mbroom2005

That 1212 is absolutely perfect..... Great job!!

Jason, I will try to catch up with you soon... I would love to talk to you as well. I have some other questions for you! Mark

No problem I hope they help. I would like if Jason would chime in here. Actually I may email him I have another question for him about something off topic I guess. Mark

The color chips haven't really changed anything for us. We use 1 chip PER POUND of wax. Did test burns with all the different colors that we use and haven't had to change a thing. We only make small batches about 4lbs. at a time so if you are making bigger batches than that you may want to test on your own. We use square mason (8oz), Cargill C-3, FO at 1oz per lb., 1 color chip per lb., and HTP83 wicks. Mark

Just to be an "outside the box" kinda person.... I took 1lb of 449 up to 180... Added 1oz of Canteloupe FO (Peaks)... Added 1 Melon Color Chip (Reddig Glo from CandleScience).... Poured into room temperature 8oz square mason jars (approximately 72 degrees) at wax temp of 168.... THEY DRIED FLAWLESSLY!!! Well other than a small spot around the wick. I couldn't believe it.... In the jar also is an HTP83 wick. Burning one of them now and the scent throw is good I think however in this setup it needs to be wicked up a little. The HTP83 is leaving a little hanging on the sides after 3 seperate 4 hour burns. Here are some pictures of the one that isn't burning. TOP VIEW BOTTOM VIEW - Small amounts of frosting in spots... SIDE 1 - You can see a small amount of frosting along the bottom of the jar SIDE 2 - Again just a littel towards the bottom SIDE 3 - Same thing... SIDE 4 - This side is pretty clear. I have a feeling the small amounts of frosting in this candle are from the jar position in relation to the open window (keeps the kitchen cooler than the rest of the house). I think maybe the areas that are frosted are maybe the areas that were getting a little more cool air from the outside. What does everyone think?? I mean am I crazy for thinking that this is pretty darn easy?? Has the 449 taken the "skill" out of candle making?? Hope this all helps or gives someone some information that will help them. The 423 blend is next for my testing... Pillar Blend going to try it in some tarts. Mark

We have had really good luck with the Ivory color chips. We had a few problems and someone suggested this to us. It took care of it!! We use the Reddig-Glo chips that you can get from several places. We buy ours from CandleScience you can find them here.... http://www.candlescience.com/site/shop/color/reddigglo-dye-chips.php The ivory ones are the ones that help with the discoloring problem I know they don't "turn it white" but it does keep it more manageable. Hope that helps, Mark

I haven't received my samples yet either. I am guessing that the holidays threw a wrench in the plans but I hope I get mine soon I need to do some testing like the rest of you have!!

C-3 is NatureWax manufactured by Cargill.... I don't know if there is a "terminology page" or not but if you read a little you can probably figure everything out... it takes a while!! You can also post a question on the main candle making board and I am sure someone or a bunch of people will answer with what they call things.

Thanks CandleMan and yes that is a good theory!! I never thought of that and I don't think she did either. We will take that into account on the next label order and see what we can come up with. Thanks a bunch everyone!!! Mark

We are in SE Ohio in the Cambridge area... You are more than welcome to the bear... :-) we will gladly ship to you!!! Thank you! Mark

Here are a few of the things we do. Everything is done with C-3 wax.

The only thing I can get locally is C-3 and 402, 415 (Golden Foods?) I don't know about the 402 or the 415 since we had problems with it in the past but I think it was more of a wick problem knowing what we know now.

Thank you all so far this is very helpful. This is our first Christmas making candles so we are learning as we go a little. Next year this will not happen to us I am sure of that. The problem with the wax supply is that if I buy from somewhere else I have to get it shipped which raises the cost a bunch. We don't do this to make a million bucks but it is a nice extra income for us. I usually order FO's from her and have them shipped but wax we will go pick up (100 miles each way). Thanks again for the advice from everyone and hopefully this stuff helps more that just me.. Mark

The other extreme is to put them in an oven on warm. Let the wax remelt and rebond to the mold at which point they cool at relatively the same rate. When they cool they should pop right out. We do this with tarts from time to time just as a last resort....

