The Chandler Guild Handbook

The Chandler Guild Handbook is a collaborative document used to capture the spirit, values, and knowledge of the community.

Frontpieces

Preface, introduction and frontmatters...

Preface to 'The Village Chandler Handbook'

The Village Chandler Handbook is a collaborative book authored by the members and masters of The Chandler Guild. Through this collaborative authorship, the Chandler Guild's business model, on-line community model and candlemaking best practices will be documented.

The Chandler Guild Community

What is The Chandler Guild community? What roles are needed to support a productive and enjoyable business/craft community? How will the ChandlerGuild.com web site support the Chandler Guild?

Chandler Guild First Continental Congress Announced!

Hear, ye! Hear, ye! Let it be known that The Chandler Guild will hold its first Continental Congress sometime in the next few months on dates and at a place to be determined! All Chandler Guild members with ideas, comments and questions about this upcoming revolutionary event are encouraged to contribute your two or more cents' worth as a comment below. The Chandler Guild Continental Congress will be the monumental kick-off event of the guild's Formative Year. During this all-important first year, we'll be envisioning what we want the Chandler Guild to be, how it will work, and how we'll each fit in and can make a truly valuable contribution to this first-of-a-kind microenterprise network. Why call it a Continental Congress? Much like the original colonies that were destined to become the United States, the Chandler Guild is currently a loose association of craft-oriented business folk who share some revolutionary ideas. We are independent business people who want to be part of something truly remarkable. But we don't want to sacrifice our individuality and freedom to be part of it. We want to revolutionize the candle industry. But in doing so, we don't want to simply become the latest nameless, faceless megacorp to dominate a highly consolidated industry. The revolutionary founders of the U.S. didn't create our country overnight on a whim. They gathered, in secret at first, for the first and second Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775. Eventually these revolutionary folks had a Declaration that everyone cold get behind that led to the creation of a new and radically different nation. This is what we'll be aiming for at the Chandler Guild Continental Congress as we launch our Formative Year of business discovery. The Congress will be the ceremonial initiation of the deliberate and shared commitment of a group of folks who together want to create and grow a business that is unlike any we've been part of before. Where will the Congress be held? Like the U.S. founders trying to build a nation, we're on a tight budget. Revolutions are historically underfunded. So there is a very good chance that the first Chandler Guild Continental Congress will be held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Mike and Lynette Richards' neighborhood is a vital and lively place with some pretty funky spaces in the various art studios and galleries that surround their Soyawax and Village Chandler headquarters building. We're in the process of evaluating the availability and capacities of these locations. When will the Chandler Guild Continental Congress take place? Soon, but not too soon. We know that many of the Founding 100 Village Chandlers are family-based. You are hoping that we can have this kick-off organizing event sometime before school starts. This means sometime in the early-to-mid August timeframe. In the event that we can't pull everything together by then, our 'Plan B' would be to shoot for dates during a Fall school break time such as around the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Obviously, scheduling during the school year gets tricky. So you can be assured that we are going to do everything possible to make an August date work for us. What about?... Yes, this announcement opens more questions than it supplies answers. We will be doing our best to organize this exciting and important event as soon as possible. At this point, we simply want the Guild members to have an advance warning of what's shaping up. If nothing else, we're giving you a guesstimate of when and where we hope to hold this event. This should help you with shaping up your Summer schedules. Please feel free to post comments and questions below about the Congress. Also, don't hesitate to post ideas about what meetings, activities and events you'd like to see incorporated into the Congress' agenda.

Chandler Guild First Continental Congress Is Now History!

