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help choose jars for testing coco wax and wood wick


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Ha! I am all alone for Christmas - up to New Year's day!  There will be loud Christmas music - lots of carbs - staying in pajamas all day and soap and candle making!!

 

I want to learn to make crackling wick candles. Chose coconut wax because it's not soy. (I'm still a very beginner at candle making. I get frustrated, say bad words, and give up until next year!)

 

I have 6 lbs of coco wax.  I like glass containers, no tins. Also have the WoodWick company's sample pack as suggested by TallTayl. Also have eco wicks in a variety of sizes.

 

I also have some old gw 444, c83, and some palm wax I need to use up - candles and/or wax melts and I would really appreciate if anyone would share their "recipe" (wick, size/type jar, wax) to help me be successful. I won't be using colors, and about 50% of the time won't be using fragrance (I like the crackling sound more than scent!!)  I will not be selling - I don't sell my soap either - except on those rare occasion friends insist on some sort of compensation for the soap I give them.

 

I'm ordering from LoneStar because I should get the order by end of the week as I'm in San Diego area.    I'd prefer the 12ish oz size. I assume that the plain straight edge glasses are better (less tricky) than the apothecary  or shaped jars?  I do like the comfort, status and cylinder jars but want to reduce struggles with wick as much as possible. Your thoughts?

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I used the candles and supplies coco beads in the dollar store status jars with an eco 6 on my first test. No scent. No color. It burned pretty well. When I added 6% FO and a little red dye it seems like I could have wicked down to an eco4. The throw with the eco6 was/is super, but you have to be diligent about trimming the wick at each lighting. 

 

Wood wicks in the status jar, I found, with coconut wax you really need to wick down. The good news is witha wood wick you just pull the old and replace with the new.  In my pottery jar the 1/4" original booster 0.03" thick worked well. It was a little big in the status jar. But there's a starting point for you! Have fun!

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Even the tumbler that are 3" - 3 1/8" would probably work well with wood wicks.  General Wax's store carries them, since you're in CA.  Take a drive up and check out their "outlet store" which isn't an outlet at all, lol.  But you can pick up some sales there.

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When I went to place a Lonestar order I was surprised to see jar I wanted  - and many other gone from the catalog. Time's a wasting so I searched out some dollar stores and ended up with 14 Libbey hurricane glasses with about a 3 inch diameter!!  Hopefully I'll be making candles tomorrow!

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Thanks for asking debratant. Unfortunately my holiday was a total bust as we had a death in our pet family - our sweet shy little guinea pig girl.  She was in surgery for a mass removal, and died.  Who knew we could love a rodent so much.  We were pretty stunned - had a great exotics vet with experience, but those little creatures are so delicate.  Our surviving guinea pig needs lots of extra attention while we scramble to find a new friend. Guinea pigs can die from loneliness.  Luckily he loves people, so he's not doing too badly - but we need to find a spade female (rare) as soon as possible.  

 

Things are starting to return to normal - and I've started to drool over the box of candle jars that's been sitting on the counter for days. I hope to get started next week!  In the mean time, I've resorted to burning some leftover candles from last year - Nature's Wick which are criss cross wood wicks - and they burn with lots of soot and smoke despite a good trimming.  I pulled out a soy wood wick candle I made last year and it burns pretty well but no real crackling to it.

 

 

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On ‎12‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 7:02 PM, debratant said:

Oh Lena, I'm so sorry for the loss of your little guinea girl.  I hope you find another girl for your little guy.

 

Thank you - we really miss her and it's going to be hard to find another spade female. 

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I made 3 candles today!  Hurricane jars (roughly 11oz, 3 and 1/8 width at top, used 3/8 width wood booster wicks at .02, .03, .04 thickness.   Wish I could tell you that I melted to 200 degrees and poured at 190 (as per the supplier's instructions) but.....I used 2 thermometers and they didn't agree with other. One is a standard kitchen thermometer, the other digital hand held one. Going to Amazon to get a GOOD thermometer....!!

