Sarah S

23 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

Pouring more yesterday did not happen. LOL Maybe this weekend. IDK - I'm just so low on energy these days and literally nothing is exciting me. I always have these big plans and WANT to do things. That is until it comes time to actually DO them. LOL I'm hoping after the beginning of the year, I'll have more energy, will want to do more things, and will get out of my funk. 

I think this year has been too chalk-full of change for me to feel settled and ambitious. 

Well, if that mermaid soap is what you make when you're in a funk, I can't wait to see what you do when you get fired up!! 😆

2 hours ago, Nickie said:

Those divots (on the cups and tarts) are a direct cause of cooling too fast. They won't do this if they are covered for 15-30 mins and poured as low as you can possibly pour. 

 

As for the dip, To be very frank, it typically doesn't level out on its own until around 50 percent container wax, maybe even 60. That may or not be possible and still get them to release.  It's all very much a balancing act between the release and the look of the tops.  but I've gotten some very soft waxes to release when blended, including 4627. It just takes lots of work in blending, patience and testing.  

Right, I absolutely agree on all points!

The experiment here was to see how much tweaking this particular wax was going to need, and to compare it to The Candle Sources tart wax. Obviously it needs quite a lot of tweaking to perform as well as the TCS wax, according to my criteria. Others, of course, may feel differently or have different results. 

The KY 133 is certainly not a bad wax, but if I can be frank here 😉, I don't have the patience to struggle with it when another wax will give me good results with less work. I don't mind playing and experimenting, but when it comes to producing tarts for sale, I need a reliable wax that allows me to crank out those bad boys fast!

Having said all that, I have 19 pounds of this stuff still to go through, so I guess I'd better find a little patience to make it work for now, lol!

I will try upping my 4630 as suggested and see what happens!

I also just got a few pounds of this year's 415, so I guess I'll be finding out how the new soy waxes affect tart blends too.

Ok, first round of testing the 133 mix is done!

I will apologize in advance for the terrible pictures, I have the very first iPad ever made and the camera is really crappy. 😂

My my wax blend was 80% KY 133 from RE, 10% GW 415 from CW, 10% CBL-125 (CW's in house production of IGI 4630)

I used the 6 cavity clamshells, 2oz cups, and a silicone daisy mold.

I heated my blend to 180 using the double boiler method, and added my fragrance at 175ish. I did use a couple different fragrances, but all were at an 8% FO load.

The brown tarts were poured at 150

The white tarts were poured at 140

I could see no visible difference between the ones poured at 150 vs 140, both were still quite bumpy on the top surface. It wasn't quite as bad as the KY 133 by itself, but still noticeable.

You'll see in the pictures I have a couple purple and green tarts, they were all made the the Candle Source's tart wax at 90% and the 4630 at 10%. Their tops are very smooth, although the 6 cavity clamshell does dip a bit in the cavities.

The bumpiness was not very noticeable on the daisy tarts, but of course we are looking at a much smaller surface area.

The HT is good for 8%, and I do think these last a long time. I'm on day 2 in the melter in my bedroom, scent is still strong, and I melt for solid 4-6 hour intervals.

The 80/10/10 blend is really hard, so I think I have room to try 80/10/20 and still be able to pop it out of the clams. Maybe that extra 10% 4630 will smooth everything out.

I will try another round of testing, but so far I feel like the TCS wax gets better results with less hassle. Maybe I'll have to test some more of their FOs to make the most of the shipping costs 😉😄

Palm maybe?

I'm not surprised, with soy wax being such a sh*t show now, there's going to be increased demand for alternative "natural" waxes. It will be interesting to see how the market developes. 

@amy91, that's what I do. If you have one of those candle warmers you could use that I suppose.

Sometimes what I will do if it's a new container that I'm testing or a new FO that I'm really unsure about, is I will pour the wax into the container with no wick. Then I cut the appropriate length of wick I want to try off of the tab, stick a hole in my wax with a skewer, and stick my tabless wick in the hole. I totally stole that idea off this forum. 😁

That way if the wick is way off, I can just pull it out and stick in a different one.  The wick will fall over once you get to about 2" from the bottom, but it's great to establish a starting point for wicking without wasting a whole candle. I'll also just pour 1/2 the container to save on supplies. Once I feel like I've got a good wick, I'll pour the full candle with the intact wick assembly and start on the serious test burns.

Its been a lifesaver, I'm still fairly new to candles myself, and I can be way off with my wicking sometimes just from lack of exposure to different fragrances and how they affect a burn.

