Maybe I was a little too loud.............but

[Wick'n'Wax]

I was to a very large christmas market today, really enjoyed it. On the way round, hubby said ooh look candles so over I went. Not being nosey of course, simply wanting to have a look lol. Some carved ones, very nice, some small christmas puddings and lots of gel ones.

I noticed immediately that all the wicks were about 2-3inches long, and thought fair enough, maybe shes pointing out you should trim your wick before lighting and anyway it will definately be on the labels. I turned about 6 over, NO LABELS! Nothing, nada!

My heckles got up, I thought all that flaming testing I do, all the labelling, wrapping etc, and she just plonks them on the table and flogs em!

so..... turning to the gel ones, I looked at them, no labels again and asked what was in them, some were plastic embeds and others were real (but small) pinecones. I made out one smelt beautiful and said ooh that smells nice, her reply, yes a whole bottle of aromatherapy oil goes into each one!!

I said, rather loudly, Your joking, right! she looked at me funny, and hubby dragged me away quickly.

whoops, but it just got my back up!

[candlesprite7]

I bet it sure did! When I see that it just makes me really happy I do it all the right way....

[SpaceGirl]

Oh my gosh! I'm not sure if that makes me feel better (because I don't do stupid stuff like that) or put the fear of God in me!

*faint*

[TwinMom]

I was to a very large christmas market today' date=' really enjoyed it. On the way round, hubby said ooh look candles so over I went. Not being nosey of course, simply wanting to have a look lol. Some carved ones, very nice, some small christmas puddings and lots of gel ones.

I noticed immediately that all the wicks were about 2-3inches long, and thought fair enough, maybe shes pointing out you should trim your wick before lighting and anyway it will definately be on the labels. I turned about 6 over, NO LABELS! Nothing, nada!

My heckles got up, I thought all that flaming testing I do, all the labelling, wrapping etc, and she just plonks them on the table and flogs em!

so..... turning to the gel ones, I looked at them, no labels again and asked what was in them, some were plastic embeds and others were real (but small) pinecones. I made out one smelt beautiful and said ooh that smells nice, her reply, yes a whole bottle of aromatherapy oil goes into each one!!

[b']I said, rather loudly, Your joking, right! she looked at me funny, and hubby dragged me away quickly.

whoops, but it just got my back up!

LOL sounds like me and sounds like something my hubby would do! LOL

[sharyl55]

Unfortunately it is candle makers like that that give all of us a bad name. I'm with you about being upset. Since I don't have a hubby to drag me off I probably would have put my foot in my mouth and said some like where are your warning labels? Or Aren't these wicks a little long?

[Vio]

OK from what I'm learning so far, aren't pine cones and plastics dangerous to burn?

She sounds like a person who will be sued soon.

[ValhallaGal]

I'm with Sharyl, I would have been drilling this broad with questions and made sure that I was load enough that others could hear me. I would want other people to know that her candles were volatile and a potential danger to to others. It's this kind of stuff that gives the rest of us indie businesses a bad name. And causes our insurance to be so high! This is insane!!

Another example that will shock you:

I recently hired a part-time helper. She used to work in a new age shop in NM that catered to the tourist trade. One of the things they made was bath salts. And she said they sold a ton of them. They used regular iodized table salt bough from the grocery store and tempura paint to color it!!!!! Yes, you read that right. I said Tempura Paint. I almost fell over in shock when she told me that. I gave her a quick FDA lesson on what is legal and what is not for coloring cosmetics.

Unbelievable!

[kandlekrazy]

Probably why no labels...doesn't want anyone to be able to find her again.

[Wick'n'Wax]

I'm wishing now I'd have explained the dangers to her, maybe she doesn't realise, or maybe she doesn't care.

There were several soap and b&b sellers there also. I looked on with envy, I'd love to make soaps but can't afford all the testing fees etc. But I didn't half stare their labels down lol. As far as I could make out they were all ok, weights, ingredients etc. and the soaps looked gorgeous.

[Guest Candelishis]

I had a booth at a really small local craft fair a few weeks ago, and literally ten feet from me, there was a lady selling quilts. Well, I guess in her spare time she also makes candles....A girl was looking at hers, and asked about how she made them. The lady told the girl she microwaves candles she gets on clearance and dyes them with crayons. She then went on to tell her how all her glassware was recycled. For instance, she picked up one and said "This bottle is an old lipton ice tea bottle. I got it out of a dumpster a couple weeks ago.".....The organizer of the craft fair came by later to see how I was doing, and I told her I wouldn't be back next year. The crap we go through to make a safe, quality candle, and then I get set up right by the dumpster diving crayon microwaver lady.....argggghhhh. It's so frustrating.

[kandlekrazy]

Candelishis you brought me back a whole lotta years!! Back in day, my mom was a girl scout leader and we made candles with the scouts (my younger sisters) using old white tapers and crayons, but we put them into milk cartons and used the wicks from the tapers in them, poured over ice cubes to get a lacy effect! How funny that someone was actually selling something similar!