DaisyFairy

I have a question regarding sooting in container candles... I know it is supposed to be due to too much fragrance oil or too much oil content in the wax, and to fix this you should lower the fragrance load. Or at least that is what I have read during research. I like my wax and do not want to lower the fragrance load or the throw will be affected... so is there any other way to deal with this problem. I have noticed it is worse on certain scents.. maybe I just need to lower the oil. but I really like the throw I am getting.. I just thought maybe a smaller/larger wick might work the problem out and wanted to get some input. thanks

I dunno about the color peeling off but I have ordered lots of stuff from candles and supplies and the quality seems really good. They are the least expensive supplier I have found for wicks around, so I order all my wicks from them and most of my molds come from them. I am going to try out some of their palm votive/pillar wax next.. I know the shipping will be a killer but I need to find a new suppier for this with a consistent product. anyway... I just wanted to let you know I have had good experiences with them and their products and they are always very helpful when I call or email. So you might just give them a call .. they have an 800 number.

Thank you very much! I know a lot of people LIKE my candles.. but seems like you only hear from someone who HATES them. LOL!!!! so this was very refreshing for me. DaisyFairy

AHA!!!! I think these are closer to what you are wanting... http://www.pourette.com/dept.asp?d_id=6941&l1=6936&l2=6941 DaisyFairy

Don't know if these are the right ones or not but candle wic has a lot of floater molds here: http://www.candlewic.com/store/category.aspx?q=cFloating+Candle+Molds hope that helps DaisyFairy

and just wanted to say hi to everyone! Life kinda went crazy this year with a lot of family stuff, but finally settling down. I also got the best compliment ever!!!! and had to share. One of my wholesale customers said he got an email from a lady who is out of state and is coming in to town for her daughters graduation from the local college. Her daughter has been buying my candles and sending them to her. This is kind of a western decor shop so all he carried of my candles was leather. She wanted him to know she was coming and she wanted to see what other scents he could get, cause these candles were the best. woohoo! She told him in the email she had tried drea..ers and Yan..e and these candles beat them hands down! That made me feel soooo good! It is rare to get complements of that caliber. and I am so happy to know I am on the right track! So now he has added two more scents woohoo! He said he wished he had printed the email and he would have given it to me. well, I just wanted to say hello to everyone and share my news.

I usually just adjust my inventory like twice a year based on sales and tests... takes a full day to do that but that way I am not constantly doing paperwork.. but still a pain.. so ...... Ahhh... quickbooks! I have an older version and I have yet to get everything put in it.. usually mess the whole thing up and wind up starting over. This is really upsetting to me.. cause I am REAL computer savy! lol! I do ok.. till I start putting the items in and then I usually get confused.. as to what goes where and wind up not liking the way the invoice comes out.. or some such nonsense! So I called a local cpa office.. they do quickbooks set ups for companies.. I thought cool.. I will get them to set it up for me and all will be well... UH..YEAh!... they charge $500 for setting up quickbooks for a company... sooo..... all that being said..... I am fixing to start over on it again this year and try again..... Daisy Fairy

I go back and forth with this all the time! I know I have fears and at the same time I want to sell more. lol I fear getting way to many order all at once... although that kinda happened this christmas season and I made through! woohoo! That helped my fear level somewhat, but I really want to control the pace, so I am not overwhelmed. This subject matter is definitely something I need to really step back and look at. thanks so much for sharing the article! DaisyFairy

yeah, I was thinking about that so... I went to the irs site and have been reading.. so I am learning a bit more.. I know you can withdraw items for personal use.. but then you have to credit your purchases for the value of that item. I may just leave it where it is for the sake of ease and then gather up all the inventory I am not going to use and make a list and sell it to people who want to use it later. if anyone is interested this is a pretty good publication on their site.... has eight chapters I think and is pretty informative... http://www.irs.gov/publications/p334/ch01.html#d0e4576 DaisyFairy

ok.. thank you very much! ugh! I hate getting all this stuff together..much rather be making candles. DaisyFairy

oh, ok.. so do you have to show where they go... like a loss report or something.. and then just remove them from the year end? I am fairly new to this and have never had to do a loss report or anything so not exactly sure what to do.. I have testing paperwork to show the testing costs... but never had to do a loss due to removal of inventory items.

I need to know if anyone knows how to get rid of inventory items that are just no feasible anymore or that you have just decided not to carry. Like say you carried materials for making lotions as well as candles.. and you decide to drop the lotion line and just stick to candles, but the lotion production materials have already been included in previous years inventories. So are there special forms you have to fill out to show that product was dropped and no longer considered an inventory item? at one time I was going to do lotions and bath salts.. also but now just want to concentrate on candles. Any help Greatly appreciated. DaisyFairy

lol... me too... I was having a hard time with the FP .. haha.. Ok.. just to check... ... when you are all getting your votive burn times are you power burning or just burning two hours at a time (because is 2" diameter).. sometimes I go longer at a time.. cause I am sure they will...but when I do that, it cuts down on the full burn time of the candle. how do you all do it??? just curious DaisyFairy

wow.. that would be nice... I do cash basis accounting method... I may ask about this with my accountant.. that would make things a lot simpler!!! thanks robin! That may be a state thing too though... dunno..... but definitely worth a question or two.. DaisyFairy

