candles Needing some help

[Tokoo]

My first time making candles, and all was going fine, until they all set. I was recommend using GB 464 Soy Wax, and was advised to play with pour temps. These are results I got going from left to right 120/110/105. if I go above 120 or below 100 I get sink holes. I used 1oz fragrance/1lb wax, and I used dye blocks. I made sure to heat the wax to 185 degrees, before adding anything. I also preheated all jars while wax was cooling so they were still warm during pour.  

 

Issues I am having.

If you noticed the sandy colored one half of it is shiny looking, and the other half isn't, this was poured at 110 degrees, I only had 3 candles do this. It makes then look like they were poured more then once, but I assure you its one pour.

 

2nd issue I have is frosting. I personally like it, but my girlfriend doesn't so she want to get rid of as much frosting as possible. I took a hairdryer to them, since I don't have a heat gun, took forever, but it looked fine. 2 hours later, and I noticed the frosting was even worse. The result is the last one in the picture, the brown orange color.

 

Any help to fix these is much appreciated. 

[Jcandleattic]

That;s just the nature of wax. In paraffin it's called wet spots (because the spots look wet) in soy it's called frosting (which is what yours looks like) - in soy, coloring the candles will make the frosting more noticeable, but it is normal. Nothing really gets rid of them, because once the ambient temperature or climate of where the candles are changes, they will come back. 

 

The main thing you need to worry about is getting your wicks correct by testing to make sure you don't have a dangerous candle, then worry about the aesthetics. 

[Trappeur]

Hello Tokoo,

 

First off, welcome....

 

2'nd:  You made your candles perfectly from beginning to end....great!

 

3'rd:  There is absolutely NOTHING can do about what the physical appearance of all your candles, frosting and wet spots.

          It is a natural characteristic trait of soy and you can heat all you want, do different pour temperatures, etc.....You may have 1 candle turn out perfect and 2 that don't...whatever...even heating your jars may or may not help, most likely not and to me is a complete waste of time.   You would have to go to a paraffin to get the results you are looking for.  So many come here and ask this question all the time who are new to candle making.  The only thing you can do is embrace this situation...plain answer.  I use 464 and used to color my candles years ago...not any more...Leaving dye out is the only answer to the frosting problem.  Now you can get wet spots and we all do periodically but it is something you just have to accept.   You probably don't like this answer but it is what it is.  No one cares in my opinion and I sell to stores...never once did I ever get complaints or negative reviews on the candles.  I didn't like the frosting either and it bothered me.  Once I went au naturelle, no more problems like this.

 

Trappeur

[Jcandleattic]

15 minutes ago, Trappeur said:

You would have to go to a paraffin to get the results you are looking for.

Paraffin will get wet spots too, and there's also nothing to be done about it. Paraffin just doesn't get frosting on the top of the wax in the jars like soy does, but wet spots are always going to be there. 

[Clear Black]

This is why you see so many soy candles that are natural in color or white. Many dont dye soy wax because it makes the frosting more noticeable. I prefer the natural color of wax whether it be paraffin or soy so I dont care. Ive sold many soy candles at markets and not once did anyone make a stink about them not being dyed candles. I do think however, that dyed candles sell better or easier. People tend to gravitate towards color, but when it comes down to it wont fuss about an un-colored candle.

[Tokoo]

15 minutes ago, Trappeur said:

Hello Tokoo,

 

First off, welcome....

 

2'nd:  You made your candles perfectly from beginning to end....great!

 

3'rd:  There is absolutely NOTHING can do about what the physical appearance of all your candles, frosting and wet spots.

          It is a natural characteristic trait of soy and you can heat all you want, do different pour temperatures, etc.....You may have 1 candle turn out perfect and 2 that don't...whatever...even heating your jars may or may not help, most likely not and to me is a complete waste of time.   You would have to go to a paraffin to get the results you are looking for.  So many come here and ask this question all the time who are new to candle making.  The only thing you can do is embrace this situation...plain answer.  I use 464 and used to color my candles years ago...not any more...Leaving dye out is the only answer to the frosting problem.  Now you can get wet spots and we all do periodically but it is something you just have to accept.   You probably don't like this answer but it is what it is.  No one cares in my opinion and I sell to stores...never once did I ever get complaints or negative reviews on the candles.  I didn't like the frosting either and it bothered me.  Once I went au naturelle, no more problems like this.

 

Trappeur

Thank you. I personally think that the frosting adds character to them, but my girlfriend thinks they are suppose to look like the cheap things you get in Walmart, I've tried explaining that those are not Soy. I agree with you that heating the jars maybe a waste of time. I tested this by heating the first 6 jars, but not the last 6, same results. I may just do colorless soy candles from here own, and do colored paraffin. 

[Tokoo]

27 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said:

That;s just the nature of wax. In paraffin it's called wet spots (because the spots look wet) in soy it's called frosting (which is what yours looks like) - in soy, coloring the candles will make the frosting more noticeable, but it is normal. Nothing really gets rid of them, because once the ambient temperature or climate of where the candles are changes, they will come back. 

 

The main thing you need to worry about is getting your wicks correct by testing to make sure you don't have a dangerous candle, then worry about the aesthetics. 

Thanks, I will be doing a burn test later this week. 

[Trappeur]

Another thing.....curing you need to do that to get a proper burn to figure out your wicking.  And to get the best results for throw of fragrance.  How long have your candles cured for??  I like to keep mine at a 2 week cure time.  At times I get antsy and test them at 9, l0, ll  days...But generally for me 2 weeks. 

 

Trappeur

[Tokoo]

9 minutes ago, Trappeur said:

Another thing.....curing you need to do that to get a proper burn to figure out your wicking.  And to get the best results for throw of fragrance.  How long have your candles cured for??  I like to keep mine at a 2 week cure time.  At times I get antsy and test them at 9, l0, ll  days...But generally for me 2 weeks. 

 

Trappeur

About a week.

[Kerven]

Frosting and wet spots are very difficult to avoid with soy wax, and even if you don't have any right now there is no guarantee they aren't going to show up eventually.

 

For me, dye chips seemed to cause more frosting than liquid dyes. Browns, dark greens (like hunter green), oranges, and blue were always an issue. Brown was the worse by far.

 

One lesson I learned about touching up a soy candle: never ever use a hairdryer. The frosting is always (at least) twice as worse once it sets up.

[Tokoo]

42 minutes ago, Kerven said:

Frosting and wet spots are very difficult to avoid with soy wax, and even if you don't have any right now there is no guarantee they aren't going to show up eventually.

 

For me, dye chips seemed to cause more frosting than liquid dyes. Browns, dark greens (like hunter green), oranges, and blue were always an issue. Brown was the worse by far.

 

One lesson I learned about touching up a soy candle: never ever use a hairdryer. The frosting is always (at least) twice as worse once it sets up.

I was wondering if the liquid dye might be a better result. how about heat gun for touching up, I figured they both be about the same. 

[Jcandleattic]

1 hour ago, Tokoo said:

 I figured they both be about the same.

Heat guns and hair dryers are worlds apart. Heat guns get much much hotter, but don't blow as hard as a hair dryer. Exact opposite with a hair dryer, not as hot and blows too hard. All you really accomplish is blowing what little melted wax you can get to melt around. 

[Tokoo]

2 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

Heat guns and hair dryers are worlds apart. Heat guns get much much hotter, but don't blow as hard as a hair dryer. Exact opposite with a hair dryer, not as hot and blows too hard. All you really accomplish is blowing what little melted wax you can get to melt around. 

Thats true, I was just thinking about the heat.