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glowworm

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    candles b&b

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  1. Success!!! Seeing I was using soy today and could pour cooler I tried only using duct tape pressed very tightly around the wick in a crisscross pattern like the video. I warmed the mold slightly in the oven because last night I poured into a room temp mold and although I had no leaks I did have a few little pits and a rougher looking finish. Tonight, thanks to everyones help, for the first time ever I unmolded a beautiful candy corn pillar, no pits, no leaks and a squeaky clean wick. I'm sure tomorrow will bring a new dilemma/disaster but for tonight I am so happy. I am definitely going to check into that aluminium tape for my parrifin and palm pillars...I never would have thought of that. Thank you guys for the great advice!
  2. Thanks for the link Puma. Those candles are beautiful! I'm wondering if she uses any putty or does she just use duct tape. Her wicks were perfect. When I used the mold sealer my wicks always had a little gunk left on them. I'm going to try some tonight...wish me luck.
  3. That's what I normally do with my other wicks. The LX wicks curl to one side while burning which has been making my candles burn slighly uneven. It hasnt really affected the quality of the burn its just more of an aesthetic thing for me. Maybe I just need to be not quite as picky.
  4. I use a parrafin blend for my pillars and usually pour at 180. I could lower it some but It seems to me when Ive done that in the past the finish was duller and I would get little pits. So far with this wax combo I have only been using the 3-4" molds for testing with the pre-tabbed LX wicks. In order to try twisting them i have melted the priming off, secured the bottom and twisted while melted the top a little with a heat gun just enough to allow hot wax to fill in around the wick. It works for testing but doesnt make for the prettiest top...and its a pain in the butt.
  5. Thanks for the pics...and the advice. I am just trying to figure the first option out. Would I just take a piece of spooled wick and thread it through a wick tab and a piece of foam from the bottom of the mold, twist and secure? Do you use anything else to seal the edges of the foam? I tried using a large wick stickum once and even with duct tape I ended up with a steady stream of hot wax dripping through the seams of the tape. I'm not even sure if LX wicks come in spools but I will check. If I have to use a wick pin is there any creative way to twist the wick that doesn't mess up the top?
  6. I need help finding the easiest and least messy way to wick a pillar without a wick pin. I finally came up with a recipe that I am happy with using LX wicks but in order to get an even burn they need to be twisted. I have made a giant mess several times now because wax keeps leaking through the wick hole without the wick pin. The only time I was succesful was when I loaded the bottom with wick sealer puddy and duck tape around the entire bottom of the mold. Problem is in order to get the pillar out I have to take all of it off to break the seal, which is time consuming and messy in its own right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
  7. That's the part that has been bugging me for awhile. I could see they were visually blended pretty quickly but figured the additional stirring was important to bind them at a different level. Thanks for everyone's responses.
  8. I have been playing with a combo of 4786 and 6098 for awhile now and like the results so far. Years ago the same person who advised me that stirring for 2' was really important also told me that in order for two waxes to bind properly and completely they need to be heated to 200*. I tend to live by the saying of "if it's not broke don't fix it" but there's just a few things in my process that I am trying to get a better understanding of the reasons behind why I am doing them. The waxes look completely blended far before they reach that temp but I thought maybe something changes molecularly at around 200 that is needed to complete the process. ???
  9. Well I'm definitely going to try to decrease my stir times. Is the reason for only stirring for 30 seconds or less because over stirring decreases throw or is it just a waste of time?
  10. When combining waxes for blends how do you figure out what temperature is required to make sure they bind together completely?
  11. When I first started out someone told me that stirring that long was important to make sure everything is fully incorporated. I am happy overall with my results so I never thought about changing anything but it does seem like a bit of overkill sometimes. I keep my wax around 180 while stirring so I can pour immediately once I'm done. I'm pouring more these days so I'm just trying to find ways to increase productivity without sacrificing quality.
  12. I have always added my fragrances at around 185 and stirred for 2' to make sure everything is fully incorporated. Just wondering what the "norm" seems to be.
  13. I have never ordered from fragrance buddy...are their dupes as good as the originals in most cases? If I do order from them any other really good ones that I should try?
  14. Does anyone have any Tea and Cakes they would be willing to part with. They don't have it at pure fragrance yet (not sure if they are going to) and I only have a little bit left. I do have about 12 ounces of Sugar Cookie Royale I could trade...
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