NattyCat

Nat, I just want to tel you that your site is one of the most beatiful, clean, and easy to use I ever saw.

You did a fantastic job!

thanks Sabrina !!

Natasha, your "new soap fragrances for November" pics on either side look smashed in.. Now, I have no clue on how to fix it..lol

I have to say for the record, I think you're crazy.. Have you tested blueberry and and creme brulee together? That's an awful lot of scents to have gone through every combination you know the customers are gonna come up with.

I do like the feel of the site.. Very quick to load and love the colors! But you're still crazy!!!! LOL!

not sure what you mean by smashed in? Display ok on my screen plus hubby's and mum's and friends screens, and the whole page is expandable for different resolutions....I'll look into that - thanks!

yup, I'm crazy I know but to be perfectly honest, us brits are boring and I've only ever had one or two wierd requests. For custom blends, I also send the customer a tea light to see if they like it before I make a candle in the scent they've experimented with. Luckily for me, I was an avid experimenter and long time hobby maker a long time before I ever sold a candle and I used to love testing and blending all my oils together in the strangest combinations - that's all I ever did for my own entertainment so I can safely say, if you think of a weird combo, i'll probably have blended it! And being totally anal, I have a massive big book that I write all my experiments in and what result was. BTW, creme brule and blueberry smells exactly like blueberry cobbler from just scent!!

www.scentifique.co.uk

Thanks,

Natasha

Hi there, not sure weather to post this here or not but here the thing.

Im thinking about setting up my own business in the UK selling candle making supplies, i decided to do this becuase i started making candles and found the prices on candle making equipment to be very high and noticed that in the US the prices are alot lower ( in some cases over 50% lower)

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice in starting up my business etc.

I know there are different laws in the us than the Uk but im sure someone can give me a little bit of help with this idea.

Thanks alot. Blobby.

I do hope you have bottomless pockets. All the good candle making supplies come from the USA, so you need to ship the stuff over in container loads. you will need thousands of pounds just to get a reasonable amount of stock in the first instance - and then you'll get customs and VAT on those products coming in to the UK. If you are not already an established business, and are just a hobby candle maker, don't even think that you'll have any sort of supply business going within a year unless you have tons of money to throw at it and lots of time.

To start with, to become a reputable supplier, you need a LARGE variety of fragrance oils and you can't just buy them from Gemlite or other cheap suppliers then re-sell them here, as you will lose customers due to quality issues. So, let's say 200 fragrances is a good start. You need at least 5kgs of each fragrance for those professional candle and soap makers that buy in 1lb+ lots, you can't NOT store large amounts as once again you will lose custom due to limited supply. You can't just get the fragrance though - you need full MSDS for every single one. on average, 1lb of GOOD fragrance costs £20 all in which includes shipping, vat and customs duty.

So your first expense for a reasonable range of fragrance at 5kg per fragrance (and that's only 10lbs per fo, which is minimal to say the least) would be:

10 x £20 = £200 per fragrance. Stock 100 fragrances = £20,000. Stock 200 fragrances = £40,000. Even if you only stocked 50 fragrances which is probably a minimum if you want to be a serious supplier, that would be £10,000 on fragrance oil alone.

Then you need to stock wicks, jars, wax, tins, dyes, moulds, additives by the hundreds. Some of these items can be purchased in the UK in bulk, but do you have enough buying power to make these products cheap enough so that when you sell, you can sell at a competitive rate to all the other UK candle supply companies? You need to buy big, to sell low, so for arguments sake, let's say you stocked at any one time 1000 assorted jars, 5000 wicks (there are so many varieties, you need at least 500 of each) 500 moulds (again, different shapes and sizes) etc etc. The cash outlay for this lot would be at least another £10,000. Halve the amount you buy, and that's £5,000.

So, a small stock of Fragrance Oil (50 varieties), 500 wicks, 200 jars, 200 moulds and a selection of the absolutely critical items that you must stock if you want to be considered a Candle Supply Company will cost you between £15,000 and £20,000.

Of course, you can stock tiny amounts of product, or sub-standard quality products which you have had to buy at a higher price because you bought so little - but then, at the prices you would have to charge to make a profit - why would people buy from you when they can get it cheaper at candle cauldron, sensory perfection and ukcandlesupplies?

