Back in 1998 I did this project with my son’s Cub Scout Den. It was so successful that I wrote it up and published it to the web in December of that year. I have just rewritten and modernized the project article.

Beeswax makes a surprisingly durable Christmas tree ornament and we still use these on our tree each year. The materials are few and they are very easy to make. They are a great alternate use for your candle making materials and are made in low cost chocolate molds.

By warming these gently with a blow dryer after unpacking them each year, the shine and beeswax aroma is renewed.

This technique also works well for other seasons and occasions.

See: Beeswax Christmas Tree Ornaments Project

As many of you are aware, I have been offering a free Introduction To Candle Making course on this site since 2003. That course is immensely popular and I have decided to expand the course offerings.

In preparation for the expanded course offerings I have set up a new domain to enable upgrading the course software without interruption of the existing course. The free candle making course has been moved to it’s new home and additional courses are now under development.

The new course site is Artisan School

Here is a direct link to the Introduction To Candle Making Course in its new home.

We are planning to expand course offerings beyond candle making as well. If you are interested in designing and teaching a course at Artisan School, look over the site then use the teach a course link to apply. We will consider courses in most artisan, craft, and art subjects.

What posesses otherwise respectable folks to damage your candles or soaps by pressing in a fingernail? I’ll wager that iIf you sell your candles or soaps you have been on the receiving end of this little zinger far more often than you would like.

What is the fingernail test?
Basically when someone presses their fingernail into your candle, ruining the appearance and typically for no apparent reason.

Who does this?
I have seen this behavior from folks in all walks of life, age, sex, economic status, and race. The most common culprits by far though, are well off, self involved, 40ish women who have no respect for anyone or anything. You know the kind - Im sure you have seen one sitting in her 40K + car berating a blind man with a cane or seeing eye dog because he dared to cross the street in front of her causing her to stop (delaying her for a whole 30 seconds).

Why?
I suspect that if I actually knew this it would open up the meaning of Life, The Universe, and Everything for me but I did on two separate occasions overhear one saying to another “is that wax” several minutes before discovering the fingernail damage on candles.

What can be done?
Sadly the reality is nothing can be done. If you prevent customers from handling and smelling your products, it will drastically reduce your sales - so just take your lumps and deal with it when it happens. If the candle is a solid color, just remelt and repour it. If it is a multicolor candle try making a closeout section and selling cosmetically challenged (damaged) candles for half price.

I have recently spent a lot of time updating the scent oil pages to be less confusing and have lowered the prices of most of them due to some creative purchasing arrangements.

The new scent oil pages are organized by the letter they start with and prices for all six sizes of each scent can be seen at a glance. See Candle Scent Oils

A new project article is now available on making waxed teddy bear air fresheners. These are made with stuffed animals, and scented wax. They make great gifts.

The conversion to full color closeup images of the Easter chocolate molds is now in progress. During the actual process of swapping the images there may be some distortion as we resize them, but this should be corrected within an hour so check back on that item a bit later.

Any image problem that persists more than an hour can be reported here or with the contact link above - please include the product number or the URL when reporting image problems.

Approximately 35% of the Chocolate Lolly Molds have been updated to show a photo of the completed project and include the fill weight in the description.

The entire Adult Chocolate Mold line has been updated the same way (except one mold that is out of stock at the moment). I have also added an adult chocolate mini project. Please do not click that link if you might find adult molds offensive.

With Easter fast approching I have decided to divert the rephotgraphing project to Easter molds for now and that is the category that will be done next.

“Lotion, shampoo, hair-gel or food?

That is the question that plagues me on a daily basis as I enter my bathroom and get myself ready for the world. That is the question that I am obsessed with asking when I smell that which makes my stomach rumble. That is the question that fills my head as I smell my beloved coconut and my hunger takes hold.

Yet what I should be asking myself first, before jumping off the ingestion-bandwagon is… Is what I’m smelling lotion or shampoo or hair-gel or food?”

Excerpted from Lotion, shampoo, hair-gel or food? 

If you make scented products, this article will provide something to think about. Although food scents are very popular, not all people appreciate them so you may want to consider what percentage of your products smell like food.

Over my Christmas vacation I had a chance to republish two of my old soap making projects which were rewritten and modernized for use on One Stop Candle.

New Projects:

• Embedded Shamrock Soaps
• Easter Egg Soaps

These are updated versions of articles originally written for another web site which I was under contract to, but who shafted me after years of dedicated service - and shafted melt & pour soap makers throughout the world by removing these articles from their site. I will be rewriting many more articles from my archive in the coming months but it takes the better part of a day to complete each one. If there are any that you remember from the past which you would like to see again please post a comment and I will give them priority.