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Peggy T

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Everything posted by Peggy T

  1. That's a hefty price tag. $55 for 10 oz; that thing better last 6 months.
  2. Thanks. I went to Goodwill and bought a white 100% silk blouse. I gave it a good wash and will experiment using this in a test batch. I'm going to order some tussah fibers from Amazon as well.
  3. Has anyone ever used old silk fabric in soap? I make private label soap for another biz and they've asked me to include silk in the batch. I've never used silk and was about to order some when it occurred to me that maybe I could use an old silk scarf instead. I did some Googling but haven't really found much which seems a bit odd since surely lots of people have tried this. I live in an area where the idea of re-purposing silk would be appealing (from a sustainability perspective). I foresee a trip to the thrift store in the future..... Second question, is there a vegan alternative to silk in soap? Again, I've done some research but can't find much that describes folks actual experience in this area. I'm not vegan (or even vegetarian really) but again I think my customers seem to prefer vegetarian/vegan products. Time to experiment
  4. I now definitely think my issue is related to insulating and getting large soy crystals. I remelted a few over the weekend and cooled them in my kitchen at 68-70F. Previously I was working in my studio which was so cold I tried to compensate by putting them in individual cardboard boxes that the jars came in. The candles I remelted in my kitchen and allowed to cool more quickly in a warmer room appear to be much better (for now🤞). I think I will try some more to see what happens. If it's resolved the issue, then I will crank out the remaining 96 candles 🙄. NL--to answer your questions. I am 100% positive I mixed the FO well. I always set a timer for 3 minutes and stir the whole time at 180 F. This procedure has always given my smooth tops and minimal sink holes. I am happy to reduce the amount of FO I use (because, money) but I will say that I didn't have this seeping issue at even up to 12% FO (waay too much, I know). It only started when I insulated them to cool very slowly. Interesting lesson learned. I am going to try 7% FO , "normal cooldown" with a looong cure and see how that shakes out.
  5. Thanks y'all. Do you think if I remelt them and then cool on the counter I can fix the problem? If I were to try this would I pour the wax in a pot and then repour in the container or just melt in the jar and let them set up as is? Would they need to cure again (I'm guessing yes)? It would be a lot of work since there are so many but if it can help it would be worth the effort. Thanks!
  6. All of a sudden my candles tops are seeping FO like crazy. I had no idea why but read a bunch of posts here and *think* I have discovered the problem. But first: the basic facts. I am using 90% 464 and 10% coconut 83. I pour pretty hot (175-180) as this seems to give me the least trouble with the coconut wax. I use between 8 and 10% FO, depending on the fragrance. After researching here (thank you!) I think my problem is that recently I started to pour the candles inside a cardboard box because my studio is so cold right now. I had thought the slow cool would be better than them cooling off quickly in a 50F room. My question--what do I do with all these seeping candles? There are probably 150 of these. ☹️ Can I fix them? Can they be used? It never occurred to me that cooling too slowly would be a problem!! Thanks!
  7. They duped a fragrance for me. It took about three weeks but I was very happy with the result. They may already have a dupe of CS Cranberry Marmalade. I would give them a call. Their customer service is good.
  8. These two candles are "identical" for all intents and purposes. I made them at the same time from the same pot of wax. Same wax, jar, wick, FO, cure time burn location, burn time. And, as far as I can recall, I cut the wick to the same length. Any difference in wick length is minimal at best. The attached pic is shortly after I lit them but they were doing the same thing yesterday after they'd been burning several hours So why might they be burning so differently?
  9. Hmm....very interesting. Thank you for the sleuthing. I don't know anything about C3 so I'm pretty much in the dark. I do have some additive that Cargill sent me a sample of a while back. I've never tried it but I could give it a whirl and see if it makes a difference. For folks who are more familiar with C3 any additional words of wisdom? 😂 I feel like I'm playing some sort of detective game. Thanks y'all!
  10. The chemist at Cargill told me the % of coconut was proprietary, which I expected. The way he phrased it made me think it isn't super high. In terms of performance, it definitely throws better than my previous blend of 90% 464 and 10% coconut 83. Im going to try some premier 800s next.
  11. I have to say I feel a little bit better knowing that my results seem atypical based on these pictures. I have no idea what the % of coconut is in C6. I did hear back from the chemist at Cargill and he recommended Premier's 700 or 800 series. I'm going to show him these pictures and see what he thinks. I don't have any 800s, so I just tested between 765 and 799. None were acceptable, IMO. I will see if he will share the coconut %.
