Calex

7 hours ago, GrosgrainGirl said:

Updates: Trying a 56% beeswax/37%oil mix with a #5 wick, and it's burning very smoothly but with a large two inch flame. There is a wax film left on the sides of the container, but i think I'm ok with that. The wick is mushrooming the SLIGHTEST bit, but the scent throw is great and the melt pool is perfect, so I'm going to consider this a win! Thanks for all your help guys 

Are you using essential oils?

I'm not sure how you all feel about sharing suppliers, but I'm always on the lookout for nice beeswax. Any suggestions?

I like beeswax that smells good! I've tried many different kinds, and some has no scent, while others have odd scents to them.

Right now we're using BW from Mountain Rose Herbs (not their pastilles) and Organic BW from New Directions Aromatics (Canadian).

I just got some BW to try out from Ruhl/Bushy Mountain. I tried two kinds they had, and one has very little smell but the other smells great. They arrived unlabeled so I'm not sure which is which, though I have an idea since I contacted their customer support to inquire. I'm burning some test candles now and they seem to be burning nicely. 

I've also tried the only somewhat close beekeeper I could find in my area. But he was very flaky and the little bit I did try from him didn't burn well for some reason. 

22 hours ago, TallTayl said:

I just roll mine flat. A #2 in that size might just be a little too hot to give the warm, homey scent. Is the diameter about 1.75- 2" for that single sheet?

Yeah, I think I've over-wicked two of my candles now that I'm really seeing them burn. I did one, single roll cut into thirds that is nearly 2" wide. Used a #2 for that, which seems about right to me as there's just a touch of outer edge sticking up as the candle burns down.

The smokey I mentioned in my earlier post was in regards to the wax itself; it just smells smokey when not burning. The candles themselves aren't overly smokey and I don't really smell the smokey wax smell once they're burning. I'm not sure if that was clear in my previous post.

These rolled candles are seriously easy and fun, and I love the instant gratification - roll and (test) burn! These will be perfect for certain applications in our shop, especially since I don't think I have the patience to make real BW tapers. 

2 hours ago, Trappeur said:

Just for thought, I wouldn't sell any candles that have had the jars used......

 

Trappeur

Completely agree with you here. Did someone suggest otherwise?

Ended up getting these CandleScience stickers on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/CandleScience-Candle-Wick-Stickers-large/dp/B0092RNEAU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1475356166&sr=8-3&keywords=wick+stickers

Made a pair of test candles just now to see how they do. They've survived the pour....

4 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

I just roll mine flat. A #2 in that size might just be a little too hot to give the warm, homey scent. Is the diameter about 1.75- 2" for that single sheet?

The diameter is about 1.25 inches. I'll get some smaller wicks to experiment with for sure, though this does seem to be burning nicely.

Thanks for the tips guys!

I ended up just rolling a whole sheet into a candle last night to test out the process. I used a #2 braided cotton, as the only thing I had that was smaller was a 1/0 which seemed too small. 

I rolled the candle so that it spiraled into a point at the top, but didn't really like the look so just did a flat top/bottom roll (just unrolled and rerolled it). The beeswax I got was very pliable and needed no additional heat. But we'll see how much it dries out. I pinched the beeswax around the wick as tight as possible to begin the roll, and then it was really easy to roll the rest up.

I burned it for 2 hours last night and am burning it right now and it's going great so far. It looks really nice and there hasn't been a single drip yet. 

I expected this to be easier than making pillars/containers, but this was just ridiculously easy (at least so far). I'm pretty excited to find a new candle method to play with!

Only down side, so far, is that the wax is a bit smokey and doesn't have much of a scent other than that. It's not horribly smokey, but it doesn't smell nearly as nice of a honey/wax scent as my Washington State wax or Canadian organic wax.

Just thought I'd pick some brains before making a bunch of mistakes and misteps.

I just ordered some natural beeswax sheeting to experiment with rolled candles. I'm planning on warming the wax, lightly, with my heat gun and rolling up some untreated and unprimed cotton braid wicks as tightly as possible. I'm not sure what size to try, but I plan on starting with smaller wicks and taking notes on candle width to see what works. I'm not planning on using wick tabs.

Thoughts and suggestions anyone?

Wow, good to know!

36 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said:

No, priming is not necessary. I stopped priming my wicks years ago, as it is an unnecessary time consuming step. The only time I prime my wicks is when I use wick pins (which now is rare and only when I make certain types of candles)

I just got some new skinny ( < 2inch wide) pillar molds I'm about to make a test pour for, and I'm not going to bother priming the wicks (didn't get wick pins for these). 

I've also got an order for LoneStar waiting in the cart with some Auto Wick Pins. So I'll just try it out and see.

If you don't mind my asking Jcandle, when do you feel wick pins are necessary? Not for all your pillars/votives?

Thanks for all the tips J and everyone else!

This post inspired me to make some candles with EOs again. I made 3 4oz tins with our usual beeswax/coconut oil mix. Used 1t of coffee, 1t of ylang ylang, and 1.5 t of lavendin. Haven't burned the yy yet, but the other two are tunneling and emitting very little scent. I believe the coffee eo is simply too thick and sitting on the bottom - I'm going to try layering my next coffee attempt and going to try 2t for my next lavendin. I'm also going to try a larger wick for all of them next time...

