Lynnann81

Thank you.

Thank you! I've never worked with beeswax what wicks do you use for it?

Hello everyone, I recently made my very first pillar candle and I love it! I used pillar of bliss wax and a large dog silicone mold it is so stinking cute. I would like to make more molded candles but wish to stick to natural waxes. I have played around with BW-921 in wax melts and tarts but I have been unable to get good hot or cold throw from this wax and after reading reviews it seems like this is something others struggled with as well. I know it wasn't the FO because I used sea salt and orchid from CS and I have never had any problems with that FO in anything else. Is Freedom Pillar wax any good? I was hoping to get some wax suggestions from all of you! When I selected my wick I just measured the middle inside of the mold like I would a candle jar and chose my wick based off my wick guide. Is that how you do it or is there other things I need to take into account when making pillars? The mold I used is larger at the bottom and much smaller at the top how do you select a wick when working with a mold like this? Ultimately I know I need to test but just hoping for some input from more experienced candle makers so I can make better decisions for my testers. This is a whole new ball game for me so any help would be greatly appreciated!

I like the presto pot wax melter, I purchased a large one that holds 18lbs of melted wax with the spout on etsy for 135$. For Christmas I made 150 8oz mason jars as staff gifts and the presto pot worked great, it heats up fast so everytime it was running low I filled it back up and the wax gets to temp pretty quick. I also have the digi boil its huge was 200$ and was a stupid purchase on my part. Im not making large enough batches of candles to ever need the capacity of the digi boil. Last year when I started making candles I was over heating my wax to compensate for the cool down that occurred when pouring, it was affecting my finished product. Nightlight suggested getting the little griddle and it has been a huge help.

Sorry I use 464, that info probably would have been helpful! What percentage of FO do you use?

Hello, I haven't made any candles in a while but a friend just asked me to make a large order. Not sure im up to the task but im going to try. I was hoping someone could look over my thought process and math and let me know if im going in the correct direction. Any suggestions on the cheapest place to buy 6oz tins? So far candle science is the cheapest I can find with shipping. I have CD wicks, but is there a better wick for tins? I have some small ecos also. The FO has no vanilla in it any suggestions on what sizes I should start testing with would be appreciated also. 200 6oz candle tins, Im thinking with FO and wick ill only use about 5oz of wax per tin? Ive never used tins so Ill have to test everything. Fortunately its all one fragrance. 200tins x 5oz=1,000oz wax(62.5lbs) 12% of 1,000=120oz FO (7.5lbs) I know im asking a lot in this post but I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you all have. Thank you.

Thank you! I switched to the paper dixie cups from the plastic and its working pretty well.

I will try again with straight 464, and spray the mold. Would lowering the fragrance load on the mold help?

I tried 464 first but most of the time it broke when I was removing from the mold. Is there something I can add to the 464 to make it a bit harder?

Hello, im looking for suggestions on a wax to use in silicone molds. The mold in the pictures was made with BW 921. It burns fine but doesn't have a good hot or cold throw. For the most part its ok because the 464 in the bottom smells really good but was hoping to find something that might work better. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Just curious is the frosting there before you use the heat gun? Ive made candles that had no frosting then after hitting them with the heat gun to smooth out the tops, frosting formed when it dried the second time.

Great I will purchase it today! Stirring- I set a timer for 2 mins and stir with a tablespoon, I do stir again right before pouring. I thought that stirring too fast would cause rougher tops, ill give it a try. I made a batch of pure paradise candles the next day they were sweating so I lowered the FO, made another batch and stirred much better they still had sweat on them after 24hrs. I assumed I either didnt stir well enough or was using to high of a fragrance load. I absolutely love this scent but haven't gotten a great candles out of it yet. 😕 Totally off topic but what do you guys weigh your fragrance oils out in? I was using little glass containers but thats a pain, then I tried little silicone measuring cups. I was hoping to find something disposable, any chance dixie cups would be an option? I know FO melts plastic if left to long I see what a drop of it did to my scale. How do you get all the FO out of your pouring pitchers? This drives me nuts I use the heat gun and a bunch of paper towels and wipe it the best I can. Im sorry for all the questions, thank you for all of the advice.

I had never thought about that! A little hot plate to keep the wax where I need it temp wise for FO, so I wont need to heat it so high. That is a great suggestion. Is there a specific type I should purchase?