That was probably more answer than you wanted, lol!!

I love Cyclo as a base for sprays, I don't find it to have any stickiness at all, it feels very silky to me. I like to layer it with lotion though, because it isn't hydrating. Have you considered adding glitter to your lotion base? I think it sticks much better that way and it's less messy. But maybe the spray is a more fun project for what you have in mind.

I love the Mad Mica glitters, and Nurture has some great ones too.

On October 24, 2017 at 7:50 AM, Trappeur said:

Can you describe this scent?   Does it do well in 464.

 

Also could you describe pink sugar and if that does well in 464?

 

Thanks.                    Trappeur

Trapp, I don't know about TT's Pink Sugar, but the dupe that I have is insanely strong in my paraffin blend. I know that doesn't automatically mean it will do well in your 464, but it's like "crack a window" strong for me. It's very sweet and sugary, as you'd expect, but the florals and the musk at the bottom are enough to make it more than a food-type fragrance. I have several foodies that love it, and several customers that love it because it's sweet but it doesn't make them think of cookies, lol. It is also a fantastic blender.

@TallTayl, thank you for the links! I really want that Inlet Lakegrass now! 😅

I would definitely be in for a lb of that, the Amber, the pink sugar, and the Egyptian Dragon!

18 hours ago, Lorelei said:

 

It wasn't the Joy Wax but I love that one too.   I looked up my order and it was the WOW wax.    It throws like crazy.

I haven't tried that one! If I have a successful holiday season I might order some Joy and Wow as a present to me for personal use. 😁

I'm going to second @bfrobertsrecommendations with the wick size. For my jars with 2.75" opening and straight sides, I start with an HTP 83 and go up or down from there. I do usually wick down for the pine fragrances, but I can't imagine how much a flame would struggle with a 52! And I'm sure that's why you're not happy with your HT. If I had to make guess, I'd say the wick was using all your FO for fuel, hence the mushroom and poor throw.  

I just dropped off a big order at my family's tree farm to sell when we open for the season. I'm excited, this is the first year I've included candles, and the first year I have done a cohesive looking private label for all the products. I have been so inspired by everyone on the forum!!

When I get back home, I am going to cut the CP batch of Cracklin Birch from NG that I made on Wednesday. I love slicing a hanger swirl, it's always such a surprise to see the inside! 😄

This week I have to get busy stocking up for my November craft show and Christmas orders. I'm going to pour a bunch of 1/2 pints in Filmore's Lemon Biscotti. O.M.G. Amazing fragrance, thank you everyone for suggesting it! I am also going to sniff and play with the fragrances I picked up at Candlewic on everyone's suggestions. 😁

Laughing with you guys...

Luckily I'm not at the "bucket" stage of supply storage yet, but I can't count how many hours I've spent searching for my soap cutter. Only. To find it in the drawer next to last soap mold I used. 🙄

I packaged some up to sell at my family's Christmas tree farm this year.

They are no where near as beautiful as @Trappeurs, but they turned out pretty enough that I felt the need to but a "not a candle!" warning on them, lol. 

I save all my tart wax after I melt it, and I tried to keep similar scents together but I didn't stress it too much. The wicks are just my trimmings, and I used dried herbs and rose petals from my garden, and torn up paper towels from various cleanups.  I like @bfroberts idea about the wood shavings, I think I might try that next for a more robust and manly looking firestarter! 💪

Now that I'm pondering all this, maybe I'll mix the KY 133 with some GW 415 and IGI 4630, and see what I come up with.

It'll be a Frakentart!

😆😆

10 hours ago, Lorelei said:

 

150-155 

 

  I've mixed the paraffin that is like Vaseline with it (I'm sorry I can't remember the name) I bought it at NG with it.

If you bought it at NG, it was probably the Joy Wax. I liked that wax a lot, but geeze, it's pricey. I strongly suspect it's a blend of 4627 and soy.

I bet you could get similar results mixing the KY parasoy with 4627, or 4630.

OH man, I don't  even like doing a repour for candles, I really don't want to have to do one for tarts! 😭

Please do let me know how it goes.

I don't recall the shipping from TCS being too bad for me, but I'm in mid-Maryland so that probably made a difference. And I think I ordered maybe 20lbs to test, so it wasn't super heavy.

I do think that RE and NG have great shipping once you get past a certain $$ in your cart. Which is easy with all those tempting FOs! I wish TCS had a more user-friendly website, but maybe that's how they keep their costs down! 😆

11 hours ago, Belinda said:

Or were you meaning The Candle Source?

