Dustpuuppy

You'll prolly need to wick up, due to the different wax formula. If you used the same wax that you always use and just made some of it into chunks, it wouldn't change the wicking. Basically it would all be the same wax, just a different color. The burn characteristics would be just like a layered candle. Different story, if the chunks are of a different wax than the overfill, or if they're different from the wax you normally use. As for the FO... if the wax is the same, the FO retention will be the same. If the chunks are a different wax, and they don't hold quite enough FO, it might not be so bad, since the chunks only make up about 1/2 to 1/3 of the candle, anyway. I have gone as far as using unscented chunks and the scent was a bit weaker, but not a disaster. Just not as strong as I wanted. With lavender, you could prolly use unscented chunks and a full load in the overfill, and still make the neighbor's eyes water.

I never liked my chunks to be all the same size/shape. For me, if I made them too small, I got air pockets, where the wax didn't make it into all the nooks, while pouring the over fill. If I made them too large, I lose the effect I wanted. Put some big ones in the bottom and small ones around the top, and I got just what I wanted... Your mileage may vary.

Let's hope she's not standing in front of the A/C intake, when that thing relaxes... talk about the shit hitting the fan...

Actually, I think you may have taken her post a bit too literally. Re-Read the thing and allow for a bit of embellishment, for comic effect. The end result was that she got a little 'POOF' and a little flame on the stove eye. Not much different than when you drip a bit of grease on the eye, while taking a hamburger out of the pan. It only seems like a big explosion, at the time, when it catches you off guard and scares the crap out of you.

Yeah, the whole group could step over and help you on with your jacket, with the really long sleeves, until they get your meds adjusted. I don't think that there's anyone I know that hasn't had something drop on the eye of the stove and flame up, at some point. WHether it was a chunk of dye or a macaroni noodle or a drop of grease. It's not like she's Mrs. O'Leary's cow, here.

I know it's not what you wanted, but the candle looks good and kinda mirrors your avatar, which is kinda neat.

Yeah, you can get away with a few minutes. I was thinking more along the lines of leaving the candle and waterbath in there for a couple of days. I know that I've been able to put pillars in the fridge for up to around 3 hours. Much more than that and they crack. I tend to keep my fridge at around 35 degrees, though. I keep it as cold as I can, without having anything freeze. I'm thinking that if you could keep the fridge at 55 or 60, you'd get maximum cooling, without the danger of cracking. Having this monster candle in the water baht, inside the fridge or freezer, should create a convection current in the water and the water should carry the heat away faster than just the air. The more I think about it, the more I like the roller table thing... at least in the bottom, for this big one your doing. Been thinking, too... with the insert you're talking about using, the wax in this thing will only be about an inch or two thick. It might not take as long as you think, for it to cool.

I always *tried* to pour my lightest colors/ mildest scents, first, then progress to the next lightest color and next mildest scent. Save the dark red candle with the lavender scent ( or whatever) for last. On the rare occasion that I could line everything up just right, I'd only need to give the pour pots a really GOOD cleaning, when I start the process over. Sometimes I can't quite get the scent out of one with a normal cleaninig. I'll put in a few ounces of plain wax and use that to rinse it out.

Some folks use Pyrex measuring cups. Like Sharyl said, coffee cans work. I'd stay away from usiong Mason jars for this. They *may* get weak, over time from the heating and cooling. You'd put more stress on them in a week of candle making, than in 10 years of canning. The coffee cans are hard to clean, due to the seams, but if you keep several and either keep one for each color/scent combo, or just treat them as being disposable, you don't have to worry about cleaning them. The glass measuring cups are great, but a bit heavy and using them in a dbl boiler set up causes condensation all over the outside, so you have to be careful when using them so that you don't get water in your wax. I found that just having 4 pour pots worked best for me. I've rarely needed all four at once. A lot of it depends on how you work.

Just a thought. If you had an old fridge that could hold a constant temp of 55 or 60 degrees... You could rip out all the shlves and mount one havy duty shelf in the bottom. Either use some really haevy duty drawer slides, or some old conveyor rollers... Sit the water bath on a piece of plywood, the mold inside, pour the wax, fill the water bath, then roll the whole thing into the fridge. You could put 2 0r 3 of these heavy duty shelves in, later, and use the rig for regular candles. You'd have to test to see what the lowest safe temp is, for the candles. Not sure how cold they can get, without risking cracking.

Or through the freezer. Smaller heat exchnger, less water needed. Or you could just pack the mold in dry ice.

I'm not sure, but I was under the impression that UA would kill the mottle, just like vybar does ?

I'm picturing this as a flashback scene from one of those 'post apocolyptic movies... An old lady tells a little girl: "Come sit with me, child, and I'll tell you how our world came to such as it is." "It all started with 3 men and a 200 pound candle..."

Shoulda known *you* would chime in on that one.

A couple of people reported that the UA seemed to either cause or aggravate fingernailing problems.

Uhm ? Luke ? Wanna put the lid back on that bottle of liquid dye ? I think the fumes are starting to take thier toll.

I wouldn't know. I never read any of the posts on here.

He wants to do a candle that's a 1/4 scale model of the Empire State Building. Biggest problem is that that damned monkey keeps getting in the way.

Given the spolling and grimmer, this is starting to remind me of that young girl who was posting pics of candles she found on the web and claiming them as her own, on the old board.

I can think of two things that might help. Perhaps you could whip the wax a bit less ? If you're using a stick blender, you might try using a fork and fold it, rather like scrambling an egg. My second thought would be to make the whipped part thinner. Maybe you could spoon some half hardened UN whipped wax on top of the latte part, to build it up, then put a thin coat of the whipped wax over that.

I'll have to post a pic of my work area... Now, which pile did I leave my camera under ?

Nope, None for me, thanks.:rolleyes2

According to a pal of mine who was an ER doctor, quite a few people lose them. He's had to go in and find them.

That's what a lot of people refer to as a fuel smell. Very seldom does it come through in a finished candle. I've never had it happen, but some folks have said they got it trying to get a really dark black. I get a good black with Peak's dye. no smell, no problem. But OOB it smells a bit like diesel fuel.

No problem, glad to help. Fowl language ? Not a bit. I speak English, a little Russian and a bit of Spanish... never got around to learning chicken, though. However, sometimes I can spot a turkey.