In the book Les Miserables, Shellac and Turpentine are cheaper than Resin and soot. How can this be?

Question

I'm converting the book into a game, and this part doesn't seem to make sense. Jean Valjean makes his fortune by finding a cheaper way to make the wax used in making jewelry,. He says "The wax was formerly made with resin and lampblack [soot], and cost four livres the pound. I invented a way of making it with gum shellac and turpentine. It does not cost more than thirty sous [less than two livres], and is much better." Turpentine is made from resin, so surely should be just as expensive? And shellac comes from an Asian beetle, so how is that cheaper than soot? Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on the matter.

Answer 1

I may be way off base here, but maybe the different (ingredients made the process of making the wax cheaper and less labor intensive. So even if the ingredients themselves were more expensive, less time, labor, and equipment were needed, which saved money in the end.