Adding On

It seems that every year the Holiday Season approaches before we know it and the launch of new products you anticipated is just not quite ready for this year's season. The good news is there are lots of little extras that you can add to your line pretty quickly and, in many instances, using current products or excess inventory. Nothing can help a business more then being able to convert "dead inventory" into a sellable item.

Add Luminaries

One of the big holiday traditions for downtowns and neighbor hoods is to line the streets with Luminaries. (See the Project to the right on helpful hints on making this even more successful).

One of the great things about the candles used in this application is they do not necessarily have to be white or a specific color. They can almost be any color because they are placed in the bag. What better way to use wax that may be colored but does not meet your color specifications or a custom order canceled at the last minute.

Some other helpful hints would be contact the coordinator of the event and ask (in exchange for a discounted price) can you apply a label on the bag advertising your company. Be sure to check with various downtown districts and Neighborhood Civic Associations to promote this idea. Many downtown events are in early December and will provide for some last minute advertising.

Add Holiday Ornaments

No doubt candles are a big part of the holiday season, another big item for the Holiday Season is ornaments and wall hangings. Some candle molds and soap molds make for excellent ornaments using a beeswax or even a natural wax like the CSP.

To make an ornament with any wax take any un-waxed wick (again using excess inventory can be employed) and make a "loop" and drop it in the mold and pour the wax into the mold. When the wax hardens the wick will be embedded in the wax and can be hung from a tree or even near windows so the warmth of the sun may help throw either the beeswax or, if using another wax, add some holiday fragrance. A note of caution: when using paraffin you should use at least a 141 F melt point wax. One of the better molds to use for this application would be the M-172 Variety Tray Mold.

Add Soap on a Rope

You can apply the same process using the melt and pour soap base if you wanted to make soap on a rope. For best results, a thin rope should be used for this application. Any of the soap 3d molds would make for a great soap on a rope gift. While on the subject of soap making, some unique bars of melt and pour soap matching your candle line can always bring in new customers expand your product line.

Add Tarts

Another great addition to any line would be tarts. Tarts can easily be made using the M-112 mold and do not require any type of wick. This size is perfect for letting customers test your fragrance without purchasing a candle which many people may initially be reluctant without knowing how the product can perform.

The tarts can be placed in a potpourri burner and a great way to "throw" fragrance without actually lighting a candle. What is nice with tarts is they don’t use a lot of wax so when you pour your jars and have extra wax left over you can merely pour the wax into the mold. The tarts are actually a great sampler to take with you to retailers to show all of your scents and not carry around a large case of containers and/or pillars. To get even more unique try out the floater molds to make tarts, no wick is needed for these.

Add Fire Starters

If you do a great deal of outdoor shows and craft shows, fire starters are always a nice little impulse purchase to offer. They can be made easily by taking some sawdust, placing it in a paper/cardboard cup (large ketchup holders work very well), and pouring wax into the cup. Use any wick. In fact many times larger wicks work best. The user can then place this in the fireplace under their paper and wood. Again what makes this a great is that you can use excess wax for the application.

Add Fragrances

One of the easiest way to improve the candle line all of the time is to add new fragrances. We have also written in the past that you can even do that with your existing fragrances. If you have a very good Pine Needle fragrance rename it "Warm Holiday Memories". If you have a basic Apple Pie candle maybe add some Sugar cookie and call it "Fresh Baked Sweets". The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Consumers are always looking for something new so it is always beneficial to update your line.

Add Gift Baskets

Another way to add value to your product is to prepare custom gift baskets. Take several candles and add a tea, hand poured soap, bath salts and other items to the gift basket. Many of these extra items can easily be found on Ebay, Amazon and other consumer sites. Or, if the volume is large enough, you can purchase many of these at wholesale outlets.

Add Emergency Candles

One other candle that can be added easily to most candle lines is an emergency candle. One of the best emergency candle can be a tin. In the tin you can use almost any of your excess wax because you are selling the functionality of the product and not the scent/color.

Add Fancy Wicks

One final suggestion to add a nice touch to your pillar candle line is to make a pillar with extra wick at the top of the candle (bottom of the mold in most applications) and when you take the candle out tie some decorative beads onto the wick.

All of the above are nice easy add onto any lines and drive additional sales over and beyond your standard candle buyers. If you do these be sure to market them as an “impulse” item and since in many instances the raw materials may be extras or using old stock price them to sell.

Hi! I'm Chandler! I can help you learn how to make candles.

CHANDLER'S CORNER

How can I keep my
prices competitive?

One of the recurring questions we get throughout the month in various forms is with all of the price increases on raw materials how can I keep my cost down. During these times it can be difficult to control the major materials like wax but it might be a good time to look at some of the other things involved in the purchasing process.

This month's question is in response to the overwhelming request on how to efficiently procure supplies at the best price.

