? for Pryme users

[deronda31]

Okay, I've been making candles for over a year and thought I had a grasp on the whole wax to fo ratios. Now, I started using the pryme colors because they are made for soy wax. Anyways, my question might seem silly but, I do 6% oz to 1lb of wax....with the pryme calculator it deducts the percentage of fo from the wax. In other words, if I want 6% fo I'm not going to weigh out 1lb of wax, it will be less the amount of fo I'm adding.

So, if I go by the calculator, I haven't been adding enough fo to make it 6%?? I thought that if you weigh out 1lb of wax and you can add up to 10% FO and/or additives that it was added to the 1lb of wax. Am I making sense??LOL Any comments would be greatly appreciated, since I have no idea what I'm doing anymore!

By the way, the color came out great!!

Thanks,

Deronda

[topofmurrayhill]

To put it simply, yes you've been doing it a little wrong and the Pryme calculator is doing it the right way. Percentage formulas are based on the weight of the candle rather than the weight of the wax.

[deronda31]

Thanks Top, LOL I thought so too! Well, know I have to erase everything I thought again.

[geekrunner]

I really like the Pryme calculator! I can use it to calculate wax-only batches, then use it to figure the FO, wax and color percentages in a separate calculation.

One thing I found on it is that when it figures the amount of FO, regardless of the other ingredients, it counts against the wax only, since the calculator determines the amount of wax you need by using the plugged-in percentage figures to determine the gram weights of the ingredients, then deducting the ingredients weight from the total weight value entered in the top part of the calculator. So if I wanted to have my own 70/30 parasoy, I just plug and chug to get the values for all the ingredients. However, I find that the FO load is subtracted out of the wax qty instead of all ingedients across the board, which is what one would have if one made a big batch of 70/30 in a Presto pot, and simply decanted what one would need for making a candle.

Example: I make a certain jar candle, assuming the main wax is a soy. I enter the FO load as 7%, then enter J50 as an additive at 30%. When calculating, it shows the Wax percentage at 63%, the J50 at 30%, and the FO at 7%, total 100%. But then the wax blend (sans FO) is not a true 70/30.

That's why I calculate a wax-only batch, assemble it in the Presto pot, then refigure the candle using my proprietary wax blend as just wax, without listing any additives, only the FO and color.

Have I totally muddied up the water now? :rolleyes2

geek

[Jordan]

No, that makes complete sense, and I actually never thought about using it to determine my wax blend, I think that is very smart

[deronda31]

LOL Geek, you always amaze me!! It makes complete since. I just made too more batches of candles with Downy Fresh and Ocean. Can't wait to see what the difference will be. Downy Fresh has pretty much singed my nostrils. It's amazing how even after reading and studying and pouring...I still don't have a complete grasp on making candles!! I think it'll take me 20 years before I get a perfect candle! Thanks alot guys, I knew you'd set me straight.

[topofmurrayhill]

No, that makes complete sense, and I actually never thought about using it to determine my wax blend, I think that is very smart

I have spreadsheets that do this. Occasionally I've wondered where's the best place to put an ingredient. I have a proprietary paraffin blend for mottled pillars, but for the longest time I used the stearic addition as part of the candle formula instead of the wax blend. That would make the wax/stearic ratio vary depending on how much FO I used. Eventually I decided the results were more consistent if I increased the stearic percentage a smidge and made it part of the wax formula.