My house smells like a perfume factory

[Michael Motley]

Around this time every year i start 'gearing up' for christmas. Around the holiday seasons i make/sell soy candles in antique jars. People dig them and I like making them. This year I'm also making bath stuff, bombs, salts, soaps. So right now, my house smells like a french brothel over a bakery.

I just started this because i'm a candle freak. I burn so many of them its much cheaper for me to just make them

[danish muzaffar]

wow gr8 dude!

[Patrician]

Now that sounds very interesting Michael.

Why not sell them on the net???

I have seen some of the neatest candles and soaps over the years - I especially like the ones that are made to look like food - cakes, cupcakes, pies, etc. and especially the real organic ones that have real food (like oatmeal soap).

There was a guy in the Haight that had soaps and it looked just like a bakery with the doilies and cake boxes - you could go in and buy a slice of this and that, wrapped in the wax paper and in the pink box.

I was as poor as a bone, but I had the finest, purest soap in the land!

Now that is something I have always dreamed of doing - making soap and candles. I am very boring though as I only like Vanilla and Chocolate stuff now. (have botanical perfume from France for both and like the pure REAL vanilla only - have some body/hand lotion that is all botanical and makes me smell just like cotton candy). yum.

Oh I am so jealous of you right now.

[Michael Motley]

I've got a buddy that says the same thing. I've been making candles for years now in antique ball bail wire fruit jars...similar to these
. I usually find them fairly cheap on ebay. I also hit up the salvation army for tins, various glass..etc. The candles i pour are only all natural soy with cotton wicks, so they sell really well to people who are into the jars, are into candles, renewable stuff, handmade stuff..etc. Some just buy for the jars, and thats fine

I've been making bath stuff for a while...salts and bath bombs.I'm just getting into soaps because the lye can make things a little dangerous. After that i'll start with lotions.

My buddy and a couple friends want me to start a handmade toiletries shop. The markup on this stuff is outrageous. If people knew what that yankee candle actually cost to make they would flip out

[Patrician]

Questions:

I would not (knowingly use soap with lye in it) I don't see lye listed on ANY of the natural soaps I buy - glycerin etc. Are you telling me even natural (no soap, or alcohol still has lye???)

With the jars, I love the look and you know wax can make such a mess when it drips, so jars are good.

I know how to use an iron and piece of paper to remove dried wax, but with the jars - well i tried microwave and boiling water - to reuse the jars? What is the best way to get all the old wax off?

Another issue with store bought candles is when the wick burns down and drowns in the wax - happens a lot - I pour it off into something but it still eventually makes the candle only burn about half way.

[Michael Motley]

lye is also called sodium hydroxide. Its used to create soap from fats or oils through a process called saponification. lye is generally used for 'cold process' soap making. There is also 'hot process' soap making where you're basically just warming up premade glycerine and adding in oils and scents. The difference between the two is that using lye allows you to create your soap at low temperature which is the best method because heating up the oils tends to break them down to the point that they lose the properties that people use them for in the first place. Think of it like eating raw veggies (cold process) as opposed to eating cooked veggies (hot process)


The best way i've seen to remove wax is to make the candle right the first time . Making a candle is like cooking, there is a recipe and it has to be tweaked and tuned. When i make my candles i use a wick that puts out enough heat to burn the wax all the way off the glass, but not make the glass so hot that it cracks or burns tables that it may be on. Generally, putting them in a pot of boiling water that covers the jar about half way up works well or sticking them in the oven on low for a few minutes. Paraffin waxes are a bit more of a pain to get out of a jar than soy due to the petroleum in the wax

If the wick burns down and drowns into the wax, its because the wick isnt the right type/size for the candle. Wax is the fuel, its being pulled up through the wick to fuel the flame. If the wick burns down into the wax pool and is drowned out, thats because the wick isn't pulling wax and just the wick is burning. usually that comes from either a really crappy wick or a lead cored wick

People think that making candles is just a matter of heating wax and adding colors/scents to it and its not. Every wax burns different, every wax/wick combination is going to have a different end result and not all scents will give off the correct aroma. it takes a lot of tuning to get a good candle recipe. Soap is pretty much the same. lots of tuning to be done.

When it gets to stuff like lotions, there is still a bit of tweaking but for the most part, you're tweaking for specific textures, not for overall product

[Patrician]

Interesting - I will tell you most candles from el-cheapo to expensive designer candles rarely burn all the way (wick drowns) - jar or no jar -- and that would be a good selling point for yours about the wicks.

Hearing about the lye I am glad I never use soap on my face. I use a liquid - some natural face wash, usually whatever is on sale at the time.

The lotion I use (and I buy 1/2 gallon to save a few bucks ($150) is from Ecco Bella. They use all natural stuff - it has real food grade Vanilla, cocoa butter, Vitamin E and some other botanicals. It is good stuff.

I guess what you are saying about the hot process must be why most people think 'vanilla' means 'plain vanilla' - read: no smell at all - it is disgusting.

Real vanilla I am sure you know comes from a special orchid that only makes a bean once a year. So I see why it is expensive but don't call it vanilla if it is 'non-scented' or some perfume garbage. Sacrilege!

Thank you for the information.

Let me know when you go wholesale/retail online!

[Audrey Harvey]

Sounds gorgeous, Michael. We have a retail store in shopping centres here called Dusk, and they sell fragranced candles. You only need to walk past it in and you're assailed by the fragrance.

[Michael Motley]

Originally Posted by Patrician

Interesting - I will tell you most candles from el-cheapo to expensive designer candles rarely burn all the way (wick drowns) - jar or no jar -- and that would be a good selling point for yours about the wicks.

This is how mine generally burn

Sorry for the crappy phone pics

Hearing about the lye I am glad I never use soap on my face. I use a liquid - some natural face wash, usually whatever is on sale at the time.

