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Paintguru

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Posts posted by Paintguru

  1. On 11/1/2017 at 6:25 PM, Ajah said:

    Igi 4630 and GW 464 50/50 is good imo.

     

    So I've been playing with this blend, and thus far, I'm liking it.  I use a CD6 wick for my 9 oz straight sided jar.  I get a little darkening of the glass near the rim, but not nearly as bad as straight 4630 alone.  Throw on my first test scent has been pretty good thus far.  I need to try some CD4s from somewhere to see if I can wick down even more, but will likely stay with 6's just to make sure I get a full melt pool.  

  2. 7 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

    For me I love the business side of it.  I really could be doing anything / selling anything, I love the business side, growing it, pushing the limits.  Finding new was to accomplish tasks, looking for efficiencies, and coming up with new ideas.  Selling candles allows me to do other things that I enjoy.  I am sure for many of you your passion is candles and selling them allows you to do more of it.  For me selling candles allows me to do things associated with the logistics of a business.  

     

    I am very creative, but not artistic at all.  That is by far my biggest struggle.  I am sure many of you have seen some of the things I created over the years, pics I posted.

     

    This is why I'm interested in starting to sell as well, the business side of it.  Being an engineer, my artistic side isn't great, but the idea of connecting everything together, figuring out the best way to do things, etc., along with making something people enjoy is the appeal.  

    • Like 3
  3. 2 hours ago, Sarah S said:

     

    I totally understand, that's why I threw in the towel early on with soy, for me it just wasn't worth the struggle.

    I have been trying a couple different wicks with this container palm, just to see what they do, but personally I think the CSN  performs the best and that is my #1 choice for wicking palm. I haven't done any testing with CDs though, so I couldn't give you a comparison.

    I use 6% too, and not every oil will throw well. But to be fair, the ones I have that didn't throw also performed poorly in the CBL 125, and we all know I consider that to be the gold standard of wax.

    Just typing some thoughts here, it may also be the 9oz jar to blame. I have a 8oz glass tumbler that I pour beverage-scented Palm candles in, scents like Caramel Latte, Pumpkin Chai, Mulled Cider... All super strong oils that throw great. But darned if those tumblers have a pitiful HT! They look fantastic, but I tell everyone that they are best as accent candles, and they shouldn't rely on them to scent a whole room. Now, I have a 16oz straight jar, it's not much taller, but it's wider, and the same FO will fill my living room. Put the same FO in a 16oz salsa jar, and it's filling my whole bottom floor. So anecdotally, I think the wider jars significantly improve the HT. More so (again, anecdotally) than you would find with a paraffin wax. That is purely speculation on my part though.

     

    Interesting theory.  Again, I feel like I've had good luck with my 9 oz jars with other waxes (4630 again).  I have a few more pounds to play with so I'll see if I can make it work.  I do have some CSNs I can try as well.  

    • Like 1
  4. 45 minutes ago, Sarah S said:

    How long are you curing for? It needs a good two weeks, minimum. Also, the wick has got to be hot, hot, hot, if it's the least bit under wicked the throw will be dismal.

    It's definitely fussier than paraffin, but once you really get a feel for how it burns it gets a lot easier to produce an excellent candle. 

    I was testing for at least four months before I felt competent.

     

     

    That is good to know.  They did get about 1-2 weeks cure, but I'll make extra sure with the next batch.  I'm using a CD20 in the 9 oz. straight sided jar, which gets me a reasonable melt pool once it burns down half way.  I can see the potential with the wax, that is for sure, but I don't want to have crappy throwing candles!  I loaded the FO at ~6% as well.  

  5. On 3/1/2019 at 9:28 AM, Paintguru said:

    Well I just got a few pounds of the Candlewic container palm, so I'll see if it goes the same way as @bfroberts.  It is interesting stuff; I need to figure out how the wicking works.  

     

    Well I've tested two FOs thus far and neither has thrown much at all.  I'm making three more that I know work well in my 4630 wax, so that should tell me if it is the wax or just the FO.  I'm not going to use this stuff long term if finding good FOs is that difficult.

  6. 21 hours ago, TallTayl said:

    I’m one that probably sells too quickly in some cases. I liken a LOT to man hours spent learning.  

     

    For instance, when I took up pottery a few years back, I was approached by quite a few people who “had been doing pottery for years.” What they meant was they took a class once or twice over the course of a few years. I usually dive headlong into something before I know why not to and spent more time learning than they had even touched clay. Who actually “knows” more? Hard to evaluate.

