Gary in Canada

I thought Q230 was Ecosoya's pillar wax??  The old one use to just pop out of the mold..the new one should also? Did you say you poured at 72 deg....?  Is that celcius?

On 10/8/2018 at 7:58 PM, Helen B said:

I'm in Canada too - I had trouble finding jars and lids I liked. Where do you get your jars/lids from? I bought wax and fragrance at New Directions and dye, wick and jars from Village Candle. Need to find another supplier for wicks so looking around for that, might try Wicks and Wax in Vancouver. Ever tried buying from Ali Baba?

Never have bought from Ali Baba...never even heard of them.  Canwax has a good variety of wicks.

villagecraftandcandle.com sell supplies, and also candles. Their claim is 7hrs per oz..pure soy wax.

Probably a little late to the party here....but I put the total amount of wax in my large melt pot, then pour the required amount of melted wax for 3 candles into a large measuring cup.,.tare it to 0 and add the fragrance.  Then I pour the required amount for another 3 candles into another measuring cup, and do it all over.  If you need more melted wax, just keep adding it to the melting pot, since there is no scent in that. Let the large measuring cups full of scented wax cool, the pour.

I was reading up on Citronella candles during the summer...a lot of people do burn them outside because they repel bugs...but only if it's EO citronella.  FO citronella doesn't have the same effect.  I like the smell of citronella, but was worried about burning it inside the house..so I made the mine with FO citronella.

I know my wife used to spray all the furniture with Pledge, or other furniture polish and a LOT of it would end up on the floor..laminate, carpet didn't matter.  I used to just about kill myself all the time, because its invisible. FINALLY i convinced her to spray it on a cloth over the sink, then wipe the furniture. Problem solved for me. Just a thought. 

When I boil water to make spaghetti (this time of year)...the windows, walls, ceiling steam up, because I don't have an overhead fan, and its too darn cold to open a window or door.  When I do the double boiler to make candles, I don't get that, and the floors are certainly not slippery.  

I gotta defend our local delivery people...UPS guy is great..carries dog treats for our "guard" dog..lol    And my wife loves he wears shorts all year long.  Fedex has always been great, and on time with no mishaps..same with purolater...and our we are on a first name basis with our local posties. The only problems we have had are suppliers...delivery people have been great so far.

One of my suppliers has an interesting blog about EO's and FO's.  You can read it here https://villagecraftandcandle.com/index.php?route=d_blog_module/post&post_id=61

Well...I can share my limited successes...because in my opinion I have only had one that was truly a success.. and sadly..It has gone the way of the dinosaur.  CB135 wax (discontinued) in a Spa Cup with a HTP52 wick (thanks Canwax).  Burnt perfect, looked great...put it any container like a small mason jar, or whatever, with some Dollar Tree pebbles, or glass beads..and it was great.   And I have had great success with firestarters..lol.   All the failed testers remelted into paper cups with wood chips..easy peasy, and work great.  Other than that...its still a work in progress...Im still searching the forums for the perfect combo..and thankfully I do have a 9-5....

I now understand how much work (and money) goes into making the perfect candle, which I didn't realize until I tried it...and I truly admire those of you that have been able to do it successfully..!!

Walmart Canada does not carry the Presto Pot...but our local candle supplier does..but it's $100.00.  I think for now, I have to stick with the double boiler method.

On 6/20/2018 at 9:10 AM, Sandra said:

So far, they are working well for me.  I'm testing the 6 and 8 in my small status jars and 10 and 12 for my med and there is only a slight difference in the burning for each size candle. With the htp's, I just couldn't get the right burn. It seemed that regardless of what size of jar size I was testing  or what size of wick, it would either burn too hot or would tunnel. I have ordered the #2 and #3 woodwicks from Canwax as well, but found they didn't perform well for me although I loved the crackling! The flame was too high for both size status jars so I put the testing on the back burner and will come back to it once I get the regular wicks figured out. I probably should have ordered the sample pack though. 

The #6 and #8 and `10 and 12.. are they CD's or Eco's??  What wax are you trying them in?

On 6/6/2018 at 8:30 AM, GailC said:

 

I use the 8 oz frosted tumblers from C & S, but I don't buy the lids.  I make dust covers.  This Leaves candle is one of my best sellers in the fall.  (By the way, since I took this picture, I have redesigned my label adding the weight to it.)

 

I love your dust covers...do you make them?  I only give my candles away, and I have a lot of 12oz jars with no lids.  I would like to make a dust cover like yours to pretty them up a bit..

On 6/13/2018 at 7:41 PM, Sandra said:

Lol, I can only imagine! I received my order within a week of processing, which was awesome! It left Georgia back tracked to Miami, then to Montreal, then Ottawa.