Whether you realize it or not, procurement costs money. Every time you are ordering supplies, you are using valuable time that could be spent making and selling candles. The more often you order, the higher your yearly cost of goods will be. When approaching your business by following the 6 P's, you will save yourself plenty of money. The 6P's are "Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance."

There are many tricks to applying the 6 P's. By increasing your average order size and decreasing the amount of times you order, you save money on many levels. Shipping becomes cheaper for consolidated orders. When you look back at what supplies you have ordered the previous year, you can learn to consolidate your orders. It is cheaper to ship the same yearly amount of supplies in 10 shipments than shipping the same supplies over 20 shipments. This also allows you to take advantage of bulk discounts and helps ensure you have enough supplies on hand to fulfill any possible order that comes through your door.

How do you pay for the new strategy of larger shipments but fewer orders? Take a good look at when your credit card statement is due and learn to order the day after. This gives you the full 30 days to make and sell your candles before the bill is due. This is a form of floating your money with no penalty. I also strongly recommend a credit card that earns you airline miles so all your purchases build points for free plane tickets toward a well-deserved vacation.

We hope you enjoyed this issue of the En-Light-ener.
Thank you for your continued interest and support.
Our goal is to make this newsletter as entertaining and educational as possible.
Let us know if you have any ideas on how we can improve.

Candlewic Company 3765 Old Easton Road Doylestown, Pennsylvania 18901 800-368-3352

Issue Index

December 2008 -- 12 Days of the Candle Making Business, Candle Making Projects, and more...

November 2008 -- Candle Making Business Cliches, Miracle Molding Material Projects, and more...

October 2008 -- Candle Making Terms Explained, How To Make Mottling Candles, and more...

September 2008 -- Adding on to Your Candle Lines, How To Make Candle Luminaries, and more...

August 2008 -- Candles & Their Fragrances, How To Make Pillar Candles, and more...

July 2008 -- Sunscreen For Your Candles, How To Make Dipped Tapers, and more...

June 2008 -- Fall Candle Season Starts Now, Extraordinary Candle Making Project, and more...

May 2008 -- Green Candle Making, Green Candle Projects, and more...

April 2008 -- Recent Candle Industry Price Increases, Aluminum Mold Candle Project, and more...

March 2008 -- Straight Wax, Exciting New Candle Making Products, and more...

February 2008 -- Business Side of Candle Making, Ice Candle Project, and more...

January 2008 -- Basics of Blended Wax Candles, Rose Floater Candle Project, and more...

December 2007 -- 12 Days of Business, 2007 Candle Making Projects, and more...

November 2007 -- Show Time for Candle Making, Making Snow Candles, and more...

October 2007 -- Ready, Set, GO candle making, Candle Luminaries, and more...

September 2007 -- GREENING Your Product Line and Your Bottom Line…, One-Pour Candle Tins, and more...

August 2007 -- Candle Making's Center of Focus, Making Streak Candles, and more...

July 2007 -- The Latest in Candle Making Products, Votive Candle Project, and more...

June 2007 -- Setting Your Candles' Sale Price, Summer Candle Projects, and more...

May 2007 -- Determining Your Candle Making Costs, Using Extra Candle Wax, and more...

April 2007 -- Natural Wax Buzz Part 2, Layered natural candles, and more...

March 2007--Crucial details of candle making, Candle projects with no melting required, and more...

February 2007--How to choose a candle making mold, Making custom candle molds, and more...

January 2007--"Green" Candle Making, tri-color jar candle project, and more...

December 2006--Looking into the candle making future, 2006 candle projects, and more...

November 2006--Introducing...a candle making introduction, candle projects, and more...

October 2006--Prime time: candle wicks, taper candle projects, and more...

September 2006--Clearly still here:Gel candle making, one-pour tins, and more...

August 2006--Fragrance - the driving force of candle making, a new contest, and more...

July 2006--Planning your production, using granulated wax, and more...

June 2006--Our 35th Year, using aluminum candle molds, how much candle fragrance to use, and more...

May 2006--Summertime candle making, making natural lemon candles and more...

April 2006--Choose the candle wick, making tealight candles and more...

March 2006--Choose the right wick base, blending soy wax with paraffin, making palm wax candles and more...

February 2006--The roll of wax additives in a blended wax world, UV additives, making grubby candles and more...

January 2006--The secrets of soy wax candles, more ways to use candles, making soy wax container candles and more...

December 2005--Planning for the new year, announcing our new home, secrets about wicks, and more...

November 2005--Holiday candle making, ideas to sell more candles, making luminaries and more...

October 2005--Temperture issues when making candles, how to start making candles and more...

September 2005--Choose the right candle mold, ASTM safety standards, and more...

August 2005--Color and Fragrance trends, choosing the right candle making tools, and more...

