Tea lights

[OlyEric]

One of my favorite things is lighting up my wall sconces with tea lights, turning off all the apartment lights, and watching a good movie or just relaxing watching the flickering shadows...

Tea lights to me are a staple and I have had years of burning bad ones that soot and smoke up my walls and just have a utilitarian feel to them when I buy and burn them. The boring tin cups and lack of colors mean I don't keep my sconces loaded as I really do not want to see tin or necessarily bare uncolored or white wax when they are not lit. When I can pour some nice dark greens and purples, I will feel like keeping it ready for a burn whenever the feeling is right, not just when I feel like digging out the ladder and the bag of badly made tea lights.

I really want to make well burning, beautiful tea lights and I ran into an interesting conundrum while searching this site. It seems that most posts here utilize tea lights as an afterthought or for "using up leftover wax"...

I hope to produce quality tea lights that can be used safely and with consistency. My larger wall hanging will take 8 tea lights and I at one time had one that took upwards of 20.

I know a lot of peeps look from a business perspective and I could see where they may not be "profitable" to make as a staple, but is the almighty dollar such a driver in this craft now that the little things are not worth doing anymore?

Am I over-thinking a tea light candle?

[ChrisR]

I don't sell a ton of tea lights, but make them to order for several good customers that only buy tea lights. You don't want to go too dark with your colors, as it may clog your wick, but testing will tell you how dark you can go. Have fun!!

[Candybee]

I think some still make them but not a lot. They are not very profitable and places like the Walmart and Dollar stores sell whole packs of them for a dollar or two.

I have a ton of them left over from when I made them a few years back. They just are not big sellers and people expect them for dirt cheap. Can't be done with handmade items even tea lights.

[Node11]

Looking at my numbers I'd have to sell them at cost (a high price for a tea) or at a loss to move any quantity worth producing. I'm going to go out on a limb and venture a guess that the luxury tea light market is a slim 1% market share. With that in mind, catering to the 1% is a recipe for either an extremely difficult business venture or slow death by exclusion of the other 99.

There seems to be a fair amount of members here who make a little side cash selling crafts so demand as well as the dollar play a pretty important role in what one will produce on an ongoing basis. One can run a bank account dry pretty quick losing $0.50 to $1.00 on every widget they make.

For hobby and for personal enjoyment is another basket altogether. Much like cooking, enjoying the fruits of your labor of love is really rewarding. Sharing and seeing the joy it brings others doubly so. Here ROI is measured not in dollars but in smiles

[loveandlight]

I wouldn't make tea lights for $, I think if anything, they'd be great add ons if you have a larger candle business and customers could try out your tea lights as samplers before purchasing a full size candle. Just my business perspective.

[OlyEric]

After another day thinking and reading lots of the Archive here, I can see progression from novice chandler to more experienced and how the tea light, beautiful as it can be as a medium for creative expression, fails to compare to the number of ways to express through larger medium such as jars, pillars, 'canes, and votives.

Node11 - Exactly the perspective I am taking... I have managed to convince myself that the fish I catch from my kayak are "less expensive" and always better then market bought; I'm sure I can do the same for candles since we burn so many in our little apartment.

[puma52]

I personally love tea lights. People don't order them very often, but they do, so I will always carry them. The thing a person has to do is show the customer all the different ways they can be used. They are beautiful as luminaries in mason jars, just nestle them into white sand that you have poured into the bottom of the jar or use them as a table setting nestling them into sand and surround them with seashells. Also, if you have a Tax ID # , there are a lot of suppliers that carry containers made just for the tea light. You can also make the forever pillar candles where you use the tea light plug to create a spot to set your tea lights in. Also as suggested, by Loveandlight these are excellent for samples to give out to your customers. I like to be able to offer my customers about anything their heart desires. I have had people ask if I make tea lights or votives or pillars and they are just so excited to be able to order what they want.

Edited November 7, 2013 by puma52

[nursenancy]

I sell a lot of tealights. I carry them because I like to offer my customers a variety. I sell them in 8 packs (scented) and bakers dozen (unscented). except for one customer that orders hundreds at a time. They're worth it for me. I buy them by the case and then wick them all at once. then I just have to pour. When I pour jars, I'll pour tealights at the same time.

[OlyEric]

Thanks for all the perspective

And....a question:

I have been searching and cannot formulate the proper search terms to find where anybody is getting the jumbo tealight molds and clear cups.

I don't want to post a direct link, but what I want is to reproduce similar to the 6 hour Jumbo Tealights (searched on Amazon) Product Dimensions: 2.4 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches ; 1.6 ounces.

I have also seen the dimensions listed as 2.5" diameter, 3/4" high....World Market or Ikea I believe.

Since I do not have a seller's permit (yet), I cannot purchase directly from wholesalers, so any help in acquiring would be greatly appreciated.

Have an awesome day!

[Candybee]

Unless you are buying from a supplier in your state that requires a copy of your your sellers statement you should not have any trouble. The majority of suppliers don't require it so go ahead and start buying if you wish.

As far as jumbo tea lights you can buy candle molds for larger sizes or use votive molds and just fill them part way. But if you make large tea lights you will have to test wicks other than simply tea light wicks. The jumbo ones may require a larger wick depending on how big you make them.