bmwnfun

Palm has been the new fascination for me with its wonderful crystallization. Breathtaking!

I've recommended to my customers to turn the melter on (esp the tea light ones) until it smells strong enough, then turn it off. That way the melts last longer and also avoids "candle nose".

With liquid dyes, I've had the best luck with consistent coloring when I melt as large of a batch as possible (read nearly a whole slab in a presto) and dye the whole batch (no FO) then portion it out. Saves time when I make the candles, too, as I only have to add scent when making the candles.

The thing to think about here is variances in a drop is drastically different if it is 1 drop per 8 lbs vs 1/2 drop per 1 lb.

There's basically two options here. Either you can keep different waxes for different purposes, or use a wax with little to no additives (like the IGI 1343) and keep addtives on hand to make your different blends, or keep several different pre-blended waxes on hand. Myself, I keep 4625 and 4627, as well as a few additives on hand, and mix the two depending on which type of candles being made. Covers everything from hurricane shells to super soft container candles.

I got a muffin pan on suggestion from someone, and then played around with pour temps until I got near exact 2oz "pucks". Now when I get wax, I roughly break it up, then don't worry about how much I put in my melter, then pour into the pan. That way, when I go to make candles, I just grab the needed number of pucks for the amount of wax needed, and I'm very close to where I need to be. I'm rarely off by more than 1/2 to 1 oz, depending on how much wax i'm using, and to make up the difference, I usually pour 3 or 4 clamshells to keep with the pucks so I can break off a cube to get me where I need to be.