geodon99

What's your name? Don How old are you? 58 Where do you live? Harrisburg, PA How long have you been making candles/soap/whatever? Just getting started !! I am obsessed with learning to make cut & curl candles. Are you married? Any kids? Divorced (We get along much better now !!) A 33 year old daughter and 3 grands. If candle/Soap making isn't your primary job, what do you do? I am a CDL delivery driver. Anything else we should know? Got bored being off work for pinched spinal nerves the past 5 months. Started buying some supplies in need of a hobby. Surgery in two days...then maybe I can get seriously into doing the candles !!

I know this post is a couple years old, but I thought I would respond anyway. I am just getting started and I have a big interest in cut and curl candles. I have slowly been buying supplies and learning everything I can over the past 2 months or so. I'm guessing AS A BUSINESS probably the hardest part with cut and curl is they can't really be mass-produced like other candles. The extra time and labor involved makes it kind of tough. True, you can charge more for this, but then the challenge becomes finding people who are willing to pay for that extra time involved. I'm sure if cut and curl candles could be mass-produced, Yankee would have flooded the market with them years ago. I would guess the more generic type carved candles would be tough to sell in the quantities you would need to make a viable business. My guess is that if you can somehow personalize the candles, they would do much better. Maybe such as making candles for a school fundraiser in the schools colors, or memorial type candles with embedded photos. And also probably candles cut and curled to specific holiday themes at the right time of year. I am working on a few ideas, but I wouldn't want to put a timetable on anyting since this has been a slow process for me. But I think that you really need to go for a very targeted market, and the more timely you can make your candles, the better. Personalization is probably a big key with these type candles.

Since 200 degrees is the lowest temperature on the dial, I set mine between the A and R in the word warm which nicely melted my paraffin which had a 138 degree melt point. And it's always good to wash or at least Wipe Out the pot before first use so you don't get loose Teflon flakes (from the manufacturing process) or little packaging debris in your wax.

I'm not sure about the wax you use, but the flash point of paraffin wax is usually around 393 degrees Fahrenheit. so you probably weren't all that close.

From their website...

I was watching a video by Candles and Supplies. It was about an hour long video demonstration making a cut and curl candle. Apparently the oil chamber was the entire length of the candle. I'm wondering how they get the center hollowed out the entire length of the candle. Is there a special mold for that when you make the core?

I know this thread is pretty old, but it is still quite inspiring even today !!!

I just bought that exact model a few hours ago. I can't wait to try it out !!!

I just purchased one of these about 4 hours ago. Can't wait to try it out !!!

I am just looking for three or four to start with. I have not found any seamless molds for six point or five point rounded star pillars at nine and a half inches height. I assumed you could not get star molds in seamless since I have not seen them anywhere. Plus I figured the same would not really matter since the candles would be dipped for cut and curl purposes?

HUNDREDS of pillar molds ??? Nice problem....I am trying to source some 9-1/2" metal star molds right now. Looks like Yaley has the best prices I can find. They have ones for under 10 bucks that cost up to 30 bucks anywhere else...and shipping looks very reasonable. ((( Not sure how I posted this to another thread, but it was a response to this thread. Hopefully I got it right this time.)))

HUNDREDS of pillar molds ??? Nice problem....I am trying to source some 9-1/2" metal star molds right now. Looks like Yaley has the best prices I can find. They have ones for under 10 bucks that cost up to 30 bucks anywhere else...and shipping looks very reasonable.

They do have a spout. You just can't see it on the picture. I have one coming that I ordered. It should be here on Sunday. Actually, they have a spout and a small drain hose attached. It will be interesting to try it out with wax.

I assume you have already moved by now, but just thought I would check since I am in the market for some supplies and not very far at all from York. Let me know if you are still in the area and still have things to get rid of. Thanks !!

Thank you so very much !!!

If you're referring to the round bucket with 7 vats, that one is like $1,400 which I could pick up some day. I like the Etsy model much better with the 12 vats, which seems to me would be better to have for a cheaper price. just not too thrilled about sending that much money out of the country. Maybe that starts to show my age, I'm not sure. I'm planning to make a run to both Candles and Supplies and Candlewic one of these days since both are 2 hours away from me. And they are not really that far apart from one to the other. Unfortunately, I fell in love with the model on Etsy, just can't seem to find a similar model for a similar price in the US.

Sounds like the same one. And with the $200 shipping, still just over a thousand bucks. The price is great, just hoping to find somewhere to purchase in the US. But it is comforting to hear that you had no problems receiving your equipment all the way from the Ukraine. Makes me very uneasy to send that much money there. Thank you for your reply !!

I am wondering if anyone knows of somewhere in the US that I could purchase a dipping vat station. This would be used for cut and curl candle dipping. I found one below that would be perfect, but I am not so keen on the idea of sending $1,000 to the Ukraine. I have searched the internet to death, but found nothing like this. Any leads would be appreciated. https://www.etsy.com/listing/559532022/equipment-12-buckets-water-bath-business

I am very interested in the turkey fryer idea. My only concern is if anyone knows if this would work if I am using blocks of Wax? I would be using paraffin wax in block form. Thank you in advance for any inside knowledge !!