LRC06301983

okay maybe in the off topic forum sometime you will see a posting titled explosions. Maybe I'll tell the story of the time matthew and I accidentally blew up his dads car... People usually like that one.

Kelley: If you consider that playing with matches makes little boys wet the bed...I was screwed from the outset of my hobby. Saltpeter is the least of my concerns. Wetting the bed can inadvertantly dimminsh your sex drive as well as in no one will sleep with you. lol...well unless you are one of those people that...oh never mind. lol, Top I've decimated more matter in more ways than I dunno what. we should start trading story for story sometime and see who wins. we might come out close to even. now the governments probably gonna start watching this page...

I put saltpeter in a candle once...yeah it kind of went pop at the end, but it was nothing spectacular. Paraffin being an alkane, non polar substance won't really dissolve anything and the saltpeter sunk to the bottom of themelt pool and eventually when the fire got all the way to the bottom is was concentrated enough to make it smoke and flash a little...but it was intentional and a dissapointment. Does this one count? This is probably more under the Krazy Kande tests domain.

wait, you don't have a dead cow in your basement satin? uhhh... neither...uhh...do I....nope...nuh uh...no cow here... so uhh...yeah anyway I'm gonna go look for my blowtorch now...just so I...uh... know where it is...yeah...just keepin it handy... just in case uhh...I get attacked by a..uh...creme broulet...yeah...a creme broulet... Hey, totally unrelated to the cow in the basement thing, oddly enough I'm having a run on animal based stearic acid if anyone wants a slice... I mean piece...err chunk...dang it.

thats a pretty slick looking candle... Top I would be especially appreciative if you keep me informed of how the burn goes, what wick, size candle, etc... I really like the way that one looks. What was your mold and wax pour temp? Is this a natural look for stearic no matter how you pour? obviously its strong enough for a pillar, possibly for a hurricane as well...hmmm...

I've heard Mold cleaner isn't really worth the money. But you might try scrubbing it down with an SOS pad and some liquid dish detergent which is made to cut through grease and FO's are an oil base... It works in theory at least.

it just goes along with the whole never letting a mold sense your fear... always hug your candles. candles are people too. that should be a bumper sticker... "Have you hugged your pillar today?" Chandlers everywhere start getting accused of chasing the dragon man I'm bored. lol

This is just what I try for, I try to go for a 1/4 inch wall or so but I usually give instructions (which no one I give a candle to follows I'm sure) to hug the walls (gently push the walls in towards the flame when they are warm and get too high. this melts even the wax on the walls and makes the candle more self consuming. just my two cents.

talk mean to it and threaten it... there are many days that a candle won't come outfor me but once it sees me comin at it with my wax hammer...they usually get more cooperative. Never let the candle mold sense your fear... and don't look it in the eye. thats a sign of agression.

Thats my question. Why would I need insurance? Only if I am selling them? and then do I need it if all I do is sell them to friends? or do I need it even if I'm going to make candles in my basement in case something happens and I burn my house down? etc... Thanks a lot! -Luke-

Okay I'm kind of new too but I'll take a crack at this. 1.) you can just mix whatever you want to into the melting pot. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this SO LONG AS you don't mind cleaning the melting pot everytime you want to use a new blend of additives and/or colors and/or fragrce oils. This is really only aplicable if you have something like a presto pot which is a little harder to clean than a regular 2-4lb melting pot. If all you are using is just a metal container/2-4lb melting pot (the ones with the handles or whatever you can find) then go ahead and mix everything into it. Additionally, you can pour the wax and then add dyes and such to each indivudal candle, but the wax starts to cool fast and if you know you are going to make a bunch of the candle, sometimes its easier to mix a batch of wax and work on coloration in the melt pot. but you kind of have to work out your own system. 2.) As far as mixing goes, some people use wood spoons but I wouldn't because they tend to absorb stuff easily like color and fragrances. Metal spoons can warm up I guess so something plastic maybe, and just mix it like you would if you were making juice from a frozen juice mix. mix it until everything seems blended well (not vigorously) and then mix it a little more. As far as additives go, there are a bunch of different additives and each one does something different. There are one of two that you have to melt alone first and then add to the wax, but most of them can just be added to the wax. Stearic Acid is the most common makes the wax a little stronger but lowers its melt point. don't worry about air bubbles because they will rise to the surface. additionally, if you see any air bubbles or you pour into your mold and there are air bubbles on top they are actually wax bubbles and you can make them go away by hitting them with a heat gun for a couple seconds. 3.) Someone else is going to have to reply about volume or weight. But each candle and type of wax and additives that you put in the wax is going to want to absorb a certain amount of Fragrance Oil and/or dye. this is going to change with each mixture. So like everyone else, you are going to have to test all your candles which is an incredibly painstaking process but a necessary evil. okay beyind this you will have to ask some more specific questions. Additionally, there is a search option for the forums and if you type in key words you can find a lot of information about additives and types of wax etc... What type of candles would you like to make? Maybe if you share what kind of wax you have purchased and what you hope to accomplish it would make it easier to find information about your intended project. Welcome to the forum -Luke-