     

    soap people who make one batch a week for a year will in all likelihood progress more slowly than someone who makes 5 batches a day to master the craft. 

     

    Its all relative.  

     

    In the end, some folks have more or less aptitude.  Those with more aptitude (skill/talent/understanding/ whatever) will probably be “ready” sooner while some masters who’ve been at the same thing for decades are still not ready. 

     

    All I know is a lot of business comes down to luck.  The harder I work, the luckier I get. 

     

    True, but the other side of the coin is being paralyzed into never selling because you don't want to sell an imperfect product.  I feel like there is a bare minimum threshold one needs to get their product to before it can be released into the wild.  While you get feedback on that product, you can fine tune it over time while, in parallel, growing your customer base, story, etc.  In other words, you can't find luck if you don't put yourself out there at some point.

    • Like 4
  7. 7 hours ago, Sebleo said:

    I agree. If you’re doing something they can’t buy from you individually there is no need to discount. 

     

    However, if you are packaging things that they can buy individually, I would discount it. 

     

    If if you can’t do the whole box exclusive, it would be best to offer at least one item that is. Not sure I would discount more than 10 or 15%. 

     

    Agreed.  If it is an exclusive set of fragrances, then I wouldn't necessarily discount.  However, if it is basically a boxed set of items that are for sale individually, I would do some sort of discount as the subscription provides a much better revenue stream than individual purchases.  

  8. This is a great thread.  I do feel like I know who I am...a science nerd that likes to experiment, make things, and improve things...but the tricky part for me is how to turn that into a "brand", brand it as something a target customer would want, or even if I want to brand it off myself vs. choosing a brand/target audience outside myself personally.  The worry early on is you make a mistake because it is so hard to change course with all the red tape involved in running a business.  

    • Like 2
  9. 30 minutes ago, Candybee said:

     

    The 9oz SS jars work really great with palm. I have used them many times myself. I am now using the 12oz jar and still working on the wick. 

     

    CD's should give you a nice HT but I didn't like the curl on the wick when it burned which made one side of the jar way to hot for me personal taste. I would go ahead continue testing with your current wicks to the very end of the candle. YOu are wicking for the last half of the candle especially for that size jar. You should notice it burns very differently in the final half than in the first half. Don't wick for the first half, wick for the second half.

     

    The curl has been okay thus far for me (only one test though), and I like how well they're staying nice and trimmed.  I did order some CSN wicks as well to try.  My other target jar is a 16 oz country comfort jar, which I assume will require a double or even triple wick.  

  10. Just now, Candybee said:

    I have to echo what others have said. Palm just isn't suited for tins on many levels. If you plan to eventually sell these candles you should start out by testing in glass containers. I find straight sided containers work the best.

     

    Yup, I already have two 9 oz straight sided jars running with CD14 and 16 respectively.  So far I like the entire system, even though the delay in melting the sides into a full melt pool is "weird to me".  I think I may land either with a CD16 or 18 as an unscented baseline depending on how the 16 finishes off the jar (it had burned half way down).  After that, we'll see how scent throw goes.

    • Like 1
  11. Well I got my first batch of container palm from Candlewic and made up some tins.  Here's a pic of my first wicks that I threw in.  I know palm stays central for a while, but what is the best way to know if wicks are behaving correctly all the way through?  Same as every other candle (no residual on the side, reasonable flame size, etc.)?  I love the look and how easy it is to work with...but the wicking looks...interesting.  

     

     

    20190301_213914932_iOS.jpg

  12. 46 minutes ago, Sarah S said:

    Maybe my standards are low, but that looks good to me! I hardly see any soot at all. 

     

    Oh! Did you mean how the wax isn't cleaning off the sides? How far down is that? Sometimes my sides won't clean up until the last quarter of the jar. How is the throw? If the throw is good, I personally would be okay with it. If there is still a ton of wax on the sides at the end, or if the throw sucks, then I'd reassess. That's just my opinion though! 😁

     

    Yeah the soot isn't too bad, but again, I've been trimming pre-burn, so if someone doesn't follow directions, things may change.  It probably has 1/4 jar to go, and there is a small film of wax, maybe an inch or two, above the main wax level.  This one is unscented, so don't know about throw yet.  

    • Like 1
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