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Father's
Day, Picnics and new Design Ideas
By
Patti Smith
Gel Candle Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply
www.biomax1.com
ALL
PICTURES AND REFERENCES ARE TO "NON-EDIBLE"
NOT-FOOD ITEMS
All pictures can be "clicked on" to enlarge
their view
Summer is always an anxious and much anticipated time
for family gatherings, vacations and RELAXATION, which
creates a great opportunity for our creative minds.
This month we feature the cutest little embedded sports
cars for Dad's Day…. along with some Fresh Raspberry
designs, a new 'swirl embed' technique-- great for beginners,
and showing some tin sprinkling can containers, which
are wonderful eye-catchers, to have on hand for the
warm weather sales.
Let's start with our Dad's Candle.
We
found an old fashioned candy jar and simply poured with
clear gel. The trick is to DE-BUBBLE-- for that clear
look we love…with the magnification the gel affords
us showing off our embeds. In our picture above, you
can see the shop halogen light next to the poured clear
gel. You can actually watch the bubbles rise. Once the
gel is clear… we sat the jar aside to further cool
before embedding our little red wax sports car.
You
can see from the picture that we are also making this
a FOREVER CANDLE by inserting the smaller 'child' container,
housing the wick, which will fit in the top mouth of
the candy jar container. Thus the red car will stay
preserved, and the top container can be refilled over
and over.
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Once the gel has
begun to thicken... we pushed a piece of un-melted
gel down into the container to help support the
car from sinking to the bottom. This is a great
trick for embedding. Next we pushed the car down
into the gel and used our embedding tool to position
it up close to the glass and at the height and
angle for best presentation.
Then we sat the
'child' container, with the wick, in the top of
the container. Simple and a real cute piece!!!
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We
scented the candle with our Husky Guy FO, which is always
a winner with our guys.
Next,
with the popularity of Raspberries for Summer,
we created a combination of paraffin and gel for our
Raspberries & Crème Candle. Using white paraffin,
scented with a mix of Raspberries and Pomegranate FO
(which is a fabulous blend!!) We poured layers of the
white paraffin and dropped our new pink swirl embeds
along with our red raspberries. The real TRICK is to
also load chunks of clear gel to create some space and
transparency in the body of the candle. Otherwise the
white paraffin can simply cover over and make the body
appear completely white and opaque.
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We finished
off the top with the pink swirl embeds, red raspberries
and some chunks of clear gel, pouring a final top
finishing touch of clear liquid gel-- for that professional
SHINE, and to adhere all the pieces together. You
could also add a novelty spoon, straw and/or parasol,
for the added unique eye-catching appeal. These
details are what make your candles more marketable
and unique.
You can also see
the glass we chose has lines and details rather
than simply a plain wine glass. A red ribbon tied
to the bottom also could add balance and attractiveness.
Raspberries are a real winner with customers.
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Our
next candle is a simple candle for Father's Day or All
Occasion, and uses our new blue swirl embeds.
These embeds can be used in paraffin OR gel OR soy,
so very versatile.
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We simply used
clear gel scented with Cucumber Melon (aka Honeydew
Melon) which is always a favorite with guys. With
these no-fail embeds, you actually want them to
partially melt and bleed... (Working WITH instead
of fighting AGAINST)
We seated the wick and tossed in some blue swirl
embeds and some little gold stars, poured half
full with clear gel, stirred just a bit with our
embedding tool, then added more
Swirl embeds, stars and completed the pour with
clear gel. A final swirl stir is all that is needed.
You get a great 3 D swirled look!! A great BEGINNER
candle which still creates a complex look your
customers will marvel at.
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Lastly,
we wanted to show off some of the cutest little painted
tin sprinkling cans and buckets. These are miniatures
and make just the cutest sets for resale. They come
already filled with colored paraffin matching the fruit
décor and will add a great look to your tables
for summer sales. And they are on a super SALE as a
customer appreciation promotion. There are several designs
including variety of fruits and sold in sets.
