chuck_35550

I put my guest soaps in crystal clear zip locks from AH/RE. There is a little hole at the top to circulate air and I either place a round label or put a topper type label to cover the zip lock area. The crystal clear bags look real neat and they keep the cost down. HTH Steve

Remember that all waxes are not created equal. My Clarus 3022 (70% soy/30% paraffin) is good to go on the next day but only gets better with time. I like the fact that the ct/ht is there without the extended cure time but if a week goes by before a sale; the candle is just that much better. Light fragrance oils rarely get better with extended cure time, unfortunately. So I pour 1 oz testers and for that very reason. HTH Steve

I recently met with a prosepective wholesale buyer and the soaps only had the bands and were not shrink wrapped. I use the shrink wrap that is open on the end and then cover with a paper cigar band that lists all the information. The buyer began asking me all sorts of informed questions about the ingredients. She finished by saying, "You have good ingredients" and was satisfied with my answers. Customers never look at the ingredients but will ask about something if they have an allergy. I think the boxes would be the best.

That's kind of vague. There are plenty of suppliers that carry wholesale soaps in bulk. I think you'll find it fairly pricey with the cost of shipping these days. I don't know how long you've been working on your product but from my own personal experience; it took me quite a while to develop the legal stuff, the graphics and cost study from slab to cases of wax and minimums on glassware. Just saying, you might not get much response this time of the year when everyone has pretty much taken on whatever accounts for the season. You would probably do better waiting until 2015. Just type in wholesale soap on the net and see what pops up. HTH Steve

Kittredge reportedly sold Yankee for 350 million dollars. Yankee started going downhil after the change of owners and isn't the quality product it used to be IMHO. My wife gets irritated with me over in the candle aisle smelling candles but I like to see what the other guys are doing and listen to people as they shop. The basic customer wants a reasonably priced candle that will fragrance and burn correctly. Nothing is worse than trying to dig out a tunnel and keep the wick lit in a pourly designed candle. There are those people who will pour a little fragrance oil on the top of the candle to cover up no or poor grade fragrance in the rest of the candle. People don't remember that candles and luxury items were not very available like they are today.

Why not set the bar higher? If I could reproduce a Votivo candle (truly remarkable)I would be in seventh heaven. How about Kringle? (son of Michal Kittredge who founded and sold Yankee), Colonial, Circle E, Diptyque, Maison, Archipeligo and so forth. European chandlers and soap makers are centuries old at the art and they create amazing products. Today's hot shots are Tokyo Milk and Lush. This is not to say that all their products burn or funtion perfectly but the fragrances are original and amazing. Votivo introduced a small candle in a tumbler (like Red Currant) that you have to put out after a 30 minutes, because it fragrances every room in your house. I love the simplicity of the Kringle candles fragrances (very realistic and fresh) as well as the design of the label and the whole look. Circle E gave us Bird of Paradise and so many other wonderful fragrances. These guys have staffs of professional perfumers and access to raw materials on a huge scale. That being said, it is possible (after sampling truly great candles) to put your imagination to work with fragrance combinations in a wax/wick/jar medium that knocks people in the dirt. Remember that Michael Kittredge (founder of Yankee) made his first candles with crayons for coloring while a teenager and grew a multi-million dollar empire out of his home.

Personally, I like beef tallow. You can go to a butcher and ask for fat scraps and render it down to a snowy white tallow. There are plenty of good Youtube tutorials for help but its pretty basic stuff for making lard or tallow.

Ack CB. There's just not much choice with mint. You have spearmint, peppermint, buttermint and then some variations on a theme. Its too bad that the Peppermint Patty is not skin safe from KY at AH/RE. Its a good blend but not many applications IMHO.