If you're talking about liquid soap, it's not that much different. If you mean a natural facewash, yeah, there are a lot of natural facewash products that are usually citrus or veggie based that are pretty good.

The lotion I use (and I buy 1/2 gallon to save a few bucks ($150) is from Ecco Bella. They use all natural stuff - it has real food grade Vanilla, cocoa butter, Vitamin E and some other botanicals. It is good stuff.

If you like, i have some links to wholesale supply places where you ran buy all natural bases by the lb. and gal.

I guess what you are saying about the hot process must be why most people think 'vanilla' means 'plain vanilla' - read: no smell at all - it is disgusting.

Real vanilla I am sure you know comes from a special orchid that only makes a bean once a year. So I see why it is expensive but don't call it vanilla if it is 'non-scented' or some perfume garbage. Sacrilege!

Thank you for the information.

Let me know when you go wholesale/retail online!

sure will. I have the recipes lined out, now its just a matter of process. i just went out tonight to buy a new workbench to get things organized a little.

[Patrician]

The candles look beautiful and fur shur burn twice a far as most candles - great color there.

Thanks for the offer of the bases but wouldn't know what to do with them. I think I will wait for you to come out with your line and I will just buy yours. (think vanilla)

Really beautiful stuff - I can just imagine gorgeous gift baskets with candles and soaps - that is one of my favorite gifts.

You go, guy!

PaX

[Michael Motley]

The gift baskets are what I'm working around to. I think a nice little basket with a candle or two, bath salts and maybe bubble-bath, and these really cool little things i was just reading how to make called a poof soap (if you've never seen one, its a bath 'poof' made into a bar of soap, kinda neat) with everything being hand made would probably be a safe gift for a guy to buy for his wife/gf/mom/sister..whatever.

And I also think that guys would buy this type of stuff as well, if its marketed right. I did some research and found a root called 'dragons blood'...sounds manly already doesnt it? The root has some wound healing properties when used topically and you can buy it by the lb in some places. It can be finely grated and used in soaps and lotions and as a base for insence. So i know it produces a scent (sort of like sandalwood from what i gather) and can be applied to the body.

Add in the manly name and the wound healing qualities and its all around a pretty manly kind of thing. Now most guys wouldnt get caught dead with soaps or candles scented with lilacs and roses....but Dragon's Blood...it sounds MANLY..it heals battle wounds faster!!....guys could use this and still hang onto their dude cards. Atleast thats my way of thinking

[Patrician]

Michael - I love sandalwood and cedarwood and used to have the essential oils as a staple in my house. Love to wear it, burn it etc. Both would be ok for a man.

The shocking thing is another one I love, Patchouly (spelling) oil. You would never dream how many guys in the Haight Ashbury used to wear that. To me it was a real 'chick magnet'. It is a what do you call it uni-sex or assexual.

Other assexual stuff is musk - and mainly worn by guys.

I also love and use for lots of things, tea tree - (eucalyptus) it is an amazing oil for footbaths, itching, and is used in lots of face washes, shampoos, etc. Again very assexual.

... and citrius - lemon, lime or orange - not sure how guys feel about those but nothing feminine about a fruit. (no wait, umm).

I would never wear burn or bathe with any tacky flower scents - even gardenia which is my favorite smelling flower - anything ever made with it smells nothing like gardenia and smells like cheap el-crappo perfume.

Yeah, gift baskets are all that. No limit to what you can add to them to add to the cost (lol) - a nice bath set is easy to put together because of all the related products and everybody needs a nice candle for a bath. When I have gotten them they can also include loofas, brushes, (many kinds) etc.

Of course my basket would be vanilla and chocolate scents soaps washes candles and then could have some little dark chocolate candies for that heavenly time. .

Not related but a favorite of mine is my sister in Colorado always sends me coffee gifts - a mug, bags of flavored coffee, maybe biscotti. (maybe some nice home made Irish Creme liquer would go real good with this one) and a nice big coffee scented candle?

... no end to the possibilities for themed gift baskets.

[josspam]

heehhehe

That's great!!

If you're good at it and succedding it's far great!!!



your house must smell GREAT!

Jocy

[Michael Motley]

Patchouli is a fairly unisex scent...very 'hippy' oriented. Patchouli soap is very popular.

Ive noticed you can tell older women from younger women with their scent preferences. younger women tend to like food scents, older women tend to like more flowery scents.

And vanilla is a general favorite. I have this scent called Velvet butter vanilla and it practically makes your mouth water it smells so good. Those go as fast as I can make them usually.

[Patrician]

Originally Posted by Michael Motley

And vanilla is a general favorite. I have this scent called Velvet butter vanilla and it practically makes your mouth water it smells so good. Those go as fast as I can make them usually.

Sounds yummy.

I once kicked a glazed donut addiction by applying vanilla essential oil to my wrists and behind my ears when I was tempted.

True story, I was helping a friend out in her restaurant and the 'wages' were free food and tips. Every morning they would get a delivery of a huge box of fresh glazed donuts. Two would disappear instantly. I knew it couldn't go on like that everyday, even though at the time I was skinny as a rail - and the oil did the trick.

...and now I have vanilla lip gloss and it keeps me out of all sorts of trouble.

Hey do I hear a weight loss product marketing scheme?

[MissTerraK]

Micheal,
You are my new best friend! Oh yeah, we found that out from Val a few days ago, huh?

Anyway, I burn smelly candles by the dozens, love perfumes, scented body soaps/gels for the tub, lotion for my bod and I love pink!

I am so in when you open for biz, you can't keep things like this from your WF BFF!

Seriously, notify me stat when ready, I will be a huge customer!!

Thank you in advance!
Terra