Since people tend to ask me these questions a lot, I'm hoping this will help avoid having to answer these questions if I ever meet you at a craft fair and we can talk about other things...as some have found, I can be a bit of a talker. 😉
Q: What's up with your name? Why are there so many h's in your name?
A: It started out as Candles By Dan. Around the time that I decided to make this hobby a business, one of my former coworkers passed away.
The name is an homage to her and to my friends that gave me the nickname "Dahhhn" and those that started referring to my candles as "cahhhndles."
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Q: Do you actually write the names of the scents on the labels for all of your candles and wax melts?
A: Yes, I do. No offense to those that use printed labels, but I feel handwriting my labels let's you know that the product you've purchased/received is handmade, and wasn't made in a factory somewhere.
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Q: Do you actually make all of your own products?
A: Yes, I do. The only things I don't make are the containers the candles come in, the packaging for the wax melts and soaps or the labels (but I do hand write all of them, as previously mentioned).
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Q: Why do some of your candles have regular wicks and some have wood wicks?
A: The "regular wicks" are actually hemp wicks. Personally, I prefer those, but I also know some people tend to find those wicks tend to cause "tunneling" (which is usually because someone is burning a candle for longer than it should be burned and/or not trimming the wick).
While working some craft fairs, I had people requesting wooden wicks.
I offer candles with both kinds of wicks for those that prefer one over the other.
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Q: Why are all of your candles white?
A: When I first started making candles, I did experiment with different dyes. I found all of them changed the smell of the candle and kind of gave it a plastic kind of smell.
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Q: I like the smell of your candles, but I'm afraid they'll give me a headache. What types of scents do you use?
A: The root cause of those headaches are cheap synthetic fragrance oils full of chemicals and additives. 95% of my product line contains fragrances that have an essential oil base to them. The remaining 5% of my products have synthetic fragrances to them, since there are some scents that can't really be created with an essential oil base to them.
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Q: Your booth smells fantastic, but what is that? It looks like your melting butter.
A: Although I sometimes get hungry at events, I'm not melting butter. It's my USB powered wax warmer melting a wax melt.
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Q: What got you into selling soaps?
A: If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if my wax melts were soaps at craft fairs, I would be a "hundredaire." 😉
Since so many people were thinking my wax melts were soaps, I figured it was best to take a stab at making soaps as well.
I only use fragrance oils that are suitable for soap making, and I also tend to go on the lower end of what is recommended per the International Fragrance Association's (IFRA) guidelines.
Palm oil is also an ingredient in all of the soaps I make. When grown unsustainably, palm oil harvesting can damage forests and endanger communities and wildlife. Because of this, I only use RSPO certified sustainable palm oil in my products. This also explains why I kind of need to charge a little bit more for my soaps than other vendors do.
In case you're wondering, I personally test every single soap before I make it available for sale to my customers. I've also asked several of my friends and family to test them out for their feedback. Once I get the green light, I then make them available to you: my customers. 😉
Q: What happened to your shirts?
A: Yes, I am selling shirts; however due to space restrictions at events (and that I can only list so many things here on the website), I've now partnered with Mercari and sell them on there.
If you follow me on Instagram, you can find the link to my Mercari seller page there.
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Q: OMG...do you ever shut up?
A: ...
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Have a question for me, but aren't comfortable asking me in person?
Send it to me by clicking on the contact link, or on my Facebook & Instagram pages.
Your identity will not be revealed (unless you want me to). My only request is that you make it a good one.