Clear Black

@Trappeur  I believe it should read:

Nt Wt 3 oz (85g) 

Great idea TRAP!

Uh..after a quick google search I found this Pam.

"Slack wax is petroleum product; the raw material of paraffin wax, Slack wax is a mixture of oil and wax in yellow or brown color, processed by pressing to decrease the oil content and discoloring by special powders after heating to produce paraffin wax.Slack wax verifies from light to heavy grades based on its melting ..."

It seems slack wax is the BEFORE product to paraffin wax. Meaning, it has to be refined further for it to even become paraffin so there is probably loads of impurities still in there that would clog a wick.  Best bet for @Brilig is to stop any further use of this in candles and maybe try to resell on ebay *SHRUG*

On 12/5/2018 at 2:56 PM, Brilig said:

It's been burning for over three hours now, and there's a half inch ring the goes around the jar even though the wax has burned down over an inch...

Dont have a clue about this wax either but it seems you may need to wick up at the very least. What type of jar? What size is the largest diameter? What wick/size? Fragrance load? Cure time? 

Without any of this info and more its tough for us to properly diagnose the issue.  But for now, pull that wick, heat gun the top to smooth that ring back flush to the top, poke a hole down the middle and stick a bigger wick in there and re test.  Also may consider double wicking but again, with minimal info Im just throwing out ideas.

Good luck mate

3 hours ago, Sarah S said:

 Has anyone heard of or used this company before? Their website says their product is Body and Fragrance Oil, which makes me suspicious that it is cut with something to make it skin safe. They only sell in pounds, which also makes me wary because 1lb is only $24.

I am looking for a dupe of Lancome's La Nuit Tresor, and that company popped up.

Does anyone know where else I might find a dupe that would be suitable for soap or candles? Or at least in a smaller size than a pound, lol. I searched SOS, but only came up with Tresor, which I think is slightly different.

TIA!!

I have never heard of this company before but just my 2 cents on the skin safe FO's...I use a ton of these in my lineup, a whole bunch from Candles and Supplies.  They have a lot of FO's that are skin safe and they are potent as all heck. In fact, it usually seems like the FO's from C&S are always my best sellers. Take this info as you please  

As a side note and a personal "just because"  I REFUSE to order from a company that does not offer at least a sample size of FO's. Like cmon, is it really hard to offer 1 or 2 oz bottles? 

I just ordered a bunch of 16 oz bottles as I was waiting on a sale. Seems a lot of people beat me to the punch as many of their FO's are on a few days/weeks back order already. So if you need any from there I would not hesitate too long. Seems like a pretty good sale so far

12 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

Tonight is the 1st night in at least the 6-8 weeks that I have ALL orders made (as of this minute) .  It has been an exhausting season and it is hard to believe Christmas is less than a week away.  Having this small business is great but I miss so much of the season.  I work my 9-5 job during the day and then come home go in the basement every night, and usually spend most of the weekends here also.

 

I know any orders I get tomorrow (Wed) can still make it in the mail (by thursday) and in time for xmas.  So I know I will have a few more last minute orders.  I try to accommodate all last minute shoppers. 

 

The 1st year I did this I needed to shut down my etsy store just a few days into December.  I was not even close to prepared for the number of orders I was going to get.  Which is about a days work this year.  This was my 4th xmas season, and I thought last year was crazy.  My sales increased WAY more that I could imagine and I generally kept my head above water for the most part. 

 

I do enjoy the rush I get seeing the number of sales coming in though.  LOL

 

BUT I am looking forward to getting back to somewhat of a normal life.  And it being OK to take a few nights away from the basement and going to bed before midnight.

Congrats on the success mate!  

3 hours ago, TallTayl said:

That is some weak dye. Skip it and move to a seller that has concentrated dyes where a couple of drops will do that color depth and more. 

 

At an average of 500-600 drops per oz that’s 1/3 of an Oz per lb. geesh. Someone is making a nice profit on diluted dye. 

Oh for sure, I get all my dyes from Flaming and C&S as it stands, but was browsing clamshell molds and stumbled into this vendors  dye page when I found this. 

Browsing through some supplier sites and came upon this under the liquid dyes section. I am new to liquid dyes and I am always VERY CAUTIOUS about adding anything more than 5 drops of dye per lb to any of my waxes based solely on fear of the dye interfering with burn performance. Can these numbers be correct???    200 FRICKEN DROPS OF DYE PER POUND??????

3 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Pouring hot does that to many of my candles during our cold weather. 

