Kerven

For soy, stearic acid or USA might work but they'll change burn characteristics and maybe throw... and, depending on how much is added, may cause some crystallization/frosting. For paraffin... not sure. I don't work with it. The Candlemakers Store has C-15 hardener, universal additive (used like vybar), and vybar. I don't know how well stearic and paraffin would mix. Edit: The C-15 hardener might be clear polyethelene luster crystals, which will harden, slow burning, and improve gloss. Might also improve color. Melting point is around 195F.

What soy wax, wick series/size, and container style/diameter? If you're experiencing a wildly dancing flame, smoke/soot, and breaking glass, the wick might be too large. Candles that burn too hot and whose flame flickers or leans in a particular direction will heat the glass unevenly, causing a single section of the jar to become very hot, leading to the glass cracking or shattering. Sometimes, a breeze or draft can cause the flame to do this to the glass.

Have you tried CS Orange and Goji Berry or CS Blood Orange? For me, both worked well in 464, although they had a tendency to easily overpower most of the FO's I blended with. Orange and Goji Berry was sweeter and lighter, IMO, whereas Blood Orange had depth and lasting. Didn't notice the burning fuel scent from either... but now I'm wanting to go back and check. I remember chocolate oranges! It's been a long time since I've had one. We received them as stocking stuffers for Christmas.

@candlesncats That's the wax. It makes a beautiful candle on its own, but I use it as a filler in blends. Unlike palm-3, its crystallization seems to agree more with certain additives that I use.

@moonshine Haven't tried it yet. Their picture makes palm-1 look a little feathery. For me, the sparkle light has a larger crystal pattern that resembles chunky/slushy glass. I'm wondering if Swan's crystal brite is the same as sparkle light.

Haven't bothered with Peak since the re-opening. Now that I've found out sparkle light palm works better than feather palm in my blends, my stash is running low. If only they still offered that palm and those smaller, more affordable straight-sided tumblers... I do miss that chocolate FO they had. Fudge brownie, I think. Strawberry fields was good as well. I've found so many awesome FO's since then that Peak FO's seem ages ago.

Wick stickers are the bane of my candlemaking when a container needs to be reused. Absolutely can not get them to release from the glass, even after freezing. Have to get in there and try to pry it off, which inevitably ends up with the bottom half of the sticker still stuck to the jar. Not to thrilled by how much they lift the wick of the bottom. Unfortunately, they're my go-to when making non-tester candles. I get mine from Candlescience. Had the same melting experience with hot glue (and I'm terrible with hot glue and made a stringy, webby mess). Not doing that again. Oh, permatex! That's what I've been trying to remember for a while now. I knew someone mentioned it here a year or so ago and I made a note to try it but I lost (read: "misplaced") the note and all I could remember was that it was a red adhesive. I think someone also mentioned another product... Aleene's Tack-It Over & Over. Come to think of it, I think I learned about that on a youtube video for diy glue dots. It's supposed to be a tacky adhesive similar to that of glue dots, but all I could find was Aleene's quick dry tacky glue, which dried hard like acrylic.

Oakmoss, amber, pine, evergreen, tobacco, vanilla, citrus (grapefruit might be nice), other woods, spices (cinnamon, clove, ginger), whiskey/bourbon, and maybe leather. That wood scent with amber, vanilla, tobacco, and maybe a hint of cassia sounds interesting.

Is that a CW palm? Asking because two blends that I experimented with had odd, unexplained sweating and they both contained palm-3.

That's... odd. Not going to create an "It could be..." list because I'm stumped. How about a list of questions. I have never seen wax expand like that. I've seen weird shrinkage and a few waxes that have rounded tops after cooling but never smooth expansion past the rim. Maybe moisture? Maybe high altitude? Is that 100%, absolutely can't be anything else, wax? It looks similar to frosting, shaving cream, body butter, whipped soap... or something subjected to a vacuum. What technique was used to cool the candle? If you added a little bit to hot (not boiling) water, does it melt and float like oil? Was any fragrance, dye, or other substance added? Does the crater extend to the bottom? I see dark discoloration between some of the "curds". Is that shadow, soot, or something else? Did it visibly erupt or was it a gradual process? How are you melting the wax and to what temperature? The smooth side is what intrigues me the most. The flared rim around the wax tells me that it wasn't completely set when it started to expand but cooled quickly while doing so, keeping it from collapsing and causing the sides to be smooth as it continued to expand. That is, if it was a slow process. I don't know... something about it seems odd; as though compressed air or cold water was sprayed on it, displacing it and causing it to rapidly set. That's unlikely, but now I have the urge to find my can of dust-off and see what would happen (probably a huge mess).

I think this was the one. It's a little confusing because it briefly mentions soluble materials before going into detail on how to suspend the materials in the fuel. I think the metallic salts are dissolved into the fuel and an enhancer is suspended in the fuel. No idea what the "nitrogenous fuel" could be. Paraffin, maybe? The candles seem to be tealights with metal cups. It's an old patent.

