DaisyFairy

I have never made tarts.. votives are 1.5 lbs. per dozen.. 2 oz. each for standard two inch votive mold. HTH!

I have 124 and that is not enough sometimes.. I know a presto pot can melt enough wax to make a 5 dozen (60) votive batch at a time. so however you are set up.. how much wax at once you can melt.. can help you determine how many molds you need.. I have enough to do two five dozen batches at a time.. but them I start running out of cooling space .. LOL.. so all these things space, how large a batch you can do at once.. or how many batches you can do in a day, or need to do before you have to clean molds.. storage space, and how you are going to store them... all those factors taken into account should give you a ruff idea of how many molds you need. It wouldn't do any good to have 500 molds if you don't have the space to cool them or store them or the capacity to make that many batches at a time. HTH!

anyone know of a good place to get them that is close to texas.. and have a link? If you could could you also post the libbey link? thanks bunches!

thanks grumpy. I don't have a link to a libbey supplier... I will do a search and see if I can find one though.. daisyfairy

Thanks Dean! I know you are in around the same area as me... I am in texas... 90 mi. from dallas, can you recommend a place to get the libbey??? I want the quality. thank you again!

thanks grumpy girl... I just posted the question cause I had been researching in this forum before getting them and saw that some people had had this problem... I thought If I posed the question maybe I could find out how many had had the problem vs. how many had not. I know you are right, I will just have to test test test... and that is fine.. I guess I will just order a single case to start and see how that goes. thanks so much for your response.

I am thinking of ordering and starting a line with the metro (status) jars, but I have read posts on this board from people saying these jars have broken on them when putting the lid back on. Is there a problem with these jars doing this a lot? I don't even want to think about this happening to a customer and don't want to waste my money on a product that is just not going to work. I know they are carried at candles and supplies and the jar store and libbey.. I will probably be getting them from either libbey or the jar store. I really love the look of the jar and want to use them..but it is just not worth it if this is a problem. thanks guys!

Thank you chris... that sounds like a good system. I was wondering how to figure in the cost of labor and still not run up the price to much and this sounds great! thanks for your input!

Yeah, I know that is how it is and it has been that way with me... I usually don't get any money at all.. I just sink it back into various supplies and ordering new stuff to try and expand.. testing all those same things... I just thought I MUST be doing something wrong If I was not getting money out of it.. you know.. good to hear others are doing the same.... just starting to get worried and thinking maybe I am not working it right. thank you all for all your help.

HOLY CRAP!!!!! Can we say "issues" ? man! what a psycho! I think he should drop being in business and go work for someone to make a living.. definitely not the "working with the human race" type. WELCOME TO THE BOARD NETRIAUS!!!!!!!

I just thought... so on a wholesale accout.. they pay 2x cost... so half would be the cost... and then I guess just take the rest and divide it in half? half to grow the business and half to me? does that sound resonable? sorry... haha...I just wanna get paid something for the work and usually works out somehow that I either don't or it is just not that much to warrant the work. thanks again...

well, that is pretty much what I been thinking... one third to me... but like you it just never seems to work out this way... haha.. I just thought maybe I was doing something wrong.. seems like I work at it a lot and make little. thanks for all the input and response... it helped me to at least know I am thinking right. And this is not a bill paying venture yet anyway.. too small.. but I do have two regular wholesale buyers that order large amounts so I am getting there.. at least it is supporting itself and gives a little extra here and there. I guess that is the main thing. thanks again!

ok... so how do you do that? do you say like I am gonna pay myself this much an hour and then multiply by the number of hours and divide by the number of candles made during that time and add that in to cost per candle? then do the times three or two or whatever? and do you count the cooling time or just the actual pouring, melting, wicking packaging time? I know I sound stupid.. but I really don't understand how to do this. thank you so much for your response.

pay yourself out of a candle sale.. I am confused on this.. i know generally wholesale is 2x cost and retail is 3x... so out of that money how much do you actually pay to yourself? (for both a wholesale sale and a retail sale) I know that the cost of goods has to go back into the business in order to replace supplies used... and some extra to grow the business and cover any taxes, extra costs, expenses... but how much ... I guess I am just wanting to know if there is a general percentage that you take for your pay? or do you figure in your pay to the cost so that you pay yourself a certain amount on all orders.. like hourly or something? any help is GREATLY appreciated... I am not very business savy on this point yet... I really need some classes I think. thanks all!

That is what I thought tess... that the primer is melting away.. usually happens to me after I pour.. but sometimes (rarely) before. I also noticed it is happening more with the cd wicks... rarely happened with the zinc votive wicks I used to use. but I really love the cd wicks so I just deal with it... I may mention it to C&S also.. that is where mine come from and I know they have a machine and make their own pretabbed wicks wicks.