Alan

When I recently returned to this forum as interim Admin, aside from preventing any interruptions, one of my goals was to identify a candidate that would be able to function as our permanent Admin and carry this community forward. I will be stepping back down soon, as I have a lot on my plate. My company has experienced some major setbacks in the past year, and we still have a lot of work ahead to recover from those setbacks. My wife and I both have parents at that age where their health is rapidly declining, and they count on us for all kinds of help. We also have four kids in grade school that continue to rely on us to be good parents. And finally, the check engine light in my car has been on for a few weeks now (humor). We have a lot going on, and I wouldn’t be able to keep up. I recognize many names here from our earlier days. It has been a great honor for me to be able to come back and help out, even if only for a short while. I want to thank all the members here, and the moderator team, for being so gracious during this time. This is a wonderful community. In the past week, I’ve had a chance to poll the moderators to get their feedback and thoughts for a permanent Admin, someone who I think Vicky would’ve chosen. In speaking with members of the mod team, it became clear that TallTayl would be a good fit. TallTayl, aka Shannon, has offered to take over as the permanent Owner/Admin of this site. She has served as a moderator here for quite some time, and has made many contributions to this community. I would like to thank her for taking on this challenge, and welcome Shannon as our new Admin.

Mcgee, thanks for joining us. Welcome to the board.

Vicky’s passing reminds me how precious life is. She was such an inspiration to everyone. She was so creative, and full of ideas. I remember a time when this community was started, about 15 years ago. She was one of the first members. When she joined, there was maybe only five or six of us at the time. It was nice because we would all just come here, and be able to leave our business hat at the door. We would chill, have fun, and simply enjoyed helping each other out. That spirit is still alive here today. I often turned to her for advice. She knew what it meant to be unbiased in times of conflict. In her volunteer role as a moderator here, she was vigilant in always keeping the community’s best interest at heart. She protected the spirit of this community, and stayed true to its original mission. I owe her a tremendous amount of gratitude. I am proud of her contributions. She went by the screenname Barefoot65 on our original boards. I always meant to ask her what that meant. I’ll miss her creativity, her laughter, and her friendship. There were times in my own life, when I needed someone to talk to. It could be about the forum, our dogs, our kids, or simply growing older. She was always game for a chat. She had a characteristic laugh that was all her own. She had a way of telling a person like it is, without any filters. I appreciated her openness, and she was never judgmental. I’m privileged to have known her. She has touched many of us in a positive way. She reminds me that life is short, and that it is a gift. Each day we wake up, it’s something to be cherished. And with those days, she reminds me that we all have the power to do really positive things for those around us. I'm thankful for the part of her life that she brought here. I will forever remember Vicky’s laughter.

It would be fine with me.

Welcome to the boards, mechanicgirl. Paraffin was basically a waste product at one time, a byproduct resulting from of our growing use of petroleum. If you would like to learn more about its history in candle making, google a bit on William Proctor. He was a candle maker and co-founder of what we now call Proctor & Gamble. Maybe you've heard of the company? His partner was a soap maker, James Gamble. There is a lot of interesting history around this subject. For instance, think about how much artificial light we use to extend the length of our days. A long time ago, when the sun went down, that was pretty much it for the day. Candles allowed productivity to continue into the night. Much of Ben Franklin's work that shaped our country, was done by candle light. His father was a candle maker. What if his father wasn't a candle maker? Anyway, paraffin was a cheap alternative to more expensive tallow-based candles and expensive spermaceti candles. Today we have electricity to extend our days, for better or for worse. Imagine what life would be like if we didn't have light after the sun went down. For instance, people are believed to have sleep in two separate shifts during the night. They would wake up about half way through, and stay up for a few hours to do whatever in the dark, and then go back to sleep. I know you were looking for a discussion of where paraffin comes from. I hope I have stimulated your interest in finding out more. By researching a little about William Proctor, I think you'll get a sense for why and how it became useful. Soy wax is basically a fully hydrogenated form of vegetable oil. The more fully hydrogenated a vegetable oil is, the more solid it tends to be at room temperature. Naturally occurring soybean oil is a liquid at room temperature. So to figure out how soy wax is made, you first have to start with an understanding of hydrocarbons and some general understanding of the physical properties of hydrocarbons. Soybean oil is naturally occurring. Soy plants capture the energy of the sun and convert it to chemical energy (photosynthesis). Nature likes to store extra energy as fats, or lipids. Soybean oil is a lipid, full of stored energy. It's an unsaturated fat, at least in its natural state. Saturated fats are generally harder at room temperature. Think lard. To make soybean oil behave like lard, or saturated fats, it is synthetically hydrogenated. Soybean oil can be hydrogenated to varying degrees. Soy wax is a very hydrogenated form of soybean oil. Lesser hydrogenated forms would include Crisco, margarine and the like. The least hydrogenated form would be something like the plain old vegetable oil that we use for cooking. To make your own soy wax, you would start by extracting the vegetable oil from soy crops. To find out more about that, I would start with a google search of "vegetable oil extraction methods." Some vegetable oils are extracted with solvents, and others are mechanically pressed from the plant material, such as olive oil. Once you have extracted the oil from the plant material, you would then want to turn the oil into a waxy substance by hydrogenating it. Google "hydrogenation of vegetable oils" for more on this process. There are a few different ways to do it. I hope this gives you some useful info to start your exploration into the origins of these waxes.