I hope you find a use for your ECO 10's and hopefully, I have more luck with my cd's than I did with the htp's!!

Let me know what you think of the CD's.... That is about the only wicks I haven't tried.  I get my wicks from Canwax.com  They have most types of wicks, but not CDs.  They have a new wood wick..which I just received a sample pack, but have not had a chance to try them out.

This is the method I learned from this forum too....but....you have to make notes, so you know which wick you have in when the candle burns perfect..lol   I'm speaking from experience...got a good one..but didn't know which wick I had put in..

I love the Deliverance reference...because Im of that generation!! lol.  The newer generation will not get it, but do they buy many candles/?  I like it, and I think the red label would stand out.  On a side note...not too long ago I tried to find Deliverance to stream and watch it after many years...one thing led to another, and I found out about that kid that played the banjo...Billy Redden.  Well...in the movie he didn't actually play...they chose him because of his "appearance".  Even now..he's about 60ish..he still looks the same.

Sorry...I love your scent names...and do you even need the real scent listed under?

On 6/14/2018 at 6:20 AM, obsessed said:

How did you go GAry with the HTP wicks in 6006? I live in Australia and we have only CDN or HTP available. A few  candle suppliers do their own private wicks , but there's not a great deal of info on them. I have both 4630 & 6006 , but so far , I've only tried the 4630. It was not good! hahahaha  I have no idea what to do and it smoked a lot/ had a big flame and smelt like petrol. So ... yes , I over-wicked! LOL   how much do you recommend i wick down in comparison to soy , for testing? 

Well...Im no expect by any means..but I tried the HTP104 in the 2.5" container, with 6% Lily of the Valley...it seemed to work good, but I might even go down to a 93 and try that.  I find the best way to try wicks is pouring the candle without a wick then poking a hole down the centre and feed the wick down..If it doesn't work, then its easy to pull out with pliers and go up or down a size.  

And on a side note...you have Eroma in Australia, and they have such a great variety of containers IMO.  Canadian suppliers are about 10yrs behind with their containers. And I like how Eroma also recommends a starting point for the wick for all their containers.  I wish they would open a Canadian branch lol...

I ordered a lot of ECO 10's from all the positive reviews on a suppliers website.  They didn't work for me, so now I have to figure out how to use them.  I remember watching the shipment tracking on line...and those wicks did a tour of the US that I was envious of lol....

https://www.eroma.com.au/candle-making-supplies/candle-jars/     We have NO supplier in Canada that even carries 10% of these containers. How come Australia can have these available, and all we have in Canada is mason jars and traditional jars?  

I always wondered what those numbers meant too...with ECO's, HTP etc..its pretty straight forward...but Zinc numbers were confusing.

3 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

When I hear people at my shows say that, I tell them to buy 2, one to use and 1 for a display, and when the display starts fading in scent and/or looks, use it and come back for more! 

You'd be surprised how many times that actually works. (I was surprised the first half dozen times myself!) 

Actually that's a good idea... I remember when I was a kid (a few years ago lol)..my grandmother always had a display of decorative soaps in the washroom..they were for decorative purposes, not to be used...  But after a while they would all be dusty and old looking.. She could have used your advice!  I think I might take a closer look next time I see decorative looking soaps. 

I would definately buy one of those beer can candles to try..  I made a beer bottle candle..cut it the beer bottle, not problem, but wow, what a lot of work to get the cut edge smooth..I poured the candle, but a beer bottle is not that wide so it was hard to trim the wick when it got down to the lower part.  It did give a nice glow  from the amber bottle though.

Well...Im not a soap guy haha...but your's looks like a work of art!  Do customers use it, or keep it as an art piece?  I think if it was me, I would like to display it rather than hide it away in the shower.  Looks great to me!

13 hours ago, Trappeur said:

Yes, it is Vanilla Voodoo from Candle Cocoon.   Is the only one I use...Now you do use less % in oil than 6% as her oils are very concentrated.  Her prices are a bit higher but shipping is not expensive.

 

Trappeur

I think I should give Candle Cocoon a try.  I want to test CD wicks (which no Canadian supplier carries!), and while Im at it...I have to try Vanilla Voodoo lol..  It's just the time factor, shipping and duty getting supplies into Canada that holds me back....but I will give it a try.

I would gladly pay Flaming's prices for FO's, and wax too... Our supplier up here is $4.99/oz. for all FO's.  6006 Wax is $136 for 60lb.  Makes testing VERY expensive.  

To me it seems to be difficult to distinguish between a 100% soy candle, and a soy blend, let alone an Organic candle.  It seems to be a very loose term.  I know I was concerned about fragrance oils being synthetic (and I don't even sell candles) until I read this blog..I found it very interesting https://villagecraftandcandle.com/index.php?route=d_blog_module/post&post_id=61