Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My name is Gail H. First, I would like to say hello to all. I have been getting SuN for a while now and can`t say enough about the wealth of knowledge here! I have no clue why I have waited so long to introduce myself?

My business is candle making. It started in 1997 when I decided to learn how to make my own candles. It was for myself at first then family and friends. There was a lot of testing involved with getting the right wicks, wax, formulas etc. My family and friends helped with the testing. Guinea pigs if you will!  They all loved it. In 2001 I decided to make it a legal business. Autumn Mist Candle Creations. All of my jar candles are made with soy wax. Although some of my pillars and votives are made with paraffin wax. Any other candle makers here?

For today I just want to introduce myself and meet a few people. I will be asking some questions soon and maybe be able to help someone else in some way I hope.

Regards,

Gail H.

Candlelady2

Welcome aboard.

Welcome!

I`m a sucker for candles ...
Does one really need a different set of them for each holiday? I think so!
(Hey! There`s your marketing tactic! Haha.)

Thank you for the welcome! It`s very nice to meet you.

This is somewhat of a slow time for candle sales. However, Fall & Winter are great!  I am now in the process of selecting the Fall fragrances. So far it`s Mulled Cider, Pumpkin Pie, Banana Bread, etc. I`m testing several Cranberry fragrances to see which one has the truest fragrance...I select tester sizes from different suppliers to see which I like best as they can vary from each supplier.

Thank you for the marketing tactic! I appreciate any and all ideas.

One of my problems lately is that we have our house for sale and the room I was using to make candles had to be carpeted and totally cleaned out.....I was without a work area for almost a year! Finally when my son bought a house he invited me to use a room in the basement.....So now after all this time I`m almost starting over. I still have some of my wholesale accounts like the floral shops, beauty shops, gift shops. They all loaded up before I stopped, but I have missed some of the fundraisers I normall would have done.

Again, thank you for the warm welcome!

Gail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, Gail!

Don`t you just love this website?  I just discovered it myself yesterday, and I have been poking my nose in everybody else`s business ever since!

It is so nice to meet a candlemaker!!  I am a natural fragrance and toiletries designer myself, so we share a common interest.  Candlemaking is not as easy as it seems.

Case in point: I considered adding candles to my product line several years ago, and thought it would be fun to melt and pour my own.  While experimenting with my first pillar candle, I added a wonderful lavender-based fragrance blend to the wax, and then put in some dried lavender buds for pizzazz.  The candle smelled great, and it looked really cool, too, because of the botanicals (which had floated to the top of the candle, adding a neat layered look).  I was so excited, I couldn`t wait to try it out.  I lit the wick, and imagine my surprise when the lavender buds caught fire!!!!  When I got done hollering and jumping up and down, I threw the candle into the toilet to put it out.  When I fished it out later, it just didn`t hold the fascination for me that it had earlier.  I tossed it out, and haven`t dared to make one since...

Anyway, welcome!  It`s great to have you here.


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"Ask not, know not." --Me

Hi Singstothewind,

You are not the only one who experimented with lavender buds...LOL!   I did the same thing the first few months of testing.  Trial and error, you`ve gotta love it!  Thank you for the warm welcome!

I wish you the best in your endeavors with natural fragrance and toiletries. Hope to talk to you soon!

Welcome Gail! I have a friend who started candlemaking a couple years ago and just loves it. It sounds like a great business to be in. I know I`d love being surrounded by all of the fabulous aromas :)

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Thank you for the warm welcome Christina! 

All I can say is choosing the fragrances to be used is somewhat "addicting"!  So many to choose and so little time! LOL!

Howdie!  I took on the venture of candlemaking a year ago and LOVE the craft!  It`s so much more than melting and pouring and really takes a lot of patience.  So nice to see there is another candle lover here!


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Business should be all FUN and not work.

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