Jaye

All of you were right... these burn horribly!!!! I tried out the yellow one last night... using a 24 ply flat-braided wick, it burned down to a heaping mess in a matter of five seconds flat. The melting wax came out of every single hole and sizzled and sparked as it did. Luckily, (thanks to your warnings) I had it sitting on a large plate, so there was no major catastrophe... it just went straight back into the melting pot for the next experiment! With the first couple I made, I put them back into their molds and poured another color over and they looked great! These didn't burn well either though because there was water trapped inside the holes. I guess this type of candle needs a loooooooooooooooong time to dry out. I was going to give up the idea entirely until I read your post, Bruce. That's a great idea about using a small pillar inside a larger mold and surrounding the pillar with ice before pouring the melted wax. I couldn't wait to try it, so have a pillar setting as we speak! Thanks for warning me of the dangers and for the suggestions, guys!

I'm not sure how everybody else uses the "freezer method" Mama... I just ran a candle under hot water and put it immediately into the freezer for a while. I think about half an hour?! Thanks to Donita's help though, I was able to use the correct technique and came up with this pentagon... [ATTACH]5664[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5665[/ATTACH] Which I have to say looks MUCH better in real life than in the pic! :undecided

You're right grasshopper... it does look like cheese! It never occurred to me until you mentioned it! To be honest Candle Man, I haven't burned one of these yet. I made the mistake with the first one I made, of wicking it immediately after I unmolded it. The wick became wet and just would not burn no matter what I did or how hard I hoped and wished and prayed! The website did mention using a taper candle as the wick, or pre-waxing the wick before molding. I used a wick pin so I couldn't but an upside-down votive holder inside. I think I will try using your idea of the taper though for the next one. Thanks! Will let you know how these ones burn.

Hi All! I found the recipe/technique for these on an English candlemaking website and thought they looked pretty cool. Mine don't look nearly as good as theirs... but they're so easy and fun to make! The lacy/holey pattern is made simply by filling a mold (with a wick-pin) with ice cubes and pouring melted wax over. Once the wax has hardened, you unmold it and pour the water out. They do need to dry out overnight before wicking and burning though. The yellow one is scented lemongrass sage and the brown one sandalwood. [ATTACH]5659[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5658[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5657[/ATTACH]

Thanks Kim! Donita's (and everybody else's that does it the right way!) look much better, but this one is kinda growing on me.

After many attempts at doing the crackle technique the proper way (and failing miserably ) this is what I came up with using the freezer. Please forgive the blurriness... photography isn't one of my stronger points either! [ATTACH]5603[/ATTACH]

Funny you should say that, Donita. I was just explaining my dipping woes to Regina in the candle gallery. I just CANNOT dip properly! Despite trying ALL night last night there just doesn't seem to be an easy way to dip. Or maybe it's just me. In any case, at the end of the night I was ready to throw all my candlemaking tools out the window! If you were to make a video, I would be first in line to buy it!

I was just as excited as you Regina when I discovered this crackle technique! I had a cupboard FULL of candles that weren't quite perfect that I hadn't gotten around to melting yet. This technique was the answer to my prayers! Of course, all this excitement disappeared when I actually tried it! I followed Donita's excellent tutorial exactly, but.... ugh. The wick fell out of the first one while I was dipping it and the candle dropped in. The entire jug of water and melted wax went EVERYWHERE. I wasn't about to give up, so tried with the next one. The candle kept floating from side to side every time I dipped it! Because the wick isn't solid and the candle is lighter in weight than the water, it wouldn't dip properly. I ended up shoving a fork in the middle and dipping it that way... but then I had holes and drip marks all over the candle! Please tell me I'm not the only one that has these problems with dipping?! :embarasse I discovered another way to make the crackle look though... I put a candle in the freezer for a while, ran it under hot water and then immediately back into the freezer. It worked! It doesn't look as good as yours and Donita's and JoJo's though, so if you (or anyone) can offer any suggestions on dipping, I'm all ears! Thanks!

I had no idea this was even on!! And now it's full! I'm fairly new to candlemaking too, and would have loved to attend a workshop. Looking at the photos from last year, it seems like everyone had a ball! Have a wonderful time, Ingrid. Learn lots for both of us!

Thanks guys! Oh, and Cosmo told me to thank you for all the compliments too! Big, sloppy kisses for all of you!

It's not my first... but I'm rather proud of this one! Everybody... meet Cosmo! My favorite boy in the whole world! Thanks for looking!! [ATTACH]5219[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5220[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5221[/ATTACH]

I thought of that, and didn't want a "rustic" look on the shell, so started out with lukewarm water, rather than cold. So far, there's been no displacement when adding the wax (the mold is heavily weighted), and my cauldrin is the perfect size... it comes to about half an inch from the top of my mold, so there's no spillage into the wax when I add the cold water. Of course, should I ever use a shorter mold, I'll have to rethink the whole thing!

