candlehubby

Thanks for all the great replies and advice. I'll pass them all along to my wife. Its also great to see a supplier jump in and help especially the one you purchased the products from. Thats great customer service and also ensures return business. Thanks again.

Your candle looks exactly like what she was getting. I'll have her try making relief holes more often and see if that works. Does your fingernailing develop over a couple of days? Candleman, the colors of the candles came out exactly as she had hoped. The french vanilla was ivory, and the apple was a cider color. You can see from Everito's pics exactly the discolorations. We didn't know there was a term for it. Thanks for the help.

The UV that she says she ordered was from Candlescience. I don't know if there is a 2 part or not. I was thinking the same thing too about the light. The second group of candles that she poured were kept in the dark. But same result, so she/we ruled out the UV. I work in the automotive design industry. I design alot of plastic injection molded parts. Plastic shrinks too. I noticed that she had alot of shrinkage around the center of the first group. Her repours are always hotter. So I recommended pouring the second group of candles at a cooler temp hoping that the wax wouldn't shrink as much. I was thinking what I was seeing was stress cracks. But apparently not. She did poke cooling holes but only once. Should she do it more often? I hope this clarifies things alittle. She poured 2 sets of candles. One at around 180 and the second at around 160. Repours were about 10 degrees hotter than the inital pour. Great info. Thanks.

Hi everyone. My wife poured some pillars, on different occations. She poured 3"x3" and 3"x6" pillars. On each pour she used IGI 4625 pillar wax. After about a week the discolorations occured. When they came out of the molds they looked great. For additives she only used 1/4 oz. per lb. of UV inhibitor. She poured the first batch at 180 deg. Then she tried cooler at 160 deg. Pouring cooler helped alittle but not much. For FO she used 1 oz of candle science's french vanilla, and the second time 1 oz of thier baked apple. Any idea whats up. Thanks for the help. I don't know which picture is which but you'll get the idea. Thanks again.

Everyones situation is different, but I use my wifes used syringes from her medication. I snip off the needle portion. They are glass so the cap seals very well with no drips. They are really good for making exact measurments in drops. There are no cc markings but they give very exact drops. I also use them for oiling tools. I really wouldn't recommend this, but in my case my wife doesn't have anything I can catch.

Thanks for all the great info. For starters is doesn't sound like many people use the Harmony blend. There is probably a reason for that. I'll look into the J-50 or J223. Is bulging on a pillar the sign of an inferior candle? Or is hugging an normally aaccepted form of maintance such as trimming the wick? Tess, what combination do you use with your pillars to get your success? To answer the question on how fast the melt pool forms is with the CD-12 the complete melt pool forms in about 1 1/2 hours. The CD-10 and CD-8 take a bit longer. What would be the recommended time for a full melt pool to form? Thanks for all the info, it definately helps you to keep trying and keeps you from getting frustrated. Thanks for all the help.

Hi all, Now my wife went and done it. She dragged me into candles too. We goofed around with a couple containers that went pretty well. She was happy. But now the guy side of me is kicking in and I have to know "why" why things do what they do. I've been reading alot and picking up quite abit. But these may still sound like candle 101 questions. So sit back and please don't laugh too much. She/we started with IGI4630A Harmony blend container wax. It was listed by the seller for its superior properties. I guess I can't really agree but here is what we did. We stated out with the double boiler method with a pyrex measuring cup and a meat therometer. We heated the wax to around 180, mixed in die and poured into a heated jar. The wet spots were minimal. We started with a CD-12 wix and a 3 1/2 jar and a 3 1/2 hex jar. We got a good melt pool, little to no wax hanging on the jar. But we got soot, and smoke and more soot. We experimented with longer wicks and down to about 1/8 inch. But still soot. To me this sounds like incomplete burning, even though we had a full melt pool. Is this accurate? We also tried a cd-10 and cd-8, but have the same results. Each time we used about the same amount of die. About 10 drops per lb. and cinnamon FO at about 1/2 oz. per lb. What effect does FO and liquid dyes have on burning. Do they aid in burning, or hinder? Also with all the soot and smoke, do wicks have different temperatures they burn at? And if so how do you determine the temp? Okay, now on to the Pillars. Each one is 3 inches. I bought some para/soy blend from a really nice lady that has a shop near my office. I poured two candles, both with lx-18 wicks she recommended. One was 3x3 with about 1/2 oz of FO per lb. and no dye. The second was a 3x6 with about 12 drops of red dye and no FO. The small candle burns really well, smells great but bulges badly. But during a long burn I do not get a blow out. Now the second candle is tunneling but the flame never gets more than about 1/4 of an inch tall, and is very weak. the tunnel is about 1 1/4- 1 1/2 in. in diameter but there is no bulging. I wish I knew what the blend is but it is 50/50 ish. I like the wax because its hideously long burning, doesn't smoke at all on the good burning candle and cheap. But does the dye hinder the burning as well? Also how can I control the bulging in a para/soy blend? Before the bulge happened I had a nice 1/4 - 3/8 wall and it was curling in nicely and getting consumed, but now the bulging is starting. I hope I didn't wear you out, but I think there are some good fundamental questions in there. I realize its all about testing. But I don't want to be shooting in the dark either. Thanks for all the help.

Luke/Christina, thanks for the help and welcome. Actually both of the places in Mich, from the Link you gave me Chirstina are about equal distance from me. Although the Sourhtern Senatations is about 15 minutes from work. They will both do well. Thanks for the heads up.

Hi Everyone, My wife is beginning to get into making candles. I've been all over the internet looking at supplies for her. She is alittle computer phobic. Anyway, is seems like the shipping can kill you. Is there any locations in the Detroit area that has similar pricing as the internet. I looked at Michaels and Joann Fabrics. They have a limited selection but the prices are double of the web. Thanks for any help anyone has. This is a great resourse. I'm always calling my wife over to look at something interesting that I've read about a problem she's had. Jeff.