wthomas57

On 3/8/2016 at 0:41 PM, hapathy said:

I agree with Vicky. Every time the wax gets heated, scent is released. So to keep the scent in there, you want to minimize the amount of time that the scent is heated. I used to use a heat gun to even out the tops of my candles. This heating caused scent to dissipate into the air, making the top of the candle less fragrant as it dried.

 

Ol factory fatigue (chandlers nose in this case) is when your sense of smell doesn't notice things that you have become used to. I took turns smelling a candle that had been heated with the heat gun and one that had not, to wear out my senses. I smelled one, and the other, and then the first one, and then the other, etc until I could not smell one of the candles anymore. In the end, you will only be able to smell one candle (the strongest one) because your ol factory senses have acclimated to the smell, and you will not be able to smell the candle with less fragrance. The candles that I had flattened with the heat gun were always the first to loose the scent to me. The candles that I had not heated with the heat gun retained some scent to me (although not much bc my senses were fatigued, but I could still smell them). This is not to say that the ones that were flattened with the heat gun had no scent in them. If anyone else smelled them I'm sure it would've been noticeable. It just means that they were not as strong.

 

I would encourage you to try the way that you first suggested and compare this to a candle made the "traditional" way, to prove this to yourself.

Since not using a heat gun anymore, what do you do now to smooth out tops or help with little sink holes etc? I dont like second pours for the same reason. Remelting the wax dissipates some of the fragrance. So its the same result. That and second pours are a pain. Curious what you do now instead?

Didn't you have problems with your HTP wicks discoloring your wax when/after burning? Mine did badly. Same with Eco and others.

The only wicks that dont discolor the tops of my wax are zinc and Premier (when properly sized of course)

I am surprised you liked the cotton cores. I think they are easily the worst wick I tried. I prefer Zinc to them about a million to 1.

Can you use Soapmaker Pro for candles too? Any crafts really?

I use Craftybase right now. pretty good, but takes a while to setup and get used to it. Its cloud based and pay monthly. 

Hi everyone,

So I've been making candles a while and always experimenting with different wicks. For container candles I pretty much stick with IGI 6006. Its just so good and hard for me to prefer another.

Anyway, I have noticed an issue that comes and goes. Ocassionally, ill have some candles that have a strange almost B.O. bad smell to them. What is strange is I cant find anything constant between the ones that do it and the ones that done. Same jars, same wicks, same FO, etc. 

For example, lets say I make a lilac candle with zinc wick in a tumbler. A handful will have that smell. 

Here is what I've noticed so far. Its NEVER in my wax melts from the same batch. its ONLY in the container candles. Which means, its most likely something to do with the jar or the wick Id imagine. I cant imagine its the jar because I clean all of them out and... well.. honestly, it just doesn't make sense that the jar is doing it.

So, what about the wicks? Well... anyone else using zinc wicks having this issue? I mean, zinc wicks do smell terrible on their own in the bags they come in... but I would think EVERY candle would have the issue if it was the wick. So yet again, I am confused.

I am also considering that heating wax too hot can do it. But I watch that pretty carefully and find it hard to believe that is the issue. My wax is always between 185 and 200 at its hottest. This isn't out of the recommended ranges. I thought using heat gun could be causing it if scorching the wax too much on the top, so I took heat gun out of the mix and still sometimes get the same odor.

Its also not on every scent. only some scents do it (perhaps this is just because most scents mask it pretty well).FWIW, I only use reputable high quality supplies for FOs, so I doubt it has anything to do with the oils. Especially since its only on some candles and not all.

Anyone ever notices this issue with any of their container candles? This strange bad BO type smell sometimes? My wife doens't notice it but she has a hard time smelling sometimes. But I notice it and have asked some others around me and they do as well (these are never ones I sell... these are all just for testing). Hoping others have dealt with something similar and could suggest what they think might be the cause and any solutions?

hoping to get some answers and resolution to this really frustrating experience. Thanks everyone!