say the generic part of it, paraffin, or vegetable wax, FO or EO, and for FO I always say they are certified for candlemaking. My luck in this case is having to buy everything outside from Italy, so it's enough to boil down too much curiosity. When they ask "where do you buy wax?" I smile and with satisfaction I tell them all the ingredients come from USA. They just walk away. It's not kind when customers want a quick response just to confirm that I'm making nothing special and they could do it too. Because 90% of the times they ask, that's the real meaning in their words.

Thanks! Will bring those to the craft fair, I thought it would be nice to have something different to display with the christmas colors and scents

Thanks, let's see what will happen on the next sales. I could start the new site having specials on the scent I want to drop. I still think it will be the most difficult thing to do!

Thanks Inez, seeing what customers do it's an idea but I wanted to sort out thing before adding online sales. Since I worked on requests and nobody asked for anything different than vanilla and chocolate they really don't know how many fragrances I have. I will be in a craft fair next weekend and I prepared many different scents, so I will see what people do when they smell them. Thanks!

These are other pillars I made for the craft fair. Palm wax. Scented Baby Powder and Emerald Pear. Thanks for looking

Not so simple, I suppose! While I'm working for this christmas I am thinking how to organize thing for the next year, since this time I plan to really get into candlemaking as my first employment and source of income. It happens (I know I'm not the only one!) that I have a lot of FOs. Too many. But I love them all. But I have to do it. First, because I live in Italy, and I supply all the scents from Peaks. Then, because with less FOs it's easier to carry a business, I could make candles and stock them, while if I offer too many choices to customer I can't. I would like to know how the ones of you who did narrow down the number of FOs managed it. I can't go by customers preferencers because I don't have a solid customer base yet. I mainly work on requests and everyone is asking just the classics, as vanilla, chocolate and not really more. Thanks in advance

Thanks again, you're so kind! Ubure, it's not that hard I bet you can make it if you try a couple of times! Lumina, I will display them in a rectangular tray I suppose, and let people choose what to buy.

Only vanilla here. Always. It's boring!

No kidding, I have an italian book on candlemaking, and it says to use crayons and sholaces. :tiptoe:

Thanks to everyone, the candles are scented with some scents I had from time ago, when I worked for an Italian luxury company but shhhh don't tell anyone. The scents are called like the elements. Air is a nice light fragrance, water i so calming (the one I prefer), earth is woodsy and citrusy, fire is the one I can't describe lol. I put more colors in earth and water (water you can't really see all of them) because I had more time, wind and fire are made with three colors only. Thanks a lot!!

Thanks Vicky!

Hi all, I'm working hard for a craft fair, in the meanwhile I found the time to do something I had in mind. These are (in my distorted brain LOL) the four elements. Wind, earth, fire and water. Thanks for looking!

Sent you a PM! I have not so many pics of the wedding, here are some please forgive the poor quality. Candles were in palm wax, uncolored and scented very lightly with White tea and ginger (everyone loves this scent). The third is me (left) and the bride.

Inez, I know it's hard to be tight on money, working under pressure, no time to take a break and rest.. but, competitors shouldn't be the reason that makes you quit. Competitors will be always around. Focus on your products, maybe narrow down the numbers of items or scents you offer, be creative and make something unique. It maybe a simple scent you keep secret how it's made, or a type of jar, it doesn't have to be really complicated. If tarts aren't good sellers, just quit making those, if you have not a quite big business with those simply don't make them. I quitted making votives and tarts, too much work for too small income. It takes nerve, and confidence. I know I make really good candles, I can see it anytime I buy and burn other candles to compare to mine. Also, I make candles for a wedding, the wedding planners fell in love with my candles and said they never seen any candle burning so perfectly, so I will work with them too. I know you work hard and well, so don't give up, maybe get a sort of smartphone so you can keep it in your pocket to check emails often and give a quick answer so your customers know you're there for them.

it doesn't look so small!!! yay!!!

Congrats, it's a wonderful opportunity, I wish my city would do something similar. Good luck!