I recommend you spend some time on various candle forums or other professional candle makers asking questions. I don’t recommend the kits if you want to make a quality candle. They are expensive and don’t really produce a high quality product.

What type of candles are you going to make? There is different wax for container candles, pillars, votives, and tarts.

There are also different blends of wax. For instance, one type of wax may have reduced shrinkage and allow you to pour containers in a single pour while others may reduce wet spots.

We use a turkey roaster ($29 at Walmart) to melt our wax. It has a thermostat and the melting point of wax is between 125 and 180F. Or you can use a double boiler to melt the wax on the stove. However, some of our customers that have tried to make their own candles got bad burns because they melted the wax till it was boiling and it spilled on them.

There are also some additives that must be added to the candles.

Wicks are very important. The size of the wick depends ofthe type of candle aswell as the size. If the wick is too small or too large, it won’t burn properly.

Scents – Buy the best that you can, but test, test, test. Many distributors will provide testor bottles for a small fee ($1-2). Smell them, make candles with them, and test burn the candles. During our last big review of scents, we tried 60 scents, test burned 20, and finally ended up using 12. Just because the scents have the same name, the scents may be very different. Even the distributor will change suppliers and that may affect the scent.

Colors can be either solid or liquid. We prefer liquid because it give more options.

I recommend high quality metal molds. They will be used frequently, so pay the difference. You’ll save money in the long run.

As you can see there are many options and choices. Be aware that many buyers buy only on price. We spend a lot of time educating our customers on how we make our candles and why they are of such a high quality. Don’t try to match the price of the Walmarts or other low cost stores.

I recommedn the following forum:

http://boards.bittercreek.com/tool/mb/bittercreek

The follwoing suppliers are good and will answer questions:

http://www.bittercreek.com (Select North)
http://www.candlesandsupplies.com

When starting a business, what you have to decide is: Are you going to offer cheap products so that you can make a quick buck or are you going to offer quality that people will pay more for but your bucks won’t be so quick?

I have a successful candle business, I have been making and selling Soy candles for 2 years. It was difficult at first because lots of people would look and like but complain about the price. You have to learn to ignore those people….if they want to kill themselves with paraffin there isn’t anything you can do about it. I have a built very loyal following that is comfortable recommending me to their friends.

The quality of your supplies will determine the quality of your candles. If you use cheap supplies your candles won’t burn well and you won’t have return customers.

I love candles and I do have a few paraffin candles, but they are speciality candles, very elaborate. Not the kind you would buy to burn.

If you want to you can e-mail me and I’ll be happy to help you in any way I can. Good luck in your business!

I have included a link for you about paraffin.

PS. I placed an order with candlesandsupplies.com last year. They were out of one of the items I ordered, a heart shaped glass. It was the one I really wanted. They shipped the rest of it which I would not have ordered if I hadn’t found the heart shaped glass I really wanted at their site. They authorized my credit card 3 times for the same purchase and tied up my money. They never did send the heart shaped glass and they NEVER responded to repeated questions about my order!

If you want scented candle you can go to the arts and crafts store and buy different scented oils and add as little or as much as you need, depending on how potent you want it to be. They also have scented wax chunks that you can buy, but again… saving money! The oil goes a long way… you can buy wicks at the arts and crafts store too… but one of my friends showed me how to make them out of yarn, all you do is dip it down into the clear parafains wax and tada you have a wick, the ones you can buy at the store though have the little metal piece at the bottom, if your starting a buisness then that would look most professional. Good luck… hope this gets ya started.