Kerven

I've had FO's turn pipettes into mushy goop. Messy. It's probably solvents and volatiles in the fragrances. EO's have a similar effect, especially if they contain d-limonene, for example. Many FO's contain EO's to some degree. They'll dissolve common, low grade plastics, which is why they have to be shipped and stored in grades of plastic that are resistant... or glass. Plastic molds (not all) can also be damaged or destroyed by them.

I had different issues with RRD. Not a lot of soot and smoke. A little mushrooming. The wicks had a tendency to curl and not self trim, so by the 3rd hour mark I had excessively long wicks in need of trimming and uneven melt pools. The flames were too large and ROC high, even when wicking in either direction. Incidentally, mine aren't labeled nst 2, so I'm guessing I have RRD without the treatment? Edit: Candlewic suggests using series RRD, CD, HTP, ECO, and LX 22/24/26. I wasn't too thrilled with ECO in palm-soy blends. It was so-so. Edit 2: There are old threads about wicking palm waxes. Here's one for feather palm. There is at least one more thread by the same user about wicking starburst palm. Not sure if there are more - didn't dive too deep. Now, I'm curious about using CDN's since I'm working with both soy and palm.

Great. I was just about to start testing CSN's in a few palm blends. So much for that. Looks like I'll continue testing with RRD, although results have been a bit blah so far. Edit: And I'm now falling down a rabbit hole of DIY wick treatments. Interesting but too tedious for me.

Mother of pearl fits the pearl theme. I'm thinking a soap with a surface layer of pearlescent mica. Might add that to my to-try list for when (it's going to happen eventually) I take the plunge into soap making. Everything sounds good! I'm drawing a blank for the lotion, powder, oil, and balm. Mermaid Kisses Lip Balm, Pirate's Booty Body Oil (bonus points if it's a golden color)...?

The micellar water and lotion bar were off the top of my head. Was browsing through Handmade Magazine volumes the other day and saw those. I wasn't sure if you used molds for your soaps so I listed the sea glass and others just in case. There are guides out there for DIY'ing driftwood. I think a lot of them make use of Arm & Hammer washing soda and elbow grease. What about Sea Spray Body Mist? For me, "ocean spray" brings to mind cranberries. Squid ink... Maybe "Davy Jones'" or "Briny Deep" (good one for the salt brine soap)? Ship wheels, lanterns, barrels, netting, anchors, compass... and so much more. I did a google image search for "diy nautical decor" and... overwhelmed now. Tears of the Sea/Mermaid Tears Bath Pearls and Sea Foam Fizzy Bath Milk? I don't know much about either product. Are the pearls the type with oil inside and have to be squeezed or are they solid and dissolve in the water?

M&P sea glass. "Sea foam" bubble bath or foaming hand soap. Starfish and sand dollar CP and/or lotion bars. Using activated charcoal to turn liquidy products black - "squid ink". Sea salt hair spritz. Micellar cleansing water with a nautical theme. Mermaid soap to go with the logo. Driftwood (or look alike) displays. Sea glass, shells, seaweed, sand dollars, starfish - typical beach finds. Blue/green/teal glass bottles with messages in them.

The coco-soy already has coconut oil in it. Adding plain coconut oil, even the 92F oil, is going to make the overall blend softer and lower its melt point. I would say it's redundant. Instead, if you're using a pre-blended soy (with additives) in your own coco-soy blend, try switching to a different soy. I've had noticeable differences when swapping 464/444/C3 soy for "virgin" soy in my palm-soy blends. Sometimes, the additives in the ready-to-pour soys don't pair well or are incompatible with non-soy ingredients such as coconut oil, palm wax, palm oil, beeswax, etc.

BTW, check out the large home improvements stores (Lowes and HD). I went to another Lowes and they had two pallets of 16oz and 1qt jars and both were nearly sold out. People were asking me where I found them (they had been relocated due to Christmas decorations displays being set out - Xmas trees already?!?!). The demand is real. The jars don't show on the websites either. We had to call and they verified that there were some left in the store, so call beforehand or visit if it's not out of the way. Edit: 8oz might be harder to find. Haven't really seen those - only a few small cases at Walmart and they all had embossed sides.

Uline has the 8oz Ball canning jars (not mason). Specialty Bottle has 8oz tapered jars. Wow. I didn't realize the shortage was that bad. A lot of sites list them as in-store only. I passed by some at Lowes the other day... wishing I had grabbed as many cases as I could carry. Walmart's canning section has been empty for weeks. Check stores like Lowes, Home Depot, Michaels, Joann, Kroger, etc. Feed, tractor, and hardware stores might have them. (Speaking of, I need to check the local feed store tomorrow.) The jars might not show on their sites but they sometimes get shipments, and if you're lucky there might be some left.