July 2005--Planning for efficient production, Marketing your Candles, Making Swirl Candles, and more...

June 2005--New market trends in candle shapes and textures, Making Textured Candles, and more...

May 2005--The trends and science of candle fragrances, Making Mottled Candles, and more...

April 2005--How to select the proper candle wick, Top Colors, Making "Earthy" Chunk Candles, and more...

March 2005--Selecting the right wax Part III, Our Top Waxes, Making Floral Candles, Our History and more...

February 2005--Selecting the right wax Part II, Our Top Fragrances, Making Fruit Candles and more...

January 2005--Selecting the right wax, Using blended wax, Coloring wax, Making Layered Jar Candles and more...

December 2004--All about candle making fragrances, Making Grubby Candles and more...

November 2004--Choosing Color for your candle making, Making snowball candles and more...

October 2004--Candle Making Busy Season, Making Palm Wax Candles, Speeding Up Candle Production and more...

September 2004--Candle Wax Melters, Making Sense of your Candle Scents, Making Taper Candles and more...

August 2004--Getting Ready For The Season, Using Votive Pins To Make Votive Candles, No Melt Candle Making and more...

July 2004--Some History & What's New, Paraffin Myths, Making Golf Ball Candles and more...

June 2004--Choosing the Right Candle Wax for Your Needs, Making One-Pour Tins and more...

May 2004--Investigating New Products, Burn Testing, Making Freestanding Gel Pillars & Novelties and more...

April 2004--Candle Making Trends, Rolled Candles with Beeswax Sheets, Making Taper Candles and more...

March 2004--Color Theory & Techniques, Floating Candle Molds, Making Tealight Candles and more...

February 2004--Mold Techniques, Computers and Candlemaking, Making Easter Egg Chunk Candles and more...

January 2004--Marketing Natural Wax and Paraffin Candles, Layering Natural Wax Candles and more...

December 2003--Holiday Greetings, 2003 Year in Review, The 6 P's, Making Icicle Candles and more...

November 2003--Building Your Candle Product Line, Making Holiday Ornaments & Soap-on-a-Wick and more...

October 2003--Marketing Your Candles, Polyurethane Molds, Making Lemon Candles, and more...

September 2003--Packaging & Labeling, Essential Oils, Making Rolled Pillars with Beeswax Sheets, and more...

August 2003--Using Palm Wax, Increasing Your Profit Margins, Using Aluminum Molds, and more...

July 2003--Ultra Violet Light Absorbers, Reducing Shipping Costs, Dipping Techniques, and more...

June 2003--Choosing the Right Wick, Using a Wick Stick, Making Floater Candles, and more...

May 2003--New Products Review, Pouring Temperatures, Finishes For Your Candles, and more...

April 2003--Selecting Paraffin, Natural and “Hybrid” Waxes, Using Pillar Pins, and more...

March 2003--Selling & Marketing Candles, Making it Easier to Make Pillars, Wax Art Crystals and more...

February 2003--Pouring Temperatures, Votive Tips, Making Grubby Candles, and more...

January 2003--Candle Making Safety Tips, Instruction Labels, What To Do With Extra Wax and more...

December 2002--Polycarbonate Molds, Making Clear Snowball Candles, and more...

November 2002--Candle Making as a Second Language, The Story of Chandler, Natural F Wax, and more...

October 2002--Candle Making as a Second Language, Projects Review and more...

September 2002--Accessorizing Your Manufacturing, Making Clear Pillar Candles, and more...

July/August 2002--Making Cinnamon Roll Candles, Clear Pillar Base, New Products, and more...

May/June 2002--Back to Basics, Making F Wax Candles, and more...

April 2002--Making Streaked Candles, Wax 101 part 3: Natural Wax, and more...

March 2002--Making Crackled Candles, Wax 101 part 2: Gel Wax, and more...

February 2002--Making Easter Egg Candles, Wax 101: An Overview, and more...

January 2002 --Review of 2001, Frosty Snowman Candles, New Products, Safety Info and more...

December 2001--Botanical candles, making white candles white and more...

November 2001--Chunk candles, clearance sale!, candlemaking books and more...

October 2001--The new candle market, choosing gels, votive wicks and more...

August 2001--New products, new location , new web site and more...

July 2001--Selling & Marketing Candles (part 3), Candle Burn Times and more...

June 2001--Selling & Marketing Candles (part 2), UV Light Absorbers, Wax Additive Recommendations and more...

May 2001--Selling & Marketing Candles, Burning Instructions, Selecting Sustainer Bases and more...

April 2001--Natural Waxes, Candle Burn Times, Wax Pouring Temperatures and more...

March 2001--Making Wax Inserts, Blended vs. Non-Blended Waxes, Colors, Fragrances and more...

February 2001--Whipped Wax, Wax Art Crystal Wax, Gel Candles, Using Containers and more...