Forrest

I’ve stopped using dupes altogether, which really narrows down what Bulk offers, but they do have the Lebermuth patchouli that I’ve wanted to try. I see what you are saying because the Chemistry Store has the exact same FOs they did two years ago, and Lebermuth doesn’t seem to carry some of them. I’ll probably just take out a second mortgage on my house and buy a pound of patchouli.

People get into candle making to learn to make candles, but what happens is you spend money and learn patience.

Every wax has its own set of problems, so does every wick, that's what makes this so much fun.

To me the biggest advantage of paraffin is cure time. I let mine cure a week, but most people will only wait a few days. It slows the learning process if you have to wait two weeks to tell if your candle is good or not. Paraffin is also more consistent from batch to batch.

As best I can tell Bulk makes some FOs themselves and has others from Lebermuth, but they don't say which ones.

I used some back when I was blaming my FO for my lack of HT. As I recall I really liked some of them. They only carry 108, and their primary focus is soap making. They are the only place I have found where I can get Lebermuth FOs without a high minimum purchase. Any recommendations would be welcome.

Vicy, I know exactly how you feel, because I felt that way once. Then I found this board. I did a lot of searching, and I ask a lot of questions. What I found was that candle making is hard, and it takes time to learn. The internet is full of bad information, but there are a lot of helpful people on this board. The question I would ask you is why soy? I ask this because soy is much harder to learn on.

I wouldn’t expect much HT in a soy based candle after 3 days. The strongest HT I have ever seen in a candle was a soy candle that was a year old; it had almost no HT after two weeks. Most people say you need two weeks cure time for soy candles, but they will continue to get stronger.

You've come to the right place, but the experts here will need more information. It is likely the wick, but there are 100 other things it could be. How long are you curing before you test your candles? What percentage of FO are you using. What temperature do you heat the wax to before adding the FO. How long do you stir the wax after adding the FO? Could you post a picture of your candle while burning?

My testing has been delayed, but I have randomly tried a few. As a general comment I think many of their FOs are so complex that they don’t have a dominant fragrance. I couldn’t tell a difference between two that I tried. This brought me to the idea that these might be the perfect FOs to blend with some of my FOs that tend to have one overly dominant fragrance, or that need to be toned down a bit. For example I have a lavender that I like that needs something to blend with. I also have a strong lemongrass that could stand a little complexity. Has anyone tried blending these with other FOs?

I appreciate the good advice, you probably saved me a lot of trouble and money. Being a hobbyist I try and keep things simple. I can get slightly more surface area of wax from two 8oz tins than I can from the 4 inch container I was planning to try and double wick; I think I’ll stick to the tins. Then the look of the wax won’t matter and I’ll get just as much HT.

That's interesting. I was thinking about getting some glass containers to double wick 4627. Does the look of the wax bother you?

That is my thinking. It seems odd to me that IGI and Candle Science would push that number without any explanation if it is only for glass containers. I prefer to get to about 155 and give my wax a good stirring before I pour.

IGI recommends pouring 4627 at 180⁰. Why is this? How would my candles benefit from me pouring them at 180⁰?

I know what you mean, my 6006 is very jealous of that block of 4627 I have. I try to be faithful, but that instant gratification is so hard to resist.

I have a theory on this. It all goes back to a soy candle I found that was a year old and had overpowering HT. As an experiment I put in in the oven until the wax melted and the next day when I burned it the HT was close to zero. So my theory is that melted wax loses its cure. Based on this your best HT comes from the wax that is melting for the first time. A wide, deep melt pool should make a great first impression, but the HT will be diminished after that. A candle like the one in your example should have good HT every time you burn it. A wise person once told me that the best wick is the smallest one that will burn all the wax in the end. That concept means you don’t need a FMP. Of course it’s just a theory.

My problem is my wife lakes to shop at Anthropology, and some of their candles are seriously high end. From the beginning that is what I’ve wanted to make. Fortunately y’all taught me enough about candle making I may be able to do these FOs justice. I think this falls in to the category of “be careful what you wish for”. My little hobby just went way up in price.

I received my 10 sample size FOs Saturday and put them in wax yesterday. The first one I opened was the Lemon Verbena and Thyme and OOB it smelled amazing. I can’t comment on any others as once I had poured the first one my nose was compromised, but I liked them all. You can definitely tell the difference between these FOs and the other FOs I have purchased and they seem to be what I have been looking for. I put them in 4627 at 8%, without a wick. I labeled them A-J so that the name will not prejudice my testing. Next week I’ll test them by scooping some out and putting it in my melter. I’ll post the results when I’m finished.

Let us know how they do, I'm probably going to wait a couple of weeks before I order, maybe they'll have some spring/summer FOs by then.

I picked 10 FOs from Lab & Co that looked like I might like them. I’m thinking about ordering the 10ML size to test these. It looks like these would double the cost of my FO, but I’m OK with that if they are worth it. Any advice would be appreciated. Below is the list of FOs I chose. LEMON VERBENA + THYME ROSE PATCHOULI + AMBER ORANGE RIND + CLOVE OUD PATCHOULI + RESINS BLOOD ORANGE + LIME AGAVE LEMON VERBENA + THYME BLACK CURRANT + RHUBARB EAU DE MER + AMBER BERGAMOT + AMBERGRIS PINK PEPPER + VETIVER

I have three guesses as to what the problem might be. The first is are you stirring well, I made a batch of candles where I didn't and got zero HT? The second is are you testing in a room that is not candle friendly, if I tested in my den I would think my candles had no HT. The third is could the problem be that you can't smell them? I had trouble smelling my candles because there was too much FO in the air in my house. I moved all my oils and candles to the garage and that solved the problem.

When you say high end does that mean it smells better or does it mean it has better HT, or maybe something I haven't thought of?

I have my wick list and my 8oz tin wicks for all the FOs that I use, moving up a size in paraffin would be quick and easy.

Before I started using 4630 regularly I looked at using 4627, but the cost and availability was prohibitive. I’m out of 4630 and I saw that CS has 4627 at a reasonable price. I think I would like it, but I have the wicking for 4630 down. So, for anyone who has used both how would you compare the wicking.

Well it took something big like this, but I got sucked back in to the Fragrance forum, nine months of therapy out the window. This is exciting, what wax will you be testing in?