Lights! Camera!... Action! Start making your plans now to be in the Bohemian Commercial District of Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 22nd-24th. Come be part of the revolution that will change the candle industry. See this page for the Village Chandler Guild First Continental Congress Event Agenda and Delegate Participation Guide. In order for you to start making travel plans, the dates have been set for our first Continental Congress. We will have an optional social gathering on August 22, 2003 from 6pm until 11pm. The actual proceedings of the Congress will take place from 8:30 AM Saturday until 6:00 PM Sunday on August 23rd and 24th, 2003. Lodging can be booked with the special Village Chandler Guild discount room rate at the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel. Phone # is 319-363-8161. The Crowne Plaza is downtown, 10 blocks from the Village Chandler building. This is a pleasant walk during the summer months. This will be one of the most important events that will ever take place in the development of The Village Chandler Guild. We will have key work sessions on the day to day skills of operating a successful candle business. At the Congress we will determine, as a community, the purpose and objectives of the Guild. This Congress will also be where we have our first board election as we take the Village Chandler Guild from a growing concept to a productive reality. We look forward to the involvement of all Village Chandlers in this important process.

Hotel Reservations for Chandler Guild Congress

For clarification, all meetings that are part of the Congress will take place at the Village Chandler building and other buildings nearby that are also a part of the Bohemian National Historic District. The Village Chandler Building is at 1029 Third Street S.E., Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401. Lodging will be available with the Village Chandler discount rate at the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel at the corner of 3rd Street and First Avenue S.E. in Downtown Cedar Rapids. This is a pleasant walk from the meeting location. You can call in your hotel reservation to: 319-363-8161.

Lurk or Lead... Where do you fit in?

When you put up a community web site like the Chandler Guild that is geared toward a techno-geek demographic, and if you do a decent job of spreading the word that the site is up, you are almost guaranteed that the site will come to like with spontaneous activity in no time. Geeks are not intimidated by web-based content authoring systems. Geeks have strong opinions and a culture of shooting their mouths off about any and everything at the drop of a hat. Systems like Drupal, which is the Open Source platform underlying this site, have features to allow site owners to hose down the flame wars and to mute the trolls. The Chandler Guild and its on-line community will be different. Craftspeople like our community of soy wax candlemakers have a large proportion of folks who are not super geeky, folks not casually comfortable with computers, the Net and web-based content authoring. Sure, there are some who are, but not too many. It will be extremely interesting to watch the Chandler Guild community evolve. In every on-line community there is a tendency to lurk before we get the gumption to speak out, to put our thoughts in print. Folks not overly comfortable with technology and on-line content authoring will have an even stronger tendency to lurk and take a 'wait and see what happens' approach to their participation in the Chandler Guild community. The problem is, if we all lurk too much, nothing will happen. Lurking is reasonable, to a point. But there will come a point soon where we'll need some spontaneous combustion. Some lurkers will need to take the plunge and become leaders. The Chandler Guild is a microenterprise network. That means that it is up to us to make this business work. There are no deep pocketed Venture Capitalists behind the scenes pouring money into professional management. There aren't three layers of middle and upper management deciding what we should do and how to do it. Money won't fall out of trees into our laps because we've got artistic products and a kinder, gentler way of doing business. We'll have to work for our success. It sounds counter-intuitive, but we'll need leaders in a leaderless organization. Making a community of interest work like the Chandler Guild microenterprise network will require new kinds of business practices, new ideas, new ways of working together... new ways of leading through determined peer action, not through wielding authority. Lurk or lead, it's up to you. We don't all have to be Generals, but we each do have to find a niche and make a contribution. I want to have a LOT of fun being a part of the Chandler Guild community. I expect to develop a reasonable income stream from participation in this community, but not at the expense of having fun and finding fulfillment through creative activity. How about you? We don't all have to be leaders. But we can't afford to all be lurkers, either. As we enter the 21st century, the Small Is Good Business Revolution is happening in many places in many ways. Let's make The Chandler Guild an active front in the campaign to create a new of doing business. What do you think?

Candlemaking Best Practices

To be a successful Village Chandler, you will need to be accomplished at both the art of candlemaking and the art of doing business. In this section of The Village Chandler Handbook Guild members and masters will capture and share the techniques that produce the finest quality soy wax candles.

