Quentin

Uh oh. Somebody already said it before me. I should have read everything first.

That's the one I've been trying to find for some time now for my new Locker Room Fragrance. The one I'm really in need of now is "Stale Tobacco Smoke" for my next collection, "Old Girlfriends That I Convinced Myself I Could Learn To Accept Anyway".

And don't forget words that are spelled the SAME but have different meanings. If I write down the word "read" and just hand it to you on a piece of paper, what is it that I mean. Or how about "lead"? Am I referring to a soft metal or to its other meaning? I had a German teacher in college that had so much fun with things like this. She wasn't an American native trying to teach us German but was the real thing. Married an American soldier, moved here when he came home from World War II. She would laugh hysterically at things like this. She would be rofl when she would talk about some of our figures of speech such as "It's raining cats and dogs". That was a biggee for her. Our word "pond", as in a very small body of water, would start her giggling.

A credit to the quality you put out.

I've got plenty of notes. If I'm not clear on something, please ask me for more info. Here are the basic facts: My factory, as I think I mentioned before, is in my garage with no air conditioning and no insulation. Extremely hot and oppressively humid as always. The temperature in the garage when I started working at 8:00 PM was 84 F. A perfect end to a miserably hot day. That was before I started to melt, which then made it even hotter in there. I'm giving you this information now, because it relates to my question that's coming soon. I promise. I'll be as brief as I can. *Wax: GB 464. No additional additives whatsoever. *Dye: Lone Star dye block. Color Purple. *Frag: Peak brand, Island Nectar. 8% Load. *What you see in the picture is the same mix from the same pot but poured one night, then the leftovers remelted & poured under nearly identical conditions the next night. *All the proper temps for adding dye and fragrance were in line with manufacturer's specs & from what I've gathered from the forum here. (185 F). The pour temperature was in the recommended range for GB 464, but it was so hot out there I had too wait a bit for it to cool low enough to pour. The plan was to pour six 12 oz size status jars (upper left) to use up a partial bag of wax, clean up the work area, then call it a night. Then the drama started. As I mentioned above, I started working at 8:00 PM. I finished pouring, started cleaning up the work area while watching the candles cool. I was still watching them cool a little over 4 hours later at 12:06 AM! I had read a "helpful tip" on the Lone Star website that said to allow 464 wax to cool as slowly as possible and NOT DO ANYTHING to accelerate the cooling process. No refrigerators, water baths or anything like that is what they said. Moving them through the door right next to the work area into the air conditioned, low humidity house would have been an instant acceleration of around 12 degrees. At 12:24 AM I covered them with a cloth, left them in the garage and went to bed. Early the next morning, before it started to get hot again, I went out to check on them and they were beautiful. Smooth, no wet spots, nice. Two of the six did have that hole around the wick. I felt it was safe to bring them inside and they still look great a week later. That very next night, I remelted the leftovers and poured them into the smaller fluted jars with the terrible results you see in the picture. Being a smaller jar, they cooled down faster. Finally, here is my question: What could have happened to the leftover wax during the night and the next day to get such different and horrible results in the little jar? and... why the hole around the wick in the bigger jar. I didn't think that was supposed to happen with soy? ###

That's a good one. When I went to bed last night I'd forgotten about this. I hope you slept well too. I woke up feeling great! I thought the job of a moderator was to moderate, not take sides. There I go again, not understanding how things work. Silly me.

I've never been there before so I wouldn't know. I've never made a dock pickup at any candle supplier and likely never will because there are none located near me. Just off the top of my head, Candle Science is probably about 800 miles from where I live. So frankly, I don't care what they charge. I didn't understand what it meant, thought it was humorous and as @Laura C said, it is a little unclear the way it is worded. I thought it was funny so I was just making an attempt at a little dry humor, David Letterman style. I suppose I should have thrown in a whole lot of emoticons to make sure everyone here could easily understand I was merely making a joke. Maybe the administrators should establish a special humor section of the forum. <<<------ Emoticon denoting that I'm not . I'd just like to learn things here and still have fun whenever possible.

Don't you just love it!