What size candle is that and is that a glass container? When you say the outside of the candle, do you mean against the sides of the container or that darker ring of wax? If it's a glass container and it appears wet on the sides, that may be what we call "wet spots". In most cases, that's the wax separating from the glass. Temperature is the common culprit but some waxes do it regardless. Using a heat gun fixes that... usually. Other than wet spots, I'm drawing a blank on what could have caused the outside of the candle to remain liquid but set up after a reheating.

How much of the oil are you using per pound of wax? Maybe too much was used by accident? Did you open a new bag of wax for the failed batches? I'm wary these days of things from Amazon. Was the wax sold by a reputable vendor? I can't tell from the picture whether the outer part is soft and gel-like or if there's something on the surface. Is it soft and slushy or gelled? I don't think it's a moisture problem. Check the bottoms of your successful candles, if you can, to see if any of the FO has come out of the wax and pooled at the bottom. I took a peek at the Eternal Essence Oils site and noticed a picture on their about page that showed an oil warmer. They also promote the oils' use in cosmetics, laundry, sprays, and such but no mention of use in candles. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that their oils aren't entirely candle compatible and may be cut with something like dipropylene glycol or carrier oils. Their usage page somewhat confirms this by suggesting that the oil be applied to the candle surface near the wick before lighting. The heat from the flame will warm the oil, allowing it to drift away (not the safest use of FO, IMO).

Be careful when creating candles with colored flames. There is a patent (a few, actually) filed for that, along with patents covering the use of photochromatic and thermochromatic pigments. One of the patents relating to colored flames does include copper compounds and strontium salts. I didn't read into it to find the technique but the abstract mentions impregnating the wick. I'd assume you dissolve whatever it is you're using, saturate a raw wick with it, allow the wick to dry, prime the wick with wax, then continue as usual. If Joelson's colorants are in the wax and not the wick, then I'm going to guess they aren't using salts unless the salts are microns small. Maybe stearates. Although, another patent mentions the use of metallic chlorides that are soluble in the fuel. Maybe test for solubility in a variety of waxes? Another patent uses perchlorates but other things are used to tame their combustion; the perchlorates are still dissolved. Yet another uses organic acid salts of alkali metals and wicks intwined with metallic wires in examples. There are numerous approaches to this...

Candlescience's Macintosh Apple is very nice. I'd describe the scent as piercing because no matter what wax I've put it in the throw always came through, especially the cold throw. It's a bit on the apple peel side rather than fresh apple flesh.

Peppermint Breeze Peppermint Fields Springtime Peppermint

Don't work with fragrances around flames (even the pilot flame of a hot water heater or furnace) or things that spark?

Assuming you're using an 8oz tumbler jar, I'd guess that the wick is too large and the FO too much. I would decrease the amount of FO first. Next, a smaller wick - CD 6 or ECO 8 maybe, depending on the wax (it could require an ECO 4 if it's a particularly soft wax). If that doesn't work, I'd take a look at the wax and FO to see if one or both could be the issue.

Only tried gilding with metal leaf once (ornaments) and used some sort of general craft adhesive spray and a glossy enamel spray... it wasn't fun - complete mess. No experience with the acrylic spray, although, I have used the Rust-oleum clear enamel on iron planters to stop rusting and acrylic floor sealer (dries as hard as resin - a permanent addition to my countertop now... oops) on other things. Wouldn't suggest using those on an antique piece, however, considering how difficult they are to remove. Your question made me curious, so I fell down another rabbit hole and that acrylic spray and adhesive was what I found. Did they at least offer to special order the item from the site and have it shipped to the store for pickup? Come to think of it, I'm not sure Michaels does that... I need to find out. Too many times I've needed an item or two and didn't want to pay more in shipping than for the item.

I primarily used it in soy blends, so the curing time was much longer. On its own, it was about as difficult to wick as the other coconut waxes, IMO. I poured a little hotter around 165-170 but added FO around 180-185. Nice wax - somewhat creamier than coco83, bright white color, and no "off" smell. Their directions sound about right for the most part. Pouring at their suggested temps might have fixed the slight adhesion issues I had. As for the 24hr curing time... I can't say since I cured mine for at least five days and the throw was fine.

Michaels has a product called Mona Lisa Metal Leaf Adhesive. You can find it on their site. It becomes tacky after application and stays tacky for two days. It is water based, so I don't know if it will rust the sword. Michaels also offers an acrylic spray sealer - Speedball Mona Lisa Metal Leaf Spray Sealer, Clear (whew, that's a lot to say).

I don't think it's supposed to melt all the way out to those wings. The melt pool wouldn't be able to reach a wide enough diameter without spilling over.

Did you ever hide dragons in them?

That's the FO sweating out? IMO, that calls for a return. Was it shipped from a region that's still cold?

Maybe wet spots being filled in? I've seen this a few times; the wax of a burned candle sets up and pulls away from the glass, creating wet spots, which fill in during the next burn. Sometimes all that can happen in a single burn, which I've only seen once in a test blend.