LittleMissSunshine

That did the trick! Just relit for another go and knocked just the little top off and he's a cute little flame now, burning just so nicely and crackling away.

Just about 3hrs into the 3rd burn. The medium in the blend seems almost slightly more manageable. But now the small in the paraffin looks like if someone looked at it funny it would go out.

Sorry I disappeared on this one!! Things got really busy at home and it was difficult to find the time to sit down and post. The 104s ended up being way too big in both by the last bit of the candle. It seems difficult to wick for because as @bfroberts said it definitely seems to burn down before it burns out. Even in the blend. I had some wood wicks so I decided to test those. Having trouble, as I always have. I called Lonestar for size recommendations, since it's their wood wick. They said medium for the paraffin, and large for the blend. I thought that sounded insane, but I decided to try medium in both. The blend looked pretty good, but the paraffin had 3" + flames and was smoking pretty heavily. I didn't really feel like burning my house down so I switched out the medium for a small. Third burn. This is the paraffin with a small wick after about an hour or so. It seems a little small to me, but the medium was way too big. Now the medium is even starting to be way too big on the blend. It's hard to get a good picture as it is so bright. I trimmed it way down and it is a little better, but when it flickers it can get very big and releases some smoke. I just hate how with these wood wicks these are my only choices. Burn my house down or smoldering embers. 😏

I would rather it be slightly under-wicked with some hang up and burn safely than great melt pool and smoking like a chimney. I have heard good things about LX and zincs in this wax, but htp seemed to be the most highly recommended so I decided to try these. How long do you cure before just testing wicks?

They seem to be doing really well, but I have a sneaking suspicion that with any FO other than maybe something really heavy they would be too big for the straight paraffin. It seems pretty good in the blend though, which makes sense as soy tends to need a little more oomph. I'm going to start the wood wick testing and I think with fragrance I will might try the htp93's. @Sarah S how big are the 10oz jars? Is the width similar to the 8oz? With how these 104s are burning I just can't imagine going as small as 73! We'll see though.

Yes I definitely am not a fan so far of the lean that I have read so much about with htp's. I don't think there's any real way to remedy that. It doesn't help that it's only exacerbated by my inability to actually center wicks. 😂 I decided to test wood wicks too, but I'm super nervous because I have only ever gotten flaming infernos with them. Though this is a new container and new wax as well (albeit similar). Almost to the end of my second 3-hr burn with the 104s... Though from the midpoint. No sooting or smoke. The melt pool does go all the way to the bottom. Not sure if that's a good thing? It would make the throw really great if it had fragrance lol! And the flames aren't too crazy. A little flickering but no smoke.

Thank you both so much for your input!! As always, very insightful. I meant to reply to this sooner, but I had some mega speed bumps hahaha. First, my wicks fell over. I was wondering if that would happen, and it did. So I probably would not recommend this method for such short, wide containers. Would probably work better with taller containers. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this until the wax had cooled enough to partially solidify over the wicks, so I had to dig them out. This of course meant they were destroyed and taking the heat gun just eliminated my melt pools so that kind of made the testing pointless lol. So I decided to remelt them and repour to start over, this time with wicks in tabs firmly attached to the bottom lol. But then my 2yo got ahold of one while it was cooling spilling it everywhere. 😂 Oh my goodness lol. I finally got them fixed up and lit them with 104s again just to see. I burned them just shy of 3hrs. They look pretty under-wicked, but I actually don't think they are. I assume that with fragrance it will actually burn hotter because it seems to fuel the wick. I definitely do want to test them from the top. After going through everything I really really felt like it would've just been better to go from the top like you said @TallTayl. @Forrest I did notice a little bit of flickering and a few puffs of smoke from the 4630 one, so I could definitely see it being over-wicked later in the burn. It wasn't anything too crazy, but I could see it getting worse. You can see the flame was a bit bigger. The blend seemed pretty good for the whole burn though.

Figured I would share my findings, thoughts, and results as I go. I am finally testing things properly!!! So I have 8oz tins which I believe hold about 5.8oz but I did about 4oz in each as I am more concerned about the second half of the candle. The top half is usually pretty easy to wick for. Plus I didn't want to waste a bunch of wax lol. I did one tin with 100% 4630. Heated it to about 190° or so and poured at 150°. I meant to do 160° but I stepped away for a second and it cooled really quickly. The top is a little uneven, and I believe if I had poured hotter as intended it would've been better. The other tin was 2oz of 464 and 2oz of 4630 and followed the same procedure, pouring at 160° as intended. The top is smooth as glass. I did no color and no fragrance in both, plus no wicks so I can switch them out to try other sizes. You can see the soy blend on the left is sightly more yellow and very smooth. I let them cool overnight and will be testing htp104's in both to see how they do. I will report back in a few hours!

