birdcharm

I would like to do them again -- usually, I've done them with a variety of critters -- but it is a bit of a messy project. They are cute as gifts and definitely scent the air. I think the neatest thing about them is that you can pick up a stuffed animal from a thrift store that looks beat up and horrible, dip it and have it come out wonderful. I usually tape up the eyes before dipping, so they really look pretty awful on their way into the wax.

The entire pot is ceramic, interesting about the recall! Okay, well my creative process went a bit sideways, but I think I got it to turn out for this purpose anyway. I was trying for a marbled type of effect of some sort. I'm going to get an infrared thermometer so I can do this with success (I couldn't get it). I was trying to get shades of tan & brown, which I did end up with, using a combination of some liquid colorant (remnants of old stock, I need to buy some). To darken it, I used a little black walnut powder & calendula powder -- the powders seemed to sink a bit and created a speckled look. I scented it with Drakkar Noir-type. I told you I was dabbling! Here's a pic ... now you can laugh!

I think your "soy sand" would be better if you scented it, which would put you back to grinding down your wax yourself. Just my opinion!

Yes ... it's a vintage pot ... I recently uncovered it from storage and it was my grandmother's ... I think circa 1975 possibly. It works great for this! I place it in a small pot that has a small amount of water and turn the burner on low. I haven't decided on a hot plate yet, so for now, I am doing this in the kitchen. Okay, I've got an experiment in a mold of sorts, as I wanted to send a man's bar soap to my dad. I tried for some kind of marble effect with shades of brown and we'll see how it goes. You'll laugh when you hear about this "mold," but I'll have to show you later if my idea works out. If it doesn't work out & I only feel like being laughed at, I'll post anyway.

Thanks for asking, sorry I've been busy and didn't check back in yet. So far, I've just dabbled a bit to test things out. I've made three different pieces ... a bath bar and a little round complexion soap using the no sweat; a little round hand soap with the regular white base. All three have had a small amount of stearic acid added. The one for bath sits on shower rack and dries out very well, as does the complexion round, which sits in a soap dish. The white hand soap is in a soap dish also, but always seems moist, and wet on the underside. It only had scent added The complexion soap got the addition of a bit of green tea extract, palmarosa essential oil, and a small amount of sunflower oil. There is a difference between the no sweat and the regular, so I'm going to make some more soon, use up the white regular base and then see about ordering some more of the no sweat. Also, I ordered a little silicone mold for a deeper and more square-shaped bath bar. I'm moving along!

It's like leaf litter! I remember seeing someone selling a gel candle with real peppermint candies in it ... what did they think was going to happen? It's annoying because it then gives a particular type (or all) candles a bad name.

That is interesting. So, the type of wick you've used doesn't need to be mounted to the bottom? I would be afraid of a drifting wick. I think these would be difficult to sell with the loose sand, or are you thinking of marketing these as a kit of some sort? If you wanted to seal it in with a clear layer on top, I'm wondering if gel would work for that, using a zinc or HTP wick.

I'm not quite certain about the appeal of it. I wouldn't personally do it. I've never burned such a candle, so I don't know if it would make it smoke more, etc. I'm thinking that it may all sink and move away from the wick as some types of glitter do, although some glitters can clog the wick and I don't know if this could have the same effect.

It's not fair for them to stuff you with an order. If UPS delivered to your residence or business, then they can pick it up there. They should refund your money and send you a shipping label in the mail, not something you have to print out, let them print it, and have the package picked up at the place where it was delivered. Otherwise, they are stuffing you with an order you did not specify and imo, you shouldn't have to pay for it -- it was their mistake.

Some herbal extracts do make a difference in products, although most people don't know which ones do which things. Also, essential oils, where skin care is concerned, have certain properties that make particular ones beneficial for various skin tones/problems, etc. I think some things that make the skin "feel moisturized" are not always exactly beneficial at a cellular level, which is what some herbals do. For marketing purposes, it's hard to tell sometimes, as the public isn't always exactly educated about some of the ingredients or the "goods and bads" of various substances.

I've been using GW464 without any holes or cracking -- have thought about getting some C-3 sometime to compare the two. A couple of (minor) differences I have noted from reading are meltpoint and fragrance load. The meltpoint of 464 is about ten degrees lower than C-3; the fragrance load for GW464 is 7-9% ... C-3 is 6%. I think they are probably pretty similar waxes, but it would be interesting to compare.

I tested the "no sweat" SFIC this weekend and so far it seems to be doing alright ... I'll check it later today. Plus, we just had rain, so this will be a good test, as I've left one bar out in the open air. With both the Stephenson (which I have not tried) and the SFIC, although I wish there was a base that didn't include palm oil, at least they both have statements that they purchase with RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) compliance.

