Forrest

I went to 15% this time because the last batch of melts I made at 8% had poor throw. I think it was a processing issue. The extra 5% amounts to 1/3 gram per melt so I think I can afford it. However I did have some 8% melts of one FO and I got them mixed up, so I tested both and I couldn’t tell the difference. I use paraffin for my melts to avoid cure time. I should have a slab of IGI 4794 arriving today, so I can make more melts to test!

I have been wick testing for the past few months, but I have reached the point where it is time to put some FO in to some wax. But first I am testing my backlog of FOs to see which would make good candles. I always enjoy reading what others think of the FOs from various sources, so I thought I would share my observations with the board. If anyone has experience with any of these FOs please feel free to chime in, particularly if you disagree with my assessment. I find that my opinions on FOs tend to vary from the norm. I put the FOs in melts, they are small, only ¼oz but I used 15% FO. I melted them in a small bedroom and checked them after 15 minutes. My melter uses a tea light, so I can only test a limited number each day. Below are my observations from yesterday, I will post to this thread as I test more. FOs from the Chemistry Store are Lebermuth oils. I’ll use TCS for The Chemistry Store, CC for Community Candle Supply, and FC for the Flaming Candle. Tahiti Sweetie from TCS: I really like the fragrance, but it isn’t very strong. I may put it in a candle to burn in my small bathroom. I think it would do well in soaps or lotions. Fresh Orange from TCS: It has a nice orange scent, but not sweet. I got it to blend with other FOs and I think it will work well for my purpose. Not too strong but better hot throw than Tahiti Sweetie. Pineapple Jasmine from TCS: Love this fragrance. It is what I would call a high end fragrance. The hot throw was just OK. It would be great in soaps or lotions. Bergamot, Orange & Grapefruit form CC: Love it! The hot throw was good and the scent amazing. I was expecting more of a citrus scent. This one is absolutely going in a candle this weekend. Lemongrass from CC: A good lemongrass scent with amazing hot throw. I’ll be using this one by itself and for blending; I feel like a kid with a new toy.

I checked the sticker that came loose and it came loose from both the container and the wick tab. As this happened when the wick was almost burned out I am guessing it was caused by heat.

Where do you get your wick stickers, and do you like them? I got my first ones from Aztec, They worked well but I thought they were thicker than need be, my second batch came from Flaming and are thin, but harder to work with. Last night, as a candle was near the end of its life, one came loose and the burning wick slid to the edge of the container. I know the bottom of the container was clean so now I’m a little afraid of those.

I remember reading that the shelf life of FO is around one year, more or less depending on how you store them and environmental factors. My question is how long do they last in wax? I have some FO that is getting old and I would like to make candles with it, but if the fragrance is going to continue to degrade at the same rate, I'll just buy new FO. Now would be a good time as my wife will be gone for a week and won't realize I've bought more candle stuff.

Well I could make five identical candles and burn them in the following locations: My den with the strange air flow The living room that isn’t air-conditioned The warm, humid garage My cool, dry bedroom with the abundance of air flow The hot, humid back porch I could also make three more and burn them in the same environment with different starting wick lengths and after the initial burns I could test the effect of trimming or not trimming the wicks. I’ll have to check, but I think I have the containers, and I have lots of wax. All I have is a small melt pot so I’ll have to be very careful to not let process enter into the equation. Should I use FO or not? I will have to pour them on Sunday and burn them a week later. Any thoughts or advice?

I have two daughters, four sisters-in-law, and six nieces and nephews for that. Maybe I will give them a questionnaire to fill out with their candle this Thanksgiving. I’m not sure they know the difference between a good candle and a bad one.

So far I haven’t had a problem with left over wax. With the Premier 700 and CD wicks so far the smallest wick that works only leaves the little bit in the bottom that you get with any candle. I’m still in testing with a CD-8 in the 11oz but after 20 hours the melt pool hasn’t come close to the sides but there is no tunneling. I’ll be testing that and the CD-10 for hot throw. Where are you getting a CD-7? I may need those, do they make a CD-9? That might be my perfect wick. I may try the 22oz tureen when I get comfortable with the 11oz. I would like to double wick something, I was trying tea light wicks in the 11oz and they were too big, double wicking makes the air currents worse.

I agree on all points. I had one of these in my bathroom for months and couldn’t bring myself to burn it, so I gave it to my daughter. I am a long way from marketing these, but thanks to this board I might get there one day, I would have quit already if it weren’t for TallTayl, learning about the currents was the key. If I get to the point of selling my wife is great with packaging. The problem is getting paid for my time, I will have to get much faster at inking or the cost will be too high. I’m thinking that next year I’ll start selling enough to cover my cost.

I have tried with some other containers and it does not look as good. They look much better with wax behind them, 6006 is the perfect background for them. Most people make glass globs and burn votives in them.

