# best sellers and worst selllers



## giant pumpkin peep (Mar 14, 2009)

My mom is getting into candle making and I am some how getting dragged into it. :doh: We are ordering molds from mann lake and the price adds up quickly.  We have the following molds ordered-

6 tube metal mold
set of 8 tealights
set of 4 votives
spruce tree
behive votive set
tulip(mom REALLY like that one)

There maybe others I forgot but, do you sell these candles?
Any sell notably well?
Any sell notably bad?
In general any sell just fine?
And if your feeling extra helpful today, what do sell them for?

Thanks very very much   

-chris


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

From what i can tell you, people think the decoratives are too pretty to burn, so sometimes they move and sometimes they do not. The geometeric shapes sell better
Silcone molds, do not use any color or any scent in them. The molds do not last long with scent and the molds absorb the color and then pass it on to lighter colored candles
Do not go with the book recommeded wicks. Stick with white squarre braided for all candles which are beeswax
The book or internet sizes for candles are usually based on parrifin wax. Beeswax wicks are much thicker.
Before you sell, test your candles. Each extraction is different...the "problem" with a natural product
The biggest reason why candles fail is because the wax is not clean enough. Get that down pat and you will have many many return customers.
Honey is the hardest to get out of the wax
good luck Peep


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## giant pumpkin peep (Mar 14, 2009)

what about the wick zize suggest by mann lake?

and is the whole poking holes down in the candle and repourning really nesacairy?

I figure tealights,votives, and taper for sure. Someone around hear told me christmas trees sell well round here I guess.


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## beekeeper_sd (Oct 30, 2008)

Votives and tapers were my worst sellers. Make 10 times more tea lights than anything else. Pillars sell good too if you "sell" them.

I never have any problem with my silicone molds transferrring colors or scents. I personally wouldn't use anything else and, no at least in my experience with the silicone molds, you do not need to repour. Mann Lake is very knowledgeable on wick size but test, test, test before you try to sell.

Good luck


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

Around here the smaller candles sell best, due to beeswax' high price I am assuming. That impulse buy is easier when it is $5 as opposed to $15. Tealights, small skeps (the "cute" factor) sell well. Also, we've found candles to be very seasonal, selling more in the few months leading to Christmas than l other months put together. Christmas season is starting about now for retail, a month or two ago for wholesale. 

As for poking and filling, we don't with the smaller diameter molds but with the larger we do. If you are seeing a slight "hourglass" on your pillars, this is due to the wax retracting as it cools and is eliminated by filling the interior. We prefer not to prime our wicks which may make a slight difference as the wick may release some air as it absorbs wax.

We use poly molds when we can but haven't noticed an issue with scent transferring with them or the more sensitive silicone molds (I think I'll double check the silicones, tho). We normally isolate some molds of each different shape to use for colors. Sometimes, when changing colors in a particular mold, we will do a hot sacrifice pour to remove anything left over from the previous pour. Be careful with silicone as it is more heat sensitive than the poly.

As for pricing, I use a base scale of $10 per wax pound and adjust up determined by size/cost/detail/difficulty of an individual mold, packaging etc.

Mann Lake only handles a few wicks and suggests wick sizing for their molds too broadly amongst these few sizes. We routinely use square braid cotton ranging in sizes from #4 to 3/0 plus pretabs. Try candlewic.com for a good supply of wicks, sizing guides plus other candle-making accessories. 
Sheri


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

Don't pour your molds at too high of a temperature. The higher the temperature, the more pronounced the hollow/valley and more shrinkage. Also, the poured molds should cool slowly..........room temperature makes a difference. You may want to cover your poured molds to help them cool slowly. However, don't make the mistake of pouring too cool or that will cause other difficulties....... like lines in the exterior finish of the candle or it may stick somewhat to the mold. Big 3" wide pillars pour differently than tapers, votives or narrow 1-1/2" pillars for example. Keep track of the best temperature for each mold. You can write on the mold the best wick size and best pour temperature. I just poured a 3x9 pillar and after taking it out of the mold, saw the parallel lines along as I had poured. That means, I need to either heat up the mold or pour hotter wax or both! 

I do not scent my candles. They already have a honey scent and I sell based on that naturalness. I prefer not to color my wax, but eventually just dipped the final candle in colored beeswax as people do like color. I feel the candle burns better without solid color throughout. Tapers and votives dip really well in colored wax. I have also dipped the tall pinecones and evergreen trees.

As you learn, write notes on what works best so you can refer back to them. You won't remember everything.


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## beekeeper_sd (Oct 30, 2008)

I totally agree with the temp thing. Probably the biggest culprit of candles is room temp. I keep my shop at about 78 degrees year 'round just to give the candles time to cool off slowly. Especially with silicone/poly molds, it is really hard to repour since the candle pulls away from the mold when it cools.


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

As with bees, you get a wide variety of answers. My biggest seller is pillars for some reason, and they are the easiest to make. Maybe it's seeing such a big chunk of beeswax that smells so good, that gets people to buy them. My tapers, small and large votives all sell well. The worst seller for me is tealights. I assume that its becauseyou can buy 10 cheap paraffin tealights for less than a buck in some places, so it doesn't look like you are getting much for your money with beeswax tealights. I use metal molds on tapers, and large votives, and poly on small votives and pillars.


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

Berkshire Bee, 
If I may ask, do you sell 3x6 or 3x9 pillars and how much do you sell them for? Recently I made a 3x9 ivory wedding pillar candle for my daughter's wedding and she decorated it. I made an extra one to sell since I already had the mold and the wax. I figured since the paraffin (cheap) wedding candles are $40 in bridal shops that that might be an attractive price for a quality ivory beeswax wedding pillar. Those molds are not cheap either!


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