Yes. My turkey fryer keeps the wax at 200 degrees and I measure out on my scale the amount to be poured and then keep the pour pot (pyrex coffee pot) on an electric double burner with the thermometer probe for monitoring. You'll find that some fragrances are practically the same, no matter where you buy them. Black Cherry is a great example, as well as most almonds or other blending oils. Customers do not, as a rule, sit around and analyze what note opened first and how did the fragrance finish; they just want to know that the fragrance will smell reasonably good all over the house or apartment. I know people who sell a straight, plain jelly jar with no label at trade or flea markets for about $5.00 a jar and sell the hound out of them. I see candles in specialty shops and boutiques that need dusting. Marketing is fine but the average Sheila just wants thing to burn right and smell good. HTH Steve

I have found lugs on 12oz salsa jars (8 fl oz) gives me the best of both worlds. Customers want an easy lid to get off, that looks nice and keeps the candle clean. The screw on caps can be a hassle for older customers and the fitment type are out of the question. My customers refuse jelly jars and no one has asked for prim. The salsa jars are laid back with gold lids that look fine enough for most rooms. The hot throw is the same for either the 12 or 16 oz salsa jars, as they have the same diameter. Larger candles mean fewer times for the customer to come back in a given period; so I prefer they buy the smaller candle. Economic times are tough on luxury items. Steve

You can. I didn't care for the results as much as I did for the 6006 but its not a bad blend. I know there are straight soy chandlers who love their medium but I don't recommend it for starting out. There is just such a learning curve with pure soy. A little paraffin really stabilizes soy withouth too much sooting. Remember that vanillin and some spices will cause sooting and wick clogging. I try to stay away from strong vanilla or vanillin fragrances for that very reason. The 6006 has an amount of soy that adding the soy brings the amount up to near balance (some debate as to the percentages) that makes it very easy to wick. One rule holds true in making candles: Know thy wax. Settle on a wax and learn it inside and out before moving on to the next thing. Mason jars are a good container to start and resist the urge to pour wax into every good deal at the dollar store. Container + wax + wick + fragrance oil + color=candle. I started with votives and was glad for it. Votives with a nice holder in a cello bag with a label at a small price can be very creative. HTH Steve

Indonesian Teak, hands down. Very feminine, classy but not overpowering. I think Southwest Candle Supply still carries it. I first got it from GreenLeaf. Still a great seller, after all these years.

How about AH/RE's Mabel's Mint Sugar Cookie? No vanillin and a slight discoloraton could be corrected with a little TD. It's a soft sugar cookie with a slight mint note. If its not minty enough, you could add a splash of peppermint but I would stay away from spearmint. Even a little spearmint gives you chewing gum, IMHO. HTH Steve

Tinsel is a great Christmas fragrance,as well as any other time of the year. How about Sparkling Christmas Berry? and then change it up for winter to a frosted berry? I smell mostly Pom in this one but whatever, it sells really well during the holidays. HTH Steve

I know this has been said a few thousand times but take 15% of your 464 and mix it with 85% 6006 wax. Pour at 185 degrees into room temp jars and let cool uncovered. Straight sided containers are the easiest to wick. CD wicks are good for this wax blend and using 6 to 7% fragrance oil should give you plenty of cold and hot throw without the need for an extended cure time. Color if you like with a good liquid coloration and don't worry about burning off your fragrance oil or about the flash temp. Buy a bag of craft sticks from wally world, stack them up and make a hole in the middle with a small drill bit with a drill and buy a bag of black clips that are used for holding papers together and you have great wick holders that will last a lifetime. I use the two-sided squares hanger squares from 3m at wally world for wick stickers and they work like a charm. You cut your squares up into 8 sections and using the empty sleeve of a meat thermometer, run your wick through it and hold while putting on your wick sticker and then center it at the bottom of the jar, run the wick through the hole in the stick and clip it off. Now your ready to pour your mixed wax. Get a good scale, a heat gun, an oven thermometer with the long silver cord and a metal probe and always buy new fragrance oils in 1 or 2 ounce amounts for the purpose of testing. You can buy or print your own warning labels, as well as your jar labels and save a lot of do rem mi. Invest $20.00 in a Presto Pot at wally world and stop using double boiler method. There's no reason you can't be up and running if you are smart. Enlist friends and family to test your candles and give you feedback. Once your satisfied with the overall effectiveness and safety of your product; build a small base of customers and keep your fragrance line small and simple for the time being. I love private label wholesale accounts but they are for later on in your business. There is a ton of competition in candles and you really don't want to attempt imitation of Yankme or any other mass marketed candles; focus on marketing a hand made, with love candles that are the best bang for the buck and offer different fragrances from the other guys. Be creative, be smart and have fun. Everything else will follow naturally if you pay attention. HTH Steve