I was, yes! Thank you for catching that! Sometimes the abbreviations get mixed up in my head! 😳😊

Not sure how large you mean, I'm not familiar with that product, but I found this:

http://www.eapinnovations.com/Libbey-31-oz-Cylinder-Jar-Case-of-6_p_629.html

EAP is in PA, they have a ton of Libbey glass.

23 hours ago, Belinda said:

What wax or waxes do you seem to get a smooth appearance and pops out of the clam easily? What temp do you usually pour? I'm having some trouble with recent blends looking smooth or popping out easy. The best wax I've found that will give me smooth tops and comes out very easy is TCS tart wax but I love ordering from RE more and wanted to use their 133 wax for clams. Poured some last night and they were very wavy and bumpy. I poured around 155-160.

Good throw but they look horrible! Does anyone use this wax and how do you get smooth tops? Thanks!

I am having the exact same situation @Belinda!

I loved the TCS tart wax, but I order so many other thing from RE, I wanted to try the 133. I am going to try adding some IGI 4630 to it, I like to have a slightly softer tart anyway. I'm hoping 10-20% will improve appearance and throw but won't compromise it's ability to pop out of the clams.

I also might try some soy at the same % and do a side-by-side. I will keep you posted on the results!

I have used the CBL 129 from Candlewic in the past, with a pinch of 4630 to soften it up, and had good results with that as well. But honestly, if these experiments don't go well, I'm going to suck it up and go back to the TCS blend, that stuff was the bomb. I'll just order like 50 lbs at a time to make it worth it!

Oh, I am terrible at taking the temp before I pour, usually by the time I'm done stirring it's close to 150-160. For the sake of the scientific method, I will try to measure and record everything!😄

I just started testing with this wax. So far I poured 3 tarts in fragrances that I know are good throwers. It doesn't have the initial burst of strong fragrance that some waxes do as the wax achieves a full melt pool, but the melts are really lasting a super long time. I have one in my 25 watt melter right now that has been on since yesterday afternoon and I can still smell it. That's at 9% FO load.

I'm thinking I might add a bit of Igi 4630 to this as it is very hard, and maybe that will help with the initial throw.

Like @Belinda has said, everyone has different preferences, and you may have to experiment to find what  you like.

I have also had very good results with The Candlemakers Store's tart wax blend, if you're looking to try another pellet-type pre blended wax.

Oh my gosh, those all sound amazing!

I've never done a co-op before, what all is involved?

Pink Sugar is my biggest seller, I'd love a pound of that.

And I love anything Amber so I could do a pound of that too.

I have no idea what Egyptian Dragon smells like, but based on the name I bet I'd love it. So I guess I'd be in for either a pound of that or the DB, although I'm kind of tired of DB - but I bet yours is like super charged Dragon's Blood! 😄

The Lakegrass sounds interesting, what does it smell like?

This forum is the coolest! 😁

3 minutes ago, bfroberts said:

HTP wicks are AWESOME in 4630.  I mean, seriously.  And I've tried a lot of wicks.  I can't believe none of your suppliers recommended them.  I thought they were the go-to wick for 4630.

 

Lol, you type faster than me! 😄

Totally agree, great wicks with this wax.

I don't use tins, but I do use IGI 4630, and I really like HTPs with that wax. I agree with @bfroberts, start with the 104 for that diameter but be prepared with several sizes up or down. For my 2.75" jars I'll use anything from a 105 to a 73 depending.

I do all of the above, depending on why the candle is unburnable. You could also melt it down and do dipped pine cones, dipped bears, I have even heard of people doing dipped TP, although that one's a head-scratcher for me.

If the CT is real strong, maybe wax ornaments for the Christmas tree?

I might try that with tart wax and a strong pine FO since our tree is fake.  

@GailC yes, two teenagers! And my little guy who is 11 and only interested in the FOs that smell like candy!! 😆

I will be sure to report back with anything interesting!

@katmeltswax I have had great results with CBL 129 and soy 125 in melts. I only use a small % of soy though. Fantastic throw and appearance! Have fun experimenting!

Oh my gosh, I need to stop hitting send too soon! 🙄

I also wanted to add that some cure time helped immensely with the HT for me, so don't test them right away. Maybe give it a week or so, at least a couple days if you're really impatient. I just dug out some melts I made about 6 months ago with this wax, I wasn't impressed with them at the time, but the throw is crazy strong now!