We
hope these designs spark some new ideas for you, and
that you have a wonderful Summer !
June
2001
Summertime, Summertime...We ALL Love
Summertime!
Finally... Summertime is upon us. The schools will be
out and vacation scheduling begins. And the summertime
is also a time for FAST, EASY candles that still speak
of handcrafting and unique ideas.
We have three items for this month's newsletter. July
4th Decorations, Fruit Pie Candles and the new (wick)
Hooker/Snuffers: the neat way to extinguish and maintain
the gel candle wick in one step, while giving you a
pretty little accessory to sell with your candles (made
by one of our talented local artists). This month we
feature our 4th of July Centerpieces using a variety
of glassware, tin ware and other appropriate containers.
One of the simplest candles is a FIRECRACKER candle.
All you need is a cylinder piece of glassware. colored
with red, white and blue. leaving the wick long and
curled to replicate the firecracker stem. Of course
it would be trimmed before the candle is lit.
We oftentimes forget that we don't HAVE to limit ourselves
to glassware for the gel candles. Other non-porous,
non-flammable containers work just as well.
Here we feature a tin can, which is already decorated
for the 4th of July. Just pour with RED gel and you
have a winner. nothing to break if it gets accidentally
knocked off a picnic table. And we all know that unlike
paraffin, the spilled gel will 're-gel' to toss back
into the container.
You can add some Citronella FO to the gel .great for
the outdoors. to keep away those pesky summertime flying
friends. Another good Selling point. :o)
Our second candle-theme this month is the very popular
little fruit pie candles. Perfect for kitchen or picnic
or gifts. and sold in complete sets to give you the
gel-safe crust, the tin and a variety of gel-safe wax
fruit pieces.
Simple:
*Seat 3 - #50s wicks in a triangle
*Pour colored, fruit-scented gel
*Embed a few gel-safe fruit pieces
*and lay the gel-safe lattice topper on.
The warmth from the gel will slightly soften the topper
and pressing slightly will finish off the candle.
Don't forget that final tug on the wicks to insure proper
position and straightness. Of course if you are pouring
a crust pie...place 3 wicks into container and pour
the gel into the pie tin which already is lined with
the gel-safe crust.
Some really popular types are strawberry, lemon, banana
crème and coconut crème.
And the wax banana slices can also double for small
apple pieces, just turn upside down so that the marking
from the center of the banana doesn't show.
Add just a tiny bit of whitening to the gel for a slight
translucent look for banana crème and coconut crème.
Stearic flakes sprinkled on the top of 'crème' gel makes
the coconut.
You can also use the whitening powder to make ICE CREAM
pies with broken pieces of our new wax chocolate chip
cookies partially showing on the top of the gel-cookies
and crème! Scent with Chocolate or Christmas Cookie
FO. Even drizzle deep brown (from maple sugar dye) gel
for chocolate sauce.
IMPORTANT WARNING!! TO YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMERS!!!
MAKE SURE THE PIES SIT ON AN APPROPRIATE HEAT-RESISTANT
BASE DURING BURN TIMES!!!
NOTE: All components of 'Gel Pie Candles' are
made from gel safe wax and gel. There are no food components
involved in the creation of these candles.
Finally, one of the newest candle tools available from
our site.
the Gel Hooker/Snuffer
This neat little tool means no more BLOWING OUT
wicks, leaving smoke trails and wick droppings down
in the gel for an unsightly look.
Just lower the hook end of the snuffer down into the
gel and gently bring the small section of the hook up
around the wick, extinguishing and lifting-off any excess
burned pieces in one step. This will keep the top of
the candle looking nice and act as a 'rake' for any
wick pieces which may have fallen during the burn.
That's the newest News at BioMax. however we are busy
as bees preparing for the upcoming Christmas 2001. We
are excited about some extraordinary surprises for you
this coming Season! Don't miss the current porcelain
roses we have also!! Real beauties and goof-proof keepsakes.
