roma92

Has anyone ever used acrylic with wax/beeswax? If so does it release well

Although I have a thread including this I thought I would post to all as a direct question. Has anyone ever used brass either as a mold? if so what has been your experience in formula and heating/cooling techniques. I am having a hard time getting it to work. thanks ahead of time

from the sounds of it allot more testing is going to be in order. Has anyone out there worked with brass to good effect? I should not that I do not use FOs or scents, just wax and additives.

The brass plate is 9 inches in diameter and 1/16 inch thick so pressing isn’t really an option as if I was bubbles or air pockets get in. I have tried putting the wax in the fridge for 20 mins before removing it but that didn’t help. I find it odd that the center of the mold comes out clean and beautiful but the edge is where it sticks. brass is being used as that’s the material that I had offered to be laser engraved as well as it lasting longer and being stronger than alum for many uses. It’s just figuring out the proper use as a mold. Given the way it is done unfortunatly the brass plate sits at the bottom for I think around 6 hours while the 2.5lbs of wax cools. Has anyone ever worked with molds made of brass?

I am hoping some of you more experienced candle makers can give me some advise that will solve an issue that I have been having with my mold. My situation, I am working with a mold that I had made special, its 9 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches deep, I have a brass plate (1/16th inch thickness) with a laser engraved design on it that I coat with Pam and place at the bottom. I melt (in a presto pot) 2lbs of beeswax and .5lbs of paraffin plus steric, yvar and ezwax release (in appropriate proportions according to packet instructions, teaspoon/tablespoon/lbs of wax). I heat the mix to I believe around 200, I have a candle making thermometer that has a chart that says the appropriate temp for "Metal" molds. When the wax reaches the appropriate temperature, I heat the mold with a heat gun and then pour the wax into the mold. After it cools it pops out of the mold container fine but then when I try and pop off the brass plate so that the design is imprinted in the wax I get wax stuck in the lines of the mold in some places and I notice that the wax is not smooth and glasslike as where it is/was against the (I think aluminum) mold container, but on the brass mold the wax seems to stick and have a less clean release, I also use pam on the mold container. Another thing I notice is that in the center of the wax tablet the coloration is a little off and my gut feeling is that the additives are not "Blending" properly with the wax as the center always comes out beautiful and clean and the edges are rough and more likely to 'Stick' In summary I am not sure what I am doing wrong? Is it temperature? Is there something I am doing wrong in the melting where the additives are not blending properly? (I melt the additives separately as one raises the melting point of wax and then when melted I pour into the wax and stir vigorously). Am I not heating the mold container enough or too much or should I be preheating it at all? I have been able to get this to work nicely before and now all of a sudden every attempt fails, I don’t think its the beeswax as I have always used this formula. Please help/advise!

Found the perfect solution, check this out, most I am sure have seen this before anyway http://www.pourette.com/dept.asp?d_id=12073&l1=6911&l2=12073

thank you for all the good advice, I think I will rethink the whole project.

no one has made custom molds before?

So tapers seem to be out, I guess that leaves me with Pillars? I guess if I want to make a white candle that has a good scent throw using Pure Frankinsence, the best would be <blank>? I would like to stay away from Jars. Also, wick up? does that mean go with a heavy wick? Sorry, I am really new to this

Thank you kindly for this solid advice, scent throw would be important and FO is very, very expensive (pure) so I wouldn’t want to waste it if it wouldn’t produce good scent. A friend made a suggestion that I thought might work but I wanted to present it to experienced candle makers. Frankincense powder, it would not dissolve in the melted wax and the idea is that when the candle burns the powder within the wax would "burn" producing a nice scent throw, not to mention it would be allot cheaper. Question is, can you add incense powders to candle wax?? I have had this request from customers who run a temple and would love to have frankincense tapers, but only if its real frankincense and not just the scent. Thank you again

What purpose exactly does poking holes in the wax while its cooling in the mold container serve?

I am new and learning when it comes to candle making and have what I hope is a simple question. I would like to make Frankincense 12” tapers but want to use 100% pure frankincense essence/oil. I guess my question is, when making scented candles, can you use essence/oils or will only scents oils that I see on candle supply websites work. Thanks ahead of time.

I have a brass plate with a design etched onto it that is 9 inches in diameter. I use this to transfer the design onto the wax. As for a mold container I have been using a cake pan which I think is 10 inch or 10.5. Either way, once I pop out the wax I am then left having to carve the excess wax which is more work than I want to do. Can anyone direct me to instruction on how I can make a mold container (out of silicon or whatever) that will be the perfect size so basically all I need to do it pop out the wax, remove the plate and be left with a finished product? All help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated and thank you in advance.