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Quentin

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Everything posted by Quentin

  1. Quentin
    Thanks for that.
  2. Quentin
    Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I was thinking about what difference does the melting point matter? None of my paraffin is ever melted at that point. It's never completely melted until the temperature is way up there, so why not wait until the wax is completely melted before adding the solid dye, in my case. My question is: Should I add the solid dye when my thermometer shows the "melting point" or should I wait until the paraffin is completely melted no matter how high the actual temp may be? I've been working with IGI 4625, which only shows a Working/Pouring range of 175-185 F. I'm pouring at 177 degrees F. 7% Stearic and 1% Vybar. 6% fragrance load.
  3. Quentin
    I suppose I could wear sunglasses when I go to buy them.
  4. Quentin
    I've read in a few books the last few months that pantyhose are as good as you can get for polishing up your pillar candles. Is there something that would work just as well? As a guy, I don't buy them. I've never worn them either (well there was that one time in college...) never mind. It would be embarrassing to go buy any and I'm currently without a girlfriend. Besides, I don't know what size I wear.
  5. Quentin
    I have a question for those of you who are selling candles. If you had to pick 4 types and sizes of wicks that you couldn't run your business without, what would they be? These would be the wicks that you absolutely don't want to run out of stock. List as many as you like. 4 was just an arbitrary number. Q
  6. Quentin
    That's what I'm looking for, a cold throw that will draw them off the aisles and a hot throw that will make them want to come see me again. Before I found this forum, I just bought fragrance off the internet, Hobby Lobby, and Michael's. My decision was made by price, the name of the fragrance or sometimes, even if I just thought the bottle looked nicer that the competition. How stupid can it get? I now have a hodgepodge (sp?) of fragrance bottles that don't seem to have any logical connection to each other. I'm sure there are some good ones in there, but I'm NOT GETTING ANY THROW AT ALL. It all smells nice in the bottle, and even better on one of those little paper test strips. All of them have a strong throw when mixing in the pot, but put it in a candle?... forget it. I've followed the general rule I've gotten in this forum to stick to the 6% mark. The best hot throw I ever got smelled like Kerosene to me.
  7. Quentin
    I'm pretty sure I know what a hot throw is, but what is a COLD throw? Q
  8. Quentin
    I have a question that has really got me puzzled. Hypothetically, let's say that a guy you know purchased a 1 oz. bottle of Candle Science liquid yellow dye. He puts in one drop of the dye in a 10 oz capacity mold, and no more, because he is satisfied with what he sees. Later in the day he begins to put the cost of the color into his template that figures his cost and retail. Then it dawns on him that he has no idea how to calculate a 1-drop quantity. Is there a way to figure that or should he just pitch all his liquid dyes, use color blocks instead and just move on down the road? Q
  9. Quentin
    I was reading on a website the other day about taking measurements of your ingredients and such. A sentence toward the end of the article really jumped out and got my attention. The author's statement was "don't forget to measure your fragrance oil and liquid dyes by weight not volume" [My paraphrase]. Uh Oh! I have been adding fragrance oil by liquid ounces or milliliters and not by weight. I looked at some of my fragrance bottles and you see the statement that says "bottles filled by weight". Other manufacturers label their bottles as X Fl. Oz./XXX ml. I've been griping about how my pillars and containers give off very little fragrance or usually none at all. Could the way I've been measuring be causing my no fragrance problem? Am I supposed to be weighing all my liquids? I'm really confused now. Q
  10. Quentin
    I had a similar discussion with my father who ran a manufacturing plant for many years. My question was, what hourly rate should I put down in my cost of materials template if I haven't even made or sold a single candle yet? I'm still in the testing stage and I'm doing all the work myself so how can I put a labor cost to the product? I'm still not very fast, but getting faster and more streamlined. He said that my time was worth something and I needed to enter some sort of figure. So I entered $10.00 per hour. It calculated my entry and the candle ended up with some ridiculous, astronomical, never gonna work retail price. I dropped it to $1.00/hour and it was still a crazy retail price. That's because the number of minutes to make one candle was very high. I finally decided to pay myself $0.00 and that's where it stands now. Right or wrong? Q
  11. Quentin
    Candlemaker's Store Natural Soy 444 claims it "can hold up to 15% fragrance and has an incredibly hot throw". Someone please tell me what FO means.
