Quentin Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 What could have caused the problem shown in this picture? All the specks and smears you see are in the wax and not on the jar. You're looking from the bottom. The big white dot in the middle is obviously the wick sticker. Here are the pertinent facts from my notes: Pour Date: 8/3/18 at 1:30 PM CDT. *Ambient temperature (in non-insulated garage/candle factory): 95 degrees +. *Wax: GB 464. 12 oz *No additives. *Dye: Candle Science dye chip--- Started with 1.5 chips. Added another 1/2 chip. Total for desired color = 2 chips. *Fragrance Load: 6% = .72 oz (CS Amaretto Nog) 1) Added dye at 121 F. 2) Raised temperature to 190 F and removed from heat. Added fragrance between 185-190 and stirred for a minimum 2 minutes. 3) Began pouring at 140 degrees down to 130 degrees. 4) Let cool at garage ambient temperature overnight. Next morning brought candle into nice, cool air-conditioned house. 5) Cured for 14 days + Haven't burned one yet. My plan was to use GB 444 but I was out of stock on it. After thinking about this, I have my own idea of what caused this. I'm not telling, because I wouldn't want to prejudice anyone's opinion. 🖖 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franu61 Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 Are the spots through out the candle or just on the bottom? It looks like dirt or debris particles or flecks of un- dissolved dye chip? What color was the dye? The streaks hmm, almost looks like the glue from the sticker smeared? Sounds like you did everything right except I do pour 464 a little bit cooler. I shoot for 120 or so, but if that is undissolved dye pouring temp would not have made any difference. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I was going to say the same thing Fran said, dirt or debris. And then looking at the (very) low temperature you put your dye chips in, I would venture to say it was the dye. I always put the dye in at 180 degrees and I use 464 also. I pour at 149 give or take for smooth glass tops but that wouldn't have anything to do with what is on the bottom of your jar. Trappeur 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franu61 Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 @Trappeur i am gonna try pouring at 149, cuz I want beautiful candles like you make! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 (edited) Aaahhh...what a beautiful comment to make....thankyou Fran....well, I try... Oh I have my duds toooo....lol Trappeur Edited August 27, 2018 by Trappeur 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 On 8/26/2018 at 4:27 PM, franu61 said: Are the spots through out the candle or just on the bottom? It looks like dirt or debris particles or flecks of un- dissolved dye chip? What you see is only on the bottom. I didn't even notice this until I was putting on the warning labels. I try to keep a pretty clean shop BUT... it is possible that could be debris. The colors you see in the picture are probably not exactly true but may be from On 8/27/2018 at 7:23 AM, Trappeur said: I would venture to say it was the dye. where I adjusted the photo to make the features show up better. It may not be red at all! It's boxed up now, so I can't check. But to answer your question Fran, the color is Candle Science Butterscotch. On 8/26/2018 at 3:32 PM, Quentin said: I have my own idea of what caused this. I'm not telling, because I wouldn't want to prejudice anyone's opinion. 🖖 My thoughts before I posted this were that it could have been too much dye or the wrong temperature to completely dissolve the chip. I think that's some of what I'm hearing from Trapp and Fran. I'll fire it up. If the wick is small or keeps going out, then it could be clogging from too much wax? Is that correct? I'll jot down some notes based on what y'all told me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 Quentin, You said you put 6% oil in your wax. You used 12oz wax to make your candle I see......So did you put 6% oil for the 12oz of wax or 6% oil for a pound of wax (which is the correct one)...???Hmmmm. Don't you just hate that when things like this happen? If your wick was too small, your wax wouldn't be clogging. It would be stuck in limbo and possibly tunneling... Well, just fire the thing up and see what happens. Trappeur 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 6% of 12 oz. As in .06 x 12 oz = 0.72 oz of fragrance for the candle. Actually it was a batch of... wait a minute. I'm confused. Let me grab my notes. OK, I'm back. It was a batch of 10 identical candles. All from the same pot. That is to say 12 oz x 10 candles = 120 oz x .06 = 7.2 oz of fragrance for the batch. 7.2 oz / 10 = 0.72 oz. Pleeeez don't tell me I've been doing it the wrong way for a whole year now. This can be tough for a guy with A.D.H.D. I never mentioned the wick because it wasn't relevant to what I was showing. The square jar is a little over 3 inches wide which would call for an ECO 14 using the Candle Science guide. That was before I knew better! Diagonally it measures 4 inches which CS would say to use an ECO 16. So I compromised and used the 16. Maybe I should take up LED candles instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 On 8/27/2018 at 7:23 AM, Trappeur said: looking at the (very) low temperature you put your dye chips in, I would venture to say it was the dye. I always put the dye in at 180 degrees and I use 464 also Clarification: I added the dye at 121 F at the beginning. It was in the mix all the way up to 190 F and all the way back down again. It should have dissolved easily. I think I could have explained that better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldieMN Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 I also thought it was 6% of the wax weight. @Quentin GoldieMN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdcharm Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 It does sort of look as though it "radiated" (maybe not the right word) out from the wick sticker. It seems to have spread or splatter more than settle, which makes me think the hot wax on the metal tab might have pushed some adhesive outward in streaks ...? