Lick Me All Over? Really?

 OK, yeah, that's a bit...forward, don't you think? Candle making and soap making suppliers have come up with some really fun and innovative ways to sell their wholesale supplies to us wee craftsmen.  We thumb through catalogs (who am I kidding, we don't thumb, we scroll in 2021), looking for the best deals on buying more than just a couple of fluid ounces of any one scent. It's amazing the costs involved in just getting the business side of this craft off the ground.  Each scent goes from around $2.00 a bottle for 1/2 an ounce to over $100 for 16 ounces in some cases; and yeah, it does go up from there when you're talking gallons and five-gallon buckets of essential fragrance oils for pouring into soaps and/or candles. I'm sticking with the 4 oz, 8 oz, and 16 oz sized bottled for now, and yeah, I will admit it; I bought "Lick Me All Over" just to see what it smelled like. I'm not saying I love it, but I don't hate it - - the marketing is KEY in this one. I added vanilla to mine and I'll rename it something more appropriate -- at least the people I sell my wares to won't be red-faced and blushing when they gift their new candles and soaps to their bosses and not-so-intimate friends. 

    Lick Me All Over isn't patented, I don't think.  I mean, I didn't see a little registration R on the bottle. It has a fruity sort of soft smell to it, not really sexy, not really delicious, more of a smooth aroma that maybe puts you in the mood for a bit of romantic foreplay and maybe it's just there to remind you of how pretty you feel. I don't know. If it had a flavor I think it would have cotton candy, pineapple and maybe honey in the mix.  I'm going to refrain from using it alone in the future so I don't have to tell someone what the scent is and have to watch their eyes pop out either because they're excited I made the suggestion, or because they're married and think I'm being overly forward by admitting my lustful desires through a veiled attempt at calling a scent what it really is named. I'll just restrain myself from gifting it to anyone I would feel a bit giddy around, and we'll call it done.  Yeah, that would be a bit embarrassing as well as awkward, wouldn't it?  "So, yeah, I really love the new candle you gave me, what's the scent?" (and then I blush and hide my face in my hands before I say it.)  Yeah..not gonna do it. I'll add something to it maybe call it "Happy" or "There You Go!" (OK, I just patented those two!) LOL

    One of the reasons I am getting into the crafts business, both soap making and candle making, is that it is profitable, and you can pour yourself into your work. LOL...did you see what I did there? Yeah, that's me, I'm punny, I know.  I can fix things, have fun, redo them, repurpose. I can put in my own hours, my own time, I'm the boss, and I don't have to sell them if I don't want to. I can sell them all if I want to. I can charge what I think is fair. I can have an Etsy and be really really cool. I am not going to full rely on my wares for my living. Having ambitions is good, but I think I'll keep it as a really good paying profitable hobby for now. I have a great base of clients lining up on Facebook and now Instagram. I have about 40-50 customers even before the candles harden or the soaps cure. After the first of the year I'll have a Grand Opening, and have my Etsy open full time and with more than just my book for sale on the pages of glory.  I think I'll have about 30 scents to choose from and they'll all have really cool names like: "Zen", "Breath", "Meditate", "Music", "Harmony", "Patriot", "Caledonia" and I know I'll have a few really fun barn smells in there too. I'm not lying, if I can match a horse poop and sweat scent, I'm patenting that thing, and I'm selling it exclusively for $$$$....just kidding. I'll want everyone and their furbabies to enjoy it. It'll be priced the same as the others. 

    Right now the prices will be at an introductory price of around $4.00 USD and L3.00 (I don't have the Pound Sterling symbol on my keyboard. The L will have to do.)  I'll have to charge for shipping and handling, and that means for the international clients there will be a significant surcharge. I hope it doesn't make it impossible, but the best thing for an international client to do is to buy in a heavier load so that the price of shipping is absorbed. I'll figure it out and then post it on the Etsy to give the best price breaks. I'll be sending a lot of my broken pieces and unsellable soaps to Bethany Christian Trust to use for their people who they care for. A bar of soap for their cause doesn't need or have to be pretty. My hope was to move to Scotland and make soaps and candles, but the cost and feasibility of doing that for a much smaller clientele was not a good overall productive plan. Looks like I'm staying here and when I visit in the summer I'll bring several boxes with me to give to Bethany Christian Trust. Flying with the soaps and candles as luggage will be a great way to get them overseas without much cost involved. I'll just wear the same clothes over and over for two weeks. (giggles)

    December has been a very active and proactive month so far. Laura (my daughter) is also making soaps and candles, mostly for horse people. She is making horse and hound use soaps and they are shaped like little grooming brushes. They are so adorable. Believe it or not there wasn't many people out there making what she does, and yet she's decided to be fair and not over price her wares. I really think she's an amazing soul for that. Most people mark up the price just because their creation is different. She sees the need, she fills the need. I think that's admirable. Making a profit is good, we all want that, but there's no reason to steal from anyone just because they'll pay what you ask. Jesus is still watching you know, and the heart is the gauge, not the wallet.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, still stands.  Proud of my little one.

    So yeah, that's it, I'm about to pour another batch of Patchouli. Everyone seems to love it. I'm adding another scent to it, and mixing about 16 oz of wax to make two or three candles. The way you measure the wax flakes to see how much you'll need is simple:  If you want to make 10 candles all 8 ounces, that's 80 ounces. You divide that by 20, and that's how much you need, so 80 divided by 20 = 4.  I need four pounds of wax to make 10 candles that will be 8  ounces each.   I'm just pouring 3 and they're about 4 ounces, so 12 ounces divided by 20 = .6 pounds.  Done and doner. Love it.  I learned so much today about pouring, adding scent, adding colors, and standing the damn wick in place. The hardest part about making candles is setting the wick folks.  As soon as I get that down to a science I'll post about it, until then, if you're learning, watch 10 videos and practice...practice, cuss, throw a pot or two at the dog, and just say a prayer - - then do it again. Not the best wick setter....nope, I am not.

    Be blessed!  

Photo Credit: Me.