I've been busy in the candleshop the past couple of weeks (although not as busy as I SHOULD be). Some of the highlights of this year so far...
mmmmmmmmm.... the sugar cookie pillars....
honey scented
sandalwood and vanilla.... tasty!
The candle biz is getting official... I have them for sale in a shop that is owned by some friends... ok well not so much a shop as a healing center. Massage, Reiki, ritual incence, custom oil blends for aromatherapy and ritual purposes. I make a line of "virgin" candles that are just soy and natural waxes, with hemp wicks, which are totally unscented (except the soy itself which has a nice subtle sweet smell to it). The virgins are ok there, but I can't sell any of the scented ones there because they are loaded with chemical fragrances. I would like to play around with essential oils for a non-chemical scented line, but they are SO damn expensive and the scent throw is pretty minimal with most botanicals. Eh... lots of playtime ahead in the lab.
This past weekend these friends were showing their wares (and sharing their massage therapist) at the Goddess Market at the Women of Wisdom Fall Festival. Yum... free massages! But there was this one booth selling soy candles, so of course I had to check it out... they were doing container candles, no pillars. As soon as I walked up they began their schpiel "and what do YOU know about soy wax?" hehe... "Oh I'm a candlesmaker also, soy pillars" Both of them SMIRK! Then they ask me where I get my wax, so I rattle off a couple of the biggest manufacturers, and they have NO idea who I'm talking about. They start talking about how this company they work for has a proprietary blend yada yada... so I ask about PILLAR wax which is different than container wax. They don't have PILLAR wax yet because, didn't I knoww? Container candles are 90% of the candle industry and there really ISN'T a huge market for pillars! I was busting up laughing inside when I told them with a straight face that I didn't have ANY problem selling my pillars and in fact could not fill orders fast enough... at that same moment my friend that owns the shop walked up and added that she couldn't get me to make them fast enough as they were going like wildfire in her shop. hehe. THEN they need to continue working on me by explaining the "system". Apparently you buy a starter kit and all of your supplies through their comany.. and if you can get other people to join, you can make $ off of everything they sell.... UM... HELLO?? My friend Sarah pipes up "oh, you mean like a PYRAMID scheme?" and this nasty woman snaps back "it is not a pyramid scheme! Those are ILLEGAL." At that point all I could do was give a shocked face, laugh and walk away. To top it off their product was BUTT ASS UGLY! They had all these mix and match ghetto garage sale holders. Not that there's anything wrong with recycling, I'm fully there, but for what they were trying to pull off it didn't work. They looked like something that would come out of a little kids craft project. I'm sorry, but I'm an ARTIST! Not some melt and pour pyramid bitch.
Crap.. I need to get moving... I need to get out of this and put some clothes on because I'm fucking freezing and get my bootay into the kitchen/studio hehe.
************
I forgot... I also met Gypsy Jill and would like to be tattooed by her soon!
mmmmmmmmm.... the sugar cookie pillars....
honey scented
sandalwood and vanilla.... tasty!
The candle biz is getting official... I have them for sale in a shop that is owned by some friends... ok well not so much a shop as a healing center. Massage, Reiki, ritual incence, custom oil blends for aromatherapy and ritual purposes. I make a line of "virgin" candles that are just soy and natural waxes, with hemp wicks, which are totally unscented (except the soy itself which has a nice subtle sweet smell to it). The virgins are ok there, but I can't sell any of the scented ones there because they are loaded with chemical fragrances. I would like to play around with essential oils for a non-chemical scented line, but they are SO damn expensive and the scent throw is pretty minimal with most botanicals. Eh... lots of playtime ahead in the lab.
This past weekend these friends were showing their wares (and sharing their massage therapist) at the Goddess Market at the Women of Wisdom Fall Festival. Yum... free massages! But there was this one booth selling soy candles, so of course I had to check it out... they were doing container candles, no pillars. As soon as I walked up they began their schpiel "and what do YOU know about soy wax?" hehe... "Oh I'm a candlesmaker also, soy pillars" Both of them SMIRK! Then they ask me where I get my wax, so I rattle off a couple of the biggest manufacturers, and they have NO idea who I'm talking about. They start talking about how this company they work for has a proprietary blend yada yada... so I ask about PILLAR wax which is different than container wax. They don't have PILLAR wax yet because, didn't I knoww? Container candles are 90% of the candle industry and there really ISN'T a huge market for pillars! I was busting up laughing inside when I told them with a straight face that I didn't have ANY problem selling my pillars and in fact could not fill orders fast enough... at that same moment my friend that owns the shop walked up and added that she couldn't get me to make them fast enough as they were going like wildfire in her shop. hehe. THEN they need to continue working on me by explaining the "system". Apparently you buy a starter kit and all of your supplies through their comany.. and if you can get other people to join, you can make $ off of everything they sell.... UM... HELLO?? My friend Sarah pipes up "oh, you mean like a PYRAMID scheme?" and this nasty woman snaps back "it is not a pyramid scheme! Those are ILLEGAL." At that point all I could do was give a shocked face, laugh and walk away. To top it off their product was BUTT ASS UGLY! They had all these mix and match ghetto garage sale holders. Not that there's anything wrong with recycling, I'm fully there, but for what they were trying to pull off it didn't work. They looked like something that would come out of a little kids craft project. I'm sorry, but I'm an ARTIST! Not some melt and pour pyramid bitch.
Crap.. I need to get moving... I need to get out of this and put some clothes on because I'm fucking freezing and get my bootay into the kitchen/studio hehe.
************
I forgot... I also met Gypsy Jill and would like to be tattooed by her soon!
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
Well, do you have any of your candles unclaimed at this very moment? What kind of prices are they? My sister's birthday is tomorrow, and she loves candles and bath things. Obviously they wouldn't be here by tomorrow, but if you have something for sale, I think she'd really like them, even if it's a late present. I could show her a picture! Let me know, ok?
[Edited on Nov 13, 2005 2:16PM]
However it'll work out... thanks for getting back to me about it!