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Thank you !!! I'll have to try some of these out. Hey, how do you guys decide whether a scent is light or not when burned. That's kinda subjective. Do you guys have people that test the scents that you think are good?

Could someone please translate the abbreviations in the 'FO for Soy' sticky for us newbies? I'm assuming that these are company names. Any URL's that go with these???

I ordered some sample jars from The Jar Store and was very impressed at the way they throw the light from the candles.

Was just wanting to confirm that these were the only reasons. I am making 4oz test candles and my scale seems to only want to measure in 2g increments. With larger batches this won't be as much of a problem since the percent error will be MUCH smaller.

If a candle is seeping FO when burned, is this just the FO that the wax can't hold or will more than that seep out?

Are there any reasons for a soy candle's hot throw to diminish over time?

Ok, I see now that my confusion was in terminology. There are strong (good throw) FO's that can be heavy or lite in scent. I was thinking that when

"strong" was used in reference to an FO it meant that the scent was heavy.

Thanks for setting me straight!

I'm just starting out choosing some FO's and I'm a bit confused about which FO's are "good" and which are not for retail sale. Are strong FO's the only type of candles that sell (the more is better principle)? By strong I mean the "weight" of the scent in the air. Or does strong in this context mean "throw"? Or is it that the heavy scents normally throw better?

I've got a few FO's I've tested that have great throw but they aren't "heavy" like a lot of them are. One of them is NG Apples and Oak. I absolutely LOVE this scent because it fills the room AND you don't get knocked out if you walk in the room when it has burned for any length of time.

Please help!

Thanks for the input. I have another test candle with FO (7% Apples & Oak from Nature's Garden... great scent) and no colorant. Its MP isn't extending out as far as the one pictured, so I think I'm going to wick up on both of them and see what happens.

Here is a pic of my Apples & Oak candle. It's hard to see (bad picture), but is the "dew" on the unmelted wax the FO seeping out? This "dew" only forms while burning the candle. IMO it has GREAT scent throw, though, filling a 22x14 room in about an hour:D.

It's a 9oz bulb jar. I only put 4oz wax in it, though. Don't want to use my test wax up too quick:smiley2:

I'll have to look at the wick size when I get home.

I made a couple of test candles this weekend. The pics in this post are of my first made only of EL Millenium wax (no FO or colorant). I let it burn for 3 hours. The MP extended out to about 1/4 inch from the sides of the container and was a little over 1/4 inch deep. Any comments or suggestions? The only other thing I could see was that the wick mushroomed, but wasn't smoking.

Thanks,

Todd

If using the concentrated liquid colorant (not Pryme) do you have to consider the 1%-2% of colorant part of the 6% (or so) that the wax can hold, thus limiting the amount of FO you can add?

After reading some more articles I found that I should probably just call EL directly and ask them (which I should've thought of before posting). When I order I'll probably order some above and below what they say just to be safe.

I just realized that the sample wax I ordered didn't ship with any wicks like they said it would. Any recommendations on wicks for these containers...

http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14240

Thanks guys. Is there ever an issue with total liquid added to the wax. For example, if the wax has a max FO load of 6% and you add 6% but also add 1%-2% colorant and, say, 1% vybar for a total of 8%-9% would that be more liquid than the wax can hold and thus cause seepage or do colorants and other additives not figure into this?

Can anyone give suggestions on which wick to use with these containers. The guy at EL said he was going to send some wicks for 3-4oz containers with my sample wax, but he didn't.

I'll be using EL Millenium and/or regular 100% soy. Also, does anyone know of a side-by-side comparison anywhere on the web of the different kinds of wicks???

Thanks for the warm welcome!!! I should be getting my FO today and will be trying out my first candle some time this week or this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

I wanted to introduce myself to you guys and say hi. I am a software developer living in Birmingham, AL. I haven't made my first candle yet, but it seems interesting from what I've read so far in that it would explore both my technical and creative sides (same with software development). When I go into a store my eye is automatically drawn to the things that I can't afford (or wouldn't pay that much for), and wouldn't you know it... my initial interest seems to be in soy wax... seemingly the most finicky wax around from what I've read!!!

I've got my EL Millenium wax to try and am waiting on my FO and colorant for my first candle(s). Actually I think I'm going to try only FO for my first candles and skip the colorant due to what I've read about the problems inherent in coloring soy (again, from what I've read).

Well, we see how it goes... I'm sure I'll keep you guys "posted":)

I've checked the boards and for the life of me can't find what to measure against what when including more than one agent (FO, color, etc) to your wax. If I missed it, I apologize in advance.

For example, if you're creating a 16oz candle with 6% FO, that would be 16*0.06=0.96oz of FO and 16*0.94=15.04oz of wax. My question is what if you then want to add colorant at X% and vybar at Y%? Are the subsequent percentages taken from the 15.04oz of wax or what or do you reduce the amount of wax even more based on these "extra" percentages??? Could someone please help me with this?

Geekrunner... then I should fit in here just fine!

I'm still trying to learn (at least by other's experiences) about the different types of waxes and the problems associated with them. Sounds like you just need to stick with a type/supplier (unless the wax supplier produces an inconsistent product or the like) and "learn" the wax.

It is odd that people are getting different results from the same wax. Seems like if you follow the directions that come with the wax you should get consistent results. Maybe it has something to do with the suppliers they are using for FO/color and the suppliers' ability to produce a consistent product?

I'm waiting on my FO to get here to try a test candle. Thought I'd start out with just FO and no color. Should cut down on the trial and error period I would think?

Anyone heard of "Millenium" soy wax by Enchanted Lites or used it? I'm just starting out with candle making and don't want to start with an unusable product. Or, what is a good soy wax that holds color and scent well that doesn't require additives? Doesn't have to be 100% soy, but I prefer it not to have any petroleum products in it. They claim that this wax controls frosting...

The product is at http://www.enchanted-lites.com/2a.htm

Thanks,

Todd