National Candle Industry Experts at August Guild Congress

There are many excellent reasons to attend the First Annual Chandler Guild Congress. We can now announce one reason why you will not want to miss this groundbreaking event: Five of the foremost candle industry experts will be at the Guild Congress in Cedar Rapids on August 23 and 24. It would be hard to find access to this much knowledge anywhere for a $45 conference fee. This body of industry knowledge would be hard to place a value on. If you are ready to advance your candle business to a new level you can now register for this exceptional event. These well known national experts are traveling in from all over the United States to work directly with Village Chandlers at the Guild Congress in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in August. 1. The Science of Wick/Heinz Verhaegh Company Choosing the proper size and type of wick is one of the most important technical aspects of achieving excellece in candle production. At the Guild Congress, you can work directly with the "wickmeister" himself. Few people anywhere in the world have more technical expertise about wick in general. No one has been more active with working with sources for the best cotton wick from Germany for the emerging soy wax industry than Mr. Verhaegh. 2. Candle Safety Standards/Evelyn Bicknese, ASTM National Board Evelyn Bicknese has been a leader in the candle industry for more than twenty years. Her company Bicknese and Bicknese of St. Louis is known throughout the candle and gift industry for high quality candle products. Eveylyn will share her knowledge and expertise in candle safety and labeling as a leading member of the Natiional ASTM Board. 3. The Art and Science of Candle Color and Aroma/Jeff Charyak-French Color and Chemical/USA French Color and Chemical has been a pioneer in working with soy wax candle manufacturers all over North America. If you want to achieve technical proficiency in the candle making industry you will want to come to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in August to work directly with French Color and Chemical. 4. Fact and Myth of Aromatherapy and Essential Oils/ The Aura Cacia Technical Team Many Village Chandlers are producing aromatherapy candle products. Aura Cacia of Weaverville, California can be credited with launching the modern aromatherapy market more than twenty years ago. Separate fact from fiction with this team of essential oil industry experts. 5. State of the Art Candle Manufacturing/Scott Cooper of Cooger Industries. If you are ready to move beyond pitchers and pails to launch high volume candle production with low cost equipment you will want to see the exciting demonstrations of these appropriate technology systems. Cooger Industries has designed systems for candle production all over the world. Now you can see this amazing equipment and test it yourself with the equipment inventor at the Chandler Congress in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 23, 2003. Sign up now to participate in the First Annual Chandler Guild Congress and take advantage of this rare opportuntity to work in person with these noted industry experts. The First Annual Chandler Congress is an historic event to move the soy wax industry for a quantum leap forward. Do not miss this opportunity. You can register at: www.soyawax.com click on catalog

Display your Masterworks at The Chandler Guild Congress!

Bring your very best work to display for all to see at the Chandler Guild's Congress in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A table will be provided for every Chandler to display their candles for the entire two day Congress. Bring what will fit in one rolling suitcase and that will fit on a 3 foot x 2 foot table top. With the Chandler Guild we are building a modern model of the meidieval craft guild. In the guild model, the experienced artisans are the quality craft role models for the apprentices. At the Chandler Guild Congress on August 23 and 24, 2003 this innovative model will finally take form. Traditions of the past take on a modern meaning at the Chandler Guild. Bring your masterpiece candles to inspire the standard of quality candlemaking that will set The Village Chandler name apart in the international candle industry. We all share the goal of making the best quality soy wax products available to the global marketplace. As the Chandler Guild grows it will not be necessary for all Chandlers to make every type of candle product. We expect people to establish their special areas of candle artistry and expertise. You can then market as a joint effort or wholesale to each other to expand the product range that all Chandlers can offer to their local and regional markets. At the Chandler Congress on August 23 and 24, soy wax candle products from all participants will be on display in our very first internal trade show. This time this will be for our own interaction and sharing of "best practice" to set a quality benchmark for all to achieve. At every Annual Chandler Congress in the future we will then invite the national press, key professional buyers in from major retail chains, major mail order catalogs and other key candle customers to view the work of the best natural wax candle producers available. The international candle market will then have the opportunity to see the very best soy candles in one place at one time to make their buying decisions for each retail trade season. This first year the Congress trade show will have the purpose of setting a shared quality standard. Some of the best interaction at the Congress will take place at the trade show tables as Chandlers from all over the United States and Canada share their knowledge and experience about how to produce the very best soy candles. We will have five experts from the candle industry to present key technical information and knowledge, ---but some of the very best knowledge and candle making techniques will be shared from Chandler to Chandler. Don't miss this exceptional opportunity for networking and skill building. This is your Guild. You will get out of it an equal measure of what you put into it. Chandler Guild is synergy in action. Together, we are much greater than the sum of the parts. See you at the Congress on August 23 and 24, 2003! Let's make candle history together. You can register for this groundbreaking event now by going to: www.soyawax.com and click on Catalog to register for the Congress.

