Arch Rock

There you go, Quentin. ScentedPleasurez knows it's a one-pour, so your problem must be temp pour. I have a special bulls-eye painted here on my wall if you want to bang your head. I sometimes think we chandlers are masochists. I prefer to use the word "perfectionist".

I used to pour these tins and usually had to wick-up one notch. These buggers get hot and I never wanted to double wick them.

Quentin, when you say "holes", do you mean cratering? This most likely could mean that you're not using a one-pour wax. My paraffin-based blend requires a first pour and then a top-off at a higher temp to adhere the first pour to the few ounces needed to create a smooth finish and fill in the crater. So my wax is considered a two-pour.

Tall Tayl: I really appreciated seeing the wick testing you did last year and wonder if you've arrived at some conclusions (mostly, did wicking up in the same wick family give you a bigger melt pool as you suspected or were there some nasty side-effects such as soot, carbon balls, or high flames?). Thanks!

You got that right about RRDs. I was hoping they would rescue me from CDs but I'm not getting good results with a paraffin blend. As much carrying on as it does (RRD 37), it takes forever to stabilize its combustion rate and start a melt pool. When critiquing retail candles, (and in making your own) how tolerant is everyone with the flickering and smoking that occurs during the first lighting? Two or three minutes with my own product is too long however, if I blow it out, let it cool, trim and relight, it's much improved. I don't think I should expect my customers to have to do this though.

Probably too late but I like everything about the first one. Best wishes with your hospital gig, whatever it is.

Thanks Trapp and Geodon.

Hi all - I'm a newbie to this forum but not a newbie at candle-making. I joined because I was really impressed with the knowledge base - i.e. lots of wicking and wax discussions. I had a very prosperous business in 2004 but raw materials began to sky-rocket and I saw the writing on the wall before the big 2008 crash so I got out and went to graduate school. I'm a child therapist by day but so many people wanted my candles over the years, I've started up again. (In truth, I'm hoping that my resurrected candle business can pay for my monthly, exorbitant health care costs and student loan rates, politics aside). I'm 55 with two fantastic, grown kids and a phenomenal, 2 year-old grandson. I live and work out of my home in central PA. I feel like I'm starting from scratch. I used to buy 25 pounds of scent from IFT and Koch and now I'm pouring 6% out of 16 ounce "samples" from retailers. Back to humble beginnings I suppose, but it's such a passion and a challenge that I can't stop. I fully expected someone in a 60-mile radius to come up with the perfect recipe for the perfect candle I used to make, but alas, nothing has compared so I'm trying to replicate my old stuff from memory. Old testing notes have been lost. I continue to use a Koster-Keunin container blend from New York - paraffin-based with carnauba and ventured into soy for about 2 weeks - long enough to ditch it. I am OCD about testing and latched onto great posts here - some 5 years old - about RRDs vs. CDs. LXs worked beautifully in my old, 5 oz. jars but I'm focusing on 16 oz. for now. Thanks to all in advance for this wonderful site and your wealth of knowledge. I only hope that I can contribute.