Hmm...so you think pouring cold, closer to it setting up like I do with straight soy will change this? My basement shop is heated to room temps, so Im not sure if my room is cold or if its just a matter of pouring colder. 

Further testing is needed! as usual 

Thanks a bunch TT

I am having issues with a few of new waxes I am testing out and with shrinkage. Sure, I am getting the typical indents on the top of the wax and a heat gun solves that no problem. The issue I am also having is that the wax within 24 hours shrinks and separates then releases from the sidewalls of the container.  This is doing so in both my tins and glass, so for instance if you take the glass jar and tip it upside down the wax just plops right out onto the counter lol. 

The waxes in question is basically 6006 and my own custom blends of soy/paraffin with my blend being 50/50 and up with soy being the larger %. Anything over 50% soy will release but if I go 60% paraffin/40% soy I am fine. Although I really want 60%soy/40%para but have the separation issues.

I am heating both wax types to around 190* adding FO and pouring hot. 

Any insight into this will be helpful thanks  

On 12/4/2018 at 3:49 PM, Ruru said:

Hi Guys,

Quick question. I want to order some supplies from northwood candle supply because of all the positive feedback. But now I'm having doubt because it seems that everything on there website has 5 star review which seems very strange to me. Is Northwood telling people to give 5 star for something in return?  Just very strange to me. Has anyone else ordered from there? I'm looking at their coconut wax and fragrances at the moment.

 

Thanks so much guys!

They are a good company. No problems here on my end yet. Their coconut wax is super nice although it can soot a bit if you dont have the correct wick/size. Also its just too darn expensive for my line of candles. If you are to go with that wax I think they even suggest to market them as a "luxury" brand candle, whatever tf that is lol. 

AS far a fragrances...I liked the samples I got so much I am now including at least half of them for my 2019 line up. Obviously fragrances work differently for everyone and smell is subjective, but as far as quality Id say order some samples and decide for yourself. 

Cant answer the 5 star rating thing tho, although most of the items I got from them would in fact have gotten a 5 star rating if I had taken the time to rate them.

-Cheers

31 minutes ago, Arch Rock said:

Thanks for the input Clear Black but I've been doing this for many years - just re-started my biz after a long hiatus.  I always balance flame height and melt pool but do expect 1/4" of FMP within 4 hours but am fine with some cling.  There's a gal in town here who makes soy candles in soup cans.  It's pretty scary how horribly hot and sooty these burn.  I'm afraid she's going to burn someone's house down.

Yikes. At least they are in cans and can withstand the high heat longer before breaking. At least lol

11 hours ago, Arch Rock said:

  It took double-time (up to 4 hours) to reach side-to-side jar

So does this mean you are normally wicking your containers to reach a FMP by the second hour? That seems very unsafe, regardless of how much you think your customers want this. If this is how I am interpreting your comment then I would suggest focusing on making a safe candle above satisfying a customer based on false information they think they know.

Take this as advice and not anything personal. I would hate to see you put yourself or anyone else at risk with an over wicked candle just to make someone happy

Ya, I am basically looking for a way to make a white candle without clogging the wick Q. Seems harder than it sounds I guess.  

Question: Does all white dye contain titanium dioxide? I was looking at Northwoods and C&S’s white dye chips and wondering if they work in candles or will they be tough to burn. 

And if yes, how does Yankee do it? I know they have a few fragrances that are white in color and if all white dyes contain Titanium dioxide pigments then There must be a way for us to make a white color as well ya?

Thanks.

22 hours ago, ScentedPleasurez said:

Don't feel sorry for me lol feel sorry for the soy makers at shows that try to bash me for using paraffin. 

Some people get very nasty at shows that are over booked with candles,soap,and jewelry. Especially when they aren't getting sales.

I had one woman come to my table and actually started a huge scene because of her soy and my paraffin. I sit there watching her ranting at my booth and I laughed. I then proceeded on shutting her claims down. She made such an Ass of herself she packed up and left. 

While some consumers simply do not care there are some that do and will ask. 

I do not throw info down people's throat but if asked I will explain that soy is not better. I do not bash anyone for their type of wax but it's unbelievable how some act. 

One of my best customers now was an avid soy user and promoted it. Now she promotes me to everyone that she comes into contact with.  I feel my candles speak for themselves. 

