Maggie

That looks GREAT. I tried making these YEARS ago and mine never came out looking that good.

Did you try emailing Bill Binder at CW? I had a problem with one of their Palm Pillar waxes and he was wonderful in explaining everything. He even sent me samples of the wicks he recommended free of charge. Before Vickey at Ky Candle Supply became a supplier, we were both using CBL129 and always compared notes. That was probably back in 2002/2003. Then when she started KY, she was selling CBL129; but then she tested soy and eventually stopped selling CBL wax. I used the other CBL wax too...for votives and tarts. That was before clamshells. Anyway...I would make it a point to discuss this with Bill Binder. Oh...edited to add that I THINK I used HTP wicks with CBL129. I have old notes somewhere in my workshop. I haven't poured a candle in over 2 years so my shop is in the mess that I left it before Christmas in 2011. IF I dare walk in it, I'll look for my old notes.

I haven't poured any candles for over 2 years. I did make some tarts before Christmas 2011. I started pouring and testing in 2000 and was addicted. I did craft shows and also a big 2 day Christmas Open House in my home and did well. But then I got back to sewing/quilting and was enjoying that so much that candles took a back seat. I am hoping after this summer I can get back in my shop. I also did M&P soaps and got started in CP soaps. But right now beadweaving is at the top of my list. I used to look forward to going in my shop to pour everyday. Just the other day I DID go in and thought now just isn't the right time but I will get back in here eventually. I looked around at all of my supplies and thought of all of the money I invested so maybe that will motivate me again.

tam1116, it's jewelry making but instead of just stringing beads you make it with different types of stitches. I made a few braclets on my own and then decided to take a class at the bead shop called Flat Spiral Stitch. I am taking a different class on 4/17 to make another bracelet. Here is where I buy my beads and supplies and take classes. You can see the classes for the different types of stitches. My goal is to learn to do a particular peyote stitch and make a cuff bracelet that I saw in a beadweaving book that I bought. It's an advanced project so I'll wait till I get good at this before attempting it. I HATE having to take stuff apart if I make a mistake. http://www.potomacbeads.com/Classes-BeadWeaving.html

I really like one of them...Paragon. I am scarfed out for now after making so many around Christmas time. Right now it's the beadweaving but...I'm sure I'll get tired of it at some point and get back to quilting and knitting.

I've been away from candle and soapmaking for almost 2 years. But...I used the goatsmilk M&P from CW and some of their other bases for a long time and loved them. I also loved some of their fragrance oils for candles. I started ordering their wax because the price was right and I live in PA so shipping was not bad at all. I will say that Bill Binder personally gave me GREAT customer service when I would email him about anything. He gave me great info on how to use one of their pillar waxes. Their Sweet Sandalwood in candles and tarts was a great seller for me. Can't remember if it's soapsafe.

I loved your blog post. And I LOVE the bracelet. I NEVER thought I would have the desire to make jewelry. I ordered a book from amazon...Mastering Peyote. Most of the pieces were too advanced for a beginner so I bought a few beginner books. Now I am hooked. I've made 2 pendant necklaces and 5 bracelets. I took a class...flat spiral bracelet at a local bead shop and planning to take another one later this month. I found their prices were not much more than Michael's and the selection is unbelievable... 2 floors of beads, pendants and beading supplies. Now the good part is...or as my husband says, the bad part...I get my hair done every Thursday morning at my X DIL's salon. The bead shop is right next door. I think I've been in there every Thursday for the past 2 months...and of course buying beads etc. Today I went to Michael's to buy some more beading needles and came home with more beads and 2 pendants. And...tomorrow I will be in the bead shop after I get my hair colored. It's my new addiction. I haven't poured a candle in over 2 years.

I had to go talk to the postmaster once when I had ordered oils and got the notice they were delivered. They were NOT. Long story short he called the mail lady and she said she specfically remembered putting them in OUR mailbox. He asked me if I had checked other mailboxes (it's on a cul de sac with 15 other mailboxes because we live on a private road and they will NOT deliver mail door to door on it). I said no I had not and would check when I got home. He then said...you CAN'T do that...go into other people's mailbox. I'm like....a second ago you asked me if I had checked IN THEIR mailboxes. DUH!!! Bottom line...that afternoon I went for the mail and guess what was in our box...yep...my fragrance oils. So...the mail lady lied. She's long gone and the one we have now is GREAT!!!

I've been waiting over a year for an antique bureau that my husband started refinishing for all of my fabric and other sewing supplies. He always has good intentions but it takes him forever to finish things. I ended up buying an 8' and a 6' folding table...one for my sewing machine and the other for my cutting mats for quilting and piecing. I also have my mother's sewing machine in a cherry cabinet. I put my old sewing machine on the top and sewed like that for years. Now it's the TV stand in one of our bedrooms. Anyway.... I love your new cabinet/sewing center.

