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.

I also have this happen quite often so I just crimp really good before using them.. only need to do this on containers since all my other molds have wick pins.. but still a pain. I get mine from C&S... may just be a flaw in the process... but it is very frustrating.

LOL! we recently re-networked in our house and I thought for a sec it was my network that was the prob. then went to another page and it was up so I figured it out.

I also get my dyes in glass bottles with droppers, but I am currently trying one from candles and supplies to see how it goes. They come in plastic bottles with flip top spouts for squeezing out drops. I thought I would try it cause if I don't put the dropper IN the dye bottle, then there seems to be lots of waste.. If I do put the dropper in the bottle I notice over time some of the dyes corrode the rubber end of the dropper and it starts swelling and deteriorating.. maybe I am doing this wrong. how do you all do this.. and have any of you noticed this problem?

On the taylored concepts site (http://www.tayloredconcepts.com/wicks.htm) they give this info on their wick page just above the zinc wick listings.... The first set of numbers is the thickness of the wick, the larger the number, the thicker the wick. The second set of numbers is the speed at which the string goes through the wicking machine gear, the faster it goes through, the tighter the wick and the slower the burn. The third set of numbers is the code for the temperature of the wax as the wick goes through the various gears. hope that helps a little.. I have not noticed a great difference in these two wicks.. but not sure if others have.

Oh, I agree.. it is all about the market you are working in and the people who buy these are NOT worried about price. ... check this out! I did a search on the site for candles and then clicked on this one to see what would cost this much.. is in a pure crystal holder.. very pretty but not sure it is worth this much to me.. is only 4" tall.. http://www.eluxury.com/browse/product_detail.jhtml?styleid=10192923 reading the description though.. I guess it is more about WHO makes it than the candle itself. cool site! I love looking at stuff like this...

Oh thank you all so much! And YES!!!! It is wonderful to hear from a satisfied customer! Kinda restored my faith in people a little... I guess it is just human nature.. but I notice you usually don't hear anything about your products unless there is a problem... kinda like no news is good news! haha... its so nice to get a pick me up and a pat on the back once in a while...

Really.. well, I may put a nix on the toppers then and just work with the wicks and go with the one that soots the least if I can't get rid of it completely... I really like the throw I am getting with the cd wicks in this wax but I may try some htp's or lx's ... have never used an lx so not sure how they act... I have tested the htp's and found them very similar to the cd's so not sure if this will help or not. oh, well, ... I agree with michi... wicking these things will make us all half bald! LOL!

I use the 8 oz. square masons mainly and those are the ones I have noticed the sooting problem in.... that is interesting about the candle topper.. my sister uses those in candles she burns and she is sold on them. She also told me that would reduce the soot her candles put out.. she doesn't make candles...haha.. just burns them. It could just be the shape of the jar... I know when the candle is full and first burned there is not really a soot build up on the jar but once it starts getting lower it gets worse and worse...

I use taylored 50/50 and igi 6006. both are pretty oily but the 6006 is more creamy than the 50/50. I am about to test a new one..taylored container since they no longer carry igi waxes but I know I can always go back to these if I need to. I will try wicking down though.. may cause me to use multi wicks though in order to avoid hang up. right now I am using the 8 oz. square masons with cd wicks.. either 8's or 10's depending on scent. thanks for the help.

I never really thought about it in those terms.. ie.. in terms of weight. but that makes sense.. I mean if the fragrance is actually burning off it should affect the weight. The only thing I can see that might be a snag is that it is not actually burning it off but degrading the scent and therefore causes the scent throw to not be as strong. This sounds like a wonderful experiment! Hope you post the results I will be very interested to see what the outcome is.