I am going to keep vendor names out so we don't upset anyone, but I have a problem. We have recently had some problems with our sole vendor for scent, wax, wicks and just about everything else we buy from one source. It seems that they are either too busy for us little people or they just don't care anymore. The bottom line is this they sell NatureWax C-3 which we love and we use them in the square 8oz Mason jars with HTP83 wicks. BURNS PERFECTLY everytime. In the past 3 months we have had trouble with them switching out scents, dropping the jars (they dont even carry them anymore), and now we are within 15 lbs of running out of wax and THEY are out too for at least 10 days!! Help me out here.... Can anyone either give me some guidance as to whether this vendor should just flat out be taken from our list or should we keep giving them 200 chances. Also if you can give us some guidance on wax that works with the setup we have going.. square mason, htp83 wicks, normally 1oz-1.25oz scent per pound of wax. I appreciate in advance all your comments and help on this matter!!! Mark

I am going to keep vendor names out so we don't upset anyone, but I have a problem. We have recently had some problems with our sole vendor for scent, wax, wicks and just about everything else we buy from one source. It seems that they are either too busy for us little people or they just don't care anymore. The bottom line is this they sell NatureWax C-3 which we love and we use them in the square 8oz Mason jars with HTP83 wicks. BURNS PERFECTLY everytime. In the past 3 months we have had trouble with them switching out scents, dropping the jars (they dont even carry them anymore), and now we are within 15 lbs of running out of wax and THEY are out too for at least 10 days!! Help me out here.... Can anyone either give me some guidance as to whether this vendor should just flat out be taken from our list or should we keep giving them 200 chances. Also if you can give us some guidance on wax that works with the setup we have going.. square mason, htp83 wicks, normally 1oz-1.25oz scent per pound of wax. I appreciate in advance all your comments and help on this matter!!! Mark

Thank you very much for the numbers Breanna I do appreciate that. Mark

I know this is probably on here somewhere... but what is everyone's take on how much wax you can melt in a Presto at one time?? I have heard anything from 4-6 lbs??? We are using Soy and need a better alternative to the double boiling in the pour pots... Thanks, Mark

That is cool.... Wonder how it works in real life though?? Would be interested in hearing from anyone that has one of these..

We started out with about 10 then slowly as they sold well dropped 3-4 and switched them out. Once we found ones to replace those we added about 10 more and started the process over again. Now we have 31 but planning on dropping 3 of those so back to 28.... it will grow after the holiday and this little fundraiser we are doing. Hope that helps, Mark

Great!! Getting good information I think for the newbies and those of us that have been doing it a while. I am going to let this go a while longer while I am compiling the results... Thanks everyone, Mark

I am not sure what some of those others offer but here are a few others that you can check out. They all support Microsoft Front Page extensions so they are really easy to work with if you are using FrontPage or Publisher. I have used all of these in one way or another for the last 4 years or so... http://www.cihost.com http://www.hostrocket.com http://www.3essentials.com Hope that helps!! Mark

Thank you very much. I saw that in there before but guess I just didnt realize that you could do it with soy or with containers for that matter... Thanks a bunch I will give it a shot and put my results on here within the next few days. Mark

How did you get the marbled effect.. that is simply wonderful. I would love to have instructions on how you did that!! Great job.

I think I have the best idea yet.. Maybe not but its a thought. Go to Big Lots, Odd Lots, Wally World and buy 2 of the big rubbermaid containers. Put all the valuable stuff in one of them, the not so valuable stuff in the other. Now here is the fun part... Slap a UPS label on them and I will PM you my address.... I have a basement that is just begging for more stuff!!! Good luck and let me know when you ship Mark