We have the Lattice toppers and 'Crusts'. The crust
is already attached to the pie tin and topper is removeable
so that the gel and wax can be added and the topper
placed on top. A set consists of : 1 crust or 1 lattice
topper, 1 pie tin, assorted wax fruit pieces. 6 sets
for $12
June
2000 Theme Candles
A Fast Seller by Patti Smith
www.biomax1.com
Graduation festivities are in the air everywhere whether
from High School, Undergrad or Graduate Degrees.. And
everyone is looking for that little gift for the special
someone. just like with anniversaries, birthdays, weddings,
baby showers, even 4th of July gatherings. Of course
the gel candle is the perfect solution, and this month
we feature a simple and easy way to accomplish creating
a Theme Candle With foil confetti and garlands coordinated
together.
You can use colored sands to bring the school colors
into the candle. We like to add two colors in four layers
and slightly 'shift' (called the famous Sand Candle
Shuffle.ahahahah) to create an artistic leveling of
the sands.
Then we poured clear, scented gel and allowed the candle
to cool for about 10 minutes. During this time you can
tie the Garlands around the top of the candle..making
best use of that wait time when we usually have no patience
and want to finish our creation. however, confetti will
curl if added to gel that is too warm..
Then we use our absolute-necessity ice pick to lower
down the written confetti words reading Happy Graduation
and GOOD LUCK.move these directly to the glass wall
for best visibility. Our collection also has black graduation
caps and stars but they are a little hard to see in
the picture. We added a few sprinkles of our colossal
glitter for that extra iridescence and sparkle.and THERE
you have it. pretty simple, huh?
BioMax offers a Foil and Garland Collection pack which
includes many selections for those special calls from
customers looking for a fast birthday, anniversary,
wedding, baby shower gift and several more including
musical notes, 4th of July decorations and too many
to list, but will definitely give you a chance to start
a theme collection to show customers. These are pretty
goof-proof to create, and will bring grins to buyers
who are able to fulfill their gift-buying needs.
Those
Crazy Days of Summer…… A Slice of Pie Anyone? … Candles
that is….
Designed By Patti Smith
www.biomax1.com
Now is the time when we start to prepare creative ideas
for our product lines to fill the upcoming fall and
holiday seasons. This year promises to be BIG on the
dessert candles, with so many new ways to incorporate
paraffin and gel together, leaving our customers squealing
with delight. We, at BioMax, are very pleased to be
able to bring you another packaging idea that can be
a “2-in-1” surprise. We now have pie slice containers
in which you can actually pour 150-160 degree molten
paraffin, to mold your pie slice base. Then adding the
toppings of your choice, you have a completed candle,
quick and simple. After final creation of your candle,
you can then sell the candle in the same container package.
Another feature is that they are even ‘stackable’, for
ease in packing and shipping. This month we feature
instructions on several ‘pie-slice’ designs as well
as cheesecake and brownie slice sundaes. The pie slices
and cheesecake slices are formed and package inside
the pie slice containers, and the brownie slice is actually
poured from our new silicone ‘cake slice’, and is boxed
in the square clear container package—see pictures.
So let’s get on with the show! Peanut Butter Pie Candles
We poured a caramel-colored paraffin into the pie slice
container. As the paraffin cools, it will shrink just
enough to drop out of the pie container. Some customers
are spraying the containers with a non-stick cooking
spray to make the release even easier. You can also
place the poured containers in the freezer to speed
up the set, in this hot weather. When the piece is cooled,
drop it out and use your B.E.T. (BioMax Embedding Tool)
to pierce the center wick hole. Thread a 50’s series
wick thru the bottom and place the wax back inside the
container, to help shape the topping you will create
in the next step. For our peanut butter pie, we wanted
lots of fluffy whipping and a chocolate ‘gel’ drizzling.
We melted white paraffin from our ‘whipping cream blend’
scented with our new Peanut Butter Cup FO. Allow the
paraffin to start to set so that you can lift chunks
of wax and place on the top of your pie base. It will
be pliable and easy to form and mound with your fingers.
Our grand finale is drizzling chocolate scented and
colored gel over the top of the ‘whipping cream’.
