chris77

guess my thought was that if I put a votive in a glass container and put that in the hurricane, the glass would eventually get hot and could melt into the bottom of the 'cane. ????

I started the "Candlewic is bad" thread....I meant it at the time. However I also started a "Candlewic stepped up" thread a few hours later when they recitified the situation. Had they not stepped up, I would not have used or reccomended them. Despite seeing how many people have had problems with them, I do wish I never started it...I keep seeing it be brought back up....

I'm curious now....does a hurricane have to have a bottom?

Even if you knew nothing of candles, you know your scripture....that's got a ton of value to people like me! Glad to see so many Christians on the board into candlemaking. Makes it feel more like family!

Mold? I tried one using the glass container....I've never seen a flower pot mold. Where did you get yours? BTW, thanks for the response...you can bet your flower pots you'll be hearing more from me! lol :highfive:

I don't use palm wax. The rrd 29 is working ok right now in my pillar/votive blend that I added 25% soy125 to. Hopefully I've got one down...a gazillion to go!

I'm going to get known here as Chris "the votive guy." Can anyone guess what I'm trying to master? :rolleyes2 Ok, I'm also working on Flower Pot Votives and I want to make the refills. With these being larger containers, would you fill it initially with pillar/votive wax, or container wax? Would you make the refills with the same wax? Thank you all so much.....you make candlemaking more fun, and much easier.

Mary - thank you for the info. I have not tried zinc wicks. Ordered some samples from a certain company and have yet to receive them. I'm using between 8 and 9% FO....wax is rated for 8% with most FO's. It is possible that there is nothing wrong with the wicks I've been testing...it is most likely me...afraid of putting out a bad product....and wanting my product to be the best....I don't like to fail! I don't want to give myself a bad name. I'm going to try everything that has been suggested in this thread. Thank you everybody for your help! So glad I found this website!

Thank you Kimberly....you just made me feel a whole lot better!

Me? Impatient? I want it to be right and I want it right now!!!! And yes, I'm using a tight holder and the right trim. I am not always trimming the 2nd or 3 burns. Trying to burn it as a customer might.

I have made so many votives that I'm happy with. I just can't seem to get the wicking right....so this is a venting message! I'm using a paraffin pillar/votive blend. I've tried rrd29,34...lx 10/12/14....tried cotton 30/40. I just don't know. Am I too much of a anal, obsessive compulsive perfectionist? Probably. I just don't want to settle for less than perfection. Some votives self consume, never melting out all of the way to get a full melt pool. Others get a big melt pool fast and I get a huge mushroom and some smoking. other's melt out all the way but the pool is shallow and the wick burns down to barely a flicker. They all burn so differently. I'm frustrated. I'm running out of test wicks! I know some say they hate to make votives, I love it...I think it's fun. I just can't get the wicking right! Thank you for listening! Chris

So I'm working on a votive and was wondering....I'm using a candlewic blend, cbl141 pillar/votive blend....I'm testing with 25% soy125........do you think that will be ok? I dont think it will drop the melt point too much. I'm hoping Top will throw in his 2 cents Thanks...Chris

I've been testing votives at work since I'm there most of the time. My latest votives tests are filling up the entire 4000 sq ft store with one votive burning. Anywho, I got in to work yesterday and the mall management had sent out a notice to all stores stating that it's against the lease agreement to burn candles. Turns out I wasn't the only one doing it!

Ok, so I made cinnamon votives a few weeks ago. When they cooled they turned pink...so I melted them down again to put in more dye. Forgot the dye and repoured. So, I tried again....forgot the dye a second time. Third time I got it. This past week made cinnamon votives again, found that it's the FO that is changing my cinnamon from red to pink. I melted them back down down this time and found that I hadn't learned my lesson...I poured once again without adding more dye! I hope practice makes perfect!

what's wrong with that? I haven't tried the hurricanes yet, but I think it looks great!

I like 'em both, however the draped is awesome!

Thank you Kitty! That's an honor coming from you!

Nice marble!

Thank you everyone for your compliments! I'm going to try to answer all of the questions in this one post.... Regarding the dye, I probably could have gotten away with using 3-4 drops...however there was no smell from the dye I used. I made one with red from candlewic and one with green from peaks....no smell at all. I'm testing these with no fragrance...don't want to waste any yet. Using regular container wax versus soy....I doubt it....regular container wax that I have cools and sets up differently than the soy. Non soy wax that I've used solidifies from the sides, top and bottom first. The soy wax starts to become jelly throughout, thus giving an even mix when I marble. When I put a drop of dye in paraffin, it starts to blend on it's own. The soy however leaves the drop of dye right where I put it. Then I use the skewer to move the dye where I want it. Any more questions? The only thing I'm trying to work out now is the formual for soy versus palm stearic to gain a smooth texture without any cracking. I'll post more as I test. Thanks again!

Thank you! There is a step by step for marbled candles in the instructions part of the site. However, the way I'm doing the containers is much much easier than the pillar. I'm experimenting with soy125 from candlewic and palm stearic. Melt the wax and then let it cool until it starts to get foggy. Heat the container and pour the wax in. 4 or 5 drops of dye on top of the wax. Then I use a skewer, poke each dye drop and move it where I want it. To get it to show up darker, you must move the skewer against the side of the glass, thus smearing the dye against the container. Let us know how it goes, post up some pics! Happy marbling.

They all turned out nice. I like the cranberry marmalade and the honey as well.

Thanks mama!

These are way easier to make than the paraffin marbles. And no mess, no clean up! This is fun! Edit: I learn the hardway. I let it set up over night. I just heated a wick pin and pushed in through the middle of the candle for my test wick and coincidentally split the candle right down the middle.....cracked it in half! Guess I should try that before it's set up from now on! *lol*

Just trying some different variations. I tried soy with stearic and still got a funky looking top....mashed potato like. Maybe not enough stearic. Thought I'd try both additives. However, now that it has cooled more, I've got some wicked (wick-ed) cracks taking off. Back to the drawing boards. Thanks for the response....I'll have to experiment with the dye more too. With the wax melted it looked like more than enough dye. I figure when it burns down and gets a decent melt pool the whole top of the candle will be red. 3 drops of dye in that puppy! Thanks again....