chuck_35550

Well, the jars are back at SKS and I sent an e-mail to Fillmore to see what they would be willing to offer. Now I wait and see.

No,but I have a couple of soap recipes that use avocado oil that are really nice. Use it sparingly for best results. HTH. Steve

Good lesson,while I was trying to make up my blank mind about the SKS deal, they sold out the jars. I asked them if there would be anymore available, so who knows. Every one they had with any color lid was gone! Doh! Steve

My experience with shows that are not "craft shows" is that everybody shows up to get some food and walk around looking at everything. I kept my candles in coolers with blue ice so they wouldn't wilt from the heat and kept a couple of each out for people to sniff. Everybody said, "Oh wow I love these" and then kept eating their corn dogs and walked on to the next booth. make sure you have an electrical outlet for fans and or other things you might need to run in your booth. Good luck and stay cool. Steve

That's where I got my jars from until the mfg decided to stop making the 12 oz jar. Alabaster always had great deals on the salsa and it quickly became a favorite jar with customers (had been using the Crisa tumbler until the lids disappeared) and its a really easy jar to wick. Alabaster thought they were getting a shipment of Chinese glass but it must be held up or fallen through. Either way I need to grab jars now while the price is right, instead of scrambling for jars in the holiday season. I have several accounts that keep me running and last christmas was when the mfg dropped my jars. I had exactly enough jars to complete my wholesale account orders. It's always something in this business; I don't know why I keep trying to stay afloat. Steve

Oh and to clear up another misquote on my original post. CMS had a problem with their shipping calculator and the price of the jar is not .59 for the 9 oz salsa. The average price for the SKS 12 oz jar is .77 cents. That's hands down the best price I can find on the internet, due to their being no charge for shipping on a minimum of $250.00. I don't know anyone offering free shipping on their jars. It saves me about .23 per jar, which is not as nice as when I could get the jar for .50 and drive to pick it up. One more thing, this was not the local distributors fault, the company elected to stop offering the 12 oz. I currently have 21 cases of the 16 oz taller salsa which I don't like but oh well. Those were .50 a piece and I guess I shouldn't complain about the last of the truly cheap jars.

Well I looked at the site again and the base price for both jars is $4.65 and the lids for the 12 oz are .27 cents and the lids for the 9 oz are .20 cents. It plainly states that these prices are less than a pallet and nowhere does it offer a different base price for a skid. The optimal shipping rate is listed as 8 cases for the 9 oz and 9 cases for the 12 oz which means that this is how they would ship those jars to me and doubtful they would offer a different price for such a small amount of jars. I have already bought the 2x4 clear labels and they will have to do. i didn't learn about the label height until I looked at another web site which listed the label best used with this jar. I misquoted a price on another thread due to not entering enough lids but the average price per jar remains the same and the amounts could be reduced to stay within the $250.00 free shipping offer. The offset is enough for me to consider SKS as the best available offer on those jars. I like Fillmore just fine and have used them in the past for other jars but shipping is nearly double on the final cost. I would be happy for you to make me a deal with Fillmore and let me know if they are willing to at least match the average price per jar.

The bulk jars are $6.00 per case and the lids are .27 apiece which adds up to $9.24 (.77 apiece) for the 12 oz and the 9 oz are $5.40 with .21 lids which is $7.92. (.66 apiece) and no shipping. Fillmore offers the 12 and 9 oz for $4.65 per case and the lids for .27 and .20 respectively. So Fillmore is $7.89 and $7.05 plus shipping and handling which averages $1.00 a jar for my location. I get my labels from the same place and didn't know that the 2x4 wouldnt fit. They kinda fit if i place them high up on the jar. It would be worth a try to see if Fillmore could get close to that but I don't need a pallet of jars, unfortunately. Thanks for your help. Steve

The lids are 2.28 which makes it a total of $7.88 a case and then add shipping. The best deal I have found is SKS is offering free shipping on $250.00 orders. They have a great assortment of jars but the best prices are on the salsa or straight sided jars. I figured that I can get 24 cases of 12 oz jars and lugs and 12 cases of 9 oz with lugs for $277.92 which averages to .64 cents a jar. The no shipping allows for more jars to be purchased. If anyone can find a better deal let me know. You could get 42 cases of 8 oz plain jelly jars with gold lids for $6.00 a case and no shipping if you bought 42 cases. You could go in with a friend and really do nicely. HTH. Steve

I've been eye balling that jar too. They are little pricey and I worry about adhesion problems. I might get a sample case and give it a whirl. Steve

I ordered 8 cases from Fillmore and the jars are fine with the exception that they are not wide enough for the 2x4 clear labels. They are double the price I used to pay beacuse of shipping. SKS (I think) has free shipping on orders that are $250.00 or more and carries what is described as an 11.5 oz straight sided jar (same as Fillmore). My customers love the 12 oz size and the look of the jar and have made it clear they won't buy jelly jars. Sometimes I hate this business.