Sorry to be a bummer, but it really is a serious business that you need to consider fully. I am an established candlemaker, and I sell a few of my OWN oils that I don't want by word of mouth, but to give you some idea - I have 250 different varieties of fragrance oil and stock a minimum of 1lb per oil, and pay between £15 to £20 per oil and I'm just one candle maker. If I came to your store in the UK, would you be able to meet my demand for oil and would you be able to supply me with 500 kilos of wax at a time? I'm just one person - imagine you had 5 customers with the same demand as me at the same time. That would be 2,500 kilos of wax and a few hundred pounds of oil for a start - could you honestly say you could afford to stock that much product or risk losing large customers? If you can't stock that much product, then how can you compete with the already established businesses in the UK?

I am talking from my own point of view. I would love there to be a UK candle supplier as I NEVER buy my products from the UK as the cost is too high. I ship all my products in from the USA and it's STILL cheaper - and I know several other candle makers in the UK who do the same thing. How will you be able to persuade us to buy from you in large quantities if it's cheaper for us to go direct?

All of the above is based on you being able to supply the serious candle makers, ie the candle makers who run successful businesses. If you have limited resources, you can aim to supply the hobby-maker which would greatly reduce your cash out lay and stock needs, but you WOULD be in direct competitition with the other UK suppliers I mentioned above.

I do hope this information helps,

Natasha

www.Fancycandlejars.com/ carries jars wholesale. I think they are in Downers Grove. I also order my tins from a supplier called Nu-scents candle supply they aren't too bad in price considering if you don't pay shipping costs.

excellent - thank you!

Check out the supplier by state list http://www.candleandsoapstuff.com/Suppliers_by_State.html

very useful - thanks!

Hi AllI've been offered some space on a container that's sailing over here to the UK soon - and I really want to fill it with glass jars and tins. We have such a paltry collection of expensive jars here in the UK, that I'd like to ship over a few thousand jars, in perhaps 4 or 5 different styles and sizes.I'd like a supplier that was near Illinois, so that the truck driver doesn't have to travel too far from their destination to pick it up - the further they drive the more I have to pay in shipping fees.Does anyone know some good suppliers of glass and also tins in or around the state?Thanks,Natasha

well, technically I'm talking about hugging!I've never once been able to hug a soy pillar without it cracking - I use Ecosoya PB with castor oil and a handful of CB135 to eliminate standard cracks due to the wax being so brittle, but these additives don't help if I wanna hug!From research, my customers like a wall on their candle so I wick them slightly lower than usual to give me a couple of cm's of wall. Personally, I want my candles to burn allllllll the way down with no wax wall left but the candle just cracks if I try to hug it to encourage it to "fold in" on itself.Any ideas?

all sorted now. thanks Ruby!!

I buy from the US and Canada all the time. I get lots of FO, wicks etc sent over regularly from here on the classifieds and also from most suppliers.To ship to the UK, all you need to do is find out the weight of the parcel, use the online price calculator for USPS or Canadian Postal Service to find out which is the best and most cost effective method (airmail or surface depending on what the customer wants) Then take your parcel to the post office and post as usual. They will get you to fill in a small customs form, which takes about 2 minutes and is attached to the parcel.

Hi all,my photo editing software has corrupted and I can't find my product key to re-install and I am in DESPERATE need of a picture of wax tarts in clamshell packaging with perhaps some standard wax tarts from the metal moulds scattered around it? These would have to have a pure white background if possible and preferably no visible company name!Yep, I know it's a lot to ask but I need to replace the picture on my webpage urgently and I've no way of creating the right sort of photo quickly!Can anyone help? Pretty please?Thanks,Natasha

Does anyone know where you can get the huge tealight cups from? They're exactly the same style as the standard foil ones, but they're much much bigger - about 4 times the size of a standard foil tealight.Thanks,Natasha

Have you tried the white light balance in your camera? If you adjust that it will make your background pure white. Check out that feature on your camera.

