HookieBear Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I was talking to a woman in my town who has her own candle shop and told her that if and when I do sell my candles my worry is when someone buys one and goes home to burn it the darn thing will burn horribly. The woman said she has been doing this for almost 15 years and that with all her testing and attempting to achieve the perfect candle, unless the customer follows the general candle burning guidelines, (trim wicks, 4 hour burns and so on) they will end up with a horrible candle. She said we as chandlers can only do our part. I guess what I am asking is when you all sell your candles, do you ever worry that your candle will burn bad once they get it home or because you've done all you can once it;s out of site it's out of mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksranch Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I know that I have tested extensively, including torture tests, and I do my absolute best to educate the customers on proper use. If they still manage to have one of mine burn badly, well, I can't fix stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkysCandles Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 That is the whole purpose I look for things that out of the norm... like a candle that soots from the time it is lit to the time it's extinguished, absolutely no scent throw or a bad smell, tunneling, no complete wax consumption. Things like that. Because I know if I follow good burning tips as I test and none of these appear my candle will burn great if the customer does the same. The woman is correct. We can only do so much. For example... just for experimental purposes I once burned a candle lazily. I didn't trim the wick and burned the thing all day (almost 9 hours). I moved it by the window to get a draft, etc. I did it with one of my soy candles and one paraffin. The results were bad soot on BOTH jars... big ol' nasty mushrooms, and the jars were very hot, enough to burn my skin. And with the soy, it had a nasty smoked burnt popcorn smell. GROSS! So now I know what's going to happen if my customers do the same. When someone buys a candle from me I include a safe burning tips sheet that has "To Get The best Burning Results" in big bold letters at the top, with the candle. Now... they may just glance it over, they may not even look at it and toss it is the trash or they may choose to read it and follow them. That's not my responsibility. I did my part by testing the candle, tweeking it if need be and including the sheet. If someone comes back with a complaint of a bad candle I can usually tell if it was from poor burning and I will offer to replace the same exact candle. But I think I have only had 2 complaints since I began in 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkysCandles Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 well, I can't fix stupid.LMAO!!!! So true!!! So very true! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OldGlory Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Effective communication requires two things - someone expressing a thought and someone listening. And you can't MAKE someone listen.I actually had a new wholesale client bring a candle back to me because it didn't burn properly. I asked her if she let it burn all the way across to get a full melt pool, which I suggested she tell her customers with each candle sale. She said yes. I took the candle home, scraped off enough to make the top flat again, and lit it. It burned perfectly. I took it back to her after burning it for a few hours and said I thought she hadn't followed proper candle burning instructions. She didn't try that again. And I can only hope she then told her customers how best to burn a candle.There's only so much you can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacktieaffair Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 KS, you cracked me up LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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