Jcandleattic

You could call them and ask, but I bet they won't tell you. Most companies have spent years on their blends and most are proprietary.

Beautiful. Yes, palm pillars have a different surface feel to them than paraffin pillars. I think you did great. As Top said, now see how it burns. You will notice also that palm pillars (well, any palm really) burns differently than other waxes as well...

Any correctly made handmade soap is "good". I've been making my own soap for over 13 years now and have never had one clogged drain due to my soap. I can't speak to the bonner's liquid soap as I've never used it. As far as if liquid is as good as bar soap, it's more of a preference and not one being better than the other. Same with which ingredients/oils to use. It really is more of a preference and not one being better than the other. My suggestion would be to read up in the General Soap Making section, there is a lot of great information there. Here is a good start - http://www.craftserver.com/topic/59022-new-cp-soapers-reference-thread/ Also maybe get a couple of good soapmaking books and read up on those. They were a GREAT help to me when first starting out. Just remember that no matter where you get a recipe, ALWAYS run it through a lye calculator and not take the written word on the lye amounts being correct.

I've never seen 2.5" diameter molds. Peak has 2" diameter ones, but and a 2-1/8" one but nothing 2.5. I'll keep a lookout for you.

I haven't but just noticed them and next pay day I'm going to put an order in. One can never have too much glitter. Or fragrances. Or micas. Or anything else really. LMAO

Looks like fire! Beautiful!

I use shakers I get from AH/RE and just try to go evenly. Some people use those puffers (not sure what they are called)

A scale that will weigh to the 1/10 of a gram is probably the best.

I love pumice and very finely ground coffee grounds, but only for coffee scented gardners and mechanics soaps.

I do call them sink holes, and poking relief holes will help eliminate that, but yes, OG is right, IMO you are pouring way too hot which is more of what is causing them, than anything else. If you pour cooler, even if they cool fast you won't get them near as badly if at all. The only time I get sink holes like this is when I'm pouring pillars and with those you have to poke relief holes anyway, so there's that. I've never had to poke relief holes in my container candles, not even my soy candles that I've just recently started making.

IMO the best wax for it's versatility in making pillars and cut-n-curl candles is the IGI1343A, with a little microcrystaline added when making the carved candles. (that will help the layers adhere to each other better, without splitting) I would search suppliers for the IGI1343 to see which might be closest to you for shipping purposes. As for FO's, that is incredibly subjective. There are sooooo many, and so many with very high quality suppliers that it's hard to narrow down just one or even a couple. The best advice I can give there is search this forum, it has great advice as to suppliers. I use mostly Peak and Nature;s Garden for most of my supplies, but that is mainly because I am a creature of habit and started out with NG and then found Peak and realized they were local to me, carried my wax and viola! NO SHIPPING. It's great. OG was posting at the same time I was, so this is sort of repetitive but as she said, this is not a cheap hobby, and even if you eventually sell, you will most likely spend hundreds, possibly thousands before you sell your first (safe) candle. But the journey, experience, and learning are so worth it! You will love it if you keep with it and give it a chance.

It is always better to always do measurements by weight - always, and especially when you are first starting out. It makes everything much more accurate, so that your results are consistent!!

Paraffin doesn't need to 'cure' the way soy and other waxes do. So you only need it to sit about 2-3 days to make sure it is completely solid and not still warm inside (believe it or not it can take up to 72+ hours after pouring for this to happen) before testing. Also, 1343 is a straight paraffin with no additives added, which makes this wax VERY versatile, but also makes it able to take less of a scent load. 6% is high for this wax (I only use 4% when making pillars out of 1343 and they are plenty strong enough), I would imagine 9% without any additives, or even just a little vybar, would make it weep after unmolding. Vybar will help with scent load because it is an additive that helps bind the scent to the wax, however if you use too much (and it's a very fine line as to what is too much and what is just right) you will get no scent throw at all, because the vybar is preventing that from happening. I only use about 1/4 teaspoon per pound of wax when using this wax. Me personally when using paraffin for pillars I always use a flat braid wick. For me, they work the best for my wax/scent/color combo. For a 3" diameter pillar I find the 24ply a perfect burn for most (not all) of my paraffin pillars. As OldGlory said, make sure to take copious notes. It's the only way you will really know how to duplicate your results, and what definitely works, vs what definitely or sort of, doesn't. Good luck! Welcome to the board and the addiction.

Oh okay, well, that's why I said, if.

So gorgeous!

If they have this next year, I will probably go. As it turns out I have a friend from TN coming here that weekend this year, so wouldn't have been able to make it anyway. Next year when I go to her place, I'll drag her along to the convention with me. LOL

Clay in soaps give it a nice slip, and it just feels really nice. Some people say that it will anchor EO scents as well. And you can use it for a natural coloring, but I have found in my experience, that doesn't work as well for me as it does for others. When I use clay, I add it to my oils before my lye solution and then give that a good stick blend. I only use about 1 TBSP PPO.

I have never a fragrance not throw in that wax. Pretty much any FO you use will be a good thrower in it. And both of those suppliers are high quality suppliers with great selections of fragrances.

Can you post a picture of the soap with the spots? It will help us determine if it's ash, stearic spots, or DOS (doubtful it's DOS). If it's ash or stearic, it's fine and just aesthetic, but a pic will help us help you determine what it actually is.

it would be very similar to a votive candle, and yes, it can be done. I use votive wax for that size candle, and not your wax, but I'm sure as long as it's wicked correctly, it would work great.

What did y'all do that was crafty this weekend? We really didn't do much. Friday I relaxed and cleaned up my soaping area. Found a case of wax I didn't know I had (YAY) and decided to wait until today to cut it up Saturday, my husband and I went up to Estes Park (a little mountain town) home of the Stanley Hotel made famous by the moving The Shining with Jack Nicholson. They are also famous for Salt Water Taffy. They used to have shops that made it by hand pulling it, but everything is machine pulled now. Got some pics of that. However, with the weather we have been having, and it being a mountain town, we were only there for about an hour and a half when it started pouring rain, and then got so cold that the rain turned into snow. *sigh* so we came home. Today, I cut up the case of J50 I found into 1lb increments, and made 2 16oz candles to take to my hairdresser on Friday when I go in to get my hair done. One is scented "Mardi Gras Parade" - a custom blend of mine, and "Black Cherry Fizz" that I am renaming "Cherry Cola Fizz" because it smell just exactly like a cherry coke. Too bad I didn't have my appointment on Friday afternoon, because Jeffery Donovan came into the salon!! (he was the main character on the show Burn Notice and is very very good looking) I have no idea why he was there, but my hairdresser sent me texts and pictures of the 2 of them. So far it's been a good weekend. Tomorrow, my mom and I are going to go up gambling and try to win some money (or just have fun, which is usually what happens, I rarely ever win, but I have fun - I play the animated penny slots) What have y'all been up too? I know it's a holiday weekend, but the board has been pretty quiet lately.

I do the same as ChrisR. I only reuse them for tests, and only about 5-6 times. Never more than 8 for sure.

(I moved this to the M&P section - there will probably be more answers here)

You should probably just start over. I don't know if there's a way to tell after it's been burned. I only write in marker on a piece of masking tape the wick/size and tape it to the bottom of the container. That way there is no confusion by having it in 2 separate places. Once I know which wicking is correct, THEN I put it in my notebook as the wick to use for that combo of wax, container, fo, and only then.

So pretty!