chuck_35550

I fell for his snake oil about using raspberry ketones with green tea for weight loss. My body developed this bizarre rash almost over night. The doctor said I had scabies and prescribed a cream but I knew it was those damn ketones and stopped taking them. The rash went away. Oz, later denied he had anything to do with it and just because his name and picture was all over something didn't mean it was really him. Thank you Oprah for unleashing this quack on the universe. He's a total moron who just needs to fill up shows with random bs information that helps his pocketbook. Nobody pays attention to this garbage, this too shall pass.

The palm issue is a nasty can of worms. Its not a simple issue for most people. I understand that the natives make money by mowing down jungle and planting palm trees, which destroys not only the homes of wildlife but creates a problem with the ecosystem. You have to look at this from the perspective of how large a footprint does procuring raw materials make on the planet. Certainly drilling for oil makes a huge print but does breathing paraffin fumes pose a greater health risk than breathing soy fumes? Human activity in general, creates problems for the environment and its an honorable thing to respect nature, but gee whizz. Some animal was harmed in the making of any of this stuff, either accidentally or on purpose; so ease up. Whether it comes out of a beaver anus or a downed banana tree, you just can't avoid leaving that human footprint. KWIM?

I have never found a liquid or solid dye that made any difference in the efficiency of a candle. Vanillin is the worst culprit for causing wicking problems (soot or clogging) in the wicking system; so I stay away from fos with high vanillin percentages. I think the heavier fragrance oils in large percentages are an invitation for the wicking to fail. I don't think three drops of anything will affect the candle's outcome. IMHO

Didn't sell for me either and I really like Bamboo Sugarcane. The amber mix sounds good to me, cause I like anything with amber in it. I like a 50/50 of Black Cherry and Vanilla Voodoo.

I thought spearmint would be a good fragrance but it smells like a stick of gum. I tried mixing it with peppermint and now it smells like a breath mint. Eucalyptus is good for cleaning out your sinuses but it needs something to soften the medicinal character of the fragrance. Let me know what you think of that combination, because I would be interested in finding a good mix for sinus candles.

I happen to like the "Ky Para-Soy Tart & Votive Blend" from AH/RE. It takes a good load of fo and sets up shiny and hard. The wax comes in a granule form and is easy to melt.

I don't think you can get a true representation of how the candle will operate with a customer, unless you burn it like a customer. Don't trim the wick and burn it for hours on end unattended and you have duplicated the common way a candle gets used. Remember that customers are only interested in two things: 1. Does it fragrance the whole house and cover up the odors from cooking and pets 2. Does it last for a long time and burn up every ounce of wax. How many times have you come into someone's house and said, "What smells so good?" and they say, "It's a new candle I bought at that little shop on the corner". Everybody knows the rest of the conversation but you won't say, "Does it have wet spots and the flame dances too much"? LX and CD wicks are self-trimming and they burn unevenly. Two wicks should at least help with that problem, as long as they aren't both leaning in the same direction as they trim themselves. You could look at other wicks in the mean time. If you have a successful system and the candle meets all your other standards, go with that one. Continue to hunt for the perfect combination and who knows?

Does cruelty free walk hand in hand with all natural? Kind of looks like that "our products are all natural" so maybe that was thrown into the automatic thinking of people who only eat pine cones.

No.

Why would you want to avoid paraffin, beeswax and dyes? Dyes have a paraffin base? Does Shelley mean avoid these products because they've been tested on animals? There was some kind of cruelty involved in the taking of wax? So they put a rat in a room with a lit paraffin candle and fed them beeswax and candle dye? I'm confused.

Just be careful with the heat gun. Keep it moving in a circular motion to avoid melting off the wick coating and to lessen overheating the jar. I generally use my heat gun on low and only use the high setting for cleaning out wax from test jars or cleaning up a pour pot.

I have but as you get older you just forget what you do with stuff. What's worse is when you reorganize; you forget where you now put the stuff! Now where did I put that charcoal? I have stepped away from the business for the time being, until I retire this summer. Hopefully, a new strategy will breathe some life into my tired business. Besides, I'm jonesing to get down in the lab and create some soap.