I use a combination of Natrasorb (modified tapioca starch instead of cornstarch) and SLSA. I use a formulary that is metric measurement and when factoring in the Natrasorb and SLSA, divided it and use at 7.5% each. The clay could be your culprit as well (I use about a teaspoon) but my oils are High Oleic Sunflower, Sweet Almond Oil and Argan Oil; and there are no bumps whatsoever. I made a batch last night and my mix got too wet and several refused to stay together but the rest are just fine. The bombs not ony fizz but foam like crazy and the water turns a nice color (using the bath bomb colorants from Wholsale Plus and they are excellent) and the fragrance is wonderful. I had been adding the citric last after spritzing with witch hazel but got better results when adding all together. I'm thinking about leaving the clay out all together and don't really care for adding the salts becauase of the added weight. If you want your bombs to float and spin around tub or sink. This formulary has been very successful for me but you know how that goes. HTH Steve

Favorites are Blackberry Jam Butter Cookies by Daystar or Fragrance Buddy or Mrs. Clause Sugar Cookie by NG. I couldn't sell any of those in my area but the Daystar was quite good IMHO. I never thought the NG was strong enough but a lot of folks sell it year round. HTH Steve

I still have a pound of the MW original but if all else fails, Vanilla Voodoo by Candle Coccoon. Yup.

Don't forget Perfect Pumpkin from Bittercreek North.

I like spiced Mulberry too. Couldn't move Cinna-Vanilla and don't really know what the problem was other than people were looking for something else. Surveying all the sellers in the market will give you an idea of how much overkill there is in spicy vanilla fragrances. They all start to smell the same in the long run. I could go for Cinnamon Broom if it really smells like that.

I've never had a weak baby powder but you might try blending it with a good strong lavender. Cotton Linen could be blended with anything clean, herbacious or maybe a strong vanilla. You need something to anchor it to (surely there are some strong notes in either fo?) but I would cut back instead of going up on the amount used. Double wicking can sometimes help a weak fo but most of the time if its that broke.......buy cheap potpourri and bag it up. HTH Steve

I have the Henri Bendel from Candlewic and it is more of a perfumery type. That being said, Coconut Lime Verbena came and went around this neck of the woods. I don't know what Verbena smells like but coconut and lime needs to be a part of the title IMHO. How about "Coconut Lime Twist" or "Coconut Lime Seduction"?

I suppose Rose Jam is a matter of taste but it has moved well with customers. Sex bomb, Supernova, Jungle and Sultana are sticking very well with no acceleration or any other issues. Soaps beautifully. I made Strawberry Patch in candles (I was confused in thinking "Patch")and it has a fairly good ct/ht that is not plastic. I did have an issue with the Cucumber Melon and goat milk with aloe vera juice for my water; smells really off. I'll try another batch with no aloe vera and see what happens. I had made a test batch with goat milk and it was wonderful. Rock Star is light but still a nice enough fragrance. The Lush fragrances are reasonably priced and are strong enough for soaping applications. I really don't want to use them in wax, as they do so well with soaps and bath bombs. All I can say is that Lush really has it going on IMHO. These are very likeable fragrances that could appeal to both men and women. I have enough of the other fos in stock for wax applications that will get me through the seasons. HTH Steve

Your shreds need to be fresh soap and not cured or dried out before use. I think it would be neat to incorporate shreds that have a different quality than the base; such as a soap for normal skin and soap for oily skin or dry skin. I always have several bars in the shower and switch them out to meet the needs of my skin. Does that make any sense?

My formulas average 6 for lineoleic and 1 for linolenic. Iodine at 50 or less is ideal in most instances. Superfatting is an insurance against lye heavy formulation but can also help where a specialty soap needs additional qualities of a type of oil to offset harshness or the lack of some quality in the soap. The real argument for me has always been how do you know what the lye will choose to saponify? So you put your almond oil or argan in last and think that the saponification or cook is done and won't affect your more precious oil? Saponification is ongoing and chains are being composed at random within the mold (that's my opinion)with no real control over the final outcome. You can predict when you are able to reproduce the bar qualities the majority of the time but we all know that other factors (such as soap fairies) can sometimes change the outcomes in the most predictable of soap formulations. I find rice bran to be the worst culprit for rancidity when used in place of olive or in a blend of olive and rice bran that makes up 50% of the formulation. I use high oleic oils like sunflower and safflower to increase the oleic instead and use rice bran or any other oil that increases those previously mentioned fatty acids in smaller amounts. Just my opinion.