Weird reaction with Palm

[Jcandleattic]

So, a candle I made with palm the other day (Saturday I think) and the weirdest thing happened. 

I wish I would have taken a pic - anyway, while it was down in the cool basement everything was fine. Then yesterday I brought it up to put on the kitchen table because I was going to start testing it tonight when I got home from work. (new jar size) 

 

Well, when I got home from work yesterday, the top 1/4 inch was completely liquid, with melted wax and scent. I thought I had put too much scent in because this is a new jar and I only used 9 oz of wax. Nope, only used 3% FO as is typical. (.25 oz FO) 

Ambient temp in the kitchen with the AC on is about 76°. 

So I took it back down to the basement (ambient temp with AC about 70°) Monday evening deciding I'd deal with it later. 

 

I looked this morning. Back to solid. 

Umm ??? WTH man? I've NEVER had that happen, (granted have only been testing palm extensively for about a year, but) I know I've had palm candles in this same scent (different jar) in my kitchen, in the summer, at the same ambient temp and nothing like this has happened... 

 

Any of you experienced palm makers know what might be up with this??? @Candybee- any ideas? 

[TallTayl]

Did you happen to stir vigorously?

[Jcandleattic]

3 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

Did you happen to stir vigorously?

Not really, I mean, no any more or less than any other time. I usually always stir about the same no matter which wax/scent combo it is.

I also had another jar (shaped a bit different, with a different scent and color but same wax and FO load) that I made at the same time, sitting next to it, and it seemed to be fine, without liquifying or resolidifying. 

 

[Kerven]

Is that a CW palm?

Asking because two blends that I experimented with had odd, unexplained sweating and they both contained palm-3.

[Candybee]

Have not had that happen before. One thought that comes to mind is did your electric by chance go out and the jar get warm? My gut feeling is this has to do with a heat problem. I just don't see 1/4" FO pooling at the top as being the problem unless its something new I've never seen before.

 

Who's palm wax are you using?

[Jcandleattic]

3 hours ago, Kerven said:

Is that a CW palm?

Asking because two blends that I experimented with had odd, unexplained sweating and they both contained palm-3.

No, glass glow from Candles and Supplies. 

[Jcandleattic]

3 hours ago, Candybee said:

Have not had that happen before. One thought that comes to mind is did your electric by chance go out and the jar get warm? My gut feeling is this has to do with a heat problem. I just don't see 1/4" FO pooling at the top as being the problem unless its something new I've never seen before.

 

Who's palm wax are you using?

I asked my daughter who was home yesterday, and no, she said the electric never went out, the AC was going most of the day because it's been about 98°-102° out this week. Maybe it got in direct sunlight on the kitchen table, and with the glass of the kitchen window it got way hotter than I would have thought? IDK. 

It seemed like it was more than just FO though, because when I touched it, it had that waxy feeling and coated my finger when I pulled it away if you know what I mean, and when it resolidified it kept the crystalizing affect, which I also thought was weird. 

 

It is just a tester candle, so I will go ahead and burn it, however, to truly test I will make a different one just to be sure. 

 

This wax is Glass Glow from Candles and Supplies. 

 

The whole experience was/is just super weird... 

[moonshine]

Ummmm so crazy....

I have been seeing this with some coconut waxes which I believe contain palm....here I move away from soy and run into another brick wall

they all have not done this its just a few and it pops up after you think all is fine 🤷‍♀️

And like you said it has a waxy feel to it but mine have a definite FO look and smell as well 

I don’t get it 

[Jcandleattic]

16 hours ago, moonshine said:

I don’t get it 

I don't either. 

 

I put it out in the kitchen again today just to see what would happen and it's perfectly fine. No more leaks, seepage, nothing. Who the heck knows what happened. 

Maybe I dreamt the whole thing! HAHA 

[ncraiders]

12 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said:

I don't either. 

 

I put it out in the kitchen again today just to see what would happen and it's perfectly fine. No more leaks, seepage, nothing. Who the heck knows what happened. 

Maybe I dreamt the whole thing! HAHA 

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't one of those 1 in a million type things that you will never see again.  Lets hope it was an extremely rare issue that we don't run into again.

[pcbrook]

Wow!  That is weird.  Palm doesn't melt that easy to begin with and to just sit there and do that.  I never heard of such a thing.  Maybe someone is trying to mess with you?  I could see someone in my family doing that to me just to get me all in a tizzy!    Let's see if we can get Mom to freak out!  hehe

[Jcandleattic]

6 minutes ago, pcbrook said:

I could see someone in my family doing that to me just to get me all in a tizzy! 

LOL nah, seriously, my family could not give one whit about my candlemaking. They ignore for the most part. 

 

I would have thought it was just FO, but it was so deep, and waxy - almost as if it was lit for a couple hours, however, the wick was unburned, and the volume was the same.  

 

8 minutes ago, pcbrook said:

Palm doesn't melt that easy to begin with

 

EXACTLY! So I wouldn't have thought, even sitting in the sun that would have happened. It's NEVER happened to any of my other candles (palm included), even my J50 doesn't melt like that in the sun (gets softer but doesn't melt) 

 

I'm going to chalk this up to a weird phenomenon and go about my merry way, but keeping an eye on the rest of my palm candles that I set on my kitchen table. 

[Candybee]

The only time I got a pool on top of my palm candles is when I took my candles to a market on a hot day and the ones with vanilla hazelnut pooled. But only those. They did get pretty messy and you could turn the candles over and drip the pooled FO. I assumed it was the FO that pooled on top. I just cleaned them up and tried one and it still burned fine and scented well. Sooo, my other guess is it could be a FO that is doing that to you. Does it have vanilla in it? Is it a fragrance that you have not tried before?

[Jcandleattic]

On 7/12/2018 at 4:12 PM, Candybee said:

The only time I got a pool on top of my palm candles is when I took my candles to a market on a hot day and the ones with vanilla hazelnut pooled. But only those. They did get pretty messy and you could turn the candles over and drip the pooled FO. I assumed it was the FO that pooled on top. I just cleaned them up and tried one and it still burned fine and scented well. Sooo, my other guess is it could be a FO that is doing that to you. Does it have vanilla in it? Is it a fragrance that you have not tried before?

I have used this scent before, multiple times, in the same wax, in the same conditions, only difference would be the jar that was being used. 

No vanilla in the scent that I know of, but other candles made that day, with the same batch of wax that had vanilla in them, did not pool like this. I thought it was just FO at first too, however, it was a big pool, so I dipped my finger into it. It was definitely more than just FO, as my finger came out with solid waxy residue on it. As if the palm had melted along with the FO. 

As I said earlier, same wax, same scent, same everything except jar (and wick, but it was never lit), and this has never happened before. 

 

It seems fine now, and is burning perfectly in my test, but I'll be sure to test another one to make sure this phenomenon doesn't happen again. 

[Candybee]

That's weird. For palm to get hot enough to melt you would not only get wax on your finger but it would be at the very least warm to hot to the touch.