sockmonkey

Generally speaking, many fragrance oils that are spicy or cinnamon scented are usually not recommended for skin care products (there are exceptions). Most of the fragrance oils I see are recommended safe to use between at a rate of 1% - 3% of the total weight of your product. Of course the amount you use will depend on the strength of the fragrance oil you buy, which can vary from company to company. Here is a link if need a little help converting measurements: http://thesage.com/calcs/measures.html If you have sensitive skin don't use the lotion. I definitely wouldn't use the lip balm if you added fragrance oil to it. I do not believe they make any fragrance oils that are safe for lip care products. What you would need are flavor oils for the lip balm.

Universal Comfort Salve Problem Solved Salve Botanical Skin Therapy Mother Earth's Healing Salve Nature's Skin Treatment

An old banana that has a lot, if not mostly black peel on it has a frightenly wicked feel to it.

Do you mean these: http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin133i.html

Do you have a local paper you could get to do a story about your situation? Our hillbilly newspaper loves to do stories like that--it's almost the biggest news they ever report on. Another think you might look into is the sales pitch your daughter is using. I don't know how gung ho she is about selling, but for a lot of people, it just does not come easy. Perhaps she is a very outgoing person and loves doing it. If she's not though, maybe you could prepare a script of sorts and have her practice it. It might make her feel more confident, and along with confidence hopefully will come better sales. Slow sales could simply be because people have all the candles they need. I can tell you that candle sales in my store are S L O W right now. I've had many people tell me that they got them as gifts for Christmas, or that they loaded up at the Yankee after Christmas sale.

I'm glad you made your post. As far as I'm concerned, it's beneficial to everyone else to be made aware that there is a potential to receive poor customer service from this company. It doesn't mean everyone will get the same negative results you did, but at least their eyes are open to the possibility now. We have the opportunity on various forums to report problems with vendors. I think CT is the best when it comes to letting people inform and warn others of some of the duds that are out there.

Go to onlinelabels.com, planetlabel.com, and places such as that request a sample of their crystal clear label to see it they fit your needs.

She had a ton of stuff I wanted to order. I emailed her with a question and she never responded, so, according to my rule, I won't do business with her. If a business won't reply to me in an email BEFORE I order, what makes me think they will reply if I have a problem AFTER I order?

What happened to the post about Lebermuth order? It was here, then moved to the co-op section, and now I can't find it.

Cinnamon Garden Country Cabin

I'm no candle maker, so I have no experience to offer as guidance, but I found this site, which makes it sound like wick size has to do with the cause of tunneling. http://www.mainesoywax.com/customer/help.php?section=wicks But then again, they are in the business of selling wicks. I hope you can get things figured out.

Anything is possible, and a warning label isn't going to save you from an attack dog attorney. You can even be sued for where you placed the label--it wasn't in plain site, or it fell off, the print was too small, etc. You aren't safe from any claim when it comes to consumers. You could make the finest candle in the world, but if you happen to pour it in a glass container that had a defect in the manufacturing, or wasn't really intended for use with heat (like a shot glass for example), and then the glass got too hot and exploded, you're still gonna be on the hot seat. An attorney will argue that as a manufacturer and seller of candles you have the responsiblilty, and should have had better knowledge about the materials you were using, and performed adequate testing on them. Your name will be on the candle and you will be the first person attorneys will go after.

If your just making them for your own personal use it's merely a hobby, and if an accident happened in your home, I would think your homeowners insurance would cover it. If you're selling them, that's a different story. They you've got liablity issues. If a candle explodes and catches your friend's house on fire and burns it to the ground, puts an eye out, or disfigures them in any way, do you think just because you're friends you won't be sued. Guess again. When the fire department determines it was your exploding candle that did the damage your friend's insurance company will be looking for you. So will the personal injury lawyer she hired. See how uglythings can turn.

I've found that the longer you wait to break the bad news, the more you stress and fret, and in your head make things out to be much worse than they actually are. Been there, done that. What's the very worst that could happen? She could cancel her order, that's all. You will get others. I doubt it will happen anyway. Take my advice, get it over with--you'll be glad you did.

Bermuda Triangle from NG might be good. To me it's a bit peachy smelling, but is still fresh and sweet. I sometimes add a squirt of bayberry to it, and can't stop sniffing it! It sounds nasty, I know, but it really does create an invigorating clean scent.

Let us know what she responds to you.

You need to talk to a packaging manufacturer. I don't know what scale you operate on, but I can tell you, custom boxes won't be cheap. I don't have it available right now, but I recently received quotes on simple boxes. The quote was for a custom, 4-color box. They had minimum quantities of 1200 - 2500. Depending on the dimensions, of a box somewhere around the size of 3.5" x 3.5", the cost varied from .91ea to .59 ea. Of course, the more you print, the cheaper the cost, but I don't even need 1200 boxes, so it was a no deal for me. Talk a rep and they can at least give you an idea of what ordinary boxes would cost to see if it's even feasible for a special shaped or innovative container.

I know you want to make a good impression. Tell her you are extremely sorry to tell her that there will be a slight delay in delivering her candles. Explain that you have testing procedures in place to ensure the quality and safety for all of your candles, and that this particular batch did not pass your quality test. Tell her that the candle in your test batch did not provide an "even" burn and that is not acceptable to you, even though most consumers probably would not even notice it. You did not want to jeopardize her reputation or yours by allowing her to sell what would essentially be considered "seconds." Then tell her you are already in the process of pouring new candles and should have them completed and delivered by such and such date. Then add that you will give her 1/2 dozen at no extra charge for the inconvenience. It may not even bother her that you aren't able to make the delivery date--things happen, but just make sure you make the second one, or it will look bad. I would be panicky too, but in most instances, if you're up front with people, they are willing to cut you some slack.

Where did you get yours from? I had never used beeswax before and ordered 5 lbs from elementsbathandbody. She had the lowest price I could find anywhere, and was very substantially cheaper than most places. After I got it and worked with it, I decided to order more. When I went back her prices had gone up. I contacted a beeswax distributor and I will have to get 55 lbs to get close to the price I got before. I received a generous sized sample from this other company and have to say that I prefer their wax over Tammy's. The cosmetic grade beeswax was whiter, and did not have as strong of a smell as the other wax. Anybody think they might be interested in a co-op?

I like white. I guess it's just a psychological thing--I think it looks cleaner. When you put the two side by side, the white makes the yellow look like something old, or something that has turned.

Thought I would post this link in case anyone could use some of this stuff with their candles: http://www.colonialtin.com/sale/job143_clearance/pg_04.html Edited to add: Someone (not me) is looking into doing a co-op with Colonial Tin in case you're interested. Check out the Co-op listings.

I'm not a member, but I did check them out, and frankly, I found that many of the items they carry could be found elsewhere cheaper, or at least for the same price. I guess it may be a good option for people who don't have the time to look for a lot of different sources, or don't want to bother looking for other sources.

Yeah, so was I!

Oh, I see how it works--you scratch my back, and I won't scratch yours... You proof my work for nothing, but I'll charge you when you want something.

F.Y.I., BB has 25 lbs of FBB for $65. I've never purchased from them, but I know people in general seem to have high regard for their products. I can't vouch for their FBB, but I know it's a popular item on all the forums, and the price is really low compared to other places I've checked. http://www.brambleberry.com/monthly.html