DG17

Thanks everyone! I think I'll try making one more tester with under 1 oz pp and if that doesn't work for me, I'll just move on to one of the many other pumpkin options! Luckily there's a lot to choose from.

I am burning some testers with this FO in Naturewax C3 right now. I love the smell OOB and even the cold throw in wax, but when burning it just smells, well, BURNT. It smells like burnt pumpkin seeds or something along those lines. Does anyone who uses this scent have any similar experiences to share, or do you think I may have gotten a bad bottle or done something wrong? I added it around 185 like I do with all my FOs, and used somewhere between 1.2-1.4 oz pp. I know some people think that's on the steeper side but I've never really had an issue with it before. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Trappeur, I was only letting them sit for a few days before for testing purposes, but I made another batch recently that I'm going to let cure for AT LEAST 1 week if not 2. Hopefully it will make a big difference!

Crvella, Interesting about the wicks, thanks for the insight! I will definitely be trying the 12. As for the FO, I know I was using too much - closer to 1.5 oz pp as I've been struggling with achieving strong hot throw. But I am certainly going to cut back on this scent!

Thanks everyone! I am trying cutting back on this FO when I attempt some new wicks. I also ordered a sample pack of Premiers to see if they're any better than the CDN's. Unfortunately I already spent quite a bit on CDN's so I'm still holding out hope that maybe I can get them to work... We'll see. I'm also trying to improve hot throw, as mine is pretty light in all my candles so far. I add a little USA for appearance, but I just read Vybar can help with holding more scent. Not sure if I can or should use both? Still so much testing to do.

It smells great! I will make new testers (12 and 14 for good measure) and see how it goes. I'm surprised that with such a deep initial MP with the 10 it ended up seeming too small later... I guess things really can change a lot in the second half of the candle!

CS Cinnamon Chai. I really like the scent, it's just giving me some grief in the wicking department! You think I should try 12's?

And Kandlekrazy, I tried the lower pouring temp (waiting until it was starting to cloud) for a while but it actually made the pita situation worse for me, so I switched to the higher pour temp suggested by the manufacturer for C3. Weird how things work differently for everyone.

And Kandlekrazy, I tried the lower pouring temp (waiting until it was starting to cloud) for a while but it actually made the pita situation worse for me, so I switched to the higher pour temp suggested by the manufacturer for C3. Weird how things work differently for everyone.

Thanks for the input everyone! You were right about it burning hotter as it goes along... the CDN 8 is working great in the other FO (not the one used in the candles pictured above). With the FO pictured, both the 8 and the 10 have flopped... Both have created weird hang-up on the sides and the flame became super tiny. Is anyone familiar with this? Is the wick drowning in the MP somehow? I'm not sure if it's the FO or what because in the other FO the CDN 8 has been working beautifully. CDN 10: CDN 8: This pic is after 4 hours of burning too.

Update: Only the second burn but it's still taking 6+ hours in a 2.75" diam jar for the CDN 8's to get a melt pool that extends to all sides (2 different FOs). Does that still seem better than the 10's?

TallTayl, Thanks for the tips! I have yet to do a power burn, so when I've burned these down incrementally I'll do that next - maybe in a sink haha.

Trappeur, I definitely have to agree with you on the safety side of things! I'll just keep on chugging along with my testing, but I'm leaning more towards ticking with the 8's for sure. I feel much better now that I've gotten some input! As for curing, I've been a bad girl in that category... I get impatient and burn the testers after 4-5 days, but I know I should wait more like 2 weeks. I honestly thought it mostly just affected scent throw, so I didn't think it would matter too much for testing wick size. Good to know, thanks! I think I'll make some more tonight and try to control myself for 2 weeks before burning them. I'm learning that testing in the beginning stages is never-ending... And the whole heating jars thing... I never did that until I did a batch that had really bad frosting all along the jar. I hadn't run into that problem even in a mild form before, so I wasn't sure what the issue was but I read heating the jars could help with that (and maybe other things) so I decided to give it a try. So far no more frosting with the same FO/dye combo that gave me the problem the first time, so I was happy with that. It hasn't helped significantly with the cracking though, but maybe I'm still just working through finding the best temp for the jars. It's hard to say how much it's actually helped right now, but at this point I figured I'm willing to try it!

I actually just took the pictures on my iPhone and then emailed them to myself and uploaded them on Photobucket. I'm happily surprised that they came out so well! As for the surface cracks, I've been experimenting with heating my jars for different periods of time before pouring. It can be a bit of a struggle to find the perfect balance of not too hot but not too cool! And for the wicks, I guess I was mostly concerned that people may not burn them long enough to avoid hang-up on the first burn which I heard can lead to issues in subsequent burns. Over 4 hours for a 2.75" jar seemed long to me! But then again, I know next to nothing about the technical things still, which is why I'm here for opinions. I'm glad you think the CDN 8 is better though, as that's what I've mostly been using so far. I'll keep burning these two though and see how things change as they go along. Thanks so much for your input!

Unfortunately the My Media button doesn't work for me on here because it won't allow me to upload any pictures to my gallery to then select from. Whenever I select an image to upload, it tells me there's not room left even though it says the data is unlimited and I haven't used any! Oh well, I tried the photo bucket method so hopefully this works! Trappeur, that top looks great! I've had one really perfect bath with the C3 so far, but usually I get the faintest slight sink-hole type deal going on every time. It really just looks like a faint circular line around the top, but it's obviously not ideal. Still trying to figure out what I did differently in the better batch! I've been pouring around 160, is yours on the higher end as well? And that FO sounds lovely, I've been going a little sample crazy at the moment but I think I need to start making some of my money back if I'm going to keep it up! The 4 oz jar that I've been using is just called "4 oz Canning Jar, Regular Mouth." The 8 oz jar I've been using is the Square Mason, but these photos are of the 4 oz. CDN 10, 3 hours: CDN 8, 3 hours: To recap, the diameter of the jar is 2.75". The CDN 8 melt pool still didn't fully reach the sides after 4 hours on the first burn. The CDN 10 actually took longer than 3 hours to do so as well on its the second burn.