*** New Soy Series CD Wicks ***

Tired of the blotchy white “stuff” that permeates through your beautiful soy candles when they finally cool. I am sure you have heard a litany of reason that this stuff appears. Well, Sara and I have “had it” with the blotchy stuff and we did something about it. Techno talk. That white stuff just so happens to be “paraffin” wax coating, that’s right, paraffin, so those of us touting 100% Soy Wax candles are actually buying wicks from our suppliers thinking we are getting a great deal, only to find we are trying to mix two incompatible waxes. One of our vendors solutions was to pour our candles at temps below 160 degrees F, that is the melt point of the wax that coats the wicks. Still does not solve the problem. Well, Sara and I have the solution. We have a CD Soy series wick. The stiffener coating of wax is a natural vegetable wax that is fully compatible with soy, and also protects the wick from the natural acids of soy wax. The result is a excellent finished product with no mottling. You get the same wonderful CD wick performance and clean burn and self trimming features. We currently are offering CDS-18, 20, & 22. I will have my production of CDS-12's arriving this week and we are soon going to offer CDS-3 all the way up to 22. Here are the specs: CDS-12 Pool size: 3.5 - 4" Length 6" Price /100 $9.00 CDS-12 Pool size: 3.5 - 4" Length 9" Price /100 $14.00 CDS-18 Pool size: 4-5" Length 6" Price /100 $9.00 CDS-18 Pool size: 4-5" Length 9" Expect by May 30 CDS-20 Pool size: 4.5 - 5.5" Length 6" Price /100 $9.00 CDS-20 Pool size: 4.5 - 5.5" Length 9" Price /100 $14.00 CDS-22 Pool size: 5 - 6" Length 6" Price /100 $9.00 CDS-22 Pool size: 5 - 6" Length 9" Price /100 $15.00 Wicks are available in minimum quantities of 100 per package. Discounts will be applied for purchase of 1000 or more of each type of wick. Take advantage of this offer, we are going to open the wholesale side of our website soon and general public prices for these wicks are 2 cents per wick higher. Enjoy the same high quality performance without the contamination. It makes a world of difference. Visit us soon at SoyClassicCandle.com for all your soy candle needs, or email us at Ewerwooly@aol.com. Thank you. Sara and Scott Helping light the way home for our troops.

Tarts, container/votive wax?

Does anyone have experience making tarts? If so, which wax should be used, container or votive? I wish everyone out there the best of luck in their business ventures!!!! Nicole Davis Blue Ridge Mercantile blueridgemercantile@yahoo.com

Chandler Business Best Practices

Your goal is to be a Village Chandler, not the Village Idiot! ;-) Success as a microenterprise businessperson is more than just making beautiful and environmentally-friendly candles. You need to be able to run a successful craft business. In this section of the handbook, community members document and share their lessons of hard knocks learned along the way to becoming an independent and creative Village Chandler.