This may seem like an incredibly silly question to most of you, but I cannot for the life of me figure it out. In every tutorial/instructions on making hurricane shells that I've found, they say to move your weighted-down mold to a water bath after pouring your wax. Why is it that you can't set up the mold with the weights in a water-filled vessel and then pour your wax? This past weekend I was so sick of burning myself and spilling wax everywhere and needing another pair of hands to help me move it (I don't have a hold-a-mold yet!) that I decided to just start in the water-bath. I put my weighted-down mold in a big cauldron filled with luke-warm water in the sink. Once the wax was poured and my photos in place, I turned on the cold water tap to gradually replace the luke-warm. Everything I tried turned out perfectly!!! I did just a plain color (bright orange! ) hurricane first just to see what would happen, followed by two photo embeds and then a chunk embed. They all seem to burn wonderfully with a tealight too! Am I just having beginner's luck and there's a real reason we shouldn't do this? :undecided

And thanks everyone else! I only started making candles a couple of months ago (you may remember Tucker, I'm the fool that had the can of baked beans stuck in the hurricane! :rolleyes2 )... but I am so addicted already and learning new things every day. Alot of course is trial and error... but I have also learned an amazing amount by visiting this message board. Everyone here has been so helpful and informative!

Thanks Cathy! It's actually a Coke can filled with left over green wax, then placed inside a 3 inch square pillar and covered with clear paraffin. It's a great way to use up left over wax when you're sick of making chunks!

I'm not even sure what you would call them! Pillar within a pillar maybe? I know the tops need smoothing out... but I'm certainly not the most patient person in the world... [ATTACH]4843[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]4844[/ATTACH] Ugh... sorry they're so large. Along with my candlemaking, I guess my photography skills could use some improvement!

You guys, as usual, have been a wealth of information. You have no idea how much I value and appreciate your input. Thank you! You've certainly prevented many screaming fits, tears and temper tantrums!

I was thinking exactly the same thing, Dee!

Top, you are a genious. I didn't realize that there was a wax made specifically for mottling - I thought you had to start with paraffin and add the oil and the stearic flakes and they dye and the scent etc, etc, etc. I've ordered from Candlewic a few times now and have found their products to be wonderful. I've never ordered wax because I thought you had to buy it in bulk. Because I'm only just starting out and am trying to do things on the "inexpensive" side, I usually just buy emergency candles or tea-lights from the dollar store when it comes to wax! :embarasse You're right... it will be much easier and a lot less frustrating to use their mottling wax... and you can get it in a 10lb slab for a very reasonable price! Thank you!

As far as I know Scented, it was 100% paraffin. I also tried it with a store-bought candle that I melted down so I'm not sure what type of wax that one was. I'm not the best at taking temperatures (usually just time it) so maybe I poured it too cool. :embarasse Thanks for your advice! I'm going to start all over again, this time making sure I use the correct wax and pouring temp. Oh and yep... I'll keep it out of the fridge this time too!

Would somebody please, please, PLEASE tell me how they make mottled pillars?! I've been putting off asking here because it seems all I ever do is ask questions, but I've searched the entire web looking for the answer. :embarasse I thought I finally had it but the end result was far from mottled. The recipe called for parol oil (and of course I had no idea what this is) but I found another recipe that used mineral oil. I tried this (2 tblsps) with paraffin wax (about 1/2 a lb), dye chips, stearine flakes (approx 1 tsp) and poured at roughly 175 as Sharyl suggested in the gallery (not sure whether it's better to pour on the cooler or warmer side?) Ha! Nothing! Not even the tiniest hint of mottling! :rolleyes2 I absolutely love the look of mottled pillars and fell madly in love with Sharyl's. I would be incredibly grateful if somebody could give me some tips. Thank you!!

Ummmm... never mind... I just discovered your website. :embarasse All I can say is wow. Your candles are absolutely outstanding, Donita. I hope to be able to produce works of art even half as good one day!

Errrr.... Ducky, remind me again exactly what relief holes are and why they're needed? :undecided Are they to prevent shrinkage of the wax and the indentation at the top (bottom) of the candle? Poking holes is one thing (probably one of many! ) I never do because I figure I'm not going to be seeing the bottom... :embarasse

If you're not the "rustic master" Cybersix, you must be his apprentice! Your candles are beautiful! Thank you for all of your wonderful tips. You would not believe how much I've learned in the last couple of days!

Absolutely amazing Donita. Do you mean to tell me that I'll be producing works of art like these before too long?! :whoohoo: Please forgive my ignorance, but do you do this professionally, or is candlemaking just a hobby/pastime? In any case, you do beautiful work. Consider me officially a fan!