All of you candle makers out there know just how important the candle wick is. It can burn too cold, it can burn too hot, it can smoke without help from the candle wax. Wifey learned that if she used a 100% cotton wick primed with the same 100% soy wax that was in her candle, she could be assured of a clean burn. Finding the correct wicking material took a little trial and error, but when accomplished, it produced a very very good candle.
Well she was making good candles fairly regularly now, even to the point of giving and even selling some to friends and relatives. Her candles burned every bit of the wax, they produced minimal smoke and it was mostly white smoke, not the black sooty stuff you get from most candles. They also had a goodly amount of pleasing aroma. My personal preference was called “Baby Power.”
She was now making great candles consistently, but I was a hero to her. At first she was spending more time making wicks than she was actually making a candle. Then I came up with the “Wick Maker”! This little devise allowed her to make perfect wicks by the dozens in a minimal amount of time. At first I just made one for her, then she wanted another, and after several weeks of nagging I made a third one. She really loved this apparatus that I had developed in the garage. Wifey was bragging to everyone how she made her own perfect wicks from 100% cotton wicking using 100% soy wax. Other soy candle hobbyist and candle makers just could not make the same claim. Many of the wicks you purchase on the web are either paraffin or a combination, sure they do burn hot, but they also smoke, a black ugly smoke. She just would not use them.
Back to her big plans. There is a large fall festival near where we live. There are over 500,000 visitors to this festival which goes on for 9 days. Hundreds of vendors, maybe thousands, set up to sell their goods and crafts in a festive atmosphere. Well Wifey decides she is going to be a participant and sell her candles at this event.
WOE IS ME! WOE IS ME! WOE IS ME! We had been picking up a few cases of 8 ounce jars at local big box stores. Now a few cases just would not be enough. Well her goal was to make 1000 candles by the time the festival started. Since it was only a couple months away, this was quite an undertaking. Now we need lots more stuff.
- We needed to buy 1000 jars $$$
- We needed to buy 500 pounds of soy wax $$$
- We needed lots of different scents $$$ (I did not know there were so many)
- We needed lots of dyes compatible with soy wax $$$
- We needed wicking material, clue dots, and bases for the wicks $$$
- Oh, we needed labels for the jars $$$
Now she was starting to make her candles in bigger quantities. We had purchased a wax melter of sorts, and she could melt much larger quantities of wax than she could on the stove top. I will tell you about this economical (cheap) melter later on. You may just want to for go those expensive ones that sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars.
The green candles are Granny Smith Apple. They have a great fresh smell. The orange ones are Fruit Slices and Dream Sickle, both have very pleasant aromas. Maybe she will be able to sell a few after all.