Well, this is an age old issue. I used to make candles with nary a wet spot. I keep my jars in a toaster oven on the work bench at about 150 degrees (hot potato) and pull them out and wick them and pour while they are on a tared scale. Place the jars into a covered box where they cool slowly/over night. Florals and some bakeries would give me terrible wet spots while other fragrance oils were well behaved. I still use this method (I wash all my jars in Dawn detergent) and spend the time thinking about what to do with fragrances and other wool gathering. I hate wet spots. They look bad in plain or frosted glass and I hate them. Oh well, nothing is perfect.

You could use a shorter neck wicking assembly. The more dangerous solution would be to not quite seal the wick assembly and allow the wick to continue drawing wax from underneath. This results in a very hot jar with all the wax burnt up and someone's house in flames.

Yup.

There's no danger of burning off your fragrance oil, unless you decide to boil your wax. Today's wax blends are formulated to accept higher percentages of fragrance oil, unlike the old days where you could only add small percentages. A favorite trick of chandlers is to add a dash of fragrance oil on the top of the finished candle to give it a strong cold throw. I don't recommend that you do such a thing, because its unethical and unnecessary with today's wax blends. Some people like to warm their fos but personally, I dump it in after coloring the wax and stir for several minutes and begin pouring. I do stir throughout the time the wax is being poured out of the pour pot.

I think that's the size of mine CB. Honestly, I can't see a whole lot of advantage with using silk. It's just a pita to deal with for not that much return but I hate to waste. I also have bags of clays, colloidal oatmeal and a ton of cocoa butter (because I forgot a bag was stashed in one of the bins, lol) and it makes me wonder if I follow too many rabbit holes.

I use high oleic sunflower and safflower as carrier oils. I'll mix fragrance or essential oil and add at the end. Typically, I use 5% and not more than 10% of those oils in my formulations. I really like to sub rice bran oil with olive. You can split the amount and get great results in the final product. Soapcalc is not the end all of formulation. There's a really great formulation on this board that has wonky numbers but makes a really nice bar of soap with loads of bubbles. Calculators are great guidelines but they don't always lead you to the perfect bar of soap. The real deal is being able to compensate a high cleansing number by offsetting with a high emollient and hoping that you get a bar that cleanses the pore and then fills it with nurturing oils. Some customers ask me for a "facial" bar but another customer may say that they use a regular bar as their facial bar. I can only conclude that there are the different skin/age types that have soft or hard water. You could also try canola but that's not one of my favorites. So, the holy trinity being coconut, palm and olive can be tweaked with similar oils with a specific result in mind. I like a firm bar that lasts a reasonable period of time and leaves skin relatively clean, soft and mildly fragranced. Complaints about drying this time of year are a result of people who stand under a very hot shower or take a really not bath. Hot water not good for Tarzan and Jane's skin.

Goo Gone

I like mine. Put it on myself. I'm too unsteady with my hands to ladle. It rarely clogs because I fixed a piece of fine wire mesh over the spout on the inside and it keeps debris out. I melt all kinds of stuff in it for soap and candle making. Wiping it out isn't a big deal. The amount of an fo or wax residue isn't going to affect whatever else you do with the pot.

The cost of those jars with shipping are very pricey. Wholesale accounts for ceramics in bulk might be had through Alibaba in China. But you're talking thousands of containers on minimum. I used to go to dollar stores, outlets and places like Hobby Lobby for unusual containers. You just have to be careful and test the container to see if it has any flaws. There are occasional cool things but they don't generally hold up well to heat. I once bought up a bunch of ceramic planters from Dollar Tree. They were thick and had drainage holes. I used heat resistant sealant for the holes and poured candles into these shell shaped pots. They did very well and I had orders for more. Unfortunately, Dollar Tree didn't get any more of them and that was that. I doubt you will find a wholesaler on specialty items and if you do, just expect them to be expensive.

I would love to have a small brick and mortar store. Cozy candle store with a pot belly stove and hand made items in shelves. My creative area would be private and have a great sound system for playing my favorite tunes while I work. Otherwise, a stand alone building next to the house would be ok. My wife is sensitive to fragrances and makes a fuss about not being able to breathe if I'm pouring something strong. Exhaust fans help but sometimes the fragrances collect into a toxic cloud that invades the whole house. We have a rental house next door that would make a great place but we have renters.

Did you finish the candle?

I've lost a spouse too and it really takes some doing to get back on your feet.

Oh gosh, I hate to hear that. I always thought Kimberlie had the health problems but its been so long since we've done business. Great fos and great owners. I'll keep her in my thoughts and prayers. Their link on the Board needs updating. Steve