I like the turkey roaster idea because you can hold so much wax... someone also mentioned at Gander Mountain they have these turkey cookers that are more upright and can hold up fifty pounds of wax take a little...for like $70-80. That might not appeal to most people but I need a lot of wax liquified... Can any one attet to the melt speed of the 18quart turkey roasters versus the big turkey cookers? Somewhere there was a thread said the 18quarts take a really long time to melt. But if the turkey cookers take a long time to melt as well, maybe I should buy a couple 18quarts. CKANTHON: how long does your 18quart take to melt 20lbs of wax?

http://www.candletech.com/forums/search.php?searchid=43989 that should link you to the search page listing all the threads where the wax you want to know about has been discussed... only 9 results. See what information you can find there and then whatever other questions you have I'm sure someone will be happy to answer.

Good responses Top and Donita. I'm going to start playing around with it quite a bit. I'm actually really excited because I have an upright freezer (look slike a fridge) which I am going to start using by turning it down and freezing my huge molds first which should help be get a crackled look. I'll see if I can get a hold of a sample of 5055 and pour some testers and see if I can get a good finnish. I'll post any results I get. Sorry didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Donita/Top/Whoever: when you use to micro with the 5055 can you still get a good rustic and/or other rought marbled/mottled/cracked finnishes on them? I know a lot of that is all about pour temp, but I didn't know if it this type of wax and additive made it more resistant to a rough finnish especially since a lot of your hurricanes have a very smooth appearance so the imbeds are more visible...

you should wrap the bottom half of the candle in fishnets...

how much do the presto's hold on average again?

if only you could get the flame to burn red...we all know what a red light means... It is a really swanky candle donita. looks really cool... size of the boat...motion of the ocean....thats awesome. lol.

http://www.candlewic.com/candle-wax/clear-candle-technology.asp http://www.candlewic.com/store/Product.aspx?q=cclear+base,p659 Anyone tried this yet? It's really really expensive...

What if you wore a clown suit WHILE hosting the party... could she charge twice as much? I mean it would be kind of a two for one... No this was seriosuly a good idea. my mom was looking into starting a business and has done soaps and B&B stuff for a while. I'm definently stealing this idea and telling it to her...

uhh....I have a "friend" who is aroused by your "sexy candles"...is this normal... and how would my "freind" sign up to recieve your Donita's Secret Catalogue? ah what all the poor chandlers gaze at...

That is interesting that they break so easily or change shape easily, because since stearin has a very high mp and its used as a hardener, they it would stand to reason that they would be even tougher than a high mp paraffin wax. Is there something about stearin that it is a hardener only when used in conjunction with a regular candle wax and it doesn't bond strongly on a molecular level with itself... I dunno, I'm still going to try it, but like I said I wont have any till tomorrow or the next day.

So then it works like stearic in that way, it is an additive and not a spray. Donita: do you still need to spray down the mold if you use the mold release powder additive?

Top likes explosions! Top and I have a lot in common.... lol. upon my untimely demise donita, you can have any of my custom hurricane molds that I made myself..the really big ones that I made from what I could find at Lowes...the ones that start leaking 15 pounds of wax at a moments notice unless you sit there with a can of keyboard spray for 3 hours watching them...the ones that come appart at the seams if you don't know exactly where to brace your foot against it while pouring...the ones that take 3 days to cool down even if you put them in a TRASH CAN of water...hahaha...but they make some really cool candles...

DONITA: where do you get powdered mold release at? I did a search for it but couldn't locate it... is it like baby powder or is it still in aerosol form?