funnygirl

How cute! I think I would rather have the waxed dipped TP than a bear to be honest. At least the TP can look nice in your bathroom, I dont know where the heck to stick a stuffed animal besides my kids rooms, LOL! Great job!

Oh my Gosh! That is soooooo BEAUTIFUL and very Upscale/Classy looking. Nice work!

Very Cute!

Both are very pretty! Love those vibrant colors!

I think they are looking great! I wanted to say I LOVE that green you have on the Pear scent! Too pretty!!!!!

I have no idea what these are, but they sound interesting. Got a pic?

Yep, the wax never goes away, just the scent. Much like a candle on a warmer.

Well, One of the things I do is to wick all my jars before I start pouring. I hate to stop and wick, it really slows me down. The next thing I do is divide everything into groups. For example, I put all my jars and dyes that I will use for 1 scent all together with that scent, all the jars, dye for the next scent together with that scent, etc. keeps me from having to keep going back looking at orders and making sure I got em all. I weigh out how much wax I need for one scent, melt it, mix it, pour it, set aside. Go to the next scent. After I pour everything, I get all my labels rounded up so I can be ready for that. Then I trim wicks one scent at a time, add the lids, labels, and place in the box to ship. Once I finish one scent, I do the next. Gawd, I hope that doesnt sound too tediouse, LOL! It just works for me to keep everything organized and to work things in groups (by scent), and I realized real quick that having everything ready before I got started saved a lot of time.

Awesome Info! Thanks soooooo much! So with the JJ being a bit smaller I think I will start my testing with the 8's, 10's & 12's type ranges. Sound Good? Thanks again!

Blah, I wish I had an exact right answer for you, but all I can tell you is that I carry product liabilty insurance. My insurer said the opposite of yours, because I am actually making the candles myself, and am taking lots of ingredients and making my own product. The manufactures have no control on what you do with their products, so I cant see how they would be liable at all. As a matter of fact, most suppliers have a notice on the site that states "We are not responsible for products you make with our supplies" or something to that affect. If you were purchasing wax that was already scented that came with a specific wick and jar, like one of those instant candle type things, then maybe that might be the case, Im not sure. I would just rather be covered for sure. I only pay about $500/yr for my product liability, so I will stick with that.

I use LX 16's in a couple of scents, LX 18's in most scents, and LX 20's in some heavy scents.

Interesting. Is there a significant difference between 444 and 464? Ive been testing 464, but Im always on the lookout for the best, LOL! I wasnt aware you could pour 444 that hot. Thats why I started testing 464, cauise I aint patient enough to wait for no slushy stage, ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!

Well, Palm doesnt burn like other waxes, it's very hard. I can tell you that for Palm I am stuck on LX series wicks. If I were you I would pick up several of that series in the 20"s range and let the testing begin. Your goal will be to leave a thin shell after a 4-6 hr burn. The shell will begin to consume itself as the candle burns further down so by the time you are at the bottom you will have used most of the wax up. At least that is my goal when wicking Palms anyway, LOL! Good luck.

I have been testing 464 and so far I do really like it, but I have a wicking question for those of you that use it. I have settled on wicks for all my jars/scents except 1. That is my 8 oz. Jelly Jar. I know, I know! The simplest jar is giving me trouble, LOL! I just can seem to get a decent throw in this jar from any of the scents I have tested. So far I have tried the LX series and the ECO series. Is there maybe a better series of wick I could try with this wax/jar combination? If anyone could give me a starting point for testing that would be great. BTW, I am doing mostly all heavy fall scents right now so a bigger wick will most likely be in order. TIA!

Whoa! I did read about adding the melted wax to cover the element first, but then someone asked about what you do when you have wax left over and the consensus was to just turn it on low until the wax melted over the elements, then turn it up on high. So which is it, always cover elements with melted wax, or turn it on low at first. I certianly dont want any fires!!!!!! I dont mind draining our left over wax each time, but it does seem like a bit of a hassle. TIA for any info!

Right now I make most of my candles w/GreenLeafs 70/30. It's a soy blend and what I use for my colored candles. Now, for uncolored candles I am having great success w/GB's 464. I like it because I can pour it hot. I do plan on testing a couple other "hot pour" pure soys. For me personally, I just dont have time to wait for my wax to cool to slushy stage. Like Meridith said, check out what is available near you so you can narrow down a list of waxes to try out. Then take into consideration whether you are looking for a hot pour wax or the norm soy that is usually poured cool. Once you find a couple near you, come back and search them on the board so you can find what others who use/have tested the wax say. HTH!

