blacktoast94

9 minutes ago, NightLight said:

You can make a diffuser for your heat gun with a metal strainer so the heat doesn’t go on candle full blast. Do not hold heat gun right next to strainer! You should get a mini heat gun instead of a biggie from home depot etc. I have a mini with two settings that’s handy for lots of crafts.

Thanks nightlight! do you have any recommendation on which brand of heat gun to get? i am using a mini heat gun, but the minimum heat is about 400F, and i can't find any other heat gun that has a lower heat than that.

On 1/3/2022 at 10:59 AM, birdcharm said:

For your second pour ... I normally retain a little wax in the melting pot.  Then I only warm it slightly past being melted, allow it to cool a bit before pouring a very thin layer.  I think you're getting cracks due to the top pour being too hot.  If I have to use a heat gun for some minor reason, I hold it a bit far away and only point to where it's needed at first, then lightly go over to smooth it out and I lightly cover with a little piece of fabric.  Insulating your containers might help with the wet spots.

Hi birdcharm, when you say you lightly cover with a piece of fabric, does it mean you just put a fabric over the whole jar opening so the heat that reaches the candle won't be as much? I have yet another candle with cracks after the second pour and am terrified of ruining yet another candle with my heat gun 🥶 Thanks for the tip on the second pour, i'll try that next time!

Hi! I've recently switched to C-3 Soy wax from Cargill because i read a lot about it having creamy smooth tops and great adhesion online.

I tried the following 2 methods:

1. Melted the wax to about 180F, added in 6-7% FO around 170F, stirred for 3 minutes, then poured around 120F (cloudy stage). Then i did a second pour for the top layer since the tops from the first pour were not smooth enough.

2. Melted the wax to about 170F, added in 6-7% FO around 160F, stirred for 2 minutes, then poured immediately.

Results:

There were better results for the first method - the second one resulted in cracks in the top surface and FO was not incorporated well enough.

However the problem is that with the first method:

1. Even after doing the second pour the tops are still not completely smooth. There are still weird lines all over the top of the wax. A lot of people would suggest using a heat gun, however i am consistently getting the same problem - once i use the heat gun, my candles start sweating the next day. Without the heat gun it would be fine.

2. There were also some wet spots, although i had preheated the jars before pouring.

Any suggestions/thoughts? It would be greatly appreciated 🙂

On 6/4/2021 at 1:44 AM, TallTayl said:

It is AOK, and actually recommended to meld the oils for lotion, perfumery, etc. 

Thanks for your reply TallTayl! I did think about lotions and perfume, but a little worried to sell those because I'm not sure about the regulations in my country for cosmetics. But they don't regulate sale/manufacture of EO's. 

Can I ask if different EO's have different density causing them to separate when mixed together? There is really no info on this out there 😕 

Hi all!

I recently have been wanting to add on to my candle line, and one of the ideas that came up is blending my own essential oils for sale.

Is it ok to mix and bottle any essential oils together? Or will it go bad if i mix the wrong ones together? I just can't seem to find any information on this.

I know that mixing EO's in a diffuser is fine, but i'm not sure about mixing them and keeping them for long periods of time.

Thanks in advance 🥰

On 1/1/2021 at 10:57 PM, TallTayl said:

Hello and welcome!

 

your process does not seem bad.  I would heat the C3 to 185, and add FO right away, then stir until temp drops to 105 or so.  I poured at a cloudy to slushy stage for best overall performance.  C3 can form cavities which make even the prettiest tops useless in a candle.

 

c3 also needs a fairly long cure period to reach its potential. 2 weeks is not uncommon. Your wick choice does not look bad.  Do not wick any candle for fast full melt pool.  A tiny tin will look underwicked to th untrained eye, but in the next blink will be totally melted and super hot. 

 

you’ve hit a set of variables that is very challenging. To get decent HT you need to balance the wick with the wax, fo and container. 
 

first-wax: C3, even with coconut oil added, takes some heat to throw. Soy itself is quite heavy and needs the energy of a strong burn to launch it with scent into the air. Without knowing your exact FO I can’t comment if it is an easy thrower or not. Some just do not work well with soy waxes. 
 

Second obstacle-container: tins are very difficult to wick for hot throw because they are quite short compared to the height. Most great HT is achieved once an air current is started in the container.  If you look at most retail containers, there’s quite a lot of head space and often a “neck” or curve at the top to get the air rolling quickly.  Plus, the metal conducts heat differently than glass or ceramic, and requires a different wicking strategy. Glass holds heat and will help a smaller wick along once the glass warms. Tins release heat fairly quickly, which means most people over wick for the top of the burn, ending up far too hot by the bottom. 
 

third obstacle: small candles are the absolute hardest to wick for HT while maintaining a safe burn. 
 

I would think of small candles more like votives. Use a lighter wax, like a coconut wax, palm or paraffin blend  for best shot at Ht.  If is not impossible with C3 it will just be more difficult unless working with larger, taller containers. The sweet spot seems to be a 3” wide x 3-4” tall glass jar. 
 

coconut oil is not the magic bullet for HT that people claim.  It by itself does not throw well at all.  If you fill a candle jar with coconut oil, scent it and stick  a wick into it you will be quite surprised at how lousy the burn will be. Coconut WAX made for stand alone candles contains additives to improve the burn, and perform like a decent candle wax with potentially good HT. 

Hi there thank you so much for your detailed reply! It was very helpful  

I bought a new glass jar with a curve at the top as you mentioned and am excited to test again using your method once my new bag of wax and fragrance arrives.

I contacted the fragrance manufacturer of the fragrance I was using, they said their fragrances can be rather mild.. so i decided to change to another supplier. Will update on my results soon!

Update:

After 3.5 hours of burning, the wax melted all the way to the sides

I suppose the problem is not the wick then.. 

Also, if i put my nose directly above the candle, i get a very faint smell of the fragrance. However when i move away just slightly, the scent is gone.

Hi guys! I'm a newbie at candle making. 

So far, I've been making candles with smooth tops and good cold throw, but hot throw is non-existent. 

My steps to make my candle is as follows:-

1. Use a a 4oz tin container with 6.2cm diameter

2. Put the cotton wick (supplier doesn't state what diameter the wick is for - not much wick choices in my country.. but i did see 1 supplier selling HTP and CDN online .. any advice which kind of wick i can get?)

3. melt a mix of C3 soy wax 90% (74g) + coconut wax 10% (9g) till 75C / 167F (I have tried using 100% soy wax also) 

4. Cool till 65C / 149F, then add 7.5ml (0.25oz) fragrance oil (I've tried 2 suppliers of fragrance oil so far, they seem to be good quality ones)

5. Mix for 2 minutes

6. Cool till 55C / 131F, then pour into the container

7. Cure for 1 week.

Results I got:-

1. Smooth candle top and good cold throw

2. Not hot throw

3. Candle doesn't burn all the way to the side (the picture attached is after 1h 40 min of burning).

The above figures were based on some article I found online. Can't figure out what i did wrong as there is simply too much information online and i'm not sure what is correct

Any help will be greatly appreciated Thanks all ~