yeah, I did this - I went through every single setting there is and eventually the best and whitest result came from the setting being on "fluorescent lighting". I've fiddled and fiddled with the settings til I'm blue in the face, but despite have a $1000 camera, I just can't get it to take a perfectly white background pic - I always need to work on it in Corel to get it REALLY white - and this is when I use two massive professional camera lights, a white tent with the camera poking through to door hole, white card inside the tent to prevent glare AND the white balance set up as best I can.In fact, I got so frustrated with it all, I got a professional photographer to take my stuff to his studio to photo - and when I got the pics back, despite asking for a pure white background, it was grey. He said "it's ok, we can sort that out" and I thought "well hell, if he's just gonna use software, then I'll stick to doing it myself"!!Nat

There's no easy way to do it. You need a steady hand and a good software programme. I currently use Corel Paint Shop Pro X and it can take me several attempts to get it right - it takes time and patience really. I'm getting quite a dab hand at it now, but you have to have a good quality photo to start off with. I use professional lighting, a lightbox, ultra white card and shine deflectors just to get a photo with a relatively white background but it still comes out grey - and then I remove it to make it pure white. It can be much much harder to remove full or busy backgrounds so I don't attempt it too often.You can pay a company to do it for you, but it's quite expensive. Once of the web designers or graphics people on here may be able to help you out free of charge or for a fee smaller than those charged by commercial graphic artists.Nat

Hi

Am making container candles with Ecosoya CB135. If the bottom layer is red and the top layer is white - over time, the red seeps into the white and eventually turns it pink. Whilst this is a cool effect whereby the white gradually gets pinker and pinker until it gets to red...it's not the effect I was going for. This doesn't happen immediately, I made test candles 3 months ago and deliberately put them aside to test for this - and my guess that it would blend was a good guess, cos it has.

Now, how to stop it? Or can it be stopped?

Natasha

Thanks Geek!!

Dot and Comma are fine, they have a new little brother now. He is without name because I can't decide on a nice name!

Hi Sabrina

If you let me know what wax you're using, I can see if the people I buy it from can send it to you and what sort of price you'd be paying. Shipping from here in the UK is going to be much cheaper than from the USA and I buy my wax direct from the refinery - I know the guys who work there well so I can try and get a good price for you. Do you use paraffin or soy? Pillar or container?

Natasha

Yes I agree, It's not fair the lack of supplies we have here in the UK:cry2:

I've searched high and low for suppliers for containers in the UK, it's worth giving them a try if they are cheaper, they have to be better than the plain old jam jars! and if the pot ones are the same as in the US they problably are not suited for candle use.

The pots with push on lids ARE ok for candles, I use them myself - very reluctantly because they cost so much. You HAVE to get the wicking right though, as the glass is thin and could crack if the flame is too hot. I also use the hinged terrine jars, but these are not fabulous sellers for me and are also too expensive if you want to sell your candle at a competitive price - they are much better used for bath/body products.

All my other jars and containers come from Germany or the USA.

I would be interested to find out where you can get the hinged ones at that price chauntelle - I use them for my bath salts and body scrubs.

Nat

Hi NattyCat - I found a really good site here in the UK, not sure if it is the same one you are on about - the jars are called pot jars, really nice - work out at £1.78 - will get the address/link for you.

This is a good site, but they're not £1.78. They're £1.78 plus VAT (£2.09) plus delivery (very high) Each pot works out at around £1.85 to £2.00 once all those factors are taken into account - whether you drive there (high petrol costs + miles + your time spent collecting instead of creating) or get them delivered.

There is NO really competitive jar supplier in this country unless you buy thousands of them. I've used that website myself, and am forced to use it too, but with the cost of wax over here, the cost of FO plus the extortionate costs of jars that would only be £1 in the USA - we are fighting a losing battle.

Nat

For a while i've been searching for jars that are from my suppliers here in the uk,as it costs far too much to pay shipping costs from America. I've been looking for the 'yankee' style jars. it's taken me a while but i've finally found one of my suppliers who will supply me nxt mth. I'm not 100% sure on the prices though so i was hoping if i tell u howe much they r u could give me your opinion!

4oz = £2.10

7oz = £2.24

12oz = £2.48

there is a wholesale price if ordering 250 units+ which can be mixed and the delivery would be £79.00 any less and the delivery charge would be costed @ weight value.

Rubber seals start @ 20p each.