19 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

If you prime your wicks (coat them with a thin layer of wax) it's much easier to thread the candle with the wicks. 

 

The gap is not so big that the wick would be floating around in the candle. And once it's burned the first time, that first layer of melted wax will go down into the gap and fill it. 

I do always prime my wicks, as I thought this was necessary. I can see how it wouldn't be a problem once you start burning, my concern is more that it will look a bit 'unfinished' to our customers.

2 hours ago, Scented said:

You can do the same by melting the bottom with a heat gun. That might be less expensive for you. 

I did recently buy a heat gun for the candle making. I was thinking the hot plate would be more useful for leveling - I'm currently using a metal spackling blade which I heat over a burner when I need to level a candle. 

Do you all ever find it difficult to push the wick through the hole? I'd be using a cotton braid, size #6 for most of my pillars. 

And I'm still picturing the top of the wick kinda wiggling around in the space at the top. I'm sure this doesn't matter at all in terms of personal use, but it could be off putting for sold candles.

Thanks for the tips. Perhaps I should invest in a hot plate.

We make candles with beeswax and coconut oil and also use #6 for our larger containers. The flame gets rather large, but is constant. I've had all kinds of issues trying to add EOs (we don't use fragrance oils), and at this point we decided to perfect our non-EO candles and then I'll try playing with EOs again later. There are all sorts of online blogs and such talking about using EOs in beeswax candles, making it seem like a rather easy thing to do, but in our experience this is certainly not so. Either there is no scent, or the candles doesn't burn correctly, or both...

I'm sure it can be done, but we haven't perfected it yet, that's for sure.

We've also made candles with beeswax and palm oil - just a few to experiment with. They burned quite well, though perhaps too well, as the flame was large. Haven't tried PO & BW & EOs yet though.

So far I've made my pillars with the wick held in place and poured the wax over, but I'm curious about using auto wick pins.

I'm assuming that you simply pull the wick through the hole after pulling out the wick pin. But then how do you secure the wick and ensure there's no gap around the wick at the top of your candle?

Well, I guess it's time to test some wick stuckums. Any brand recommendations?

And does anyone use them for beeswax (high temp) candles?

On 9/13/2016 at 2:33 AM, Trappeur said:

That permatex silicone really does work I can attest to that.  The few times I used it, I never could get all the glue scraped off the bottom but pretty much all did come off.  Now I was using those for testers for myself and even though it still had silicone residue on the bottom I still used the jar again no problem and glued another wick on top, so if you are using for yourself , you are really ok.

 

Trappeur

Thanks for the tip Trappeur. These will be for sale though.

On 9/13/2016 at 9:39 AM, Candybee said:

I am trying out Gorilla Glue hot glue sticks. The package reads it is 5x stronger than other glue sticks. I won't know how good it is until I've used it for a while yet.

Let us know how they work out! The 'extra strong' glue stick glue I used was utterly useless once the hot wax pool hit it, but maybe the Gorilla stuff is better. Are you making beeswax candles?

On 9/13/2016 at 11:16 AM, GoldieMN said:

Is there a reason you are not using the wick stickers?

Goldie

I've never actually tried wick stickers, since I read in multiple reviews saying they simply don't hold all that well. I know there are many different brands, so maybe some of them do a good job.

Thanks for the thoughts crafters!

After having many wicks come loose using high temp hot glue, I switched to permatex red (read about it here). The stuff is awesome and does NOT come loose. But, is there anything out there you all use that will hold the tab down yet is still removable once the candle is burned through?
 

I'm making beeswax candles and so far haven't had any luck trying to scrape the permatex glued tabs out of glass and ceramic holders after the candle is spent.

Thanks so much for the tips J! I will definitely try the second pour at a hotter temp, and perhaps a bit earlier too. 

Been playing with the hugging method a bit, and the beeswax is pliable enough for this. 

I may try and experiment with the cutting of the wick while the wax is still soft, but I typically use that extra wick a bit to help pull out my candle

Last night I took one of my pillars and pressed the bottom against a spackling blade I heated up. This pretty much flattened out the bottom so that it sat nicely with no wobble. This wobble was my main issue with the extra wick sticking out the bottom. 

I've already learned a lot from lurking, but now I have some questions. For these questions I'm making 3" diameter pillars with beeswax using an aluminum mold. I appreciate any and all suggestions!

1 - Any tips for cutting the wick out of the bottom of a beeswax pillar so that the bottom is flush. I've been cutting as close to the bottom as I can get, but I've still got a nub sticking out. Should I just dig my scissors in there?

2 - The method I've been using is to pour the wax into my wicked mold, allowing the beeswax to film over just a bit on the top (what will be the bottom), then poking two holes on either side of the wick with a chopstick and immediately adding a second pour. This results in a line between the two pours at the bottom, and, in some cases, the bottom layer is a bit fatter than the rest of the candle and/or seeps down the sides a little bit. Am I doing something wrong, or is there some way to remedy this after the candle is made?

3 - I'm currently using a #6 untreated braided square cotton wick that I prime myself with beeswax. This creates a wax pool that doesn't quite reach to the very edge of the 3" pillar. I actually like the raised sides/mild tunneling effect, though I'm not sure this is really how pillars are 'supposed' to burn.

Thanks chandlers!

-Alex