I really like that TB. I usually grab a handfull of kleenex and stuff it in my purse. Then when I rummage through my purse to find something it gets torn.

WOW TexasBrat...you HAVE been busy. I love them and the idea of not putting your card in your pocket...which I am guilty of doing. Are you done with the ruffled scarves for now? I'm done for now after making 20. I taught a friend how to make them 2 weeks ago...they went on vacation for a week and when I talked to her this afternoon she said she has 3 ready for me to show her how to bind off. I'm into beadweaving now. 99.9% finished with my first bracelet...a beginner project but I really like the look. I didn't do any other crafts after I started pouring candles in 2001 and then along came bath and body and soaping. I haven't poured since Dec. of 2010 and my last sales were in 2011 except for 3 bottles of Goatsmilk body lotion before Christmas that my sister-in-law asks me to make every year for her neighbor. And I have to admit that I almost told her NO. lol

I was so excited to add to the post that I forgot to tell MoonShadow that her jewelry set is gorgeous. And yes ChandlerWicks...I CAN see this becoming very addictive. I never dreamed in a million years that I would love making jewelry...it never interested me till I saw that picture of the cuff bracelet. lol

I haven't poured a candle in probably 2 years. I was doing quilting and sewing and made a few things. I WILL get back to it because I do love sewing. Then summer came and that's my sun and pool time. I was making the ruffle scarves...made about 20 of those and said that's enough for now. I was looking through my crafterschoice.com catalog for December and saw a book called Mastering Peyote. They showed a cuff bracelet that I fell in love with. I ordered the book and I found that the bracelet is not a beginner's project. So I ordered 2 beadweaving books for beginners. Right now I am making 2 bracelets. I bought all of my supplies at Michael's because I didn't want to spend a lot of money at the bead shop and then find out I don't like making jewelry. Well...I LOVE IT! I had 2...2 strands to a card...in my shopping basket but when I got home there was only 1 in my bag...checked my receipt and I wasn't charged for 2. So the checkout lady must have missed it on the counter. I went back to buy more beads and my Michael's was in the process of re-doing the whole jewelry department. Beads were now in shopping baskets and I was told I could look through the basket but not take any beads out to get to the bottom. The dept. manager said they would be finished by this weekend and if I couldn't find what I needed to come back next week. I didn't bother looking through the baskets because they were stacked so full I was afraid I would spill them. I ended up buying some other beads and will probably finish this bracelet over the weekend and then go back Tuesday and get the other beads that I need. Next project is a pendant necklace. Eventually I WILL work up to making that cuff bracelet that I love. Right beside my X DIL's hair salon that I go to every Thursday morning there is a bead shop. I stopped in there on Thursday and the woman was super nice. She said they do have classes. I told her I will check their website and if I see a peyote stitch class I will be there. Sorry for the long post. But I am very excited about another new craft that I am loving.

I've made about 20 of these scarves with the Sashay and Starbella. I like the look of the Sashay better too. I gave one of my SILs a scarf as a thank you for hosting my hubby's family Christmas party. She LOVED it and it matched a blouse she bought to wear New Years Eve. In fact she said she was planning to shop for a scarf to wear with it. She couldn't get done thanking me. My other SIL said she wanted to learn how to make them...she knits. In fact she has made, I think, any crafty, sewing thing there is. Last Sat. evening my hubby and his brother went to a hockey game and I showed her the yarn and how simple they are to make. I gave her a skein of Sashay and showed her how to put the stitches on the needle and how to skip a hole when knitting. They are going to a hockey game again tonight so going to visit her again tonight and see how much she's accomplished. She's a high school health and phys ed teacher so she doesn't have as much time to craft during the school year. Anyway...I ordered a book on something else that looks really interesting...Mastering Peyote Stitch...it's bead weaving. The jewelry is GORGEOUS. Never interested in making jewelry before I saw this. It doesn't look as easy as I thought it would be....LOL. And of course, more $$$$$ to invest in supplies. I can't stay with doing one thing for a long time...sewing, quilting, knitting and the bazillion other things I bought over the years and haven't ever started OR are 1/2 finished and stuffed in a closet or drawer in my craft room. Oh, and that tunic is ugly IMO.