Increasing the FO from 6% up to 12% is definatly going to require a larger wick to get the same MP. Like smart tart says, if it doesnt throw at 6% then I move on to another FO. If an FO wont throw in the wax Im useing (which is GL's 70/30) then I try another FO instead of uping the amount. I just feel like Im throwing my money away if I have to raise it. JMHO.

Thank you both! This helps alot, cause it is definatly seeming like this wax doesnt need as large of a wick as my regular wax. Going to pour now.

I bought 10 lbs of this to play around with, and was hoping I could get a little advice for wicking it. I currently use GL's 70/30 blend (which I LOVE), and have never worked with so much soy. Im going to pour up some testers tomorrow in 10 oz. Apoth jars. These are the bigger jars, not the keepsake jars, with a diameter around 4". I know I will need to double wick, but I just have no clue what a good starting point will be. I have ECO's, HTP's, and LX series wicks. Im going to make my testers with some of the heavier fall type sample oils I have piling up, LOL! Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

!!!!! Youa ROFLMFAO!!! You are way more observant than me, hehehe!

Order up some Mill and when it arrives stay up all night pouring candles. Better that then sending out candles that may not be any good. BTW, I have had to do this on more than one occasion for one reason or another.

I make a lot of palm pillars, and this is what I do. I pour all the way to the top of the mold. When I get a good "crust" on top, i go a head and poke my relief holes. As the candle is setting up, I will go back and poke into my relief holes to keep them open. After the candle is completely dry, I REMOVE it from the mold and set it upside down on my counter. I then take the heated wax for my repour, and I slowly drip it into the relief holes untill they are all filled. No second pour lines.

Here is something to consider also. When trying to find what wick you are going to use, go ahead and pour the container with no wick at all. When it is dry and you are ready to try it, use a skewer or a wick pin or something, and poke a hole where you want your wick to be. Then just pop a wick in the hole. If the wick isnt working, blow out the candle, let it dry, pull out the old wick and stick a new wick in the hole. Im telling you this because when I was a newbie, I just made up a ton of candles all with different wicks and started burning them. Blah! What I waist, LOL!

:rolleyes2 There definatly is drama, their is always someone on here that likes to gripe and moan about they way someone asks a question, or that wants to try to explain to everyone the correct way to do it. And no board would be complete without a resident SA jumping in and adding their 2 cents. I say to all the newbies, post all the questions you want. Someone will answer you, and if someone starts posting a lot of nonsence in your thread, you can either ignore it, or jump right in, LOL! It really helps a person to de-stress by having it out on the message boards, not to mention it's free entertainment for you and the whole family. I can see why some people make it part of their daily routine to come here and pick at others. It's refreshing and stimulating. I am the smartest of all the Candletech board members!!!!!! Mwah Ha Ha! I am the most powerful, knowing not only how to make a candle, but everthing else too! Mwah Ha Ha! I alone shall conquer the Candletech Board! Mwah Ha Ha Ha! LOL! Seriousely though, you just gotta learn not to take anything on this board too personal.

It's one thing to say positive truthful things about a product, and something completely different to bash other peoples products. As far as burning candles myself, I love the way paraffin throws, it's what I started out with. Now, I do have 2 kids with asthma, and I dont care what anyone says, paraffin candles make them wheeze. Now, I will also say that some FO's even in soy makes them wheeze too, but there arent alot. (cinnamons are the worst). I personally love working with my soy/paraffin blend. It doesnt affect my kids like the straight paraffin, and I get great throwing candles that burn cleaner. At the first show I did, I had some people making "100% pure soy candles" next to me. I went over and smelled their products and was very nice even though I liked my candles appearance and cold throw much better. Later on they came over and were looking at my candles, and they immediatly went into how blends just arent as good as pure soy candles, and that dyes are bad and blah blah blah. Well, I was just shocked at how competitive and ugly they really were behind their fake smiles, all the while bashing my candles at my own booth. That was a good lesson for me to see that some people only sell by putting others down and they will say anything to make their product sound superior, even lying about them. Oh well, it's easy to sell a candle to someone one time, but you know your doing something right whebn you get those loyal customers that come back time & time again.