VARIATIONS: With just some changes to the shading
of the paraffin and gel, you can use exactly the same
technique to make Butterscotch cream pie slices also.
We used a more ‘caramel’ color on the pie base and the
gel, and scented with our new Butterscotch Caramel FO.
Similarly, using brown paraffin and gel, you have Chocolate
Silk Pie. With more yellow based, you have lemon or
banana crème- don’t forget those wax banana slices and
wax chocolate crumb topping! The ideas are only as endless
as your taste buds!! At the Chicago convention this
last weekend, we even made a German Chocolate Pie slice,
using some stearic and soy flakes and wax pecan pieces
with over-pouring of gel scented with German Chocolate
FO.
Fruit-Topped Cheesecake Candles
And who says we can only do pies??? A ‘cheesecake’ base
can be made with a very pale cream-colored paraffin
base (exactly as the steps above) and scented with Cheesecake
FO. After the wick has been loaded and the base returned
to the container, just lay your wax fruits on top of
the cake base, and pour COOLED and thickened (colored
& scented) gel over the entire top. Whether blueberries,
strawberries, cherry, raspberries, etc…. trim the wick
to ¼” and you have a masterpiece! In our picture, we
created a Strawberry Cheesecake Candle. These candles
whip-up in no time, and you can mass-produce. (If you
simply don’t have the time and/or space to pour the
paraffin bases, we also have them pre-poured in the
containers to get you started.)
VARIATIONS: Similar…. with a tan-colored base,
we added wax ‘cooked apple slices’ to the top, and poured
cooled apple scented gel and sprinkled dutch apple crumb
topping. We topped that layer with a wax ice cream scoop
and re-poured more apple gel for a wonderful syrupy
Dutch Apple slice candle.
Unique Fudge Brownie Sundae Candles
Since the pie slice containers allow for the shape of
the bottom crust, we found that we couldn’t use this
container for a ‘cake slice’ mold because we needed
the size to be different for authenticity. So we created
a silicone mold for a cake slice. We have a single-layer
mold OR a double-layer mold which has a third cavity
for a thin ‘oozing’ icing filler for the middle. We
will unveil the double layer cake in a future article,
however, this month we used the same single layer mold,
poured about half full, to create a brownie wedge slice.
Pouring a deep chocolate-colored and scented paraffin,
we again used the BET tool to pierce the wick hole and
threaded it from the bottom. (Remember to leave your
wicks longer for the toppings you will add.) Next we
threaded a wax ice cream scoop and then poured semi-cooled
fudge scented gel over the slice and the ice cream scoop
and topped it with the bright red wax cherry. This candle
packages in our square clear container box making it
simple to take for shows and leaving customers smiling
as they carry off their newest prize. It also would
fit inside the ‘Fresh Baked’ boxes or the little folding
candle boxes. We hope you enjoy making these candles
and adding your own wonderful creative ideas. Do what
YOU do best… and remember… “ Life is too short not to
burn your candles”.
Patti
and the Crew at
www.biomax1.com
Wick
Reminders
We
recommend that you use only ZINC core wicks--you need
the added heat from the metal core for sufficient temperature
to burn the gel well... a 50s series for up to 3"
opening and 60s series for 3.5 and higher, when you
don't go to three 50s.
The
biggest mistake we encounter: you should trim the wick
to 1/4" for the initial burn, say first half hour.
This is the time that the wick actually 'seats' itself
into the candle. After that, to avoid smoking, trim
the wick back to just a bare 'nub' meaning 1/16th of
an inch. When a seated gel candle wick smokes.. 95%
of the time, it is because it has too much length. People
are used to the height of a wick in paraffin candles
which is too much for gel candles. When you extinguish..
teach customers to do a little wick maintenance.. use
toothpick to remove any wick droppings. Keep the wick
at
the nub height to avoid excessive mushrooming.
This
should help you immensely.
Beginning
& Advanced Videos by Patti HERE
More
Info about the Book & Video Set HERE
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