If the box isn't there, try Ctrl-F5 to reload the page. We'll figure this out sooner or later.

I was notified last night that Vicky, the board owner and admin, has passed away. From what I understand, she was fighting a battle with cancer. Earlier this month, she underwent surgery associated with that battle. There were complications, and things took an unexpected turn for the worse. She had been with this community pretty much from the inception, about 15 years ago. In that time, she has touched many of our lives in a positive way. She started out as a contributing member, and then moderator, super moderator, administrator, and finally owner. She poured her heart and soul into this community to keep it running as smoothly as possible. In speaking with her husband last night, he expressed that this was a large part of her life. Maintaining this community meant a lot to her and represented a good chunk of her life’s work. Her husband and her son would like to see this forum continue, as her legacy. They said that is what she would've wanted. I assured them that we can make it work, and agreed to function as interim admin to keep things afloat. This weekend, please light a candle in Vicky’s memory. If you have a story or memories you’d like to share, please add them to this thread. I think it would help us all to remember some of her contributions, big or small. She asked for so little, but gave so much to this community. Vicky will be greatly missed. Her husband’s name is Bob, and her son’s name is Brandon. My heart goes out to them in this difficult time, and I’m humbled to be able to help out in any that way we can. There will be a Celebration of Life for her in the near future. I’ll let one of the moderators chime in with the details. As a community, I would like to contribute something to that celebration, and to her family.

Ok Scented, I think I figured it out. I increased quotas and double-checked to make sure you have PM privileges. This whole system is a bit different than before and may take a little while for me to figure out. I'll send you a PM to be sure that we've resolved the problem.

Scented, do you have a bunch of old conversations stored within your messages? I looked into it a bit and there is a quota, or limit, to the number of conversations that you can store. If you delete some old ones, you should be good to go. I hope that works.

Dave, thanks for dropping in to welcome Justin. And, FYI, he is the dude that goes out to PA with me from time to time, when I need someone to work on the network out there. Last summer, when we were setting up the warehouse in PA, he was there to help. He never saw lightning bugs prior, as we don't have them in Colorado. Dude was sticking them in 9 oz hex jars all night. Lol.

Greetings you all! Justin is my son. A long time ago, when I asked Vicky to administer this forum, I had agreed to provide IT support for her. She has a bunch of great goals for this forum, and there is IT work that needs to be executed to reach her goals, but I've been unable to materialize with my part of the bargain. My son, Justin, has agreed to work with us to perform IT support. Since I'm his dad, I'm going to do the duty of bragging about him, and embarrassing him (primary duty of all parents). Jefferson County Colorado Student of the Year in 5th Grade. Honor student, in high school now. (focuses: math, science, history, graphic design.) 6 year mixed martial artist. Colorado State Champion Gymnast Team 2013 (he's now retired due to back injuries). Placed 2nd in 2013 sharpshooter Colorado defensive pistol championship. 2014 MGM Junior Shooter Camp Scholarship recipient. 3.9 GPA He's a good kid. He knows IT inside and out, photography, graphics, and maybe a little more. He's responsible. I think he will serve us all well. He has agreed to work with Vicky, in his spare time, on reaching her goals for this community. I hope you all will welcome him as family here. Also, please remember he is a minor and to treat him with the appropriate respect. Here he is working the high bar at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, last year some time. He makes me proud, and I hope you will give him the opportunity to serve this community well. Kind regards, Alan Wallace

Welcome back! If you see Murphy, let him know I'm looking for him! We got some squaring up to do.

Excellent work so far! I'm still trying to come up with something worthwhile to share. I love these kinds of challenges.

Here are some colored halite crystals I made at lunchtime, just because I was compelled to see what they look like.

Those look great! I love it.