Product Liability and Warning Labels... another good NG tip!

The good folks at Nature's Garden have an excellent web site full of helpful candlemaking information. In today's 'sue-happy' world, product liability is a real issue for Village Chandlers. Lesson-ette #10, Product Liability, at the Nature's Garden web site is particularly insightful (and based on information provided by product liability lawyer, David Austin). Especially helpful is the suggested Warning Label to include on all your candles. Like the Nature's Garden folks say, and we say this too about ourselve... we're not lawyers. This information is provided to you without any warranty that we're saving your butt from bad people. If you want real professional advice, see a good lawyer. Bottom line... get those Warning Labels on all your candles!

Display cards/tags.

Like most of everyone else who has joined the Chandlers Guild we have been watching and waiting for something to happen, and as many have noticed nothing has. I would like to get the ball rolling on a post made Submitted by blueridgemercantile on 03/19/2003 - 06:24 They Write: “I don't know about anyone else but I plan to either attach a small tag to my candles or have an information sheet at the site of my displays that briefly lists the pros of soy wax candles. I was wondering what you guys think about deciding together on a short list of these pros that we can all uniformly use in our advertising or labeling. Let me know if anyone else is planning to attach any of this info. to their candles. “ Carol, Randi and I all agree this is a great idea and is a good place for this group to come together to start creating a standard that we all can agree with and adhere to. We have drafted a display card that reads as follows: ================================== Soy Candles Protect the Environmental Benefit American Farmers & Businesses Won’t Fill Your Home With Oily Soot COMPANY NAME soy wax candles are made primarily of genetically unmodified soybeans, with other botanical oils to improve burning, as well as color and scent retention, are non-toxic, and biodegradable. Soy wax candles typically burn 25% longer than paraffin candles, and unlike paraffin, soy wax does not emit toxic compounds that build up in your home, and your lungs. Soy wax comes from a renewable resource that benefits both American Farmers & Businesses. Where as paraffin comes from refined crude oil, which is not renewable, and the purchase of paraffin candles benefits Oil Barons, primarily from the Middle East. For more information please visit: www.YOURSITE.com ================================ This is also printed on the back of our business cards. We are more than happy to take the lead in getting this going, so please contact us directly if you are uncomfortable with posting to the Guild Community, with suggestions and comments. Bob, Carol, & Randi Sterenberg American Harvest Candles, LTD. chandler@americanharvestcandles.us www.americanharvestcandles.us

The Soybean and Soy Wax FAQ

Everything you've ever wanted to know about soybeans and soy wax... but were afraid to ask! And if we don't know the answer, we'll gladly point you to the Iowa Soybean Association where they have a passion for everything soybean and soybean-use related.

On-line Soybean Resources

The humble soybean is fast becoming a source of product innovations that touches all our lives in many, many ways. Soy... it's not just for tofu anymore! ;-)

In this section of our Soy FAQ, you'll find our favorite soybean or soy-based industry resources on the web.

Iowa Soybean Association Champions Bio-based Soy Wax Candles

The Iowa Soybean Association and Iowa Soybean Promotion Board love soy candles! It's not too surprising when you think about it. Iowa soy wax chandlers collectively bought over 800,000 pounds of soybean-based candle wax. That represents about 10,000 bushels of additional Iowa soybeans going to a new and growing market. [ Read more at the Iowa Soybean Assoc. web site ]

The Soy Daily

The Soy Daily web site is a treasure trove of soy information. Sure, there are more soy recipes than you can shake a bean at, but there is so much more. You'll find sections that monitor news feeds for the latest information about Biodiesel and Biobased Ag News; Food, Beverage and Diet News; soy-related Farm, Market and Financial News; Soy Research News; to name a few. In addition to the news feed monitors, you'll find sections on soy books, soy history, soy-related conventions, a soy glossary, and a Soyfood Center! Co-Founders, Owners and Editors Paul and Gail King have made a life's mission of promoting soybeans and the myriad of products spawned from our favorite bean. When you want Soy information, head on over to The Daily Soy (www.thesoydailyclub.com).