Using the double boiler I would only heat the wax to 185, but using the digi boil the temp gets to low when transferring to the pouring pitcher. This probably wouldn't be a problem if I was making larger quantities of the same candle, but im usually only making a few of one type. I even hit the pitcher with the heat gun before pouring. Ive never thought to add the FO lower then 180-185. I was always under the impression that FO had to be added at those temps. Thank you for the pictures and explanations. I will add this to my list of tests! I have seen many great suggestions on here for blending waxes that id like to try, but should I wait until I fully understand what im doing with 464, or is ok to start experimenting with other stuff?

Thank you all so much, I am definitely going to drop the fragrance load and try the suggested pour temps. I have a green winged macaw, fragrance is deadly to them, so I have to make my candles in the basement apartment. The whole house runs one one system the temp down there could also be effecting my process. Ill have to get a good space heater to see if I can get the room to stay at 70, also never thought about humidity. Wow there is so much that goes into the process! I actually just learned about wickless testing recently and it has come in handy. I have 2 different sized apothecary jars I poured and have struggled to find the correct wick for either of them yet, thank goodness I dont have to keep pouring them, that would get so expensive. I tried CD16, 20, 26, and now im going to try double wicking with CD8s. Thank you for all the advice.

Ill have to give that a try, I just worry the candles wont be as strong. Does everything else in my process seem to be correct? I feel like ive taken every suggestion ive found online and tried it, I will definitely give your suggestion a try next. Thank you for your feedback!

I know this is an issue with 464, but is there anything else I can do to minimize this? This is my process, I heat the wax in a digi boil to 195, I dispense the amount I need, pour my 10%FO in around 185 but no less the 180. I gently stir for 2mins. I let the wax cool to about 130-140 and I also heat the jars in the oven and try to get them close to the temp of the wax. I have all the candles spaced out, and on a cookie cooling rack. What else can I do? This is driving me crazy.

I was curious about this also, I see that a lot of people add them to their packaging. I was thinking about the extra cost and debating if I needed them or not. I have only made in person sales to coworkers but have already learned that people dont listen or follow directions! I share an office with a young lady, she hears me talk about candles all day, then she goes home and doesn't do anything I told her to do. She wasn't trimming the wick, she was leaving matches in the candle, she also fell asleep one night with one burning (has 2 cats). I know this because even though I have tested the candles prior to selling them I ask her for photos of the candle. You should have seen the poor candle she left burning over night! The other young lady I share an office with lit her candle for an hour, blew it out and went to sleep, she repeated this a few days in a row, now she is curious why her candle started tunneling! I know the people I work with are probably tired of hearing about candle making and have started tuning me out at this point. 🙃 I ordered Thank you/Candle care cards a few days ago. I bought a template on Etsy and ordered them in a standard business card size, vistaprint was having a 40%off sale so I got a box of 100 for like 18$ plus shipping. If I ever do start selling online I will get something larger but for now I hope these little cards will work..

This candle had a very smooth top when it dried, its 464, 10% FO. Heated to 195 in digi boil, added FO at 185, poured between 140- 150 thought it was perfect because the top looked so good. I just lit it to start wick testing and sure enough there must have been a hole under the top layer. What do I do now, will it even out? How can I salvage this test? Both candles have CD16s in them im sure you can tell its the one on the bottom.

So this morning I lit the CD12 at 6 am then forgot about it until 11:30, it still looks the same. Surprisingly there isnt much of a mushroom either im about to light it again.

Now what? The CD10 left behind a lot of wax on the jar, the CD12 left a slight residue on one side, and the CD14 has a lot of soot on the jar. Are any of these acceptable, and if not where should I go from here. So glad I listened to TallTaly the other day and continued burning! These pictures were taken at the end of a 4 hour burn.

The company I purchased from is in OH, the items ship fast and always arrive in a few days.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the feedback. Ill continue buring these to see what happens. Laura I ordered these from The jar store, the price is a little higher per vessel but the shipping was substantially lower. Once I did the math it ended up being cheaper. TJS has a lot of negative reviews online, I didnt see them until after I placed my first order, fortunately I didnt have any issues and have now placed 4 separate orders with them.

I did cure them for two week, the temp in my home is set at 69. This morning I assumed they were all failures because of the soot and mushrooming. I will continue to burn until the end and see what happens. I am keeping an eye on the temp of the jars.

The candle on the left is a CD10, the middle is a CD12 and the right is the CD14. I have burned them in 4hr increments over the past week. This is my first time using a vessel this tall.