 

The handheld one was inconsistent and difficult to use; according to it I heated to 209, and poured at 184.  The other thermometer said melted to 190 and poured at 170.

No fragrance or color.

 

I wrapped the jars in towels as if they were soy - don't know if that's necessary or not.  I can't information on how long to cure coconut - anyone know?

 

 

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Can't wait to see your burn test results on these! The 1/4 original booster 0.03 was too big in my status jars with no scent. Worked well in a different shape ceramic jar though. 

 

When i add fragrance (6%) to the coco wax candle I find the right wick in I often need half a size, sometimes a full size, lower. 

 

I found coconut wax with no other additives to be so darned easy to pour! I have not taken temps on my testers. Just melted to barely clear. Did not take any special cooling precautions either. All have turned out nearly perfect. A few wet spots, but no cavities. I wish I had started testing these in our summer time weather to see how sensitive they are.

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This is California Candle Supplies cocowax 83, and it does have some kind of additive. I didn't add any myself.

 

And wow!  You haven't done any special voodoo rituals for pouring or cooling coconut wax???  And it works???    (running off to order more....!)

 

How long did you let yours cure?    I mean...since you're so eager to see how these do and I'm sooo nice that I wouldn't want to keep you in suspense...!

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I have been using the coconut beads from candles and supplies. The stock number on the bag says coconut 83. Who knows in the end what the heck I got in that package. 😜

 

I intentinally didnt do anything special to see how forgiving it is. So far, no whammies. Though when using wood wicks I like to poke around when cool to make sure no air got trapped. Wood wicks are less forgiving than traditional wicks that is. 

 

Curing.... I make multiples, so I light one after totally cool-like 48 hours because, well because. Often I just want a new candle to light at night. Then the other I hold onto for a couple of weeks to see if or how it changes with time. No matter how long I wait it soots. Scent or no scent it soots. The payoff for me is scents I have chosen seem to throw without even tryin at 6%. I smell those above all others.

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I would have made more if I'd had a bigger melting pot. 

 

I called CalCandle supply to ask about curing time and he said 24 hrs!   They say that soap making teaches you patience.  It's been 4 years....no patience yet!

 

He also said that they've had no luck with wood wicks and coconut wax. We'll see...

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Those are both too large for coco wax. That much MP and flame this early on will be very problematic. I watched in horror as flames like your video turned to 5-6" in a matter of minutes as the air current changed and the wax melt pool deepened. 

 

I would yank both and try a smooth (single ply) wood wick. 1/4" max. 

 

The nice thing about wooden wicks is you can replace a wick and secure a new one in the sustainer base.

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Seriously? Too big?  I'm surprised. (shouldn't be, I'm new at this) I thought the .02 was too small and the .03 was about right!  I'm so glad I post those videos  - thank you so much for your feedback TallTayl!

 

So melt pool is more than just width - but depth as well?  And judging by flame size can be deceiving - it can change a lot as the candle burns down?  

 

Glad I didn't burn the largest wick yet. Now, are you saying I can pull the wicks straight out of the wax and insert another without remelting? What about hole that's left behind?

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Don't worry about the little hole left behind it will fill ok. Usually. 

 

The depth of the melt pool pool is very important. It really would not take long for an overwicked coconut candle to go completely liquid.  Then you have a big flame, soot and lots of heat. 

 

With coconut nut I found the smaller the better. A bonus of not shooting for any depth of melt pool is the scent stays strong and true from the beginning to the end of the candle's life. The coconut bread candles I have throw far and wide - I can smell them over all other candles burning in the house within minutes of lighting. Relearn everything you thought you knew aboutncandles with this wax .

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Well I have learned very little about candles; I've only piddled around for short times over the last 2 years.    There are just too many combinations of soy wax and wicks, and now all the formulas are changing - I just don't have the patience or willingness to work with all the details.

 

Focusing on cocowax and wooden wicks narrows things down. 

 

Here's the 1/4 original wooden wick in a fresh candle. 

 

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