Assuming the salts will not react with the wax or any potential additives in the wax, or melt at the temperature needed to melt the wax, there may be a few methods of encasing the salts. For examples: A method similar to how candies are tumble/spray coated in confectioner's glaze or carnauba wax might work for encapsulating the granules. If the salt granules can be compressed into a desired shape, the mass could be dipped in molten wax to form a shell. As long as the shell remains intact, moisture will be excluded. Alternatively, if the salt is in liquid form, wax molds could be made, similar to certain chocolate truffles, injected with the liquid salt and the opening sealed after filling. For your listed methods, I'm not sure. Method #1 could potentially work, assuming the melt point of the salt is higher than the melt point of the wax. Then, you'd end up with a solid mass with suspended salt granules; stir them in at the "slushy" stage before the wax solidifies. #2, if the molten salt isn't oil soluble it may separate out as a layer, even if soluble it may draw moisture to the surface of the solidified mixture. Same for #3. With any method, since the salt seems to be hygroscopic, you need to ensure it is moisture-free and work in a very, very dry environment. Would oleogels be of any use?

It's a multifaceted problem and a perfect storm. You have people, bored out of their minds during quarantine and shutdown, looking for hobbies and potential sources of income. You have overpriced candles being sold by large companies (I think people are catching on to the ~400% markups from big name brand candle companies). Then, you have "ready to use" wax bases that are marketed as very user friendly and accompanied with wicking guides. In addition, all the many, many how-to tutorials that neglect to list any of the challenges that come with proper candlemaking. Survivalists getting stirred up by the pandemic, causing them to engage in a flurry of canning, jarring, and crafting of other emergency supplies (read: candles), which drains our supply of containers... IMO, Murphy's Law at work. On the bright side, it's probably a good time to be a beekeeper. Huge demand for beeswax with all these newbie candlemakers. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if that's going to be next year's big get-rich-quick go-to. Everyone will want to be a beekeeper in 2021. "Cut costs of your DIY essential oil candles by harvesting your own wax... for FREE with an added bonus: HONEY!$!$!$!" (Disclaimer: It's not that simple.) Then, we'll have an influx of wannabe gardeners planting all sorts of flowers for their bees without practicing proper procedures, allowing plant pests and diseases to spread like wildfire (as if they weren't bad enough this year). They'll flood the gardening forums/groups with threads titled "What's wrong with my <plant>?". Does it ever end?

WI-740 looks promising. I don't think I've tested those in coconut-apricot. Hmm! 👍

FolkArt has the FolkArt Finishes Frost Effect and Frosted Glass Enamel. I think the FolkArt Mediums Glass & Tile Medium can be used for a frosted effect as well. DecoArt has the Americana Frost Gloss Enamels in several colors and white.

Incidentally, JS has removed samples for a few days to lessen processing time.

I like the green background. Menu bars and icons are easier to see with the lighter grey behind them. 👍

I noticed something similar with CS and Candlewic a few years ago. It cost less and less shipping per item the more I added to my cart until I hit the freight tier, where shipping costs skyrocketed. Not sure if that's how the shipping rates actually work or if it's a sneaky method to get you to buy more. Rather than spend $10+ in shipping for an item or two, you add more and lower the average shipping cost per item. It's a pain when shopping for samples or that one case of glassware you need. Just Scent wants me to pay, for 4 1oz samples ($12.35), $13.58 for FedEx Home Delivery or $13.75 for UPS Ground. Increase to 8 1oz samples ($24.70) and the price rose to $14.21/$15.02. Increased to 20 1oz samples ($61.75) and the shipping cost: $15.05/$16.18. However, with 20 samples I'm paying nearly $50 more in retail and I don't want/need that many. I take it back. Base rate shipping isn't a pain, it's a HUGE pain when it comes to samples and small orders. Sometimes, it's more cost efficient to order from the nearest supplier. I get fantastic shipping from CS. Their base UPS carbon-neutral shipping ends up 1-2 day delivery for me. The suppliers in PA are efficient for me as well. I think of it as a shipping discount or free upgrade, even though I don't usually need the order to arrive so soon. It is a little odd to me that they would label themselves as a wholesaler to explain the steep shipping costs yet retail sample sizes at the same shipping costs without offering some sort of discounted bulk sample order. I'm not tempted to purchase 15-20lb of samplers at retail to justify the shipping... 15lbs of samplers (240 bottles) is well over $500. Do they even have that many FO's? I still want to try several of their FO's. I just need to find a way to convince myself that it's worth it.

I'm just amazed at their shoddy and shady tracking system. How could a tracking number possibly show that a package is either on the truck for delivery or already delivered when it's still sitting in a pile at the main branch? Are they not scanned at each waypoint? Is the system spitting out guesstimated locations without anyone actually checking in the packages? Are employees being told to just scan the items to make it appear as though something is happening when it isn't? It's hardly reliable. This has been going on, for me, at least, since after the holiday season of 2019. Finally had a package go missing, waited to submit what needed submitting. Business submitted stuff on their end. After I had finally given up and the business wrote it off, I get an email nearly a month later that the USPS has received my missing package report. Wait... what.. A month later? Are the service requests sitting in an inbox and someone finally had the time to go through them or are they inundated with requests due to severely lacking performance? That package, if it was delivered to the wrong address, is loooong gone. Seems to me that the issues we're hearing about in the news are far worse than they're being made out to be. Too bad for those sending perishables. I wonder if the loading bays have started to stink.