That was my thinking also, I'm going to try and test that theory.

It seems to me that the CD wicks give me the shallowest melt pool for their burn rate. The zinc cores don't work as well, I believe the zinc transfers heat causing a deep melt pool.

Thank you. The one above is the 7oz and it is 3.8in outside diameter, the 11oz are 4.1in, but the air currents in these things mean you need smaller wicks and double wicking creates worse currents. My first double wick test I half filled them and in a still room the flames went sideways as soon as I lit them.

I must try that

Here is a picture of one of my tureens, this is why I haven't given up.

Sorry about the gender mix up, you just never know on here. I tried the two 36z's, way too much wick, I tried the next size down and it was too big. . I've spent many hours reading this board and find that you give good advice and that you know 6006. When you post something on this board you never know who you might be helping, like the soot thing. I rejected what was probably the best wick over a minimal amount of soot. The problem was exacerbated by my wick not being centered.

Because I am not nearly as smart as I am stubborn and they were the first containers I tried. That and I really like the way they look when I decorate them with alcohol ink. I was doing fine with the 7oz tureens until I decided to try the 11oz tureens and in the process learned that I was over wicking the 7oz ones. They really aren’t that hard as long as you don’t know what you’re doing, but once you know what a properly wicked candle is they become very difficult. I should have avoided the Craft Server and been happy in my ignorance.

I stopped taking pictures because, due to the nature of the containers, I wasn’t getting any useful information from them. Now I weigh every hour, note the flame and wick condition and measure the melt pool. I will never give up until there are no more wicks to test. I’ve tested multiple sizes of 5 different wick types. Based on everything I know any of these three are good, but the other thing I know is that I don’t know very much; that’s why I hang out here all the time. I had ruled our wick D due to sooting, then bfroberts commented that sooting in 6006 is reduced with additional cure time; I consider him an expert in 6006. I gave up double wicking because that seemed to make the air currents worse and finding a small enough wick was difficult. Single wicking has worked well. I tested wick A with Kudzu FO and the data didn’t indicate a need to wick up or down so I could make two more with wicks B and D to test the hot throw, but that is a very subjective test. I do power burn them but getting more than a 4 hour burn on my schedule has to wait for the weekend, but none of these wicks have any issues. My total burn time on most test has been around 40 hours. Getting to this point has taken a long time and I have a lot of new FO that are begging to be put in wax. I can hear them calling me when I walk by the cabinet where they are stored. I have some that I haven’t put up yet that I open and smell every once in a while, but I suppose one last test won’t kill me.

Rubbing alcohol or moonshine?

No, not that kind of help, although I need that too, but today I need help choosing a wick for my 11oz tureens. I have three wicks, I’ll call them A, B, and C. Wicks A and B have a burn rate of four grams per hour; the difference is the melt pool for wick B is much smaller. Wick B is burning all of the wax in the container, but less of it is liquid at any time. Wick C’s melt pool matches wick A’s, but it is burning five grams per hour. All three have good flames and no other issues. My guess is that wick C will give me the best hot throw as it had the highest burn rate, but my guesses are often wrong. I am also unsure if there would be a difference in hot throw between A and B. With this decision I will come to the end of my wick testing for the 11oz tureens, I would like to thank all of you who advised me to do this and encouraged me along the way.

Well that is useful information. I rejected what was probably my best wick in my last test due to sooting just slightly more than I was comfortable with, that definitely changes things.

I will also offer some sage advice that was given to me on this board. Make two candles to test and set one aside for a month. That way you can see what the curing process is doing to your product.

Per the Flaming Candle 6006 is "Approximate ratio is 70% paraffin and 30% soy." I will offer the disclaimer that I have seen a lot of incorrect information on the various sites that sell candle supplies. I wait one week to do wick test, I have no doubt that means all my test are worthless, but I haven't gone far enough to make a candle and let it sit for a month. I do feel that the candles I have made in the past with 6006 had better hot throw after a month or so.

I did a production run on what I hope is the last one of these I will need. The first thing I had to do was mark the center of my container, if that’s not right all this device does is consistently put the wick in the wrong place; as you can see I measured carefully. The bottom of the PVC pipe has to be flat, so following the advice of some experienced people I used a hacksaw and a miter box. Using the lid from the pictures in my previous post and a two part epoxy I put the PVC pipe in place, aligned it with my mark so that it was centered and flus on the bottom of the container. Next I applied the epoxy. The epoxy worked perfectly, and the finished product is solid, I believe I may actually get my wicks in the center from now on; it will be the first time. The next step is to make one for my other containers. I’ll be doing that soon because my test candles have been telling me over and over that my wicks aren’t centered.

Thanks, I have a batch fresh from the oven. I will try that as soon as they cool a bit.