It makes sense that a lack of scent throw would be noted, as candle gel isn't really noted for having tremendous throw from my experience.

I found a description of "TB" wicks ... "Our Tightly Brainded (TB) wicks are made from unbleached cotton, tightly interwoven with a fine paper thread and outer jacket. These wicks are particularly suited to vegetable waxes, such as soy wax, but are also suitable for heavily coloured or scented paraffin candles." ... the number is the size, maybe @craftwerks you may know of a guideline of some sort, your supplier should have something to go by.

It is a bit puzzling since there is throw in Alissa's melts with the same wax and scent. Beyond wicks, sometimes containers that are more narrow than wide may not offer as much throw due to a smaller melt pool ... maybe this combo of wax, scent, and wick aren't performing well in that particular container ...?

Well, my package arrived ... things need to dry out! I think the soap blocks will be okay, but I wrote the supplier to let them know what happened so they can maybe think about what can happen so they might consider packaging a little differently. The bottom of the box was wet -- I let the driver know it was wet so he could check the other packages and told him that it shouldn't have hurt anything in my box. It didn't really (two of the soap blocks were "dinged" in the corner, with plastic torn and corners of soaps damp, but I unwrapped those blocks and set them all in a dry box to air out.) It looks as though they set the soap blocks in the bottom of the box, with other items on top, and then filled the rest of the box with packing peanuts ... that really doesn't offer much protection at the bottom of the box!

I looked up the Problend 400 and it said that up to 10-12% fragrance load is possible ... so @Alissa, when you used 1.5 oz/lb., there still wasn't much for scent throw? Do you remember which scent that was with?

I recently read that adding a bit of wine (white for no color, red for pink tint) ... I'm not sure how much per pound, I need to find my notes ... increases lather in m&p, although I don't know which type of m&p this works with ... I guess I'll need to try it out sometime to see if it's true.

I've thinned it before with white mineral oil for parasoy candles ... but I bet a bit of vegetable oil of some sort could be used if you didn't want to use mineral oil.

There are so many wonderful novelty soap ideas, I just don't know how people think of them! I spotted several while poking around for various soap molds, including something I had never seen ... using (small bubble) bubble wrap to create a honeycomb effect. I don't know if I like it, but it's interesting! Then I spotted these and was curious as to how these were made, as I love citrus scents! A cute idea, but looks like a lot of work! Citrus slices ... https://youtu.be/u3ovC7cDMBk

Thanks for the tips! I've been enjoying some of your older posts! The other pot I used before that has a spout is a Corningware (I think that's what it is!) tea pot type of thing that I placed in a small pan of water and heated on the stove. I wonder if this might work on a hot plate ... that may be a consideration. I'd just like to have this project working somewhere other than my small kitchen. With the microwave, I used to do it in about 7-second sessions, but I still worry that the heat is not uniform and it may have been part of the sweating problem with the finished products.

From what I understand vybar "helps with uniform dye dispersion and a reduction in surface flaws" -- if it's already an additive, I wouldn't add any more, as from what I've read, it can have a negative effect on scent if there's too much. I'm not really familiar with your wax, but what about stearic acid? I wonder how much is already in that wax. The liquid concentrated dyes usually have the strongest color, imo.

I've promised myself that one day I will make either HP or CP soap once I get better organized. In the meantime, for now, I'll be happy to do this. In the past, I mostly made decorative hand soaps, so bars are going to be new to me. Now, I'm wondering, in order to possibly not do this on a stove top (would like to work in an area where I have my candle supplies), could I use a hot plate? (Like a single one, I think they're 1000 watts and have a very low setting, typically used for keeping coffee warm.) Maybe I could use a glass coffee pot? (I have several available from making gel candles.) Or, a Pyrex on a hot plate? Is this something that would work? I've read that rice cookers are used with success, so I may do that, but either way, I'd like to either get a rice cooker (or a hot plate) so I can set this up somewhere other than the kitchen. I prefer to be able to use a pot with a spout, which is why I'm wondering about the hot plate. I think it would work ... any thoughts?

I snuff out my wicks with a candle snuffer (bell-shaped brass on the end of a little stick), or, if I don't have that handy, an old fork, lol. Of course, if you blow out a candle, it will smoke, any mushrooming might spray into the candle, and some say that the wick may bend over and when the candle hardens, the wick is buried. I think if a jar lid is used as a cover to smother the candle, the inside of the lid is going to get blackened, and the inside of the glass may also, so I don't think it's a very good idea myself.

About what size were your chunks of wax for melting?