  12. Ok....I am not going to throw in the towel even though this is frustrating. 😂I have not had to go through this testing process in 5 years so in some ways I'm new to it all. This new candle uses a new wick (ie--not wood as I've used for years), new jar and new wax. I've underestimated just how different all these factors are.😂 The ones I was testing today certainly looked like they were tunneling but I will just keep going and hope that they catch up! I'll add in some testing of the smaller wicks I had discounted previously...and I'll burn them all the way down. 😊 Here are some of the ones I tested today. These pictures are after the second burn which was around 5 hours. Thanks for everyone's assistance this far. I am most appreciative!
  13. Thanks! I would have never thought of that!
  14. My main concern is that a non-full melt pool could lead to tunneling.
  15. How does cure time impact wick performance? I thought that was more for.scent throw.
  16. I used wood wicks exclusively for around 5 years. Most of the time my wax was 90% 464 and 10% coco83. Over time, I found a wick/wax/jar combination that worked fairly well. In my case I used a 1/2 booster wick in a 9 oz straight sided glass jar. You have to trim wood wicks every time, period. I had this on the product page when people ordered them and also did occasional social media posts about how to properly burn a ww candle. I actually printed a little 2x2" card with instructions that I included with purchases. Over those 5 years, I never had an issue with customers complaining about their candles. I never got significant debris like some of those pictures showed. Most issues are prevented by trimming the wick when the wax is completely solid. But that is the inherent challenge with wood wicks; it demands pretty rigorous compliance by the consumer.
  17. I'm not quite sure I understand what you do. How do you stick a wick in here? Thanks.
  18. Unfortunately, I can't find those easily after a (relatively short) search on google. I would be concerned to go with a wick that is difficult to find.
  19. Agree with the above. Wooden Wick Co has the largest selection.
  20. Thanks. I poured some with several Premier wicks last night. Hopefully I'll be able to test them later today.
  21. I'm going to test 6 more wicks today. Hopefully, I'll find I'm moving in the right direction.....
  22. Right, but even the CD12 mushroomed and that wick is 6 sizes smaller from what was recommended by the supplier. 😨 According to them, you have to wick up C-6. I have emailed the candle chemist at Cargill but, unfortunately, he is out of town for the next week.
  23. I've tested them for 3-5 hour durations and different numbers of burns. Some went halfway down, some a bit less, none all the way to the bottom. In the case of CD wicks, the mushrooming alone was enough for me to pretty much rule them out before I got that far. I tried CD 12, 20 and 22 (all less than CS recommended) and the carbon build up was awful. It looked ugly and the mushrooms would drop in the melt pool and look even worse. I've tested several fragrances (lavender, black tea, grapefruit, and a woodsy blend a bit like the one you mention above).
  24. It's NOT a huge jar--3 3/4" high by 3" diameter. When I talked to the folks at Candle Science they said it needs a larger wick than you'd normally expect. So far, my research and testing has confirmed that. When I tested smaller wicks such as HTP 104, 105 and ECO 12 and CD 12, the melt pool struggled to reach the sides and left a lot of residue.
  25. Y'all I am at the end of my rope! I cannot find the right wick for my candles. For years I used 464 with a bit (10%) of coconut wax, however, I decided to stop using it for a number of reasons which aren't really relevant to the issue at hand. I live in Georgia so using TFC as my primary supplier makes sense since I can drive there and save on shipping. So a few months ago I decided to switch to C-6 (again, for a lot of reasons--lower FO, lower cost, demand for coconut wax etc etc etc). So I have been testing testing testing like crazy (and have asked about this previously here). I had to use glass jars to test while I was waiting for my custom jars to arrive from China. Now they're here and I cannot find a suitable wick. The jars are ceramic, straight sided and hold 11 oz. So far I have tried: ECO 12, ECO 16, HTP 104. HTP 105, and CD 12, 20 and 22. I spoke with someone at Candle Science, after their "wick finder" and test notes said to use CD24. They felt that a jar of my size would do best with the CD24 but were unsure to what degree the ceramic jar might make a difference since all of their tests are with glass. I ordered some CD24 which have not arrived but I am not optimistic based on my testing with other sizes. The whole CD series mushrooms like crazy and the residual smoke plume after blowing it out is terrible--there is tons of it and it lasts for over 60 seconds. Between the carbon and the smoke there's no way I can use these. The best performing wick so far has been the ECO 16 but it is clearly too small as there is a lot of residue on the side of jars. Unfortunately, ECO doesn't make a wick larger than 16 so I can't increase it. I've ordered a whole slew of other wicks to test (larger HTPs and a whole slew of Premier wicks) but I feel like I am just randomly throwing darts at a wall. I've mostly focused on testing wicks that I can get at TFC because I can pick them up the same day so I am less familiar with other brands, however, I'm certainly willing to test those too. I would be grateful for any insight y'all might have. Thanks
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