C Dizzle

What is this clear coat sealant you are using? That sounds like a fantastic idea, but I had never heard it until just now.

Thank you for all the advice. I'm pleased with this information

Have any of you gotten Fireside from Candle Science to work? Mine had 0 hot throw, but I mixed a full brown dye block with 10 drops of black dye PP and fear I just clogged the wick. Also seems like the absolute best scent you could have a wood wick for, but of course, that's a long ways out for me

My question is exactly the title of the thread, how long do FOs last in the bottle? I've seen varying information online, but I figured you seasoned chandlers would know better than random internet info. I am sure your answers may differ from each other too, but I think it's FAR more relevant than random internet info! Surely it doesn't last FOREVER before going in wax, right? I mainly have Candle Science FOs, and I only have GB 464 wax.

Have you ever tried liquid AND a dye block at the same time? I did 10 drops of liquid per pound and 2 brown dye blocks per pound and got a very pretty woody dark brown for a fireside candle, but the hot throw is nonexistent. It could be wicking of course, but it made me wonder if you aren't supposed to mix the types of dyes. I got a sample pack from Lonestar Candle Supplies and it says their dye blocks are usable with each other, but makes no mention if adding other types works and I could definitely see it if its a bad idea. That's good to know about consistency. I have noticed, especially with the dye blocks, that blocks are inconsistent on size. I think I may try exclusively use liquid for consistency and it would be nice to just settle with one type of dying process, and it seems to have the most pros and the only con I know, being hard as hades to get off your hands/floor/tables/etc, is easy to mitigate with gloves/vinyl tablecloth/etc.

Personal opinion, if your customers are complimenting your labels unsolicited, stick with it! Do you have a picture of them somewhere I can look at?

I just looked at that fragrance and it has a FP of 133. So you've added this FO at 185 and it's giving a great hot throw? It would make sense for that to be fine, but I had the fear of it not working due to reading other information online. If you have done that several times and it worked great, that's proof enough for me to test it out!

I have been using paint.net (a free for commercial use and fairly intuitive editor compared to most), as well as Avery's templates and I really like what I can do with them without a great deal of effort. Most other editors require a lot more hoopla! I am glad you mentioned about the descriptions because I wondered about it for a while and came to the conclusion it's probably a lot of work for a worse looking label that adds no value to the candle or experience. I believe you when you say people ignore labels. I think the labels will be FAR more important to ME than it will be to anyone else!

I am a computer technician by trade and I can expound on some of the differences between inkjet and laser if anyone is interested. There are far more pros and cons than this, I'm only including what I think affects us all in the same way, and leaving out print speeds, costs, etc. Personal opinion, inkjet is probably superior for most people, although one can make laser work (albeit with less options than inkjet). Inkjet - Pros - Good for color change, multiple colors, photos Cons - Small text will not look as good as laser Laser - Pros Prints solid colors and text very well. Inkjet cannot print small letters near as good as laser. Cons Photos and logos with many colors will never look as good as inkjet, have a much more "printed at home on a low quality printer" look to them. I made a logo with solid colors and text, including some small text, mainly due to laser's limitations. My only colors on it are white, black, and the color of the candle itself as banners. My white rectangles with pics experiment likely would have looked much better on inkjet, although I still think white glossy looks better than white. I really want to experiment with inkjet and more colorful labels, but what I have is workable and I really need to focus on testing rather than branding. The only people I think will be served better with laser would have to have small printed text that they wanted more readable, and their label would have to have less color change, especially side by side color change. So, solid colors with some small text that's important to look good would be about the only crew I can currently think of that might prefer laser, but even they would prefer laser if the small text isn't as important to look good. My logo is an example of this, and I'll add it on here later when I get a chance.

If I were using photos or color intense graphics, I'm sure I would be using inkjet exclusively.

I don't think that, it's all I have access to currently. I can either print it at home, office depot, or work and they are all laser. I would like to test it out on inkjet and see which it looks better with but laser looks fine on its own.