I will say I think cure times are not as important as suppliers seem to like to make us think. I have made soy candles with certain fragrances that are pretty strong with a fantastic burn after just a few days of cure. I have also made soy candles that still have 0 throw or weak throw after a year and a half. Those are just my personal experiences though, so take them with a grain of salt. 🤷🤣

I have definitely learned that about 6006. I also used the 9oz straight sided jars and found every time that if the first couple burns were beautiful with good sized melt pools, it was horrendously over-wicked. 🤣 By the time they get to the middle they are flaming infernos with huge flickering flames and super deep melt pools.

This is exactly what my advice would be haha. Candle making is very easy to do, very difficult to master. Make it easy on yourself and pick a wax and a container and stick to it. Find the right wick for your wax before you switch waxes. Don't be like me!! 🤣🤣

Yeah I looked and I could get 20 of each of four different sizes from Northstar for $30.80 or 25 of each of four different sizes from Flaming Candle shipped for $21.88. They also have tins. Hopefully once we've finished moving the tins will be back in stock.

Ooooh! Good to know!! Thanks!

Candles: wax melts wax used: 6006 fragrance load (%): 8% cure time: 12 days Wax additives: liquid candle dye container: 1oz oval wax cup wicking notes: n/a Cold throw: great Hot Throw: fantastic! Filling both my kitchen and living room really strongly within a short time.

I guess that was sorta my thinking too... I'll see if I can find them somewhere with relatively cheap shipping.

I decided to test out some 4630. I'm going to be using 8oz tins. I'll probably be ordering all my supplies from Candlewic since I can get the best combined shipping rate from them, so I wanted to make sure to get all my wicks from them as I know they can vary slightly from different suppliers. I was thinking about ordering 73, 83, 93, and 104 to give me some good variety, plus I've read on here that htp's work well in this wax. Candlewic doesn't seem to carry htp93's though? Do you all think I could get by without them? Or should I order them from another supplier? I have only used this wax in melts, so wicking is going to be a whole new adventure.

I think my target selling places will be online and conventions, actually haha. I could do craft fairs, but again I imagine I would have to bring really different product. I brought my dragon egg bath bombs and sold a few at the Christmas craft fair, but the gingerbread bath bombs and lavender soaps definitely did a lot better. If I want to stick with the geek niche, craft fairs are not going to be my thing. Well. I don't know. Geeky stuff is actually pretty big right now, but geeky bath & body plus candles (though I'm not comfortable selling candles yet) seems like a much smaller niche. I think I am also afraid of limiting myself too much. I like the idea of making bakery shaped products too, but I think those two things would be weird together. 😂

Lol that is too funny. Isn't he also one of the Wildling characters in GoT? 🤔

I think about this a lot. I am still in the very early stages and trying to develop my brand to begin with. But when I look at some of my favorite sellers' Instagrams, I can tell which products are whose. And that is what I want. It can be really challenging, at least for me.

I started doing craft fairs this past Christmas/holiday season, and am planning to open an Etsy shop in the coming months. However, one thing I've struggled with a lot is my "brand" and figuring out my target market. I started out very easily deciding on a very niche market because it was something I was passionate about and figured I would have fun with it. When I did my Christmas craft fairs I decided to go for a more broad spectrum appeal to try to be an easier sell. I feel it worked well enough. I have been suffering through an internal struggle trying to figure out the best course of action with my business. I read some great posts on this topic from @TallTayl who it sounds like was actually in the exact same boat as I am in, though with quite a bit more struggle. But I guess my question is this: How do I determine my brand and my target market? Is it okay and potentially viable to fit yourself into a much smaller niche market? Or is it better to go for broad appeal but compete with others?? Husband says I need to just make stuff, have fun, and I'll figure out what I like to make and what sells well. Unfortunately (but also very fortunately), we are in the process of moving, so I can't really do anything right now other than sit and think about everything and drive myself crazy. Sigh.

I find that if I make soy candles I prefer to leave them uncolored. They frost less and I like the look of how creamy they are. Anything with paraffin, usually 6006 for me and I use color. I think it looks creepy without color. 🤣

I love all the liquid dyes from candle science. I have been slowly collecting them a few at a time, and I have most of them now. A couple of them are a little stinky, but nothing that sticks around in final product.

In my experience you will want to go a bit higher. Heat to around 190°, add fragrance around 185°, and pour around 175°. If you go too cool it will start to solidify and your fragrance oil will not bind to it.

I'm really interested in trying out coconut wax, so I'm going to comment here just so I can follow along with this conversation. Lots of great feedback already! I'm thinking I'd like to try the beads from C&S as they seem easy to use and I saw somewhere that they have no paraffin or beeswax. If I do try out the coconut wax my hope is to be able to wick it without blending anything into it. I want to keep paraffin and beeswax out for market appeal, and I'm afraid soy could dampen the hot throw that everyone seems to be touting. We shall see I guess!

Yep! It is silicone! 😊 My mom gave it to me. It's so stinking cute I love it lol.