The History of Soy Wax and Soy Wax Candles

The History of Soy Candles
1991		In 1991 Michael Richards founded Candleworks to manufacture beeswax candles. As he entered the candle industry with beeswax products he realized there was a growing demand for natural wax candles. However, there was a huge economic barrier. Namely, the cost of beeswax was 10 times the cost of petroleum candle wax (paraffin). In July, Michael Richards started experimenting with a wide range of plant waxes and vegetable oils to find a natural wax that could be cost-competitive with petroleum wax. He completed thousands of hours of tests with tropical plant waxes such as carnauba and candelilla waxes, plus domestic oils such as corn and soybean oil.
1992-1994		In 1992, this testing resulted in the first vegetable wax candle, made from a blend of vegetable oils and natural waxes. At that stage of development, the vegetable wax was hard and brittle. To obtain a softer, more pliable wax, Michael started to acquire and test a wider range of tropical and domestic plant oils. This included partially hydrogenated coconut, palm, and soybean oils. Michael Richards continued working on two parallel tracks:
		•	Manufacturing beeswax candles
		•	Research and development for other vegetable wax candles. In 1994 Michael started blending beeswax with soybean oil to achieve an economical natural wax candle.
1995		The Body Shop, a national chain of stores that was Candleworks’ main beeswax candle customer, issued the first purchase orders for a line of natural wax aromatherapy candles from Candleworks. For the first three months, the content of the Body Shop candle wax was a blend of beeswax and almond oil. Because of the increasingly high cost of almond oil, Michael then started blending soybean oil with the beeswax. He completely replaced almond oil with soybean oil in all commercial production of candles in May of 1995.
1996		Michael then experimented with various ranges of hydrogenated soybean oil to eliminate the costly beeswax in his natural wax formula. In the fall of 1996, beeswax was no longer used. Instead, the candle wax developed and utilized by Candleworks featured hydrogenated soybean oil as the majority percentage of the candle formula. Other vegetable oils were then added in minority portions to achieve specific cosmetic characteristics, such as a smooth even surface and scent projection. Michael created low-melt soy wax for container candles and a high-melt point wax for freestanding pillar candles in 1996.
1996		With the goal of creating an edible birthday cake candle, Purdue University students developed their own candle formula using soybean oil. The candles won first place in a competition sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Development Council and Purdue's Department of Agronomy.
1997		Candleworks negotiated with the University of Iowa to provide a chemical engineering intern to test and document the new soy waxes developed by Michael Richards. This resulted in a report prepared for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship titled: "Increasing the Use of Soybeans in the Manufacturing of Candles".
1998		The Indiana Soybean Board unveiled a brand of candles called Harvest Lights made from soybeans at the Farm Progress Show. The development of these candles was completely farmer-funded through the Soybean Checkoff program. This formula has since been patented.
1999-2000		Documentation of Michael’s research process on the development of natural plant-based waxes from 1991 through 1999 was submitted to a patent law firm in Des Moines, Iowa (Mc Kee, Vorhees and Sease). Formal application for patent pending status was presented to the U.S. patent office the following year.
2001		Cargill purchased intellectual property rights in Michael's soy wax innovation. Cargill now manufactures soybean wax formulas developed by Michael. MIchael continues to market the soy wax in the industry and provide technical training for other candle manufacturers in the use of soy wax.
2002		Michael Richards launched a nationwide guild of candle manufacturers called “Village Chandler”. This guild is committed to the use of soy wax in candle production. (At present there are more than 62 Village Chandlers in 17 states and Canada).
2003		This soy wax innovation is fast-becoming a new national industry. Today, soy candles manufacturers range from numerous entrepreneurs to major manufacturers like Hanna's Candle Company (one of the five largest candle companies in the U.S.).

Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease

The American Oil Chemists' Society is proud to announce the 5th International Symposium on the Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease. This is the fifth in a series of symposia designed to discuss the continuing research and understanding of the health effects of soybeans, soyfoods, and soybean constituents. Three-and-a-half days of oral presentations and dedicated poster sessions will focus on the areas of cardiovascular disease, renal disease, osteoporosis, cancer, cognitive function, hypertension, women’s health, diabetes, obesity, inflammatory disorders, and skin health. Hey, did they forget about the treatment modality of aroma therapy? Some folks consider this a medical application, many more consider it at least a potentially beneficial therapeutic adjunct. Either way, soy wax, with its clean and cool burn, is a great choice for aroma therapy and/or scented candles. Don't beleive us? Perhaps SoyaWax Mike will regale us with the anecdotal evidence he and Lynette saw when they were running the Candleworks factory in New York and Iowa City. Or perhaps other Guildmembers have stories to tell us about the power of soy wax candles for aroma therapy?

The Source of Soybean Wax

Many people ask us... "How do you get candle wax from a soybean?" When a sixty pound bushel of soybeans is harvested from a farm field it is then processed at a grain milling company. At the mill the sixty pound bushel of soybeans is crushed to separate the soybean meal from the soybean oil. There are 49 pounds of meal and 11 pounds of oil produced from an average 60 pound bushel of beans. The meal is where the protein content is, so the 49 pounds of meal will be used for animal nutrition products, and soy foods such as soy milk, tofu and texturized soy protein. At Phytowax, we use the soybean oil to make our clean burning candle waxes. We convert the soybean oil into a wax through a process of partial hydrogenation. At Phytowax, we have researched and improved this wax making process for 10 years to produce quality candle waxes that burn clean, burn longer and are very easy to use in a Village Chandler candle making enterprise. 100% soybean wax burns just fine but often has a somewhat rough surface texture. We add in minority portions of other vegetable oils to achieve such performance characteristics as a smooth surface and ease of mold release. Soybean wax is a way to convert a major industry that is presently based on consumption of non-renewable petroleum resources to agricultural based sustainable resources. Soywax is part of the larger bio-based industrial revolution that will transform the global economy from nonrewable goods to environmentally preferable renewable goods. Welcome to the revolution. The future is here today at The Chandler Guild.

The ChandlerGuild.com Web Site

Here we'll address the software technologies and design requirements to implement an on-line collaborative community to resembles a 21st century version of the craft guild. Of particular interest is who we implement the 'story-driven, game-oriented' design requirements for the e-commerce engine that will power the business side of the Chandler Guild community.

HOW TO - Comment, Story, Article or Diary Entry?

It is easy to feel like a deer in the headlights when you first become a member in an on-line community where you have the chance to contribute content throughout the web site. One place to start is to understand the various kinds of content that you can contribute. Once you understand the types of contributions you can make, it will become easier to decide when and how you want to make your voice heard as a member of the Chandler Guild. Comments are 'info bits' associated with particular 'info nodes', like a story, article or diary entry. Comments can't be categorized like the full 'node' bits can, since they only tend to make sense in the context of the conversation in which they are contributed. Once you make a relevant diary or story entry, you can then create a 'place relevant' comment in the original story or other 'info node' that stimulated you to contribute your new content. Then, you can include a link in your comment to your new diary entry or story. Diary Entries are actually blogs or what is also called web logs. As you 'self-publish' your own diary entries, they become a kind of personal magazine that folks can read in an on-going stream by visiting your profile page. In addition, your diary entries can be categorized and thereby linked into other places on the web site. Stories and articles are pretty much like a diary entry without being included in your diary. If you want to contribute a news item or some content for the Village Chandler Handbook, you probably want to contribute a story or article rather than a diary entry. The pivotal question that will help you to decide if something is a diary entry is to ask yourself, "Is this contribution about me and my experience as a village chandler?" If your contribution is not part of your personal story, then make it a story/article rather than a diary entry. I know, sounds confusing, but deciding whether your content contributions should be a comment, story, article or diary entry is one of the basic skills you'll develop over time as a Guildmember. And it may not be apparent how to create links and other formatting 'tags' for those of us unfamilar with handwriting HTML (hypertext mark-up language). As soon as I can, I'll create some How To advice stories to help folks learn how to jazz up their content contributions and, more importantly, to include links to content within our site as well as to good content on other sites. Down the road a bit, we'll be incorporating a browser-based editor 'plug in' that will make formatting and linking easy. In the meantime, we have to 'roll our own' with manually entered 'tags'.

