Forrest

I reclaim any container I can. Getting the wax out is easy, but the old wick tabs are a different story. I pop them out using an old putty knife but it always leaves some residue. Is there a good way to clean that up?

I love blending FOs. I always start by blending melts. If I purchase an FO that I don't like I'll try and fix it before I give up on it.

I have been wick testing and haven't put much in wax. I did a few melts and loved Black Ginger and bamboo but not the Red Current. Black Berry Sage is my favorite, great throw and great scent.

As long as you can use a "popsicle stick" it will work. You cut the foam board to match the diameter of your container.

Made my first candle using this device and it worked perfectly. I know my wick is in the center because I can spin the popsicle stick and the wick doesn't move. I clipped with the silver hair clips lightmyfire recommended, worked like a charm.I bought some new blades for my X-Acto knife. When I make more I'll take pictures and post some instructions. This is the first time that I know my wick is in the middle.

If I could manage to get a wick in the center of my container I'd use a cut off straw too. I think my eyes are off center.

I had some excess lids so I decided try out the hole saw. Do not put it on a jar and try and drill the hole, I was lucky this time but it made a mess of the lid. Fortunately I had a nice clamp with rubber pads that did the trick. First I marked the center of the lid and put a guide hole in it with a nail. I put the lid from a 4 oz tin under it for support when I did this. Next I drilled it with the hole saw, that went well except the hole is slightly undersized. The dremel tool with a grinder bit opened it up with ease. After that you need to mark the center of your container so that you can look down the PVC pipe and see that it is centered. It is very important that the bottom of the PVC pipe be flat. The next part is gluing the PVC in place, I didn't like what I used last time and I haven't done any research to find something better, maybe some epoxy would work. If anyone has any Ideas I would welcome them.

I bought a hole saw, just haven't tried it yet, I've been absorbed in wick testing . I think a starter hole is needed to keep from having drift when you start cutting. I'll try it first chance I get and report back. I'll try and take some pictures also. I still haven't come up with the right way to glue it in place.

Y'all are scaring the children😨

Yes, thank you. I just bought some of those silver hair clips.

Thanks Sarah, that helps a lot. But if the fragrance is carried through the wick I’m not sure why melt pool depth matters. It sounds to me like a good flame and a steady burn rate are more important. In my current test my burn rate is about 4.5 grams/hour with a good steady flames on two of my 3 wicks. That would give me 43 hours of burn time out of 7 ounces of wax. I’ve tested ECO, Zinc Core, HTP, CD, and Premier 700 series so far and the CD or Premier 700 give the best results. Maybe my best path forward is to pick the best wick from this test and try it with some FO. I suppose in the end if the hot throw is steady and the candle last that is what really matters.

Here is how I think it works in a well-made candle, as the wax at the top melts the FO escapes into the air. The wax burns in the wick and new wax melts. The unmelted wax traps the FO so that it is available later. My problem is that I’m using a tureen jar that is 2.5 inches deep and 4 inches wide, all the descriptions of a good melt pool don’t apply in this case. What I need is a good ratio of melted to unmelted wax so that there is always a good supply of FO. My question is, at what point during my test should I judge my MP. My thinking is that at 1 hour it should be small, at 4 hours it may be too big, but at 2 and 3 hours it should be just right. Does that sound reasonable?

If we had a good lab it wouldn't be to hard. The problem is there are a lot of waxes and more FOs than you can shake a stick at. Even if we could do that all we would have is a guide, you would still have the container and wick variables to deal with. Even if we did all that they would change the FO formulas, and their would be issues with the wax.

Maybe I should stick to rocket science, it's easier.

I have been testing wicks for my containers without FO. When I start testing with a FO am I more likely to need to wick up, wick down, or stay the same?

Someone mentioned the problem of keeping popsicle sticks centered, which is a problem I also have, and that got me thinking. I already had an idea in my head but the problem was what to build it out of. The device below is made from foam board, it may not be ideal but it was all I could think of that was thick enough and that I could cut a curve in, if some crafty person has a better idea I would love to hear it. This one isn’t pretty, but the razor knife I used was dull and a little rusty. It works well, if you bump the popsicle stick it will spin, but the hole stays in the center, and the wick doesn’t move. The wick will need to be clipped with something, a hair clip, cloths pin, or some other clip. I’ll probably cut my wick shorter and use a small binder clip, but something lightweight would be better.

It is soft if you want to use your melts right away. If they sit a week or so it is fine. Of course I don't want to wait so I just run a knife around the edge and they come out without too much trouble. It wouldn't be my first choice, but it was free.

I use IGI 6006, as I am a hobbyist with 90 pounds of the stuff I’ll be using it for the foreseeable future. As for wicks I have been using zinc core, but I’m in testing and the Premier 700 series and CD seem to work better in my containers. I also have some 4630 that I use for melts when I need instant gratification.

Two minutes is the rule that most people take as fact. I did some reading on this board and some people that I trust said you just need to stir until it is well blended. If you think about it stirring slowly for two minutes is no better than stirring vigorously for half a minute. Just make sure the FO is well blended in the wax. I highly recommend the search function for these forums, there was some good discussion on this subject in the past. Hang around a while and you'll learn who the experts are, but not all questions have a black and white answer. Lastly always pay attention to TallTayl, I would have quit by now if it weren't for her sage advice.

Come on Sarah, you wouldn't let a Zinc Core buy you a drink, or maybe flirt a little with a hansom CD wick? 🙂

I could probably talk my hairdresser into it, she’s been cutting my hair for 30 years and would likely accept payment in candles.

As a hobby candle making has two problems. It is expensive, and I can make a lot more candles than I can burn. What would be great is if I could sell a small number of candles to help offset the cost and so that my wife doesn’t leave me because her house is full of candles. I’ve been involved in several small businesses and this time I would like to minimize the business end of things and focus on making candles. I not wanting to make a lot of money, if I could break even I would be thrilled.

Thanks Sarah, my FO addiction support group is going to put you on the naughty list. I’m in north Alabama so I have mostly used Flaming and Aztec, but I have ordered a few from Candlewic. I recently ordered a few FOs from Community Candle and was very pleased. With all these suppliers with so many FOs it’s just hard to control yourself.

Having spent the last couple of months doing burn testing I couldn’t control myself anymore, so I pulled out three 8oz tins to test some new FOs. Unfortunately I used the wrong wick because I didn’t check my notes. So on Sunday I melted the candles and poured them into tins with the right wicks, but I’m not sure what to expect of the new candles. I’m using 6006 and they already had a week’s cure time, do they now need another week. Is this really a valid test of their hot throw, or should I start from scratch.

The first FOs I purchased were from Just Scent, that was back when I thought making candles would be easy. So I put them in some 464, doing everything wrong, and they had no hot throw. I haven't purchased from them sense then, should I give them a second try?