PhoenixFyre

No worries. I've only tried a few of their FOs - Margaritaville, Dauntless, and Vanilla Satin. I like the Vanilla Satin. I get their tumblers too and wicks...but I'm bummed about the wax. Oh well.

Anyone have experience with Lonestar's 4630 wax? I recently started experimenting with 4630, both by itself and blended with other waxes. So far, I had only purchased it from Aztec and had no problems. Had to buy some other things from Lonestar and needed more 4630, so I bought it from them. Just started using it yesterday, and not only does it look different than the 4630 from Aztec, but the candles I made with it are not pretty. The 4630 from Aztec was a very creamy-looking, opaque white wax and cut beautifully. Even with it being hot here in Arizona, it would get oily on the surface but still cut "cleanly". The 4630 from Lonestar is more translucent and is very sticky and difficult to cut cleanly through. The 4630 from Aztec always gave a smooth top whether used alone or blended with another wax. The 4630 from Lonestar, treated the same exact way as Aztec's, ended up giving a rippled texture to the candle surface...like actual ridges radiating from the center to the edge of the container. Any thoughts or advice or similar tale of woe?

Thank you, thank you! All things considered, I was pretty pleased with it. The coloring came out like I had hoped, and I'm loving the FO combo. Hope it sticks!

Lol...I sure did. It was my first time using them and I tried to prepare for it best I could. That's why I kept my stick blender in the closet for this one. I was able to get the one half colored lavender and halved the other half to do the blue and white...and by that time it was already getting gloppy on me. Did a quick ITPS with the blue and white and was able to get it to pour okay up until the end. Had to plop the lavender in. But hey...it's all fun and good for learning!

Heck, don't just wander...feel free to get lost, lol! I love going back through all the old posts...there is a wealth of information hidden in there. Enjoy!

My first try at layers, my first time trying a recipe without any coconut or olive oil, and my first time NOT using my stick blender. Mixed this baby with just my two wittle hands (lol...summoning my inner tweety bird there). I actually kind of liked it...felt like I had a little more control and I was better able to see the batter go from emulsified to light trace to whoa-nellie-that-got-thick. Fragrance is a blend of Calabrian Bergamot & Violets with Sea Salt & Rice Flower...and does it smell PURTY! Happy Monday, everyone!

Lol @justajesuschick...you and I must be in some of the same candle groups on Facebook because I just posted a very similar comment to TallTayl's new post about flashpoint. I've seen people say the same thing about using the flashpoint as their guide for adding in FO. I don't doubt that some of them might have had some success, but I think it's probably more because the flashpoint temp might have coincidentally been a good temp for the FO to be combined with their wax choice and nothing to do with the flashpoint itself. Unfortunately, it then leads people to giving incorrect info about what a flashpoint actually is.

Awesome info, TallTayl, and you're right...it never gets old. In Facebook groups, I've seen people swear up and down that their melts/candles came out better because they add their FO in at the flashpoint temp rather than at the manufacturer's recommended temp and encourage others to do the same. I know those who try to explain what the flashpoint means must feel like broken records, lol...but it needs to be put out there to hopefully educate those who will take the time to listen and research.

I went back through the last several newsletters and didn't see any mention of closing. There were a few mentions of working with a small staff, though, and looks like his mold liquidation sale has turned into an everything liquidation sale. You all are right...the tone of this last newsletter sounded like a goodbye, but maybe he's just really downsizing? I always love his newsletters and his site was one of the first that I read through thoroughly when I started making soap. It helped me tremendously. Would be so sad to see SMR go.

Would love to hear how your Black Cherry comes out and whether or not it goes all cough syrup/medicinal once you get it in wax. May have to put Red Pineapple on my list because it sounds yummy.

I'm with Candybee and TallTayl. It's time consuming enough to go through the testing process of making a safe-burning candle with just wax, wick, container, color, and fragrance. Why throw in another element that truly you can only cross your fingers and hope never catches fire? I think there are many other ways of having unique candles without the added hazard. The shops you looked at may have hundreds of positive reviews with no tales of burning houses....but it only takes that one time. Personally, with all the time, effort, and money I've invested into this craft, I'm going to do everything possible to protect myself and possible future customers. The dried flower and herbs, to me, are a big, bright, flashing, neon pink "SUE ME" sign, lol.

I've always loved that color combo...want to redecorate my bathrooms in those colors. Wish I could smell the soap through the screen!

Happy to have you!

Oo la la. Love it! Fragrance combo sounds lovely.

Lol...I'm still pouting about this and haven't ordered from Peak since. Have been ordering from Aztec and Lonestar, but plan on doing an overhaul of my supply needs and update my suppliers' price lists to (hopefully) find one or two main ones that I can stick with and won't kill me on shipping.

Raspberry Cordial is FABULOUS! So potent that, like with Vanilla Voodoo, less is more.

So beautiful! I absolutely love it. It came out exactly how you described it, with the grass and flowers peeking through the snow and the blue sky overhead. Spot on!

Can't wait to see this one! Looks beautiful already. I haven't been courageous enough to try layers yet in my CP soap, but this may be just the inspiration I needed.

Have you tried New Directions Aromatics?

Some of the more experienced chandlers can correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as wax having a "memory" and getting a full mp on the first burn, I understood this to be a guideline more for pillar candles rather than containers. Because the dynamic of pillars are different, shooting for that full mp on the first burn can help prevent tunneling. But for containers, meh. As others have already said, life happens and sometimes you can't burn a container candle for long before having to snuff it out. I've done that before, and the candle still burned fine the rest of the way with no tunneling. In fact, it may be something you want to purposely test for because customers will do the same thing. I'm one that tries to wick for a full mp on my second or third burn because I want the jar to stay cool the further it goes, but that's me. Moonshine is a good example that things work differently for others and it all just depends on your setup. But I would say always test the candle the whole way down and not just to the halfway mark because you never know what can happen in that last half of the container.

Happy you're here!

I like the look of both beveled and non-beveled. I bevel mine because I don't like the way the un-beveled edges feel on my hands the first couple of uses. Since I only make small loaves right now, the amount of shavings isn't much. I just make balls out of the excess, and my daughter likes to collect them. She's 12 and loves playing at designing houses for her Littlest Pet Shop toys, and she uses the balls for interior decorating, lol.

I tried wood wicks with 4633 and didn't like them in it. I use 3" straight-sided tumblers, and, even using the smallest wood wick, the jar got too hot for my liking the further down it burned. Of all the wicks I tried, my best tests came with HTPs, but I still wasn't happy with the combo so I've taken a break from this wax.

I just started playing with 4630, so I haven't done a lot of testing. One thing I could suggest is lowering your fragrance load. I've noticed that if I go over 7% fragrance in this wax, it smokes and soots a lot. So I've kept my testers at around 6% to 6.5% fragrance. I use straight-sided tumblers that are 3 inches in diameter, and so far I've had nice burns with HTP 73 and Eco 4 (still testing them, though, so that could change). I tested HTP 83 and 93, and while I didn't get mushrooms, both ended up sooting a lot toward the end of the burn. The suppliers I buy wicks from don't carry the HTP 72, so I can't say how that one would work. If you test it, let us know because I'd be interested if there's much difference between it and the HTP 73. Best I can suggest is lower the fragrance amount and then test again with two HTP 62s or 72s and see how it does.

Thanks for posting your results, @pcbrook. I was curious if anyone had tested this. Thanks for sharing!