Could you let us know when this nutcase "puts up" her youtube video. Then a LOT of us can go there too and tell her that she is full of it and expose her as a potential scam artist. lol

My grandmother gave me some things that her mother had made and several of them were tatted doilies. I just saw something in a Mary Maxim catalog about tatting. I can't remember if there was anything for beginning tatting like a book you could buy. Have you checked utube. I DID know how to knit but hadn't done it in years. The part that I never was good at was starting...putting the stitches on the needle. I found some great instructional videos there. I do better having something to watch online or using a book. My grandmother taught me to knit and crochet but...after she passed away and I decided to try it again after years of not doing it...the lessons she gave me were long gone from my brain. lol

Bringing this back to the top to say... I was talking to my friend Bev the other day and she said she went to the yarn shop and bought this really neat yarn to make a scarf. Said you can finish it in hours and it only takes 1 skein. I told her about the ones everyone talked about in this thread and she said it sounds like what she is loving to knit right now. She said..the next time you come over we will go to the yarn shop so you can knit one. I just got the new Mary Maxim the other day and saw all of the yarns that Reyesofsunshine posted. I was showing it to my daughter and she changed her mind about the scarf she wants me to knit for her. She definnitely wants one of these instead of one out of the yarn I bought almost 2 years ago. LOL Sewing has to be done inside at the machine. Knitting can be done anywhere. When I am sitting out at the pool I usually read a lot. And also think of all of the fabric I bought...and 2 projects that need to be finished. With knitting these I can stop reading for a while and work on a scarf for a bit.

I have seen them in our parish. I think Fillmore Container sells the jars but I don't know how "safe" they are.

I never did an indoor show where you were allowed to burn a candle. For many reasons... mainly the fire code doesn't permit it, but even if they did kids could get burned, someone could knock it over and start a fire if you were busy with other customers, oh and depending on the scent it could overpower the room. People selling food items don't appreciate it even though their stuff is wrapped. At one show a little boy opened EVERY jar candle on my display and his mother said...don't mind him because he loves to smell candles. He was picking them up and rubbing his fingers over the top. Then he didn't put the fitment lids back on...just set them on the top. I was pissed because I had to put them all back on. the mother didn't buy a thing even though the kid would say, Mommy I love this, buy this one for me. I can't imagine what he would have done with a candle that I had burning. I even asked at a show that was in a former school turned into a community center and I was set up in what used to be the gym and then the rest of the people were downstairs. Answer was absolutely not. Only one time did I burn a candle at an outdoor show...that was the one where a Hispanic guy fell in love with Hypnotic Poison (AWE who is now OOB) and bought all I had there plus ordered like 9 more. I did use my electric punched tin burner at a couple of indoor shows. One time the lady beside me was selling her homemade fudge (she had a licensed kitchen at home) and she said that IF I had a candle burning she would have asked one of the show coordinators to ask me to please put it out.

Thanks for the offer Vicky. I will check and let you know. Some of the pieces I bought fat quarters and didn't even need that much. This blue would be for the sky. I got up to go measure it and can't find my rulers...lol. I'm in the process of re-organizing my sewing room and have stuff piled everywhere.

What size quilt is that Vicky? Just wonder whose arm span is wide enough to hold that...lol. Seriously, I LOVE it. That blue fabric with the little stars is gorgeous. Wish I could find some like that for some of my Sun Bonnet Sue wallhangings. I had a really hard time finding light blue fabric with white in it that resembled clouds. They had one bolt at Joann Fabric that I could find. If I didn't need it...I would see it. Then when I need it...it's not there. lol

I was thinking the same thing as Beth. If you've never poured these fragrances and tested before, I wouldn't waste all of that oil and wax by making 12 candles of each scent. Why not pour 2 candles...use CD12 in one of them and the CD14 in the other. Then wait a few days and do your test burns and compare your results. Also, just FYI, just because you have a very strong cold throw doesn't always mean the hot throw will be great...trust me. lol I did a lot of testing using 464 several years ago and had planned to use that wax. Long story...but the person who was going to stock it where I could pick it up locally told me that until she sold the 2 other pallets of the other GB wax that she ordered...she couldn't afford to buy a full pallet of 464 since she sold out of it. So...I started testing a parasoy from Candlewic and fell in love with it. Now Candlewic sells 464 so I am seriously thinking about ordering it again. It's a lot cheaper than the CW130 that I love dearly. I never used CD wicks so I don't have a clue what size would work best in that tin.

I have to agree with you about the negatives. At one time I was pouring both paraffin and all soy candles. I never put down paraffin even when people would say...oh goodie you have soy because...and then they would list all of the things they thought were true about them. I quickly corrected them...lol. Also, when using fragrance oils you can't call your candles all natural. Your candles look nice and best of luck with your business but I would seriously think about rewriting your Why Soy page.

I can't wait till Chimpanzee comes out on DVD. Then I can order it and We Bought A Zoo and spend the evening watching animal movies. I don't go to movie theaters anymore...long story that I won't go into. Nothing against theaters or the high price to see a movie...lol. It's me.

I started out with a couple of batches of rebatched soap that I bought the base soap from a company before...not the one you mentioned though. For a first timer it was really nice...and I had fun. But, like you, after a couple of batches I decided to make my own from scratch. I'll have to check out the lip balm base. I've made from 2 other bases before and then, like the soap, I started making it from scratch.