Even the people who say "I hate cinnamon" and "I hate red hots" seem to love this scent. I haven't found one who did not like it. My first batch of candles was this with a red dye block and the color was awful but the scent filled up my whole house, longer than any scent I've tried so far. Burning it is insane too and it only took a day to cure the first time, so it really confused me for a bit regarding cure time. I have found some beautiful colors for it with reddig glow cinnamon dye chips

Would anyone else mind sharing what types of dyes in general they use? If I understand chandlery properly, using a different type of dye can cause the scent to not throw. I'm not asking you to list the type of dye for each candle! But in general if you use liquid, dye blocks, reddig glows, etc, that would be very useful information for me! I am experimenting with all 3 and so far I like all but liquid. I have read enough of Trappeur's post to believe that she uses no dye at all but I have no clue on the rest of you!

I have tried white, white glossy, and white matte, and clear. Here are my opinions. Oval looks the best for my logo on 12 Oz, although a circle looks decent on the 2 oz status jar. I would like to make some rectangular, but I only can fit something looking good on a very large rectangle on a very large jar, and I'm not ready to test my 21 Oz status yet. I am focusing on testing on 12 Oz mainly, and some 2 Oz as well. Clear - I don't like this at all. I have heard others say it looks good on black glass, and I only have clear. I'll try that out, but as it stands, it looks terrible on clear glass. White - This looks the least professional. It looks like I printed it out in my basement, which is really what is going on, but I don't want it to look that way! White matte - This does look good, but not good with my logo. I am sure I could do some really nice work with this down the road, but my current direction it is not as good for. I really want to revisit this style. White gloss - Now this I love. My logo is just some solid color banners and some text, and this really makes that stand out. To me this looks the most professional with my current logo, but I think I could potentially make something more professional and better looking with white matte, but that remains to be seen as of yet. I do want to look at other styles like emboss down the road, but I'm more focused on testing candles and scents rather than labels. I just wanted SOMETHING to put on there as I felt that looks better than just blank jars and I'm a bit of a perfectionist when I craft something so I had to try out at least several varieties.

The two strongest throws I have gotten are from Candle Science and are Mistletoe and Red Hot Cinnamon. I forgot that one's name but it smells like red hots. Reddit for the cinnamon and dye block for the mistletoe.

I have some FOs with a flash point of perhaps 130 or so? I've been scared to add them fearing a low temp it won't bind to the wax and a high temp will burn some off. Is that fear unfounded?

I have been reading quite a bit, but I am seeing some conflicting information sometimes. I'm still learning a lot though! I have been spending at least an hour, usually more, over the past several days reading and I am sure I'll keep going for a while. I've been sticking mainly to this forums, but just started looking at General Candlemaking today. That's very good to know about burning down testers all the way with the side tunneling. That makes a lot of sense.

I like 1 the most. Both are great.

Thank you for this advice. Is any amount of tunneling acceptable? Obviously I see why you wouldn't want an inch tunnel, but what about 1/8" or whatever?

Is there a more efficient way to test? I have also read that someone says you can wait one week to test even for candles that take two weeks to cure, yet didn't explain it. That doesn't make sense to me. Is there more to it?

What, if any, additives do you use for GB 464? I am only using UV inhibitor. I have read some people add coconut oil to some waxes. Do you add it to GB 464 and if so, how is it different than without? I have also read some use USA in some waxes, but doesn't GB 464 already have it in there?

My post was a bit long, so I wanted to make sure I posted this part again. It would take a lot to scare me away. Trying to help me and helping prevent me from making terrible mistakes will only make me ask more questions here, not less. And even though what I was actually doing was a bit different than what it seemed, I learned a LOT from the concerns posted about it here, and I will make sure y'alls advice is taken into consideration and hopefully I make less mistakes because of it. Be blunt. I prefer it!

