ChristinaD

@birdcharm pretty cool ...

I cure for 2 weeks. Candle science is my favorite! But I also use nature’s garden. I’ve also gotten some from lonestar & the flaming candle. But I’m not a fan of the lonestar scents except 1 I’ve tried lol The flaming candle FO seem pretty good but I’ve only tried a few from there

Yes! I started following manufacture recommendations of adding FO a time 185 in the 464 soy wax and my HT is excelllent now! My FO is at 6% and I pour at 150, smooth tops excellent HT & CT for the scents I’m currently doing I had a few scents that were still light, but I decided not to continue making those. Also I always cure for 2 weeks minimum to get my HT where I want it

@Lighten Up I am doing that with my current box & so far that is working well! The local store I got my box from suggested that, wish I had thought of it sooner! I usually leave the boxes open, once I use them, but I didn’t think to open them ahead of time before.

@inthedark Thank you so much for your insight! I have decided not to sell these candles, but will be burning through them for learning and experimentation. al if this ever happens again, I will hopefully be equipped to handle it. I had 100 candles in the batch, so I’ll be giving some to testers and family also, who I’ve told what to looks for and report back

Seriously!??? Omg! Wow! What next!? Thanks SO much for letting me know!

Luckily - as far as the website goes - I didn’t do a huge announcement with a date for my opening - all of my posts just said coming soon. But I told individual people (on public comments) that we were opening this weekend. So I just went to those people private messaged to let them know we would not be opening just yet I plan just to keep my opening date vague (as I no longer know it)

What do you mean?

@moonshine thank you so much! I never thought to send candles to some of the more experienced people here! That is a wonderful idea! I think once I have another batch that I feel is good, I will contact some of you for opinions! That makes me feel so much better about moving forward! Also, I think I will blame it on the soy wax issues, as that really is partially to blame on them, and me jumping the gun 🙈 thanks again!

And much as it sucks, I know you guys are TOTALLY alright, I think I just needed to hear this a few times for it to sink in! The best thing for me to do is delay. I really appreciate all the advice and have already realized that the more I learn, the more I realize what I do NOT know!! All the sage advice is greatly appreciated!!!! At what point do you all think that I will know that I am ready to start selling? I understand it’s not all about number of batches but I had SO many consistent batches. It has only been been working since August but it’s been 24/7 & all my results were consistent until this last batch.. any further advice is appreciated!! I don’t want to get myself in this pickle again, I’ve been stressing all week over this & it’s diff not fun! Haha @moonshine @TallTayl @GoldieMN

Thank you for the advice

I understand, thank you for all the advice!

@GoldieMN interesting!! If that method works, The candles would be useable at that point?? If u tested the candles (burned some) & they seemed fine after that, Would u think it would be safe to sell candles that u had done this with?

I totally agree! Just Curious how others have done that & kinda saved face at the same time! I pushed this back over a month from my original date (it was just in my head, no one knew about it), before announcing anything bc I wanted to make sure no issues! But I felt everything was set & started promoting on social media .. these issues popped up after that, but I HAVE determined that a few scents ended up being ok - which are actually my Christmas scents... so I’m kinda just trying to determine if I should set everything else up “sold out” & put those up?? They are from the same batch of wax but my testers have reported no melting or leaking & no issues with the throw... originally I thought it was all scents... The new batch of wax I got doesn’t seem to have any issues, but I will be doing testing for a few weeks to confirm that before selling them. I certainly don’t want to sell a dangerous or faulty product! Just Morally AND that’s bad for business...

I actually have done all that, just don’t have the insurance finalized. But everything else as far as registering & all that business stuff is done. I’ve had about 30-40 people I’ve been using as snuff tedterd & 10-15 people I’ve been using as “testers” who have actually been burning the candles.

Anyone ever have a situation where they had to pull candles from sale or push back a “grand opening??” How did you do it without looking stupid?? 😆🙈

So I got a NEW BATCH of 464 yesterday and it looks NORMAL!!! No bubbles or popping & it is Golden clear again!! I’m so relieved! I started running some tests yesterday, so “fingers crossed” it’s back to normal!! And if I ever get some that looks “odd” again I’ll know to stop and run extra tests! You live and you learn I guess!

@GoldieMN I believe he tried all that, but I will double check with him, thank you

@Gary in Canada yes, probably so. I never got mine to work. Thomas suggested working with Custer service if you can get it to work. That’s prob a good idea! I wasted lots of level trying to make it work on my own - my hub and has a design degree & couldn’t figure it out LOL

I am in the process of getting it. I did a bunch of senerios to see what would happen, including burning them, putting open flame all around the tops, etc & I truly believe they are melting & not leaching oil. They would do it when moved to my husband’s work, the ones at home did not do it at all. When he brought them back home they dried up. The ones friends have testing at their home have never done it either. These candles were 4-6 weeks curing & very fine until taken to the show & his work

@Christian8191 Thanks so much! Thats a great confirmation because I was coming to the conclusion that it was that, but your right, the temp was only 5-8 degrees difference & I never had that effect them before! This is soooo crazy! I did also test some and all burned fine. BUT I JUST got a new batch of wax today & it looks like the old wax!!!!(before this bad batch) So I’m really excited! Hoping I don’t have this problem again! Everything was different with this last batch of soy I had!! I never had issues with sink holes or having to re-do the tops with a heat gun & this bath took several refinsihings to fix all the sink hole & all the other issues now TODAY a I find out that one of my REALLY strong scent has ZERO hot throw now!! And another one that was very strong is now slightly scented! Other scents are totally fine, but I’m waiting to hear back on the other candles in my Line & I’m worried that I’m gonna end up just having to toss at LEAST 30-50 candles, (hopefully not more) which I know won’t be a lot to most, but just starting out, it sux! So fingers crossed this next batch will be okay, so far it looks great!! So I’m hopeful! Also my supplier says NO one else has complained about the wax, which seemed VERY odd to me BUT I’m taking that as a good sign that this was a fluke & they haven’t been having issues with their wax (hoping their customers aren’t just tight lipped LOL) Good luck to you! I really hope it gets better, my website grand opening is this weekend & it’s looking like im going to have to put some of my scents as “sold out” and go back to testing before I move on!! ** I’m very new & taking this as a teachable moment! If I ever have wax that looks “off” again, I’ll know to take precautions before proceeding!**

Yes, they are more expensive, but I’m attached to having them clear 😆 The air bubbles weren’t an issue at first, but have developed into more of an issue ... another thing to work on I guess!

@wthomas57 Yes, I got inkjet at first then switched to the laser ones. I may look into trying them out again, I’ve just never had this issue with labels, but my first time doing labels for candles. I didn’t understand what was wrong, after several days of testing with different settings. I was on a deadline so gave up, temporarily

We tried every setting we had & no luck a few seemed to dry after weeks of sitting, but the ink came right off when we rubbed our thumbs across it. I didn’t think to try customer service though! I may do that! As he laser ones work but are not nearly as dark or “shiny” like inkjet - so not as pretty (I’ve never had this issue with other labels so I’m not sure)