  12. Quentin
    I've just started to pay attention to freight charges. It's absolutely, incredibly, ridiculous. If you're selling a product then somewhere along the line it's got to be paid for by someone. That would be the consumer at the end of the line. I'm confused now about where I should put freight in the accounting system. I could cook the books and put it somewhere like office supplies or some made up category, but deep down I know I'm just fooling myself. The wax and fragrance are obviously the big items in the cost to make a candle unit. The only thing I've come up with is to buy wax and fragrance in bulk. The lower cost of those items might offset the freight charges some. Q
  13. Quentin
    I can't seem to get much throw at all, most times none. I can smell the fragrance on the finished candle and when I'm cooking it, but rarely does it fill the room the way I'd like. The most successful throw I had was a pillar scented with Lush & Lily Peppermint at 3%. Now that one REALLY filled the room. My father said it smelled like peppermint. I thought it smelled like kerosene! Maybe I'm just too demanding on myself. I don't know.
  14. Quentin
    I'm pretty new myself. I just started back in Summer of 2017. I'm still struggling with that same "how much" question. My tactic now is to just knock it up a notch each batch until I get there.
  15. Quentin
    Hugging them? I think that might be illegal in my state. Scented, I'm up to trying a larger wick. Please recommend one. I was using #24 Flat from EricX. Meanwhile, I'm through with that "general purpose" wax. Done! Finished! I now have some IGI 4625 and IGI 1343 A that just came in yesterday. I'll be working with those for a little while.
  16. Quentin
    Take a look at this picture(s) and notice the BULDGE at the top. It started from the first burn and is continuing now at day five. I've at least progressed to the point where I'm not getting blowouts. As you can see it's also burning evenly. I don't ever recall seeing a commercially made candle do this. Is this common to homemade candles? In general, what are the possible reasons that could cause this? Here is some data: 1. Country Lane General Purpose Wax, 12ozs 2. EricX #24 FT Light wick. I pre-wax them myself. 3. Poured at 175F which falls within the manufacturer's specs. 4. Fragrance load of 4% or .48 ozs for 12 ozs of wax. 5. .40 ozs stearic acid. The mold is 3" in diameter & 31/2 high.
  17. Quentin
    Thanks Candybee! That's the way I had been doing it. Of course, I've only done it twice. Q
  18. Quentin
    In all the stuff I've been reading and hearing from people about stearic, I've somehow missed the part about When to add it to the process. Is it at the start with the unmelted paraffin for pillars? Is it after the melt? At the end? At a certain temperature? Thanks everyone, Q
  19. Quentin
    I'm in the market for a new digital scale for candle making. The one I have now is old and only offers one digit to the right of the decimal point which is not accurate enough for me. I'm also looking for one that can switch over to metric if I want. Of course, I will need the Tare Function. Any recommendations? I'm not say that price is no object, but I'll consider anything. Send me a weblink if you can. Thanks again, Q
  20. Quentin
    I added stearic acid for only the second time. The first time was with 12 ozs leftover paraffin from other candles and 2% stearic acid, just as an experiment. The one in the picture was a 60% Michaels Pillar paraffin/40% Country Lane "general purpose" wax and 2% stearic acid to 12 ozs of the wax mixture and a 6% fragrance load. The fragrance I used was Lush and Lily essential oil. Color was 1/4 of Candle Science color block. Wick was # 24 EricX Flat that I had primed and stretched with wax ahead of time. I'm through with "experimenting" now. I'm not going to use those waxes again. One other point is that I'm pretty sure my digital scale is not accurate. It is old, the directions are long gone and I can find no way to calibrate it. I'm in the market for a new scale now. Any recommendations? Q
  21. Quentin
    Has anyone seen this before. Right out of the pillar mold about 24 hours after pour. As you can see, it has almost perfectly round off-white spots. What are some of the possible reasons? Thanks, Q
  22. Quentin
    Venetti, you asked a lot of the questions I've been wondering about myself. Thank you.
  23. Quentin
    Great information. Thanks y'all. The big takeaway seems to be that almost everyone mentions their Presto. Are we talking about just your regular old Presto deep fryer? If so, how do you move the wax to the mold or container? Is this a special type of Presto? Yeah, what's a tilter? Q
  24. Quentin
    To those of you who make lots and lots of candles: Could you list a piece or two of candle making equipment or tools that you simply couldn't do without? List as many as you like. Thanks. Q
  25. Quentin
    Here is the end result of the orange candles. I manipulated the photo to make the candles white. Makes it easier to see. Still not very good quality, but I've got a new phone and the camera does whatever it wants. Your comments if you wish, then on to another topic in this forum
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