Dustpuuppy

Tap the molds a bit, just after pouring, to dislodge the bubbles.

I tried doing what BarnCountry suggested. It didn't work for me, mainly due to space limitations. I just didn't have room to keep 20 coffee cans sitting around. Doesn't mean it won't work for someone else. Especially if you use fewer scent/color combos.

I have days like that. Seems I sometimes get two of them in one day. :rolleyes2

Just a thought... Most US candle supply dealers carry wax made by IGI. There is a great deal of info easily available about thier waxes. You could contact them at : sseybert@igiwax.com They may have a distributor somewhere near you. IGI's website is here: http://www.igiwax.com Don't know if that helps, but it's an option.

Not if you let Luke anywhere near it. :rolleyes2

I'd bake them at more like 150. That will melt most waxes, without melting the plastic handle.

I'd bet on Beth's idea about the 'candle nose'. You may not be able to smell the thing for two days after you pour it. People 5 miles away can, but you can't. Gets frustrating, sometimes. Sometimes if you sniff some coffee grounds, it' clears your olefactory senses and helps. If you can get a friend to come over and they can't smell it either, I'd guess it's either cheap FO or you added too much vybar, as Sharyl and Beth mentioned.

I like to use plain paraffin and add what I want to it. BUT I'm one of the few that like to do that. Everyone has thier preferences. Also, I'd be looking closer to home, if I were you. Wax is HEAVY. Shipping to Europe is gonna eat you alive. Seems like we used to have one person here, who was from Greece, 4 or 5 who are in UK. I'm hoping they will chime in with some info on suppliers closer to you.

Gotta be 5 different FOs, any size. Check out the sampler packs, too. Also keep a look out for the Co-Ops. Alan gives us some price/shipping breaks, several times per year.

I have 4 little metal pitchers that I rotate. By time I've gotten all 4 dirty, I'm generally through with my candle making, for that session. Then I just rinse them real good and stick them in the oven like I do to clean a mold. Like everything else, you have to figure out what's gonna work best with the way YOU work.

No idea, but you might get an answer quicker if you post this question in the vegetable wax section. Some of the people who know the most about soy wax, might not see it, here.

I use a muffin pan. Gives me little discs. I'll use some of those for chunks. You could use a cookie sheet which would give you a thin slab. Cake pans are pretty cheap. Don't get the teflon coated ones, though. A big, rectangular lasgna pan would give you almost the same size/shape as a normal slab.

http://www.peakcandle.com/ I don't think they have palm wax, though. Others will come by with other links, soon.

A steel wool pad feels really weird, get some at home depot, not SOS pads. The woodworking ones have a finer, smoother texture. A cufflink might throw them off. You could make a ball out of electrical tape. The plastic lock ring of a milk jug. Or, you could hand them a steam iron. Most women these days wouldn't have a clue about that one. :rolleyes2

I think she's talking about relief holes. If so, just poke some with a skewer. The chunks will soften enough that the skewer will go right through them. I just pretend they aren't there.

I always did photo embeds with regular ole copy paper.

You said you thought they were cooling too fast. Perhaps you could stick them in the oven to cool ? Maybe even warm the oven slightly, then turn it off, just before you put the tarts in ? What gets me is that there have been about half a dozen people with problems of blemishes. Maybe it's freakin' solar flares, or something.

It might. A blow dryer generally produces lower heat with more airflow, than a heat gun. Both can blow wax all over the place if you aren't careful. The hairdryer will *tend* to blow the wax a bit further.

Someone on the old board did some comparison burns and found some differences. I think his red one burned a bit slower than one other one. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but you could search for it in the archives. I think this person was helping his kid do almost the same science project. If you could find the post, you could PM the poster, for more info.

Flip tops are great. I didn't like them at first... I learned. Also, one or two drops, more or less, isn't gonna hurt anything. Being precise is good... being *TOO* precise will just make you crazy. Eye droppers will also hold some residue from one scent and contaminate the next one. You *could* get some of the cheap ones for around 3 for a dollar, at some hobby stores and treat them as disposable. I wouldn't, but it's an option. You might try wiping your scale with vinegar. It *might* neutralize the FO and stop the top of the scale from being sticky.

Couple of things you can try... Quik pass with the heat gun *might* save some of what you've already made. Pouring at a lower temp and slowing the cooling *might* help when pouring more.

No clue about the wax. If I were going to do a camo candle, I'd prolly do a swirl. Make a light green for both the chunks and over pour. ( Maybe a few dark green and/or black chunks if you have some left over. ) Put in the chunks, pour the overpour. Drop in 2 or 3 drops of either black or dark green dye about halfway between the wick and candle side. The go around the outside with a heat gun, til you see the darker dye coming up from the side of the mold. The heat from the heat gun causes a current in the wax that sucks the dye down the center and makes it rise at the outside. If you heat it closer to the mold base on one side and a little higher on the other, it causes the patterns to be less uniform. The way the chunks fit together will do most of that automatically, though. Seems like larger chunks work better 1 1/2 to 2 inches square and 1/2 inch thick. A few smaller ones, here and there, especially at the top of the mold ( bottom of the candle ). Get the chunks too small and you won't ahve room for the wax currents to flow freely.

I screwed up and bought one that my pour pots wouldn't sit on right. Short of something like that, pretty much any type will work. Just as long as your container of choice will sit on it. I also like using grams, rather tha ounces. It makes the math easier. OTOH, it made it hard to exchange info with other people, since most use ounces. Boils down to what works for you.

Like everyone else, I just wiped mine out then dried it. I use the Pyrex cup, too. With the way I was working and the way my work area was set up, I didn't see any advantage to adding the spout. I wanted the spout, since it seemed everyone else had one... just didn't seem worth the trouble, for my purposes.

Actually, my mother has scars from having third degree burns over 1/2 of her body. She and her sister were playing with a box of matches, when she was a kid. And even SHE didn't get all freaked out every time she had a little fire on the stove. My grandparents had a house burn down and they lost everything... due to an electrical fire. They didn't get all freaked out over little shit like this, either. Frankly, I don't think anyone is going to take you too seriously. You blew any chance of that, when you posted that you'd never had an accident. That's a statement that's more than a little far fetched. It's also a little far fetched to think that all your hysteria is brought on because your friend had a house fire. If that's true, though, you might want to realize that there are thousands of ways for people to get hurt and/or die. There's simply no way to avoid tradgedy, in this world. At best, this is all a serious over reaction on your part. At worst, you're just trolling and trying to stir shit. And, above all... TONE DOWN THE ANNOYING FREAKING FONTS !!!