After the evil discontinuance of the 12 ounce salsa or straight sided flint jar from my local distributor; I have been searching for a decently priced replacement. CMS has a 9 ounce jar with lid that with shipping amounts to .59 cents a jar. Now this is a great price and the overall dimensions of the jar perfectly fit my 2x4 clear label BUT its a 9 and not a 12 ounce jar. The ad states a max fill of 10oz but I only managed 8 oz with the 12. Somebody push me off the cliff. Steve

Just a thought, but why not try a large wood wick on the 16 oz and an x-large wood wick on the 26 oz ? I looked at those jars Jane and they look pretty typical to me. I started with J-50 and then went to J-223 and loved the vivid color of those waxes. You might consider a 60-44-18 paper core or a 62-52-18 zinc for the 26 oz jars. I tried to find a low-smoke zinc and discovered there was no such animal but zincs were the most efficient because they burn cool and they take a lot of abuse. But they smoke with vanilla and heavy spiced oils and get huge mushrooms. I am a real fan of cd wicks for my 70/30 Clarus wax and really disliked most of the others that I tried. I used to use the lx wicks with the J waxes and liked the results most of the time. You just can't beat the classic look of a zinc sticking out of a J wax candle IMHO.

Good luck and I'm sure you will succeed with your positive attitude. I have the same attitude about discovering the perfect wax blend. I almost obtain it and then something else fails to meet the standard and it begins all over again. Fortunately, I have my base wax that continues to supply reliable candles while the blending quest goes ever on down the road. Take care. Steve

Well, yes basically we are chasing our tails about jars effecting the outcomes of a formula. Does the jar design allow for air to draft or circulate is a given concern about the jar but it is not an absolute. It may be that if you changed the other elements (wax and wick) you would get a perfectly fine candle in that jar because everything is operating efficiently within that environment. I suggest that when you get stuck in the testing phase with a situation that requires very narrow parameters; move on and do something else. Fortunately, my customers have grown fond of the little fat salsa jars and don't want or request one of those awful jars that are a constant pain to wick. I don't know if its laziness on my part or logic but either way it allows me to move foward with the least amount of resistance. Steve

Ok, here we go. The wick drowns out because it is not handling the wax efficiently enough to keep up with the supply. The wick maintains itself on top of the wax and as long as it is able to draw up the wax and burn it at a fast enough rate does it remain stable. So in some respects everyone is partially correct in identifying the problem. There are some jar configurations that are universally recognized as requiring more than a single wick to handle the wick pool demands but the price that is often payed is in how the wicking becomes more precise. We all know that you can burn a candle to the end with a large enough wick but the negative is the resultant increase in temp on the jar wall, increase of sooting, and large mushrooms that are proof of an inefficient wick. What Carole is saying is most sensible, in that she has learned what works for her and her product. I just don't understand spending huge sums of time and money to make something work that is flawed or complex in its configuration from the very beginning. Do you set your two wicks to imitate the one large wick or do you place the wicks on opposite sides to more efficiently handle the melt pool? Independant wicks are going to compete for oxygen and they're going to drown if you have merely added another wick that is not well suited or designed to meet the demands of the wax under the jar configuration you have chosen. IMHO. Steve

I don't know where to start. What kind of wax, a picture, how much is a little, no to using crayons, what kind of container? Buy a candle kit or a votive kit and follow the directions. You should get a reasonably nice looking gift for your sister. Otherwise, you could be giving her a fire bomb. Crayons are just going to clog up your wick and its a whole lot easier to buy a kit with the color, wax, wick and your choice of fragrances. HTH. Steve

I just got twenty sample bottles from them and all are the Fragrance Oil Heaven line of fos. You can look on search and find out the favorites (which is what I did) from other members. I can tell you that for the most part oob these are wonderful fos that are not the same old same old. I haven't had a chance to get these in wax yet (as I have ordered from several different new companies) but I'l try and give you some feedback when I do. Steve

MMMmmmm sounds good. I think I have some orange in the shop. I use the Brulee to mix with so much stuff. Pineapple, pumpkin, ect. Good stuff. The pom is really versatile as well.

I use 70/30 and currently am using a cd 18 in a 12 oz salsa jar which is about 3.25 inches in diameter. I use cd 10 on the 8 oz Crisa tumbler which is about 2.35 if I remember correctly. I rarely have to wick up or down with this wax. I can get an ht the next day after pouring. I've been with this wax about 3 years now (I think). HTH Steve

Parasoy blends are great once you get it down. I just never had much luck with a 50/50 blend on anything I tried. The mostly soy with a little paraffin to smooth out the rough edges, seemed the better blend. This is interesting.

Apple Jack Peel NG Christmas Cabin NG Vanilla Bean Noel TCS Creme Brulee JBN Hansel and Gretel TCS Sparkling Pomegranate (personal mix of peppermint and pom) Mrs. Clause Cookies NG I poured Christmas Cabin and Apple Jack Peel until it crept into all the pores of my skin. lol Steve

By the way, your soot is white.

It's not about that. The price of shipping is tied to the price of oil. If shipping goes up then the distributor passes that on to the customer, hence all our waxes will increase in cost. That is why Scented is watching the price of gas. The price ususally goes up in the summer but comes down after Labor Day but this year the price did not increase dramatically. Soy is tied to crop yield and shipping. A good bit of candle wax, glass jars and other items are made in China.

I read an article discussing the use of soy wax, veggie oil and beeswax were used to break up oil spills in the past. I guess better safe than sorry when you can't buy a case of wax at all. I sure don't want to be one of those people who scares everybody up but I just couldn't help wondering how this is gonna work out. Thanks for the good feedback guys. Wish some industry folks would talk but I guess that would be insider information..lol. Steve