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah S Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 On August 28, 2018 at 6:15 PM, Quentin said: 6% of 12 oz. As in .06 x 12 oz = 0.72 oz of fragrance for the candle. Actually it was a batch of... wait a minute. I'm confused. Let me grab my notes. OK, I'm back. It was a batch of 10 identical candles. All from the same pot. That is to say 12 oz x 10 candles = 120 oz x .06 = 7.2 oz of fragrance for the batch. 7.2 oz / 10 = 0.72 oz. Pleeeez don't tell me I've been doing it the wrong way for a whole year now. This can be tough for a guy with A.D.H.D. I never mentioned the wick because it wasn't relevant to what I was showing. The square jar is a little over 3 inches wide which would call for an ECO 14 using the Candle Science guide. That was before I knew better! Diagonally it measures 4 inches which CS would say to use an ECO 16. So I compromised and used the 16. Maybe I should take up LED candles instead. 6% is 6%. Don't stress that, you're doing it right. Doesn't matter if it's 6% of .5 oz or 6% of 50 oz, 6% is still 6%. 😉 The spots look similar to when I have some unmelted dye flecks in my wax. It usually happens with reds and browns. I agree with Trapp that you might want to try adding the dye at a higher temp. Are the candles gifts? For sale? Personal use? I'd burn one just to make sure there are no issues with wick clogging or what have you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Posted August 31, 2018 Author Share Posted August 31, 2018 10 hours ago, Sarah S said: 6% is 6%. Don't stress that, you're doing it right. Doesn't matter if it's 6% of .5 oz or 6% of 50 oz, 6% is still 6%. 😉 The spots look similar to when I have some unmelted dye flecks in my wax. It usually happens with reds and browns. I agree with Trapp that you might want to try adding the dye at a higher temp. Are the candles gifts? For sale? Personal use? I'd burn one just to make sure there are no issues with wick clogging or what have you. Kind words indeed. I do tend to stress over just about everything. Mathematics and I have never been good friends. I don't know where I first got the idea that the dye could or should be added at the start of the melt process. I guess I just assumed that if it mixed in nicely then that was all that really mattered. Apparently I was wrong about that. There's more chemistry going on here than I realized. Since Trapp and Fran's comments, I've decided to go with their advice and not turning back. I'm heating to 190 F and then adding the dye as the temp drops to 185. Then I'm adding my fragrance as close to 185 as possible. Too early to report if I can see any difference but I'm sticking with that plan. There must be something to it because now everywhere I read, I see that same advice. Who knows why I didn't notice all that before? To answer your question: The eventual goal is to sell, but I haven't arrived at the point where I can feel comfortable putting my name on the product and be proud of it. I'll get there. I just try to remind myself of what Edison said. I can't remember exactly the way he put it, but when asked about all his failures, Edison told a reporter that he didn't consider them as failures. Edison replied that he had just learned that many things that would not work! I'm certainly not an Edison, but I just keep on going. It's still fun regardless of what happens. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 On 8/28/2018 at 7:24 PM, birdcharm said: It does sort of look as though it "radiated" (maybe not the right word) out from the wick sticker. And it turns out that you and the others are exactly right. I looked at the stickers I used in those candles. They weren't wick stickers at all. The label said plainly "Double Sided Adhesive Sticky Dots", "Foam Mounting Tape". I just wasn't paying attention. But hey, I got a really great deal on them that I just couldn't let go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 Well, I'm glad you figured out what that white stuff was Quentin. Trappeur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilosCandles Posted September 17, 2018 Share Posted September 17, 2018 I am having a similar issue with Golden Wax 444. I have a 100 pound wax melter. 1st pot of each night (after refill) is full of debris. I am going to clean out the melter hopefully this week and see if the problem continues. You can see all the debris on the pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 @MilosCandles sweet studio! Bummer about the debris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilosCandles Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 So I cleaned out my melter last night. OMG it was a disgusting mess inside. SO MUCH BETTER. Clearly I need to empty and clean it out like every 6 months. I wish I could describe what some of it was in there. The pic I attached reminded me of cardboard shreds. Was a ton of that. Then when I emptied the last bit of wax out, it looked Oil, and Vinegar. There was a dark liquid in the bottom that just clumped together. All of it was just so Bizarre. @jerryThanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RupeLove Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 @MilosCandles Impressive setup! #goals 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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