Terralite Terralite's patent An interesting composition. Worth a read.

It's probably why I didn't use it - fear that someone would light a candle, strike a match, or spark a lighter while there were still vapors in the air. Not so much that I'd burn my eyebrows off with a melting pot turned flame thrower. I think the FP method might draw a little from boiling point and vapor pressure, but those numbers aren't as readily available as FP. I can see how there could be concern about volatile notes rapidly evaporating at a high temp and large surface area. You've got increased heat, wider surface area in the melting pot, possibly reduced surface tension (big brand candles use additives in their waxes to alter melt pool surface tension and improve throw; manufacturers of "boutique" waxes might add them as well), reduced viscosity, agitation, convection, and no fixative or other throttling agent other than the wax itself, when compared to a solid candle. There's no alcohol to carry the notes, but that doesn't mean they can't escape, moreso when given favorable conditions. But that's me conjecturing again. Wax bursting into flames? Nope. It's very rare to see a melt pool catch fire, IME. And that's usually due to neglect or serious flaws in candle structure/composition. The only danger with low FP is when there's a source of ignition near the pure FO and its concentrated vapors. We don't see reed diffusers causing fireballs. Edit: I think there may be a connection between temps and FO binding, mostly having to do with crystal formation. Different crystals form at different temps, blah, blah, blah. Crystalline phases, intermolecular bonding, solvents, kinetic energy... Too complicated for a hobbyist like me. Sticking to the tried and true methods.

FP is ~85F for the 'nog FO. Found a 1oz sampler stashed away. I had a citrus FO once with a FP around 90F. Might have been from Peak too.

That's an interesting comparison. I wonder if the idea of adding FO at certain temps is based on the boiling points of fragrance components. Like adding vanilla extract to a custard or fudge after removing from heat to avoid boiling/cooking off the vanilla's notes. Vapor pressure, boiling point, flashpoint... Maybe there is something to it?

I had a recent issue with the USPS as well except I was the buyer. Tracking was on point and the day of delivery it said the package was on the truck. Mailperson delivers the mail. No package. Tracking then says the package was delivered... but where? Not to my house. USPS site says it could take a day or two before it's delivered. Ok... I waited; apparently tracking isn't "live". Still no package. Filled out the Where's My Package form, which asked for my preferred method of contact (I chose email since I'm working on the phone all day). They called me over and over - not a single email - and stated the obvious: tracking says it was delivered. I already knew that, thanks, but WHERE was it delivered? Waited a week for them to figure it out. Nothing. Then, contacted the company I ordered from, and they submitted a lost package claim. A week later and nothing. I ask the company to verify the address label, which they did (it was correct) and then promptly replied that they were "making an exception", since tracking showed it as delivered, and refunded the order. What? An "exception"? Yeah, that's not offending. I'm the one that spent $ and have nothing to show for it. Granted, they couldn't have known that the package never showed up... but still, an "exception"? Anyway, I submitted a lost package claim of my own because I wanted to know if the package was delivered to the wrong address and I had a thieving neighbor, or an untrustworthy mailperson who kept it, or a micro black hole just happened to fly by my mailbox at just the right time to gobble up that one piece of mail and leave the rest untouched. Still no reply. Apparently, it has vanished into the ether, as has USPS's competence. This almost feels like the Mandela Effect... was there even a package to begin with??? BTW, there was absolutely no chance of theft from the porch because the mail was retrieved less than 20 seconds after delivery. I was out there doing yard work and would have seen someone approaching. End of rant.

The "add FO at X temp based on flashpoint" has been around for a long time. I forgot where I first learned it - Peak's other site with all the guides... or maybe it was something on Nature's Garden. Oddly enough, even though there was no proof or convincing reasoning supporting the practice, it helped me avoid problems (adhesion, cauliflower tops, frosting, throw) with the old (pre soy-pocalypse) 464. Well, it seemed to help. I was new to candlemaking at the time and didn't take precise notes so it could have been something I did (pouring hotter/colder, FO mismeasured, cooling conditions, etc.). Haven't gone back to that method since the majority said it was pointless and I started doing hot pours anyway. Nature's Garden Candles Perhaps, with temperamental waxes and fragrances the method might provide some benefit, but not what was stated in the vid, IMO. Edit: Then again... now that this topic is back, I have the nagging voice in my head trying to convince me that volatile, lighter fragrance components are more prone to rapidly fading away when not bound in some way, especially so when exposed to heat. I guess it's time to venture over to the perfuming forums and fall down a few rabbit holes.

Cierra's guavaberry is very nice, IMO.

jarbottle.net has them in a 3pk. 1pk is pre-order. Price is very steep, even without the overseas shipping costs. Amazon Hobby Lobby - slightly larger at 709ml.