Summarize the purpose of your Genius Hour project in 140 characters.
Most people love candles to make their home or workspace smell unique. Many of the candles for sale at places large retail stores such as Walmart are very reasonably priced. However, most of these candles have unhealthy chemicals that are released when they burn.
Explain the process of your Genius Hour project. Be reflective. Be contemplative.
I started off with a few ideas in mind such as making soaps, rugs, and scarves. I found the rugs took a lot of my time and therefore, I wouldn’t be able to produce a large enough quantity. After researching the soaps I felt producing them would be too complicated. After making several scarves, I felt I was not making a high enough quality product to sell to the public.
Explain and describe your journey. (No Less Than Three FULL Paragraphs.)
My journey started with me doing several unique DIYS and for the second part of genius hour I wanted to expand my DIYS to one product. My reason for wanting to produce one project was to allow me to be able to focus all of my attention on perfecting my skills in one area.
I began to search pinterest for DIYS that were easy to make and sell. During my searches, many things popped up like rugs, scarves, and soaps. After I spent countless hours searching, I thought about making candles. I recalled a conversation with one of my mom’s friends that was talking about how she could never find a candle that she enjoyed that wasn’t over priced.
After I searching the process of making candles, I went to my favorite site to make purchases, Amazon. On Amazon I found the wax, dye( to make the wax a color), scents, pitcher, and jars. After putting everything in my cart, I was shocked because the total amount was more than I expected. I texted my dad to see if he would lend me money. He said he would borrow me the money as long as I paid him back.
As soon as the supplies, I went to work. I melted the wax, added the color, and the scent. I started to think this was going to be pretty easy. I then calculated the price by adding and dividing the supplies to get how much money I put into making a candle. However, I later found out my calculation was incorrect because I bought a 10 pound bag of wax for $20 dollars and I assumed that I would use the whole bag and I only ended up using about a pound of the was for 12 candles. Therefore, my cost calculation was wrong and in my opinion, I was charging too much for a candle. My second mistake was not putting enough of the scent oil in the candle. You should put an 1 ounce for every pound of wax and that was not would I did. Trial and error was definitely present in my candle making process.
Now doing the fundraiser for Mrs. Sutton, I understand how to make my candles in order for them to sell. I purchased scents with more than 4 ounces; four with 8 ounces and one with 16 ounces. Also, I decided it would be best if I bought jars from the dollar store because it ended up being cheaper than buying them from Amazon. In addition, I understand that I have to make sure to check the temperature of the wax before adding the scent oil because the scent oil has a flashpoint. If I put the scent oil in when the temperature is over the flashpoint it causes the candle to crack. After this experience, I understand that candles are not a project you can make on the first try. The process of perfecting a candle that will be a quality product takes practice and understanding of the supplies you are using.
The intention For Genius Hour is NOT only to learn, but ALSO to share your knowledge with others who can and will benefit from your learning. How did you share your learning? What do you hope the result might be? (No Less Than Two Full Paragraphs.)
During this Genius Hour Project I have shared my product mostly through word of mouth. I have sold candles at Antonio’s and started a Facebook page to promote the product. I have also changed my weebly page to be more of a website for people to shop or to contact me. I even created a new page on my weebly for fundraising opportunities. This page provides information on how easy an organization can make money, and also includes the scents you can pick from for the candles. After the fundraiser with Mrs. Sutton I think my candles will become more known throughout the community.
After more people become aware of my candles, I hope increase the number of sales of my product. I see selling my candles as a great fundraising option for different organizations. I hope that I can find a way to cut down the cost of candles so they are more affordable to the public and to also have stores want to buy the candles to put in their stores around town. Lastly, I hope to pay my dad back all the money he spent on my candle business and even give him some interest.
If you could do anything different with your Genius Hour project what would you do differently and why? (No less than two full paragraphs.)
If I could do anything different with my Genius Hour project it would be to do a more thorough job of researching the process of candle making prior to jumping in and buying all of the supplies. It will definitely benefit a person in the long run to fully understanding how to make candles, and what works best from people who have experience in making candles. Browsing as many websites as possible and reading different experiences that people post or blog about candle making will all be helpful to making the process more smooth. Also it is important to look at other websites who sell candle supplies to study the different jars, oil scents, and different kinds of waxes. Understanding the difference between the waxes so you know which was is a higher quality will help you provide your customers with a better candle.
It is extremely important to understand everything about making candles including the temperature of the wax, how much scent oil to use, the different types of jars and all of the various scents available. If I would have taken more time to study and understand how you make candles and which kind of waxes are available, I would have made a better quality product and sold a quantity. Lastly, I should have read more comments on the different scents because it is difficult to tell what they smell like from a description.
Reflect on what you did well during this Genius Hour process? Note your successes and accomplishments. (No less than two full paragraphs.)
Include any videos, pictures, presentations, or artifacts that will document your journey.
During this Genius Hour, I went from doing simple DIYS to making and selling candles. It became more difficult but showed me what it takes to start your own small business. I learned that you do need loans to begin to even think of starting a small business. Also, there is a lot of risk to invest in your own small business. My candles will be great Christmas gift for my friends and family so I am happy that I know how to make them. Learning to make candles was skill that I will always have so in my opinion, I definitely had a positive outcome with my Genius Hour Project.
My journey of making candles definitely had successes and accomplishments. My first success was when I made my first candle without a crack in it, and my second one was when the first candle sold. My most recent accomplishment was when my product became the fundraiser for the SADD club. Having the SADD club selling my candles for their fundraiser will be great advertising. Also, this fundraiser was my first big order and the first time I had to get input from what the buyer wanted in terms of jars and scent which was a huge milestone for my business!