I just received an email from my Yahoo! Hookahlovers' group talking a bit about a tobacco that I've never tried, so I went to their web site to have a look.
Is it just me, or does that woman look like she's getting ready to do something else...?
OK, so I've found the right combinations of everything for small, medium, and large candles. I placed orders for all the supplies I need, and they should be here next week... only major thing left is to develop the web site. I'm mulling over layouts now.
The 62nd World Science Fiction Convention is coming up next week in Boston. I wouldn't be able to attend the whole thing, but I'm thinking of going for two, maybe three days. David Gerrold is going to be there, and I'd really like to meet him after having been a fan for so long. I'd also like to meet and get some photos of Terry Pratchett -- I haven't read any of his stuff yet (though I keep meaning to). Moggy is a big fan of his, though, so I'm sure she'd like to hear about him.
In other news, I just got word this afternoon from the Social Security Administration that my disability claim has been denied, and they even recommended that I should go back to work as, of all things, a travel agent. I wouldn't have believed it if it wasn't right there in front of me in ink. An autistic with CAPD and severe social interaction deficit as a travel agent? What are they going to recommend next, that a blind man should become a photographer? Jeez. (Not to mention which that of all the jobs I've ever held, being a travel agent was far and away the worst; it nearly killed me, and that's no joke.)
Well, anyway... Moggy and I are starting to talk about the appeals process... *grumble*
The candlemaking experiments continue and are nearly completed. I poured another set last night and will be burning them today. Once I know how those two burn, I'll be done with experimenting and ready to start production.
Fragrance is among the more expensive elements that go into candles; fortunately, one of my suppliers had a major sale this weekend, so I ordered a whole slew of fragrances. When I start selling, I'll have about 80 or so different fragrances to offer. Pretty good to start... and, of course, I can widen the selection later.
I've had a couple of minor annoyances with my book and CD sales. There was one guy whose "Siouxsie and the Banshees" CD I forgot to mail... he wrote to ask what the problem was but apparently didn't get my reply, so he left a complaint on eBay. Fortunately, we did get it straightened out, but having that negative in my feedback is still annoying, even though he did a follow-up comment about having everything straightened out. (I've asked him to do a mutual retraction, and he's agreed... we'll see whether he follows thru.)
Then there's the guy who bought one of my precalc textbooks. He bought one, and I mistakenly mailed him the other. *grumble* Again, we're getting it straightened out, but it's still annoying.
My new MP3 player arrived and won't mount under OS X, much to my surprise.
I tried a new wax the other day, and it looks like this stuff is going to be much better than the other wax I've been experimenting with. It holds dye better, and it has a much smoother and glossier appearance when it solidifies. I just lit the next two test candles, and this wax seems to throw fragrance a lot better than the other wax I was experimenting with. Only thing left to check for is whether it will resolidify properly after the wick is extinguished, which it should. To top it all off, this wax is even less expensive than the other wax, too, so I'll most likely be switching.
I'm almost done figuring out proper combinations of wax, fragrance, dye, and wicks -- I'll probably have to "tweak" things a bit to make sure I've got everything right for the new wax, but that shouldn't take long. I've also found the right suppliers to sell me everything I need at the best prices, so I've almost got a line of finished products ready to sell... the only major thing missing is coming up with some kind of label for the jars (and for mailing labels as well).
I've come up with some guidelines on what the prices should be. The small business/candlemaking books and web sites that I've looked at say that you're supposed to add up the cost of all the materials that go into a candle, and then multiply that by a certain amount. The prices I've come up with are competitive with Yankee Candle, which is important. I haven't compared prices with any other home-made candles yet... I'm afraid I'll find out that their prices are too low for me to compete, and I don't want to depress myself this evening. I'll do it tomorrow.
The fun part will be plunking down the money up front to get a good enough stock of supplies on hand to have a wide enough variety of products to sell. That's going to be at least a few hundred dollars or so, but then, as the old saying goes, "It takes money to make money."