Absyrtus

It does seem convenient and even economical, but I really don't like the idea of coating my beautiful all natural candles in toxic PVC... Does any use the food safe POLYOLEFIN bags? Does the PVC smell? Worse yet, does it impart smell to the candles? Does it suck the dye out as the previous entry commented on?

Bummer Carpe Diem

Ok... so I'm stupid. I put the candle in the appropriate bag... put a hair dryer on it, and presto, it's shrink wrapped... but what do I do about the end that's open? Do the two sites of the plastic get stuck to themselves, and you cut as close to the candle as possible? How long will it keep a candle fresh? Indefinetly? Thanks for putting up with me :rolleyes2

Anyone have a pic?

So you end up with a candle suspended inbetween two sheets of plastic... or does it somehow actually nicely and neatly conform to the candle in an asthetically pleasing manner?

that requires a heat gun, right? Anyone know how hot it needs to get? I'm wondering if heating it up defeats the purpose of trying to save the scent to begin with...

How do I get into that?

I'm looking for a packaging solution. I need to be able to wrap my pillars up somehow so they can sit on a shelf and stay fresh for a couple months or so. I've found, via casual observation, that my candles (scented w/ EOs) loose their fragrance relatively rapidly compared to their counterparts. I thought saran wrap.... which might be ok, if I do it artfully, but that could look tacky... any ideas?

It is... it is just far from instantaneous... and unfortunately, I'm probably not interested in speanding $60 on a termogun.

I am using a cheapo candy thermometer... and the damn thing takes about 5 minutes to move up or down to the accurate temperature... any suggestions? I guess I could always steal one from the chem lab....

a red and white stripe would be pretty cool for candy cane! Odd how it bled to evenly. Was the middle layer cool enough? was the red too hot?

Nice and easy at least I notice they have labels and, I thought, tape on there... but now I cannot find it. Is that free as well? Thanks a bunch for all of your help!

If the MP is the same, it shouldn't matter much... thanks for the help!

I take it you use soy? Where were you shipping from? Thanks a lot for the info!

What's the MP of your wax though?

Think that works w/ soy?

At the end of July, if i'm shipping to Los Angeles (family there,) will my soy pillars survive the 3 day trip? My soy wax melts at about 130... I just thought of this... what to do? i read someone's post that shipping on Monday is a good idea, this I can understand... otherwise are they really ok? Thinking ahead...

How well do you guys do in the summer? Christmas boosts any retail operation, but with candles, it seems as though there is even more fall/winter incentive. Is it harder in the summer to stay around? What about you guys in the south?

Whew... I'm sure he does. So, it seems that everyone is reccomending Priority Mail. Anyone use UPS or FedEx? Media Mail just so much cheaper... and that's savings I can pass onto the customer. The Prepaid flatrate boxes seem awesomely easy... but they also seem pricey for one or two candles. Someone mentioned regular priority (not flat rate). How do either of these work, for pick up? Do I go online and pay?

Congrats on your sucess!

Have you guys used media mail for shipping candles? Cost would be less, and since they have to cure anyway... it seems like it might make sense to wrap them then plastic and send them on their way, letting them cure while the post office takes two weeks to get them to their destination ... What do you think?

Will padded envelopes do for pillars, if the envelope is wrapped back around the candle? I'm tring to avoid ordering a huge number of boxes, and finding a place to put them... I won't be shipping many, but a few, and I was curious what you guys did.

So when you guys started out, what did you do with all of your over/under colored, over/under scented, and generally sub-par candles?

I agree... but this is family we're talking about here . I bought a triple beam balance the other day that should really help me keep consistant. there is just so much trial and error! Not all EOs are the same potency, not all colors seem to be either -- it's just difficult without tons of laborious (and expensive) experimentation.

Hey guys... I started making mostly natural candles, mostly for myself, but my family and friends are getting interested in them. Unfortuatnely, i'm still in the experimental stage. Some of my candles turn out gorgeous, and some turn out so ugly I'm afraid to let them out of the basement... yet, metlling down a finished candle that is perfectly good (except for looks) seems foolish (esp. when you consider the loss of EOs. When you guys started out, did you have a lot of ugly candles? Did you feel bad when family ordered a candle and all you had to give them was a candle that supposed to be marbeled, but turned out looking like cow print? I'm assuming I'll improve my techniques, and have a greater percentage of success... but I don't want people to get the wrong impression about my candles. I'm striving to make gorgeous candles, that smell great and are as nautral as possible. I'm afraid if I sell them something ugly, even though most of them know me well, and I tell all of them that I am just starting and am experimenting, that they won't order from me again. What do you think?