geekrunner

I too have an 11 oz tureen, MC soy and the 105 did not clean. Even tried the RRD55, same thing. I am going to try double wicking next. With the HTP wicks, you have three more sizes up to go, and I am hesitant to use bigger single wick for that. Maybe someone else has good luck with it??

In testing with S1 and Mill Creek soy, I found that the LX28 is pretty close, and may ned to go to the LX30. HTH

I just picked up some beeswax from Michael's to try out. It was pricey, ab five bucks for half pound, but I have it now for testing rather than waiting five days to ship. I have tested S1 and have enough to complete my Christmas candle project, but I am testing Mill Creek soy for next year sales, and my goal is to get a soy that will pour as hot as possible and still have smooth top. I have tried UA at 2%, poured at 135 deg but still had rough top and sinkhole. I even tried 2% UA and 5% 147 MP paraffin, poured at 115 deg and had the Grand Canyon in my test jar! After heat gunning them, the top was silky smooth, but I needed to wick up and the throw was not much better than straight soy. We'll see how beeswax works now.

I was looking for better scent throw and pour hotter. I left it alone a little too long, and was surprised with the consistency. Looking back I should have just tried one new ingredient at a time, but I couldn't resist playing around! :rolleyes2 I wound up heat gunning them, and they look fine now. Nice smooth creamy top. I honestly don't see the difference between adding a little 147 MP paraffin when it can be perfectly acceptable to add UA which has a 184 MP. I guess I'm still not quite sold on straight soy. I haven't found the right formula to get the awesome scent throw I am expecting. I saw that Nature's Garden says one can mix their MP126 (J50) wax 1:1 with their soy to get better cold throw and smooth tops. I may give that a try before I commit to working totally with MC soy.

I have a problem I am testing Mill Creek soy, and so far had pretty good luck with pouring cloudy to slushy, wick testing, scent, etc with just straight soy and no additives. Achieved fairly smooth top as long as I poured just as it turned slushy. WELL, I decided to don my Mad Scientist lab coat and try some additives. I heated 16 oz of the MC soy to 185 deg, added 0.8 oz (5%) plain paraffin with 147 MP, and 0.4 oz (ab 2%) UA from Peak's, and 1.5 oz FO called Christmas Spice. Stirred well, but almost immediately went cloudy. Set it aside for ab 20 minutes, then I found it had went to almost a gel-like state (as opposed to a slushy state) at 115 deg. Poured in room temp red apothecary jar, and let cool overnight. When I checked on them this morning, I found the hugest sinkholes in them! These actually more resembled the Grand Canyon than sinkholes. I am disgusted with them, needless to say. I plan on reheating and repouring a little hotter and see what happens. Any ideas on whahappened?

Appreciate all the responses! Lots of good tips on using time wisely.

I got some too. My M-I-L wanted a Peach scented candle, but I am gonna try to get her to cozy up to Apricot :rolleyes2

Tanx for the heads up!

If you were just melting enough for one jar, then 0.31 oz would be right for a 6% load, but usually we melt much more than that. If you were to pour eight jars at once, with total wax at 41.6 oz, a 6% load would mean you would need to add 2.496 oz FO. If you wanted to bump it up to 9% load it would be 3.744 oz FO. HTH Dave

I have tried the C80 in a 2.75 inch Anchor Hocking 12 oz Royal Ruby Red apothecary jar, and in plain MC soy (no FO/dye) it left just a slight hangup. it does burn well, with very little mushrooming. I also have an 8 oz jelly jar, but not tested anything in it yet. When I do, I'll let you know.

I have tested RRD-55 in MC soy, in 3 inch jar, and it barely does the job. I like how it burns, but it's just a bit too small for this jar, and it's the largest size they have. Oh well

I just got some Mill Creek pillar/votive soy but haven't made anything yet with it. As soon as I Do, I'll PM you with results.

Very nice gourds! Does that make you a gourd-head?

Good looking presents man! I bet they smell great. I have my own Christmas project going too. Hope they turn out as nice as yours!

That does look pretty cool! It would look great with similarly textured fabrics on furniture.

I am working with MC soy, and poured some jars @ 115 deg. I have poured two more @ 150 deg and will see how it works. I definitely want to save time, but still have a presentable candle with as little grief as possible. I can see that happening. I even contemplated having less wax in pot but that means pouring only two candles at once, rather than six to eight. Also, would more scent escape through a full pour pot rather than several poured containers all waiting to cool?

I didn't have to wait long...I just got here! Very nice candles indeed!

Wow! Everyone is asking about things I'm just starting on! I have a set of 5 oz clear glass coffee cups (or they may be teacups) that I'll be making Christmas presents out of. Will scent them with Hazelnut Coffee. I just began wick testing with some leftover S1 and started out with LX24. Got a 1/4" MP after the fitst 4 hour burn, and it didn't quite clean the sides. I will give it two more burns and see what happens. It curves, so the diameter decreases as it burns down, so I may not have to wick up. I'll keep you posted.

Here's an issue we can tackle! Many of us try to save time in candlemaking in various ways. Some of us want to have a soy that we can pour hot and have smooth tops, since it means we don't have to wait for the pour pot of scented wax to cool to near 100 degrees. Example: I had to wait at least one hour for a 3 lb pour pot of straight MC soy to cool from 185 deg to 115 deg, at which time it just got cloudy. Tops are pretty smooth, but could have poured 5 deg cooler. The candles cooled and solidified faster, though. Here's the issue: If you take the total time from when you fill the pour pot and add scent, pour the candle, allow to cool to a solidified candle, would it not be about the same time to pour hot, and then wait to cool? Also, is adding beeswax to have smooth tops while pouring hot worth the extra money for the time it might (or might not) save?

I sent you PMs

I definitely can appreciate experimentation. Good job!

If you want me to say they are ugly, OK. They are ugly. :rolleyes2 But only a little ugly. Looks like they got really bad third degree burns! Someone would really like them in the proper setting, and they would match someone's decor somewhere. Soon I will reveal some of my Frankenstein's Monster candles and then you will really see some uuuuu-gly ones!

You are in great company, lots of wacky people, probably due to smelling too much FO :rolleyes2 Also, you got here in time for all these neat new smileys! This is my favorite--->

Those do look real! Great job. Now I have to use this new smiley

You learn well grasshopper