I used to use the 44z zinc wicks and never could get them to burn more than 12 but then switched to cd4's and finally got to 15. DaisyFairy

Mindy you can look up info on a domain by going to a registrar and doing a who is search for the name.. if it is taken it will show who owns it and give contact info. Then you can actually just type it in your browser and go to see if any page is actually there or if it is just a place holder. but if you do a who is.. then that is equivilent to a search and if you want it you better get it, cause it will be taken soon after the search is done. As far as the company's name being different that really doesn't matter cause U.S. copyright law does not protect domain names... although some names do qualify for a trademark and you have to go through the patent office to get that. here are some links to help out with info on cybersquatting and trademarking.. just FYI: Domain Name and Trademark FAQs http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/ObjectID/23C62D73-F28C-4CC0-AC333101BEDDE133/catID/7037786D-4688-4C4E-947C609C7CCFE81A/111/228/195/FAQ/#FC2B1608-28C4-45DC-B0F3657D823779C3 More info : http://www.lawlawlaw.com/trademarking-domain-names.html CyberSquatting: What is it and what can be done about it http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectID/60EC3491-B4B5-4A98-BB6E6632A2FA0CB2/111/228/195/ART/ Basics: http://www.bitlaw.com/internet/domain.html ABCs of Domain Trademarking http://www.mycorporation.com/newsletter/archives/Oct22-2003.htm HTH DaisyFairy

Thank you so much! That gives me an idea anyway. DaisyFairy

kozyaromas is cool.. that would work! DaisyFairy

checked out the domain for you.. was registered 4-30-05 and expires 4-30-06... went to the site and is just a this site is parked free by go-daddy.com page.. so no web work done on it.. So they are either waiting for someone to want it.. or things didn't pan out for them. Tried to do a lookup based on email and the email addy is no longer valid.. you might just put in a backorder and wait it out. In the mean time I think the hyphen would work. DaisyFairy

My DH runs an ISP and is a comp. tech. Most of the time when someone buys up a domain they will not sell it.. If you want that domain that badly you can try to contact them, but usually they will not let go or will want some ungodly amount of money for it.. either cause they know you want it or they really want it. you also run the risk in contacting them of letting them know you really want it and then they will make sure it never expires if they are just trying to make money off the name. Try the backorder thing.. and in the mean time you can take trish's idea and use a hyphen or underscore or go with a .net, .org. One thing to know.. make sure that whenever you are ready to buy a domain and go to do the search to see if it is taken you buy it right then if it is available... There is a nasty little game that goes on there... whenever you search for a domain there are people out there who watch... and as soon as someone does a search for a domain, and doesn't buy it while it was available they will buy it up in the hopes you want it badly and will pay them a lot for it. Learned this from my DH and I have seen it happen to people a lot! They search for a domain they want.. it is available.. they say ok.. I will get it in a couple of days.. they go back to get it and it is gone. So make sure you are ready with credit card and all when you are searching and if it is there.. nab it! HTH... DaisyFairy

Is there a typical burn time for most candles... I mean something to shoot for. I know most 2 oz. votives are around 15 hours, but what about 8 oz, 10 oz, 16 oz, containers... 3x6" pillars, 3x3" pillars... I know I can figure the burn rates on my candles.. but not sure what the norms are for any of these so not sure where I stand. Is there a chart or typical burn rate for all these candles?? I just wanna know if I am up there where I am supposed to be. I usually get around 15 hours on my votives. so I am sure I am ok there.. but not sure of the others. thanks DaisyFairy

ok.. I think I have a little greater understanding now.. I will get help again this year and then I am gonna look into taking some small business/ business tax classes so I know more and understand better or possibly just look into getting an accountant/tax person. I think that would be much less headaches. thanks for this discussion! I really need help understanding all this. DaisyFairy

ok.. I have a question on this.. I filed my own taxes for the first time last year and I called the irs and talked to a cpa office.. the irs people (3 different ones) said I had to include the value of my molds, and equipment used in the inventory values... I didn't think this made sense but that is what I was told by them.. does anyone know anything about this.. I really wasn't sure they understood what I was asking them. do you all include all your equipment in the inventory value and if so isn't there a depreciation of equipment value??? maybe I was just misinformed thanks DaisyFairy

Wow!!! Those are a little out of my price range... LOL! But looking at the site everything except the 6 oz. are out of stock. I am confused about the sculptures.. Are those oil lamps with the wooden wicks??? $210 for the sphere. But then it IS madagascar ebony. Very elegent site and product presentation.. I am sure; her circle of friends, will buy these up like crazy.. definitely catering to the rich. DaisyFairy

Yep, they are pretty safe to use. Just don't touch the business end and show it respect. The end opposite the business end of mine is flat so I just set it upright on that end while it cools.. it allows the heat to escape the chamber faster and cool a little quicker. The instructions with mine also said this will make the life of the heat gun longer by allowing the heat to escape the heating element and coils quicker. I have the luck of having a fairly big wooden work table though so it is easy for me to do this and keep it out of my way so I don't accidently knock it over or touch it. The holster idea sounds good to me though... I never thought of that.. may have to make one. DaisyFairy