Write Locally, Publish Globally - Some Authoring Best Practices

Nothing is more frustrating than mustering the creative juices to write something, then losing it before it is safely saved in a secure location. Here are some tips on how to keep your sanity while contributing content to the Village Chandler Guild web site. (These tips generally apply to any web browser-based content authoring you might do anywhere on the web.) First, let's understand the 'fragility' of browser-based content authoring... Tip #1: If the item you are contributing through a browser web page 'form' (edit boxes with a 'Submit' type button) is longer than a few sentences or is something that takes more that a couple minutes to write, PLEASE for your own sanity write the copy 'locally' and use the form, through a cut-and-paste operation, to transfer your contribution to the web server. Even if your Internet connection is maintained throughout the content contribution, there is always that very real possibility that the server you are 'conversing' with will have forgotten about your 'thread of conversation' and will respond with a 'Who are you and do you want? Let's start over response.' This is an inevitable 'gitcha' based on how servers have to 'timeslice' their attention to you and many other activities and user 'conversations'. The best strategy is to open you local text editor or word processor and capture your content without the dependency that the server will remember you and what you were two were doing together. Tip #2: Even though you have the best intentions, you will slip and write something that goes into Web Limboland. If you are lucky and this is a big 'if', as the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' reminds us, "Don't panic!" Calmly – and this can be difficult in proportion to the size and complexity of the thing you've lost – press you Back Arrow once to (hopefully) take a step back in time to the web form you just submitted. Every now and again, this will result in your bringing back the form you've just filled out with its copy intact. If so, count your lucky stars and consider this a reminder how important it is to write locally, publish globally. Tip #3: If all else fails and you are sure that you have lost your Next Great American Novel, bite the bullet and get back on the horse right away. Chalk your loss up to experience and before you do anything else, as stupid as this sounds, rewrite your piece (locally of course) and contribute it as you intended. If you accept your loss and don't make your contribution, the Technology Gremlins will have won. You'll have a negative experience that will eat at you forever and, believe it or not, diminish your incentive to make further contributions at a later time. When you accept the loss and rewrite, you win and your readers win. Not only do your readers get the chance to read your contribution, the chances are – and this is a too-true fact of a Writer's Life – your rewrite will almost always be shorter, more to the point and better thought out. -Sohodojo Jim-- P.S. Yes, the above was writen locally and published globally as I have been bitten by this snake more times than I care to remember! :-)

Drupal selected as ChandlerGuild.com development platform!

The Open Source content management system, Drupal, has been selected by Sohodojo as the platform for the Chandler Guild community web site. The Drupal development framework's outstanding community 'plumbing' features are ideally suited to the requirements for building an on-line Guild to support the decentralized and distributed network of our Village Chandlers. A hearty thank you to Sohodojo Advisory Board member Gary Lawrence Murphy for bringing Drupal to our attention. Gary recently rebuilt his Teledynamics nanocorp-orate web site using Drupal after 'kissing too many frogs'. We'll have more to say about this excellent and powerful Open Source software as we gain experience and insights into it. So far, it is great!