My main worry is that my customers will find it too expensive once i've added all other costs. I also have to consider my wholesale customers.

Any advice would be appreciated!!

who are you getting these from? I'm in the UK too and don't pay that much for jars.

Nat

Well I just got my first batch of oils from Nattycat & I can't wait to go & play. Wish my tins from the co-op that was running on here would arrive too so I can fill them with my lovely new oils.

I use Sensory Perfection too, Jo's a lovely lady & very helpful.

Another F.O seller I found on Ebay is MidnightStar, Trina often runs special offers on her 50ml oils & is also very friendly & helpful.

Sally

well, when I get back from hols I'll send you sniffies of my new ones: Dewberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Oatmeal, Milk & Honey, Riceflower & Shea, tangerine & pink grapefruit and Hershey's White Chocolate!

Yeah, i like sensory perfection. She's the only person i've found who sells aniseed and liquorice FO, two scents which i adore!

I've been comparing loads of prices but at the mo i don't make enough candles to get through 200ml, let alone 50! I've emailed candlescience for a quote for some FO, so fingers crossed the postage isn't too much!

Sensory perfections does have a great range though, too many to chose from!

Here's an idea for you - "Black Mint" 50% licorice and 50% peppermint. It's an amazing fragrance and one of my best sellers.

Nat

I live in the UK to and have so far bought most of my scents on ebay from UK sellers! Some have not been great, but one seller isvery friendly and her scents smell lovely, and its not that expensive.Her ebay store is sensory perfections and she's got a website too (there's more selection, but its a bit more expensive) http://www.sensoryperfection.co.uk/store/Default.asp

Never tried getting any scents from US, though i may try when i need to restock!

:smiley2:

Jo (sensory perfection) is a nice lady. She gets some of her oils from me and the rest from the same places in the USA as the rest of us and then splits & sells. It all depends on how convenient you want it to be. I sometimes buy from Jo when I just need a little or can't be bothered to buy from the USA or in large quantities myself - but it is always more cost effective if you go to the source and buy the oils yourself from the USA if you're serious about trying to make a profit on your candles etc.

Hi Ruby

I too am from the UK (Wales) I found a few great suppliers -

Indianna Candle Supplies

Aztec International

The Candle Source

Jodys Soap & things

I used Candle Science for a while, but they only ship UPS and the charges were killing me!!

They are all very helpful and have great fragrance oils, I too have tons of fragrance oils, I also buy my wax from Aztec (must be mad paying shipping costs on wax!!) but I really like the IGI 4625 for my pillars.

NattyCat that would be great if you could get the Fragrance Oil Website for the Uk, Can you send me a list of the fragrance oils you have. :smiley2:

Gaynor

no problem - just send me your email address and I'll send it over.

Hi Ruby

I currently have over 300lbs of fragrance oil, which has all been imported into the UK from the USA. You can get away with buying 5lbs (5 16oz bottles) at a time, and the shipping cost on that should be between $40 to $45. As soon as you go over 5lbs, or if you buy really expensive oils then you'll pay customs. The customs is not so bad, but it's the extra £13 ($30) that parcel force slap on for their "administration fee" that's a killer.

Whilst I still import from the USA, and also buy from the classifieds here, I now have a relationship with an international fragrance oil manufacturer who have a facility in the UK. I have to buy 25kgs (approx 50 1lb bottles) of each oil otherwise they won't let me buy, so I am considering starting an FO supply website in the UK. I already supply quite a few people, and so far the oils have been the best I've ever had, and the people who buy from me agree wholeheartedly. Due to cash flow, I do not currently have a full-on relationship with the company as I just can't buy 50 bottles of each fragrance, but I am working on them to supply me with smaller quantities - not sure if I'll have any luck though!

They make oils to order also, so I have several blends and fragrances that you cannot buy anywhere else for love nor money.

If you're just after small quantities, perhaps 50ml bottles of several fragrances, just shout and I'll show you my list. I'd be willing to share some of my stash with you - I do this for Sally on this website also and charge £2 per 50ml bottle (around 2oz) plus postage.

Let me know if this helps at all,

Natasha

blimey, didn't even think of putting the band round the flat edges. Doh! I'll give that a go!