candlebean

I use Peak's black liquid dye and have never had a problem getting a true black color. I use a para/soy blend and use 14 drops of black per pound of wax to get a nice black color.

Do you melt yours on the stove or in the microwave? I've been melting mine in the microwave at 30-45 second intervals on level 5.

FO is definately flavor oil, and for sweetner I am using sugar kisses by MMS.

Hi everyone!

Carolgrant gave me an awesome base recipie for lip balm (80% Jojoba, 20% beeswax). I changed it up just a little bit to be able to add Vit E, flavor, and color, so the recipie I work with is more like 79% Jojoba, 20% beeswax, and 1% Vit E. Then I add a few drops of FO and a few drops of sweetner, and some color from MMS.

Everything was great until today - I've been using my lip balm at work and it was perfect. But today I dug a little deeper into the pot and it was SO GRAINY! :lipsrseal I don't get it - the top half was fine, but the bottom is terrible! I've had other recipies be all grainy, but never had one half and half :undecided

I PM'd Carol (who was nice enough to write back right away) who suggested that instead of melting all of the Jojoba and Beeswax together at once, to just melt the beeswax with some of the Jojoba and then add the rest of the Jojoba and Vit E later. She also suggested possibly heating the pots a little bit before I poured...

We thought it would be interesting to see what others out here do. Has anyone else ever had this happen?

TIA!

I'm kindof an oddball (newsflash lol) - I mix my scents and colors in my prestos (I have three currently) - I pour around fifteen or so at a time right now. Most people don't do it that way, though, they melt wax in presto, put in pour pot and then mix in scent and color...

I'm with you - I have always mixed my FO and color in my presto pot and have never had a problem. I use Goo Gone or Dissolve-It to clean my pot and then I clean them in a utility sink I have in my basement to make sure that all of the scent and color are gone.

Have you used the KY body glaze? I was trying to decide between that and the base you have from WSP. If you've tried the KY glaze, is it similar to the silky base from WSP? Or are they different enough from each other to have it make sense to offer both?

I hear what you're saying. I was thinking of lining a cookie sheet with wax paper and pouring a thin layer of wax on the wax paper and then create some kind of contraption the size of the cookie sheet that I can use to just press down and cut out little pieces, but making the cutter big enough to be able to do a bunch at once. Hmmm maybe if I'm able to come up with something I'll mass produce the cutters LOL

No offense taken - it doesn't have to be exactly like the pellets I saw - I was just saying that the thing at Candlewic made button sized things that were about 5x bigger than what I wanted to make. I'm thinking I'll have to invent some little contraption myself if I really want to make them...

Yeah...that's too much, especially for something that's not exactly what I'm looking for - the buttons are a lot bigger than the little pellets.

Has anyone seen the "Soy Beads" from Beanpod Candles? They're little wax pellets that you can mix and match in your tart burner. I'm just wondering how they make the pellets or how we would be able to make them without some huge machine? I can't think of anything that would make them so small and so uniform....just curious I guess to see if any of you out there make them.

I sell my fragrance oils for oil burners and mix 50/50 with DPG. Works great, doesn't affect the throw and is a safer than using straight fragrance oil. HTH

If you cut itwith DPG how many drops do you add to the oil burner to get the same throw?

Oil burners are just as safe as candles if you use them correctly and are vigilant to what you are doing.

Good points Chris. I am always very careful with my labeling, warnings, instructions, wording, etc. If people choose not to follow the warnings or instructions on anything we make, including candles, tarts, oil warmers, then that's their choice. At some point the customer has to assume some of the responsibility.

Just curious...what was the answer?

If you use FO you can use up to 10 drops and if you use EO, up to 4 or 5 drops (adding the oils to the water-filled well that is).

I already have wax melts and wanted something a little different for my line - these seem to be neat and clean as long as people follow directions, which I will make sure are extremely clear in a can't-miss spot.

I like their site and the prices are the best I've seen around, but when I think of how many different size labels I need between candles and B&B, it's a big investment.....

Has anyone ever ordered from, or do you use, Lightning Labels? I like their prices, especially since my label has more than the standard 2 colors and they don't charge more for additional colors. I just wanted to check around to see if anyone has anything good or bad to say about them...TIA!

I do have other dark candles....some dark browns for chocolate, etc...but I don't think they are too dark. I have my logo all done and ready to go so there is no changing that - the only part of my logo I was worried about was some of it is black....hopefully I should be OK now, but that is a great idea about putting it over a silver or gold label if I run into a pickle down the road.

sorry everyone - I answered my own question

I saw something like that at the Body Shop and was thinking about trying it out myself, but just haven't gotten around to it. I just checked the website and it isn't straight CCB - the ingredient list is:

Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Cyclomethicone, Cetearyl Alcohol, Stearic Acid, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Copernica Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Fragrance, Tocopherol, Limonene.

But they call it a Cocoa butter moisturizing stick...perhaps this is what she is thinking of?

You definately have to list your ingredients - someone somewhere is allergic to everything and they need to know what they are using....

I've been searching for an answer to this but can't come up with anything definate. I would like to add oils/oil burners to my line, but I'm having trouble determining which oils to use for this. For some reason, I had it in my mind that I would have to use EOs instead of FOs.

I don't want to do light rings or anything like that, just oil burners, where you fill the well with water and add 5-10 drops of oil, heated with a tealight. Can I use regular FOs for this or would they not be strong enough? Or would EOs be too strong?

I apologize if this is a silly question, I just don't want to burn my house down! DH just hates it when I do that....:undecided

To test my candle color, I am much less scientific - the only thing that works for me is to fully mix in my dye, and then take a spoonful and slowly drip it back into my presto pot - when you have just a little bit left on your spoon, that will be the color of your candle. I know, I sound insane, but it's the quickest, most accurate way for me to test. I haven't been off on my color yet...HTH

I agree - aqua or teal

If you can find a company you are happy with that can do them digitally, I don't think they charge more for multiple colors.....keep looking and I'm sure you can find a cheaper place. I'm doing the same thing now - shopping around for someone to do them for me - I hate making labels! Takes away from the time I'd rather spend making stuff

Anytime Bunny, anytime. I told my DH that I was going to be changing the color of that one and he agreed, as long as "it's something that's still manly, not purple" I think blue/navy would suit that scent very well.

OK good - at least I'm not the only one! LOL

Thanks!