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Kangaroo Blue has new molds. One holds two one pound silicone liners and looks awesome. Soap Making Resource has Youtube vids on the acrylic molds and the design is pretty cool. I'm thinking the 2 pound log for $64.00 might do the trick. Steve

Irena uses the acryllic molds from Soaphutch and Rich gave me an estimate some time back on a slab/log mold. They are really incredible molds and well worth the investment. I may look up my estimate and bite the bullet; although the Silvermoons looks like great molds. 8Granones, did you say the service was really good with Silvermoon? Steve

Who makes a mold as good or similar to Upland with the liner? Oh, and I noticed that Silver Moon molds is back up and running. Any advice about their log or slab molds? TIA Steve

30% soy and 70% paraffin. If you add 15% soy you will get a 50/50 mix. HTH. Steve

Do you use the search option on this board? Type in the word and look up the posts.

Buy a kit and get busy. I think once you begin to look at the dynamics of the business it will automatically turn you in the right direction. You have to think so many different aspects (labels, names, licenses, insurance) that it will take you a good year to develop your company name and identity. Read until you get your stuff and then have at it. Steve

I started with a paraffin votive kit. You pick out the fragrances and they send you the molds, wax, fo, wicks and color. I made up a couple of dozen votives and bought some holders and gave them to friends for Christmas (make sure and test before giving). You don't have to spend a lot of money for this hobby but a business is another story. Best of luck. Steve

I think we all start out with the same intentions of duplicating a great fragrance. There are so many different Creme Brulees' in the world. My favorite is ky (Aroma Haven now carries the Kentucky version) and some others have a chocolate in the background and yet others are more like custard and cinnamon with a crunchy sugary note. See what I mean? Peaks is always good but they may not carry the one you want. You cannot burn off or mix off fragrance oil. You can't incorporate or blend fragrance oil but you can agitate or stir it into a suspension. The wax begins to harden and traps the fragrance oil in the crystal formation that occurs. IMHO. Use the search tool and type in the word and read the posts and then buy what sounds like the one you want in a tester size (1-2 oz) and go from there and sin no more. HTH Steve

I mix 50/50 Pumpkin Souffle' and Gingered Pumpkin with a dash of Creme Brulee'. I get both from what used to be JBN. HTH Steve

Couldn't sell either one of those fos. I really loved Celtic Moonspice and thought Amish Quilt was just a weaker version IMHO. Steve

Her oils have not worked well with my wax. The Autumn Jubilee has no throw period and the Amish Pumpkin is very weak. The few oils I tried to soap were disasters. The Powder Fresh and Lillies and Berries are awesome in candles but not soap. I still haven't tried Sunshine or Lavender Vanilla but hope they work. I really was disappointed in Autumn Jubilee but oob it was mostly cinnamon and nothing much else. Steve

WSP has always been pricey on nearly all of their products IMHO. I never found their brand to be any better than anyone else but that's just me. They do have good fos but again, you can find equally good fos at cheaper prices. Good luck with raising prices at this point in time. My only hope is that people will opt for hand made quality items that can be used for gift baskets. You can make a quality product without having to use overpriced ingredients. Some fos are worth the extra if they take half the amount to get the job done but those are becoming rare. Worry more about all the little guys who have closed up shop. Steve

I use my kettle with spout to hold my palm oil.

If I'm not mistaken, some of these distributors use a perfumist to blend their oils. There are a couple of folks that blend their own and a couple of folks who shouldn't. I am stuck with a good many of those oils blended by shouldn't.

I used a bar this morning and wowzer is this good soap. Ugly but mmm thassa some good kinda soap. My skin feels so good (for a guy) and I think the sea salt helped my sinus problems too! Not saying........lol. Steve

The problem with the 12 oz salsa began last year when the main mfg discontinued that size. SKS will ship for free on about 25 cases of jars. You choose bulk and then hit the add on button to bring up the lids. The lids are sold in lots of 72 (6 cases) the lids are $19.44 and the jars are $36.00 for a total of $55.44 or .77 cents per jar. Free shipping would be applied at about 30 cases or so. That's a nice deal and you can always co-op with someone for half the jars if you don't need that many. My small business can float on one order for most of the year and they deliver them to your doorstep. HTH Steve

This isn't the first time that I've seen others post what great fo results they got and ordered them, only to find they wouldn't work for me. I would still contact the distributor to discuss the problem and ask him what kind of wax (veggie/paraffin) were these tested/formulated for. Who does the blending of these fos and how much have they been diluted. I have quite a few useless oils that will never be anything but an example of my sheep mentality. ALWAYS get 1 oz testers to save yourself the headaches and loss of money. Maybe I'll follow that same advice; until the next good deal comes along. Steve

Glass Jars, 12 oz Clear Glass Jars w/ Gold Metal Plastisol Lined Lug Caps Next Page >>

Way kewl video. Can't wait to try that out! Surely I can do that one without messing up. Thanks, Steve

Right. They twist on and off. People have little patience with packaging and I never dreamed they couldn't figure out to pull the lid off or to unscrew the lid, lol. The 12 0z salsa holds 8 oz of wax but they difficult to find and the 16 oz holds 12 oz but is less square and more like a mayonaisse jar to me. I use both. HTH Steve

Lid. People pick-up a candle, take off the lid, smell, put the lid back on, pick-up another candle and on and on. My customers didn't like fitments (plastic thingies that fit into the jar) or the screw on lid but liked the lug type of lid. The salsa jar has been a great container that looks upscale enough but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I buy in large enough quantities to get free shipping and try to keep my cost down to 50 cents a jar. I used to use the Crisa tumbler until they stopped offereing the metal lid and until they sold out to Libbey. Jars are the centerpiece of your candle formula. A good jar makes it easy to wick. Pick straight sided containers that are about as wide as they are tall and stay away from all the other containers. In the long run, customers have got to smell that candle before they make a decision to buy. HTH Steve

Solvents and fillers are used to cut the fragrance oil. Candle Coccoon has a good explanation on their website. Candle or soap safe doesn't automatically cover all the bases. It may have been formulated with solvents that react to vegetable based waxes or paraffin based waxes, it may be soap safe but causes immediate seizing in the cp method. You buy a sample and test it in your chosen medium(s) and find out its properties. Why not dillute a product and get twice as much if no one notices or complains? I'm not saying this is the intent here but I am saying that formulation is the end all to a really useful fo. I have some great fos that sit on the shelf and mock me, because they don't work in any of the raw materials I currently use. It sounds like these fos are poorly formulated and need to be pulled and re-formulated. It happens all the time to the best of the disttibutors. It doesn't mean everything is bad, just the couple you happened to purchase. HTH Steve

I heat my jars and slow cool in a covered box. I rarely have wet spots but that is how my wax behaves. Really heavy fos with spice or vanilla may occasionally develop wet spots but not if I make sure and keep my temps regulated. It is not a big deal for me. If I double wick here's what I do: take a large craft stick (wally world) drill two holes in the center of the stick and bring my wick up and through and then clip with those black metal spring clips you use for paper. Dollar Tree has assorted sizes or wally world and they are cheap and keep the wick tight. I like to wick close together with the assemblies almost touching. HTH Steve

Thanks Irena. That's what I thought and it seems the literature may have mentioned heating pads as well.

Some of my customers believe it helps their skin problems. I don't make them very often because few people seem to want them. This would have been ok if the box of salt had not been a solid brick, lol. Steve