NewOrleansLady

I went from J223 to JS123 to her 50/50 votive & container blends and I've stayed with that for about 1-1/2 years now. Great scent throw, makes a beautiful votive and container candle. Very creamy. I liked the JS123 1,000 times better than the J223 but was looking for a soy blend. If you want some scent rec's try these: grapefruit mint; vanilla nut bread; asian spice (Pier 1), almond marzipan,candied blueberries; mama's blueberry cobbler; cantaloupe melon blitz; chestnuts & brown sugar; hot baked apple pie (best apple pie I've found), coconut bubble, totally scrumptious, water lily & melon (soft & light for candles but makes a luscious soap) decadant pound cake, but her best imho is sweet orange pomegrante.

I use a soldering gun...turn votive upside down, push gun into the "hole" of the tab and the melted wax comes up thru the hole and the entire tab gets covered in about 5 seconds. I had thought about a griddle but was afraid it would smoke too much..glad to hear it works good.

I guess the soap police are gonna come after me cause I've only been making cphp soap for over a year now.

My aroma beads are in an organza bag in New Orleans with 95* so a locked up car in direct sun would get around 160*+ and mine fused into one large lump; but no outside the bag melting. Still smells good tho and I made this about 3 months ago.

I use JS 50/50 votive & the container blends. I pour both at around 155-160 and they come out so smooth and creamy.

Just get a wire brush that can be attached to a drill and take the coating off. I know a few people who have done this and it's not that hard and then you never have to worry about it again. The coating is to keep food from sticking...we don't have that problem with wax.

I think it is also everyone's nose is different. Heck, my nose detecs scents differently from day to day. Basically I can't test at my shop cause my nose is immune to scents since I'm surrounded by them all day. I'll have something burning in my office and someone will walk into the shop and say how strong that candle is. I can't even detect a scent. So I have to test for scent with the candle in my 1/2 bath @ home first and only after I haven't been at the shop that day.

I agree with Candlebean about the "I'll take this one home" stash. I use a white ceramic tile to do my color testing & it makes a great place to stash hot pots and heat guns. If you can smell the scent while you're remelting it...you're losing some scent that the customer won't get & you may wind up adding enough dye to clog your wick. Personally, living in New Orleans, I get a ton of requests for black candles (mostly from movie companies in town) and since I had a very very very bad experience from a black candle in my teenage hippie-dippie days I don't make them. Obviously I'm not alone in town about this cause the last movie company asked why and when I explained why he said "Well now I understand why I can't get anyone to do it." I told him I'd make it dark dark purple but not entirely black. He said it would show up with the lights.

My best advise is to find a supplier close to you to keep your freight charges to a minimum ...do searches to find info about them and as we've all done in the past and continue to do to this very day...test...baby....test! This is definately a trial & error type of hobby/business/career so be sure and keep good notes to refer back to years down the road. Good luck.

As a matter of fact, Becky and I were talking today and she was saying how that particular oil is light in wax but awesome in b&b. She has a lot of ones like that...like Cherish...to me it's a great scent but too light for candles...now put it in b&b and it absolutely blossoms. Like her lemon magnolia...it's a great thrower in wax but I think in hp soap, scrub & body butter it just comes to life. Her waterlily melon is very light in wax but made the best soap ever. I have tons of Becky's oils and if they don't work for candles and are body safe I do b&b and if not then I make incense or car fresheners or linen sprays or sachet bags. There's never a wasted scent.

I use the 8 mold strips and generally pour 2 strips per scent which uses 2# of wax & yields 16 votives. If it's a new scent I take 4 home to do testing and hold the 12 till after results are in. On a good day I will pour 12 scents making 192 votives. I used to drill my wick holes with a drill press but have gotten spoiled by the wick pins. I actually have about 32 of the strip molds.

I've got 10# of the GL 70/30 at my shop but have yet to try it. I've been using JS 50/50 container and votive blends and love them. Great scent throw...smooth creamy appearance and good glass adhersion; no frosting. I got the GL out of sheer curiosity.. it would take a lot to have me change from my JS 50/50.

I make 16 oz. wide mouth jars with (1) 51z and have no problems...other than the obvious mushrooms. Burns down to the metal tab with absolutely no wax left on the glass. I'm in the process now of re-testing wicks htp, lx, rrd mostly to get away from trimming and mushrooming. I have never double wicked when it's only 3" across. I do use a soy/paraffin blend (JS 50/50); and I pour some heavy scents with absolutely no problems. Even when I used straight paraffin I never double wicked.

Well, the title of this thread seems rather unfair. You handled your own interests poorly and are now suggesting that the supplier is unscrupulous because you blurted out the name of a flower and they want to carry the scent. Top I couldn't agree with you more. I've had at least 2 scents of mine duped by different suppliers and never would I assume they would have to only sell to me. They are doing all the work and you want to take all the credit. That's not how business works. If you were truly a business person you would know to ask a hell of a lot of questions before you give someone else your idea. This should be no way influence someone against NG. They are professional businessess people. I have never had a bad experience with any of their personnel or products. If you have a good idea for a scent there are rules and proper procedures you need to follow. This type of blaming NG is like neebees coming on here and asking what wax, what wick, what color, what supplier, what sells best. Do like the rest of us did....go thru the school of hard knocks and learn for yourself.read books, do tons of searches, it's okay to ask questions but don't expect everyone to just hand over their years of experience on a silver platter, state what you've tried and then ask for advise......you'll be a better business person and better chandler.

I just wrote her to ask for a through explanation of exactly what "triple scented" means. Can't wait to hear this answer!!!