Crafty1_AJ

On 12/7/2018 at 8:22 AM, Jenni Wix said:

I recently mentioned a problem with curling wicks off centering the MP. Well, I looked up Wick curling here on CS the other day, and saw an older post where someone said that if you can see the ^ where it's braided, the wick curls in that direction, as opposed to the v shape on the other side. I tried and tired again to find it earlier, but I couldn't for the life of me.  So I decided to just give it a go without rereading it.  

 

 I did it with two bare wicks and it was accurate.  So I placed some wicks I'm testing out in jars a bit off center from the direction the ^ is facing, in hops to correct the centering if the melt pool.  Crossing my fingers.  

 

This might be common knowledge, but I was so frustrated with curling, and essentially finding that most wicks are made to curl.  Except for zinc (still wondering about cotton core) .  Please correct me if I'm wrong, or if anyone knows of others that aren't designed to curl.  But now that I know that it's part of the deal, and how to look for it in Ecos at least, it gives me a little hope for my jars.  Premieres, I can't tell the direction of the curl (see the v's) at all in advance, so probably won't use in these.  I'm hoping the ecos do ok.  If not, trying CDs/CDNs.  

 

I'm basing my wick choices on C3 because, although it's a different wax, C6 is not closer to a plain coconut, I thought I'd need to wick down during my last tests, and ended up pretty underwicked.  It's got soy, and palm additives (probably), and I'm suspicious that it burns somewhat similarly.  

I have burned hundreds of candles with RRD's, and they don't curl nearly as much as most other wicks, IME.  They are cotton core and much more rigid than, for example, braided wick.  And as you say, zinc core don't curl.  Wicks that curl too much are my pet peeve.  LOL.  I do use braided wick sometimes in my pillars, but I'm never happy with that curl off-setting my usually-well-centered melt pool.    I'm always moving the burning wick over to center with a wick dipper for a more even burn.   I'm a fussy pants that way.   

22 hours ago, GoldieMN said:

Sigh. . .  Anyone else having problems with fragrance oil seeping out on top of C-1 cured jars?  

GoldieMN

Did you hit the tops with a heat gun?

I use a whisk.

You can get Peak Wild Mountain Honey at Keystone Candle Supplies.

I use raw spooled wicking for my palm pillars.  They burn fine without the wick being primed.  And I agree with the previous poster ... let them cool slowly.  I put mine in a big ol' beverage cooler and the crystal patterns develop nicely.

I currently make both soy and paraffin.  Some customers do specifically request soy, but most of my customers don't have a strong preference.  Some of them don't want soy at all, but will only buy the paraffin. 

While I sell more soy online, here locally, where customers can sniff and choose, paraffin outsells soy.  I live in the Midwest.  Hope that helps.

Astorlite J50 is a good thrower!  I don't know the new numbers since bought out by IGI.  But it was really good when I tested it!

On 1/3/2019 at 3:25 AM, Sponiebr said:

There's about a BAZILLION things that can heat soap up.

 

Like most floral fo's.  *sigh*

On 1/4/2019 at 11:10 AM, Candybee said:

I never force gel and don't intend to. Not every soaper wants to gel. I have done it before and frankly don't see the benefits one way or the other. But then I do mostly milk soaps and I have heard that other soapers that do milk soaps tend to not force gel. I just see gelling as a matter of preference and not a rule of soapmaking.

I let my soaps gel because I can unmold and cut sooner.  But I will say that I prefer the creamy look and texture of ungelled MILK soaps.  There's my one exception!

I think lower humidity in winter may be a contributing factor.  Lower humidity means soap loses moisture faster.

On 7/19/2018 at 8:26 PM, Trappeur said:

Omg!   You did Rice Flower and Shea?   That is one of my all time favorites!

Sarah this scent is so heavenly gorgeous!   It's a light scent but B E A U T I F U L.

^ This. ^  I love RF&S, too.  Nice work, Candy!

And some eo's, no matter what I tried, just had that Coleman Lantern Fuel smell to them when burning.  Yuck!  I prefer those funky ones in soy wax melts. 

10 minutes ago, Trappeur said:

What a beautiful name....Mayan Gold....

 

Trappeur

It was a gorgeous fragrance!  Spices, chocolate, patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla...all my faves. 

Candy, I have a show this weekend.  I'm taking a few bars of Chocolate Almond soap.  I'll let you know if they sell!  LOL

Straight chocolate soap did not sell all that well for me either.  It sold better when I did blends, such as Chocolate Raspberry Truffle (unscented center using raspberry mica).  I used OM Turkish Delight for that one.  The other combo that sells better than straight chocolate for me is Chocolate Almond.  I blend my own.  I can't help you on chocolate soap scents, because I've just used up the last of mine and it was from TSW.  That's what I blended with the almond.   (So sick of good suppliers going out of business.  LOL)  I still have a few of the chocolate almond soaps and they are selling OK - not great, but they do move.  Particularly at this time of year.

Another chocolate blend I used to make (and that had decent sales) was Mayan Gold.  I think I used the one from TSW or BB.  That one was a personal fave of mine!

Love that look!  Love frosted jars!

When I started out, people just took it for granted that they'd have to pay cash.  Now, smartphones / mobile data / square-type payment apps are more widely used and becoming increasingly well-known, so I think more customers are beginning to expect that we take cc's.  SO thankful for this technology.

I've had a significant increase as well.  I now go home from shows and markets with far less cash and way more debit/credit card payments.

In fact, at a recent show, nearly 3/4 of my customers purchased with credit or debit cards!

Thought of another one the other day:  The invalid has an invalid license.  

I'm here until Thursday, folks...

On 10/23/2018 at 3:00 PM, Jcandleattic said:

As @Crafty1_AJ suggested, FO will work, however, it has to be skin safe. 

 

The best thing I have used, hands down to remove dye stains is mineral oil. It will clean dye off anything in .00000001 seconds flat!! 

 

I wear old ratty t-shirts, or clothes that I don't care if they get stained or not, so have no advice for that, because mineral oil will most likely clean the dye, but leave an oil stain on clothing. 

You know, now that you mention it, I have an old bottle of Peak Dye Remover in my workshop.  I had forgotten all about it.  I recently tried it on my hands and it got the dye out easily.  I'm pretty sure it is MINERAL OIL.  Works great.

TN had a lot of good ones.  *sigh*  

How about popping the wrong color into the pot?  Say, green dye in the LEMON scented candles?  I think a *FRIEND* did this once.  When she was tired.  Yeah, a FRIEND.

I use only vegetable fats in most of my recipes, but the exception is my Grandma's Old Fashioned Lye Soap.  That one is heavy on the lard.  That way, if customers ask for soap like Granny used to make, I'm good to go, assuming Granny used soapcalc and a metric scale.   

Thanks.  I have only test-burned in a cool house, so wasn't sure.  Haven't burned in summer yet!

Nuts, I meant to post this in vegetable wax section.  Sorry, mods!  *face palm*

I've poured lots of palm pillars, but am just now starting to experiment with container palm candles.  I know that soy candles burn differently in a cold room as opposed to a warm room.  Is this also true for palm wax?  Or do ambient temps when burning the candle not make any difference in burn rate?  

Can you post a photo?