Mei-Mei

Wow, I am surprised that stuff didnt work.. Have you tried a light spray of PAM? I use that that with my pillars along with the stearic but never had problems with it in my votives.. That is weird.. I get my palm wax from Candlewic though.. So not sure if there is a slight difference somewhere. Try sending Brenda at GreenLeaf a message. She is great and will get back to ASAP with the best possible solution .. Wish you the best

Christina

Thanks! I did spray lightly with PAM because that usually helps my votives slide right out with no trouble at all. Since this is the first order I placed for palm wax from GreenLeaf I'm wondering if they sent me container wax accidentally. I don't know, but I'm going to try emailing Brenda as you suggested.

Working with Greenleaf's palm pillar wax for the first time. I followed the instructions and added palm stearic to make some votives, and the darn things refused to release from the votive holders. So I scooped out the wax and tried again. They are presently curing, but they look as though they are clinging tightly to the votive holder sides and like I'm going to have hard time again. This is frustrating. Any tips to get this stuff to release????

Tuscan Nights grew on me after a time. It's what I would call a spicy, masculine scent. It's super strong, so you really don't need much of it.

I got it today and I'm very excited. It has a beautiful creamy texture. I can't wait to work with it.

What I find really remarkable is that I made a request for a free sample quite a few weeks ago, and then last week I placed an order for some Palm Wax. My free sample was packaged with the palm wax, meaning someone at Greenleaf is paying very close attention to the orders. They had to notice that the same person who placed an order was one of the people who requested a free sample. I LOVE attention to detail like that.

I have a free sample (Maduro) and I purchased some FO (Satin Sheets). Both are really strong OOB.

Thanks Brenda!

I'm in love with Peak's Moonlight Path and it threw very well at 1 oz pp in 4630. Love that scent.

One of the reasons I didn't want to mention a company name is because I think this can happen to any chandler with any company. I think it's odd how so many different people can get different results even using similar formulations. It really must be because of a full moon or something!

ETA--JS has fabulous customer service and I would encourage anyone to try a sample pack of Becky's oils and see what your personal experience with them is. I like the little Tootsie

Rolls she sends me too!

I can see the frog perfectly! It's too cute.

Even though the latest one is a little hard to read, I really like the direction you're going in with it. I thought the keyhole was a little too 'busy.'

I hope you're all proud of yourself. Every time I come to this site I learn of a new wonderful FO company that everyone is raving about and my wallet just falls open on its own! And it's not as though I'm a professional chandler (yet). This is just my remarkably time consuming, expensive, oh-so-satisfying hobby.

Sigh. If anybody wants me I'll be spending the rest of the evening ordering FO's. Hopefully my fiance won't bury me alive with a wick in my mouth.

Sometimes soy wax will develop a 'sinkhole' (cracks) like that.

Oooooh, Manolo's...getting out the credit card!

There is no objective definition of what a candle is worth. This is a good discussion in which to consider whether reality creates your beliefs or your beliefs create reality.

It's about geography to some extent, it's certainly about economics, but it's to a great extent about perception and marketing. If you value the product low yourself, you're frugal about your materials, and you decide expensive packaging isn't worth it, etc., that's all perfectly valid. However, it simply determines your place in the scheme of things, because you'll be attracting the customers who share your perceptions. People who like to buy valuable things and have the means won't be interested in your product.

You'll probably be making a smaller profit and calling people stupid, LOL.

Exactly! A lot of people love the 'country' or 'cottage' style candles and fragrances. Those aren't my style at all. And where I live (New Orleans) most folks would probably be more inclined to buy a sophisticated Diptyque rather than a Country Apple Pie. Merely a matter of geography. But neither the sophisticated or cottage style spender should be called 'stupid.' After all, there is a market out there for them, right?

If the oils just don't throw for you and others do, then it's time to move on from that supplier (and if it's JS, you can sell me the FO!) LOL

-cough cough-

1 oz of fragrance per lb. great melting pool. 51 wick with zink core. I let it cure 24 hours before i burn it. and i let it burn for hours hoping to get a better scent throw. the wick mushrooms and sets off my smoke alarm. The perfect soy melting pool is almost half the candle which don't seem right. I do have some 44 wicks that i can try. i have been testing them for about 2 months and nothing seems to satisfy me. I find that the soy parifin blend is the best so far but still i want better.

If the soot and mushrooms are setting off my smoke alarms than you have serious candle problems! You have to be very careful because that same soot is getting into your lungs. That much smoke can't be good.

What parrafin/soy blend are you using, and in what size container? Container size is one of the things you use to determine wick size.

I didn't really know where to post this, but I was wondering if anyone else had a similar problem.

There is a certain FO company that everyone raves about (I don't want to mention the name of the company). I have ordered from them many times. They have fabulous customer service and a wonderful selection. But I can't make their scents throw in my candles! I feel like such a fool because everyone goes on and on about how wonderful the scents are, and I keep ordering because I guess I'm a glutton for punishment (:rolleyes2 ) but it's just not working for me. I guess I could try the scents in B and B, but I'm really disappointed that they don't throw in candles. I've tweaked everything possible, and I can get all sorts of other scent brands to throw. Just. Not. These. Grrrrrrrrr........

I'm new to this too, but what I've found is that a candle is a system. Wax, wick and scent work in conjunction to produce a wonderful candle. So dumping more scent into the wax won't do anything necessarily other than frustrate you.

If I were you, I decide what sort of candle I wanted to make, pick a wax, and then test, test, TEST with different wicks in combination with a good quality FO. Also, record your results for every candle. Change one thing with the next batch. For instance, you have Wax A, Wick B and Fragrance Oil C. You love the fragrance, but it doesn't smell strongly enough. Experiment with another wick. Don't change two components because you'll never determine what the problem is.

Good luck. I'm loving making candles, but it is a lot of testing!

Those are lovely. You are really talented.

When I first read your post I thought it said they were scented Vanilla Doo-Doo.

I don't think it's stupid to spend $52.00 on a candle. People work hard and do what they please with their money. I love the Diptyque candles and consider them a little treat to myself.

Of course, I can make my own candles now!

I like this wax a lot because the hot and cold throw are wonderful. But I am having trouble with sooting. I'm still working on it though.:smiley2:

Great, I'll try both those techniques and see what happens.:smiley2:

Can someone give me some tips on how to pour blended layers? I'm getting either two distinct layers or the two colors mixed together. Is there a 'pour point' I should be looking for on the second layer (i.e. 10 degrees above MP)? Or is it something I just have to 'eye'?

TIA.

Confort Blend?? Maybe what I had wasn't confort blend. The stuff I had looked like vaseline, came in a tub and was so messy to work with. Looked beautiful, creamy and soft but had a lot of soot. Thought it would be great in wickless candles but it was just too hard to clean up. But then again I'm use to soy, soap and water, you know, easy

That sounds like comfort blend. It's the consistency of thick Vaseline and it's really, REALLY MESSY.

I checked the bottom of my votives and they come from Anchor Hocking. They have a website here.

Good luck!

I know this isn't very helpful, as you probably need a lot of them, but I just bought some from Walmart for .44 each. If it's an emergency and you just need a few you could go there.

I think you're having the same problem I asked about earlier today. Check out this thread (especially the pictures).