I have been doing this since September, almost 4 months. I still am working on testing a lot and I was mainly interested in what others thought of the candles at the show, although there was no one to ask! There are 4 Saturday shows total and I already told them I am not going to the other ones. The only two people that came by didn't even want one so I had no worries. I did give the guy who invited me a few, he's been a friend for almost 20 years and it was ones I have tested thoroughly and are good. We have a local shop wanting me to give them some to sell, and as I said earlier, the only ones I would be comfortable with I've been testing for almost 4 months and if anything, they are very slightly underwicked. I'm still on the fence if I should give them the two products I know are solid, or wait until I have at least half a dozen or so good ones. They are fine either way, my wife is fine either way, I'm just undecided on what is best. Those two are red hot cinnamon with red dye chips in GB 464, and mistletoe with green dye blocks in GB 464 in Status 12 oz and Status 21 Oz. They burn almost to the edge but there's a slight residue on the side. So it's tunneling, but its not a pure tunnel as it looks like residue on the side of the glass rather than a pure tunnel. I am going to test with an ECO 16, but I feel like it may be too far on the too hot side. I also want to test out CD 14s and 16s to see if one is perfect. The jar isn't very hot, and the hot throw is AMAZING in both of these. It's unreal how great they are, and their only issue is the residue on the sides. Even these that I am confident in I want to test with CD wicks before I sell them to anyone. I also have some of these in Status 2 Oz with ECO 4, but I haven't tested them as thoroughly as the other sizes, and thus am not confident in that size yet. My friends on FaceBook have been a bit overzealous on saying they to order them in the posts, but only one of them has actually PM'd me trying to actually order one. I doubt I'll be ready by Christmas unless they want the two I mentioned as surely I'll be done by then. You all have every right to be concerned with a new crafter selling untested products, and I am sure that's what it looked like. But I am not selling them, yet! I've known this guy 30 years when we were wee lads, so it's also someone I trust to test and he's very interested in helping me get products he and his girlfriend can buy from us rather than from a big box store. I'm also going to be giving him some to test rather than selling at first. I do agree with your concerns and I have been challenging myself already to not sell a single thing unless I test it and it's great and safe. I will admit I was wrong about thinking it would be OK to sell to someone if they wanted it for decoration only, because they might change their mind and then might have something dangerous. I had not thought of that and I'm so very glad that situation did not arise as I probably would have made a mistake there. I wish I had been more clear in what I was doing earlier so you all had less to worry about, but alas I did not! For the record, I have not been scared away, everyone here has been helpful and direct. That's what I need AND what I want, so it works out! I wish I knew these boards existed in September, but I have been perusing them heavily since I found them. My goal is to learn my craft well, and start giving back to the new people who show up after I feel confident in what I am doing. I would imagine that's several months out at the earliest, and I admit I do not know what I am doing yet. I also hope people are honest when it comes to something looking bad. If I make something and it looks terrible, 95% of my friends and family will say "That's great". I NEED people to say it does not look great. I am actually even more interested in staying on these forums as I am sure someone will point out I'm going to make a mistake if I am going to make one and not realize it. That's fantastic. For the record, to clear this up, the ONLY people I've given candles to are my mother in law, a friend I've known 20 years, and a friend I've known 30 years. I've ONLY given them two of the ones I am confident in. And I won't give any to ANYONE other than ones I am confident until they are perfect. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to things like that and I am also scared of selling something dangerous. I was in a weird position as I was going to feel bad telling people they couldn't buy the candles, but I did not have to. It all worked out very well, but I'm not going to go to another until we are ready with a line of candles we are confident in that are fully tested. Testing: Here is what I have been doing to test. I'll give an example with cinnamon. I make and pour the candles in different jars, and then burn them all the way down. I'll then try other wicks if the only concern is wicking, and if it doesn't have a solid hot throw, I plan to go back and experiment with wicks until I get it right. I have been writing down what all I added. I then burn them down all the way in 4 hour increments and take notes. When a candle has been slightly underwicked, I haven't gone a wick size up yet as I've been fearful of what would happen had I gotten one too hot. I haven't had a jar seriously overwicked yet, and I'm a bit scared of what would happen, but I suppose going from underwicked at ECO 14 to a ECO 16 shouldn't be too crazy, so I might as well do it to test. The only overwicked candles I have had were ECO 4s in Status 2 Oz jars, but those haven't been too crazy. I do need to go down in them though as they are leaving soot on the sides. I have read on here that some people will make the candle wickless and then dig a hole with a threading needle to put the wick they think works. If it doesn't, they remove the wick and try another. I feel if I did that and settled on a wick, I should still make another candle and burn it all the way down before I feel it's properly tested. I noted you said 3 hours earlier. Do you do it in 3 for every jar type? How long do you wait until after you do the test before you test the same candle again in another 3/4 hour increment?

It was so dead we only had 2 people even come look, so that worked out. Trappeur, I read somewhere that you normally use CD 14 or 16 for the 3" diameter status. Is that correct? My ECOs either seem slightly too hot or not hot enough. I'll get great scent throw and it's burning slightly hot and tunneling sometimes with a 14, and that's just confusing.

I'll definitely avoid their scent names. Is this a common thing?