15% you say? Will that be in square feet, cubic feet, millimeters, furlongs, hectares, sections or quarter-sections or in square miles, Mr. Mayor? How much of MY air space above MY house do I need to include in my report, Mr. or Mrs. Alderman? Now then, let's talk about the computer. When I (meaning Kerven) calculate using your 15% figure, does that include the entire desk or just the area where the feet of my monitor make actual contact with the desk, Madame Councilwoman? How many copies of my reports will I need to bring to the next City Council meeting? Oh yes, will the city provide an easel for my pie charts, aerial photographs and other graphics I'll be bringing or do I need to bring my own? [Editor's comment: This is too much fun! I could sit here till midnight. NOT!]. Just who will come and measure, by the way ? In Quentin's Castle, Quentin does the measuring. Don't ask these questions of the lady behind the counter at the planning board office. If she DOES happen to hear you out till you're finished, she'll just hand you a form, tell you to fill it out in blue or black ink only and say "That will be $250.00". Then with a smile on her face she'll add, "We take debit cards now, too." If Mr. Inspector ever does show up, he'll look at your big wax melter and say something like: "That's a nice turkey fryer ya got there. I bet you cooked up some big uns in that thing, ain't cha?" Of course, they'll never tell you who complained. I say, no witnesses, no body, no murder weapon = no crime! I like the way you think, Kerven.

Attorney? Never. You're 2nd question? I'll just say this. Home business goes on all the time and there will be more and more with each passing day. Let THEM deal with it. Exactly. What really bothers our friends in government is that they aren't getting their cut. I'm talking about taxes. They give it a nice name and call it something like a "privilege license". I have other names for it.

I can't smell them anymore. Really, I'm serious. I thought no one else could smell them either. So, I signed up the lady across the street to be my tester. I take them to her, and she reports back. I know they must be doing something, because at least once a day my eyes start to burn so badly that it feels like someone threw acid in my face!

This is a snip from the Candle Science checkout at the point where the customer selects a shipping method. Look at the statement highlighted in blue. I've read this over and over again and I can't make any sense of this one. "Free" pickup at their facility?

First I've heard of these two types of wicks, or maybe I call them something else. I'll check out those links. You must have a list of links as big as a phone book. For you younger guys and gals who may not remember, a phone book was a..... Oh never mind!

I saw some of those sleeve things too. I can't remember why I backed away on them. The link you've given here doesn't look familiar, so I'll check it out. What material were you using to make your own dust covers?

As far as YouTube, I prefer the old Driver's Education crash films that they showed us in high school to try and make us barf. Those are quite mild compared to today's prime time TV shows.

Well, I never found any that would work. Mostly I saw round and more round. The one square one that was sent to me though, was from Candle Packaging, USA. Their selection consists of exactly two items. Large & small. I even took another path and looked for companies that sold to food service and take out restaurants. Nothing. I just gave up. If you'd like to take the baton and speed off down the track, by all means do and let us know what you find.

Try them with whipped cream on top.

Wood wicks as double wicks. Yes. I've got bags full. Never dawned on me. I'' give that a try. I think @TallTayl is probably right on the figurines. Throw all your wicks in a bag, close your eyes, reach in and grab one. I am inclined to think of something with a tin core when it comes to the figurines and silicones.

Greetings. Here we are again for another wick sizing question. All the wick selection guides have been helpful when I study and compare them side by side. However, they are all based on cylindrical molds and containers. How do you choose a wick size when you are using a mold or container that has a different or odd shape? I'm not talking about just square or octagonal. Those aren't too difficult. What if you have, for example, an oval that is 6 inches one direction and only 2.5 inches the other way? How about a pyramid shape or a silicone mold that is shaped like a figurine with an irregular shape? What do you do then?

I love it. About 18 or 20 seconds into the video he mentions he used to shop with Victoria when he was real young, 11 or 12 years old. Now he's much older. Age 20! So much older and wiser now!<<<----- Him. Me---->>>

I think Victoria is his Mother.

Imagine this. You go to an automobile dealer to buy a brand new, straight from the factory car. Then the salesman says, "Just remember. When you get it home, always remember to put a piece of cardboard or a tarp underneath the engine to catch the oil and other fluids as they leak to the floor."

Clever, nevertheless.

I'm a beginner too, just a little over a year. Looks like you've figured out a lot of things much sooner than I did. I thought, until maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago, that the dye could be added anytime during the melt. My thinking was "Hey, it's only dye. As long as it gets melted and well mixed with the wax, then the sooner I add it the better." Then the folks on the forum here informed me that I was doing it the wrong way. They probably told me much earlier and I just wasn't paying attention. Now @Jcandleattic has raised another question in my mind. Another learning opportunity! When I've read "presto pot" on this forum (Presto is actually a brand name) I assumed it was being used here as a generic term that also included things like my 55 gallon melter. The melter takes forever to get to whatever temperature I'm trying to reach. The only way I've been able to get to my desired temp is by putting the lid on. If I take the lid off, the temperature drops like a rock and then it's like starting all over again. Maybe someone can clear up my misunderstanding on this too. @Jcandleattic you're needed back at the office.

Oh yeah, where did you find a rubber stamp that big. I could use something like that.