What NOT to do?

[Desertrose]

I feel like we're getting ourselves into a bit of a mess here and it's proving to be- as you all know, quite costly to be making mistakes when starting out!

Our main problem - as we now bury ourselves in all the testing of the fruits of our creation, is that we're lacking a clear direction as far as how we really want to "present" our range of candles and it's showing as we look at our slowly expanding collection.

Luckily, because we have currently run out of money we simply have had to STOP and take a real long hard look at what we've been doing.

Our biggest mistake at these early stages is not having a clear idea of exactly which candles to make and how to make them look good together for the purposes of selling them at markets.(which is our goal!)

How they look together, I feel, is the most important thing or else your stall might reflect a disorganised, wishy washy business mind! (Or minds , as is the case of hubby and I)

Among the many votives, tart melts and soy candles in tins and jars, we have a mish mash of pretty looking pillar candles (in pastel colours - especially our chunked pillars done with darker chunks and white overpour), next to plain feathering palm pillar candles (in neutral and earthy tones), and then we have our rustic looking chunk candles done with very dark overpours.

Individually they all look nice, but together - envisioning them on a table at a market stall - well.....it just doesn't gel visually!

Then there's the crystalising container palm in glass jars which REALLY look out of place because they look so......well, "pretty" and fairy like with that ice look.

Just getting the colour combinations "right"- all the colours next to each other, is proving quite difficult!

I'm guessing this is a common mistake for those starting out in the world of candle making? Having all the temptations of the different waxes and colours, fragrances, containers etc?

It just get's the creative juices fired up doesn't it!

We've made quite a lot of pillar candles already, but we're not even sure if THOSE are going to be popular sellers!

Not to mention that the 2 inch tall skinny pillars we HAVE to have to complete the set of three varying sized pillars, are proving to be a complete pain in the butt to wick!

(If we had known this we would never have bought that sized mold to begin with!)

So......I don't know if there already IS - I haven't found one- a thread similar to this already on the board ( and if there is I'd love to read it!) but if there isn't perhaps those of you who have already made tonnes of mistakes when starting out, could perhaps impart your wisdom here on what NOT to do

I think WE are going to have to go back to the drawing board and really sit down and work out a proper plan before we spend any more money!

Tracy

[KoalaGirl]

Desert Rose, good post! Im hearing you! The most important thing I have learned through all this, is "Dont assume all others will like what you like" When making a new product, I now only make a few to see how they will sell. If they sell well, i'll make more for the next market.

Its a matter of balance. You need enough variety to make your stall look inviting but not so much that it looks cluttered and end up having to pack most of it up to take home because it didnt sell. Where in OZ are you from?

[Desertrose]

Hi Koala girl. We're in Perth at the moment but planning on moving back "home" to NSW in July.

Where are you?

Yes! Making tonnes of one thing without knowing how popular it's going to be is not a good idea, and you know I SHOULD know better because years ago I used to sell country crafts at the markets.

Ahh but, all this wax is so tempting - just to see how they turn out with the different colours and all!

Problem here being too that this time hubby is in on it, lol, which is wonderful in one respect, but he and I have such different tastes and I think this is causing us problems - especially when it comes to colour!

(He made some BRIGHT yellow - I mean almost flourescent yellow, votives the other day, that make me feel sick looking at them, lol!)

I know we'll get the hang of it sooner or later and that a certain amount of experimentation is needed but some of our mistakes are coming at a high price!

For example, we jumped in wanting to do a line of "all natural" uncoloured soy candles with essential oils and then found ( through reading here) that citrus essential oils often don't do well in soy because they give off a fuel smell.

So there went a whole batch of candles - they really do smell awful!

Not only that my husband felt quite sick while he was making those, so I'm glad we didn't buy TOO many essential oils as they certainly are powerful!

And here I am writing this post today and what has hubby come home with? Yet MORE molds to experiment with, lol!

[KoalaGirl]

Hi Desertrose, Im in NSW. I imagine it must be 'interesting' having your hubby involved. My husbands knowledge AND interest in candlemaking, extends only to telling me that some scents are ''chewy''.....now if only I can figure out what chewy means!

Take a few of hubbys bright yellow 'creations' to the next markets and see how they go. You've got nothing to lose. If they dont sell, the act of packing them back up to take home, will say ''I told you so'', without you having to say it {try to keep the smug look under wraps}. He will probably listen more to you when it comes to design. If they do sell, {and believe me, there's no accounting for some people's tastes} well then he gets to feel good about his contribution and will be kept busy for the next few days making vivid yellow candles.....a win win situation.

Its frustrating I know, but dont try to do too many different things at once. Get one thing perfected at a time before you move on. Do you have your wax for making melts yet? If not, I can suggest what NOT to buy.

[Desertrose]

Chewy? lol! I'm rather mystified by that.

I wonder if he means it smells like fruit flavoured chewing gum or something. Maybe just edible? (Some fragrances DO smell good enough to eat!)

You'll have to get to the bottom of that one!

My dear other half will probably have something to say about his yellow candles soon enough, so I'd better not say too much, lol!

Richard likes all the lighter fruit scents whereas I prefer the deeper more exotic perfumy like scents.

I suppose in one regard it's good that we have such different tastes because so will other people have varied tastes.

We've been using the feathering palm wax so far for our melts.... It seems to be working ok.

We WERE looking at trying the soy pillar wax at some point but for now I think we will just stick with what's working.

Which wax is the one you wouldn't recommend?

[RichardLOZ]

Ahh Koalagirl, the problem is that hubby also reads these boards....LOL. What was it you were saying about taste Its actually quite a nice yellow, Hawiian flavour as well.

Chewy is an interesting flavour. Tracy seems to like the purfume fragrances which personally I think smell a lot like troff lollies (dont know if our American friends will get that one), but that's just my opinion though ~

Cheers

Richard

[KoalaGirl]

Hi Richard, yes I assumed you'd be reading my posts, so I used a bit of tact, {or at least I thought I did!}. Dont want to be the cause of any domestics.....

I just ask Hubby to sum up in a few words, what the definition of 'chewy' is. He said ''its that thick, you can almost chew it''....go figure! I'm guessing that the scent was way too strong! Mind you, this reaction from him was in my early learning days and it did take a few goes to get the scent level right.

The reason I mentioned the 'bad' wax, is that your from WA and I assume your supplies come from Aussie Candle Supplies. Stay clear of their GW 474. I used it once {my supplier was out of stock, just 2 weeks before xmas} and it was terrible. The melts looked great when first made, but 2 weeks later they had gone powdery and faded. Unsaleable in that condition.

[RichardLOZ]

LOL.....thats ok, you were quite tactful, but its ok I can generally trake whatever is dished out

I think we did the same early on, using way too much scent. We have now cut back to 6% which is seeming to be so much better.

Yes we do get our supplies from ACS. Their palm wax is very good and we use that for our pillars and tarts,and we are now using the GW 415 pure soy for our containers which we have also found to be quite good. Have also looked at Natural Candle Supplies on the East Coast and although their wax is pretty much priced the same their jars etc are way way more expensive.

Cheers

Richard

[Desertrose]

Chewy...lol! There you go then! Pretty good description.

I think THAT must be one of the most common what "not" to do's then..... Too much fragrance!

One of the first batches we ever made nearly knocked us, and the kids AND the dogs out!