I agree with you here I really do. I sell soy and soy only and on a few occasions have been approached by a few customers bashing on paraffin and wanting to purchase my candles simply because they were soy based. I very politely try to explain to them the benefits and negatives of BOTH waxes and that it comes down to preference really. Its hilarious to watch their expressions as I defend paraffin while selling them a soy candle lol  

One more just for the fun of it. I honestly do feel sorry for you folks who do use paraffin. It must be tough selling a product that the general public is being told to fear by a select few so called "experts" 

Grab some popcorn and enjoy the watching:

This news story goes way beyond fear mongering and even point out that a zinc type wick is a huge no-no. Ugh

Lol at this topic. I think it is all fear-mongering if you ask me and I detest this especially when used in this manner as a marketing strategy against paraffin. AND I DO NOT EVEN USE PARRAFIN!  I am a soy user and still think that BOTH or ALL types of waxes have certain safety risks if not used properly. In my experience parrafin does not soot any worse than any other wax if improper wicking is used but what do I know really eh?  

14 hours ago, Jenni Wix said:

@pughaus I'm newer, but that's kind of where I'm at too, especially with added coconut wax.  😌 Currently taking a breather and trying melts.  

 

@Clear Black smh.  Maybe it's because they can afford the expensive lawyers.  Besides blood sweat and many, many tears, it can't hurt us little guys in the end to be proactive with tests and wicking on the safe side, especially with glass. On that note, tins are something I'm considering too.  

 

I think good instructions, re trimming, burn time, etc, can do a lot to help and at the same time there's always that one person who doesn't trim, doesn't pay attention.  That one time.  It's so much more personal with small business.  

 

SMH for sure. I ended up melting the wax down on the stove and just wicking one of my normal tins and repouring the wax in that instead of it going to waste.

4 hours ago, Jenni Wix said:

@ScentedPleasurez and @pughaus 

 

It could be problematic given that an imperfection can cause glass containers to break/explode if the temperature gets too high, causing the melt pool to ignite over whatever surface the candle was on. 

 

 @TallTayl stated the ASTM standard for a glass container to reach during a burn is about 170° F.  

 

It's a balancing act to reach full MP w/o the container getting too hot.  It's challenging.  (Especially when wicks want to curl and throw things off center).  So I've been measuring mine and blow it out if it's reached that point, weather I've got a full MP or not, and sometimes it's back to the drawing board in terms of the wick. 

I know this is the safety standard in terms of glass temperatures, but I have tested many of YC's "perfect pillar" jars and found them to burn way too hot even at the top of the jar. I am even a constant wick trimmer and they still had a fmp over an inch deep on the first 4 hour burn.  Those are a 3" wide glass jar that stand a bit over 12" high. I did not dare burn it even to the halfway point in the jar for fear of it shattering. 

This was about a year ago and maybe they had some bad candles there for a 6 month  stretch, but either way they were not following the 170* rule for glass temps. Not even close so it makes me wonder what standard they do infact follow.

12 hours ago, TallTayl said:

I lose track... is the northwood coconut coco83? If it is, the wax is nice, but a bugger to figure out how to wick without carbon and loads of soot. It’s like burning super soft paraffin. I’ve had to blend it to burn clean. If you have the time it’s well worth the effort since 444 et al have become unusable.

I do not think it is the Coco83 but maybe their own blend. 

From their website it reads:

100% Natural Coconut Candle Wax - Buy Wholesale Coconut Candle Wax

All natural container blend. 90% coconut wax blended with palm and soy waxes to imporove burn quality and increase scent throw. Contains NO paraffin. Ready to use. No blending or additives required.

Melt Point: 126 Degrees F

If you're looking for a wax with superior scent throw, excellent color retention and glass adhesion, look no further! Create a luxury line of candles for your customers or make candles for personal use with this all natural coconut candle wax. 

On 10/21/2018 at 10:22 AM, TallTayl said:

the secret with these is to wick waaaaaay down, at least in my coconut and coconut blends. I have split some in half lengthwise to make smaller sizes.  Not very scientific, but they worked so far. I’m going to keep emailing them weekly asking for smaller sizes 🤣. A cw5 and a cw10 would be pretty perfect in my waxes in smaller jars. 

TT. I believe those wicks are actually made by Atkins & Pierce with Northwood being a licensed distributor. You may want to email A&P directly next time if you do not get any answers from NW. I believe there is a link to A&P on the CottonWood description page.

Cheers

5 hours ago, midoamy said:

I have - I did a 60/40 blend with 60%Coconut/40% Ecosoya PB and am pleased with the results. 

Did you try the coconut wax at 100%? 

This wax is super pricey and before I order myself some to test I was curious if anyone has any experience with this wax and could give their opinions. 

Thanks