Dustpuuppy

Size may matter, but there's much to be said for technique.

You just weren't holding your mouth right.

I tried using coffee cans for a while. They were a pain to clean, too, at times. Seams at the bottom and ridges going around them gave me problems. Didn't care much for glass, since it's heavy, gets condensation and the handles get hot. Plus, I tend to be a bit rough with things and they can break. I gave in and bought more pour pots. I did have good luck, though, with those milk/cream pitchers used in resteraunts, for small quantities of wax. I used them when I was making water candles. They're easy to control, moreso than the big pour pots.

Dripping FO into the melt pool doesn't sound too bright.

It's kind of a subliminal thing though. Some things make the house 'feel' wrong, to a prospective buyer. An overcrowded room will feel small and clostrophobic, no matter that it's actually HUGE. A stack of stuff in the corner makes you think of the house as being small and not having any storage/closet space. First impressions and such. Some real estate people will ask you to take down some of the pictures of your family, because they don't want a prospective buyer seein this as YOUR home, you want the buyer to picture it as THIER home. Pretty much anything that conveys too much of your personality, can put off a prospective buyer, because they start wondering if they can make Your house, into Thier home. It's just more emotional than logical.

You might scan through the Co-Op section. I've seen Co-Ops for tart melters, among other things. Baskets, boxes, wrapping...etc. The Co-Op announcment will mention the name of the company these things will be bought from. Most or all of these companies will have web sites.

Peak's site says 3% - 6%. That would mean around 3/4 of an ounce for one pound. Your mileage may vary. Different FOs will allow more or less. Temp and humidity seem to have an effect, as do any additives you might use. But that 3/4 ounce can give you a starting point. I'd actually probably start with an ounce and work from there.

Yes, Feeling stupid would be *SUCH* a new thing for me. :undecided

You may have chosen the wrong hobby, if you're worried about the clutter in the spare bedroom. Most of us haven't SEEN our kitchen tables in years and cooking in the kitchen would get in the way, sooo... That being said, Wallmart has some bookcases with doors, that could be used. As well as those underbed containers already mentioned. I doubt the underbed containers will contain it all for long.

I WAS kidding about the bigger molds, the rest is serious, though.

If you like containers, get a contaier kit. It will have everything you need to get started. As for suppliers, don't automatically rule out the out of state ones. Prices and quality can vary widely. Sometimes you can buy for enough less, from out of state, to more than pay for the shipping. You can find cheaper kits, but personally, I think Peak's will give you the best value.

Use bigger molds. Sorry, had to go there. You can try putting them in the fridge for a few minutes. Most of the time, they'll kind of come out of the mold when they get ready, though. Oddly it sometimes helps to blow into the wick hole. Feels kind of silly when you do it, but it can help, at times.

Honestly, I bought a kit from Micheal's, made a couple of candles, THEN found this board an started reading. If I'd found this board first, I'm not sure I would have ever started. I think I spent about 4 months going through the old CT board, reading every post about pillars that was there. Since I'd made a few with my little kit and was lucky enough to have them come out looking pretty nice and not burn the house down, I had the confidence to keep working on it. If I had started by going to Alan's website and seen the list of wicks and waxes... I'd prolly have said to Hell with it, right out of the gate. HTP ? FO ? LZ ? WTF ? The mind boggles, til you narrow the focus a bit.

The upside is that they'll probably want them unscented, or vanilla, since there will probably be food present. Plus, these are small candles, floating in water, so you really can't burn anything down with them. They'll only burn for a few hours, not 40 to 100 hrs, like a pillar or container. You should be able to do your testing quite thouroughly in a couple of days, rather than weeks.

I've run accross a few people that have heard about the old lead wicks and ask about it. I only use braided wicks, so it's not an issue. If it were, I'd probably just tell them that the Government stopped the production of lead wicks years ago and they now use zinc instead.

I had a lot of customers that I'd deliver to, then they'd pay me in a couple of days or they'd only have part of it, then I'd get the rest next week...etc. These were all regular, repeat customers, so I knew I'd get my money, but there were times when I'd have up to $200 out there to be collected. It's kinda touchy, in the begining. You want to get the orders, so you don't want to be too pushy about cash up front, but you have to get your money... No easy answer. After a while, it gets easier because you start selling more. You get established. People know that you'll deliver, if they pay up front. And one guy not picking up 2 or 3 candles for a week or so, isn't so much of a hardship because your volume is higher. Just try to get something up front, at least from people you don't know well. 1/3 will prolly cover your materials cost. You just have to follow your gut, from there.

Yep. I just happened to be on Candlewic's site yesterday. Thier site is a bit confusing to navigate, so: http://www.candlewic.com/store/category.aspx?q=cFloating+Candle+Molds They had ship and duck shaped floater, among others.

Start by deciding if you want to make either pillars, votives or container. Then buy a kit. Peak's has some of the best I've seen. There are others, though, some are a bit cheaper. Follow the directions and you'll learn a whole lot from the first one you pour. Then you just refine it. I do cabinet work, so I'll put it this way; any idiot can throw together a trinket box. Same with a candle. It takes a lot of time to learn to build an heirloom quality china cabinet. Takes a bit of time to learn to make a candle that you can safely sell. In both cases you learn a lot from each project and from each baby step you take. And you kinda have to jump in and just do it, to learn how. Also, a mistake with wax is a lot cheaper than a mistake with ebony or mahogany. Heck, it's even cheaper than a mistake with yellow pine, in most cases.

I've never used it, but I'll say this: You can only screw up so bad. The world won't end if you wind up with the worst possible candle. So go ahead and melt it down, pour it up and have some fun. Once you pour the first one, half the answers to half your questions will become obvious. I know it all sounds complicated, but it's actually pretty easy to make a candle. All the complicated sounding stuff is just because most of us are selling what we make, so we have to be extremely cautious. For a first timer, though, it's easy to make something you're gonna burn yourself, while you're watching. Plus all this stuff seems overwhelming until you pour the first one, then you kick yourself for being so afraid of it. From the questions you're asking, I'd say you're gonna do well with this. The worst possible thing that could happen is that you have to throw out a couple of dollars worth of wax. And you gotta screw up pretty bad to have to do that.

The only safe thing about those is that it's a safe bet the maker will eventually get sued.

For me, a 30 ply flat and a small square braid seem to burn about the same. If those are too much, Alabaster Candle carries a 27 ply. They carry " 'tween sizes " that I don't see everywhere else. :smiley2:

You might try a compromise, of daycare a day or two per week. Might be that you can get more done on those days and have more quality time on the days he's home. Might cut down on the whole seperation anxiety thing, when it comes time for him to go to school, to. Just a thought. :smiley2:

Probably red and yellow, with a touch of green. Or a rust/brown with a touch of yellow. If you get the basic color close, a touch of yellow tends to add an incandescent or neon effect.

I don't see that the statement means much of anything at all, in reality. Seems like simple marketspeak, to me. On the face of it, making such a claim might seem a little less than totally ethical, but when others are making even more outrageous claims, some of which are outright lies, you have to give the guy a little lattitude.

I started making pillars because I like burning pillars. I never had the time and energy to try the containers. My take on the difference is that containers are harder to get the wicking figured out and more touchy to wick. But once you get the right wick, they would be faster and easier to pour. You don't have to wait for one to cool, so you can get your mold back, to make the next one. Plus those molds are seldom cheap.