ruralers

12 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

 I’m not quite sure what you mean by some frosting. You have an example?

Sorry about that.  I was referring to soap piping that you can use to form leaves, roses, or other decorative shapes out of CP soap.  I called it frosting, since I was picturing it on the top of soap. 

Frosting means something totally different in the candle world.

I haven't tried making soap frosting yet, but I think it looks super fun.  Do most soapers use their base soap batter for frosting or do you make a separate batter or a batter with different ingredients/percentages for your frosting?  BTW, I am not fishing for recipes, I am just curious.   I tried searching through the forum to glean more information on this topic, but I wasn't able to find a thread.  I really appreciate your thoughts! 

Hello!  My real name is Lindsey and I live in central Illinois, the middle of farm country.  My husband and I have a three kids, two girls and one young son.  They keep me super busy, however I also work at a small liberal arts College and we manage our family farm.  We have grass-fed cows, hay, chickens, two Australian Shepherds, and we have a very comical pet turkey tom.   We had goats, but they kind of drove us crazy--it will be a hard sell for my husband to do that again!  I started playing around with candle making not long ago as a creative outlet.  I wanted to find something that my girls and I could do together.  To date, we have made a handful of great successes, but we have had a few fails as well.  We have also started soap making and I have completely fallen in love with that process.  It's incredibly therapeutic.  

I am on Craft Server quite often and I am so grateful for this forum.   I am not a frequent poster, because I still feel so new.  That being said, I can get lost reading all the threads and learning all that I can!  I hope you all have a wonderful day and best of luck with your next project!!

Thanks again for taking the time to answer my simple, yet not so simple question.  TallTayl, your knowledge of candles is absolutely amazing!  Lids on! 

Thanks for your replies!  I was wondering if curing candles had anything to do with evaporation.  A lidded candle would obviously decrease evaporation and I am wondering if that is a good or bad thing.  I am probably over thinking it, but wow there is so much to think about when making candles.  

When you "cure" your candles, do you prefer to have your jar lids on or off?  Has anyone experimented with this?  Thanks!

15 hours ago, mzpickles said:

My #1 personal preference from them is Vanilla Grapefruit.

Thank you so much!  I really appreciate it.

I am looking for fragrance oil recommendations from The Candle Makers Store in Ohio.   I have a fantastic husband that is willing to stop by their store, but I need to send him with a detailed list.  I really appreciate your help!

I have had good luck with ECO and CD wicks.  At this point, I can't really say which works better for me.  I make candles with both brands and then test to determine which one preforms better.  

I have been very impressed with Black Crow candles.   Their packaging is fantastic--it's something actually you want to decorate with.  They are a local to me company and I am super proud of what they have created!  Their room fresheners l are a favorite with my family.  I have no connections with this company, other than they are localish.

Update, I revisited my no-throw candles again and they seem to be preforming much better.  You can actually smell the candles now, so that's a huge improvement.  Thanks for all the advice.  Hello curing time!

Do you know how it preforms in soy?

4 hours ago, Crafty1_AJ said:

When it comes to bakery scents in soy, I find that most throw fairly well at 6-8% except straight, plain vanilla.  True vanillas are kind of soft, so it's a bit harder to get good throw in straight soy.  As Trapp said, you just have to test, test, test.  And if you get a few fo's that just don't work, as she said, move on.  There are enough good fo's out there that DO throw in soy, so no sense stressing out over the ones that are too faint. 

Thank you so much!!  

Thank you Trappeur for replying to my post!  Since my candle making journey began, your posts have been very descriptive and encouraging, especially for a novice like myself.  

My new candles (with ecos) have 9% oil, which is the actually the highest that I have tried thus far.   I am not sure where you read the 12% figure and my apologies if I posted that incorrectly.  I will gladly post some pictures soon.  I purchased several sample sizes of Candle Science bakery scents, but I had my hopes set on the Hansel and Gretel and the Strudels and Spice scents--the latter one was a lighter scent in my opinion.  

Up to this point I have only tested ecos and woodwicks.  I quickly learned that I am not ready to master woodwicks, so those have been shelved.  This week I purchased a set of CD wicks, so I will give them a go soon. 

I am attempting to create "bakery scented" soy (464) candles for a friend.  Do you find that you raise or lower your FO percentages for bakery scents?  I realize that is a very subjective question, but I am just looking for opinions.  I have purchased all of mine from Candlescience, but I am open to switching brands.  Mine have had poor hot throw and I would like a stronger throw, but maybe not a run you out the door strong scent.  

I received some excellent advice from craftserver members on another thread about cure time and temperature adjustments.  That being said, I have a few new batches curing right now--fingers crossed on that.  

Thank you!!

2 hours ago, kandlekrazy said:

humidity will def have an impact on candlemaking overall.  I used a dehumidifier when I lived at the beach, I recently moved where the humidity is typically 35-40% so I no longer need to use it.

My hair would be so happy there!  We are holding steady at 95% humidity.  Did you use a dehumidifier in the area that your cured your candles or just in general?  Thanks for the advice! 

1 hour ago, RedRoomGraduate said:

What kind of thermometer are you using to measure the temperature of the wax? Here's my story with 464. 

 

I was using a regular candy thermometer when I started making candles, and was having similar issues with hot throw. Turns out it wasn't giving me accurate readings, either because I was measuring the temperature of the bottom of my pot where the thermometer was resting (and thus adding my FO at too low a temp) or because it just wasn't an accurate thermometer. Switched to one of the infrared thermometers and I've gotten MUCH better results since then. 

That a really interesting thought.  I am using a candy thermometer.  I will look into a different one, now that you mention it.  I was also wondering if the climate would affect curing time.  I live in the Midwest, and it gets pretty hot and humid here.

14 hours ago, bfroberts said:

There are several factors.  How long are you curing?   What FO's are you using?  What wick and container?  That info will help narrow it down a bit.

Thanks for replying!  I have been using a 2.5 inch diameter container, GB 464, eco 10.  This last batch I used FO from candlescience (bakery scents) at 9%, in hopes of getting a stronger throw than my 6% previous tests.  I tested at 8 days and the hot throw was very poor.  

I am having the same issue with 464 and it's quite frustrating! I seem to have the mechanics of the candle down: the melt pool, wick, no cracks, etc.  The cold throw is wonderful, but then the hot throw is a disappointment.  Ugh.  Is the general rule of thumb that 464 will only give you a light (minimal) hot throw?