Jcandleattic

I think I saw a Red Licorice at SOS, but not sure. I would try there, they seem to have just about everything.

I agree with Trappeur, and the others. Short honest answer is yes, you can make better candles than commercially made candles. Long answer is, yes, you can make a better candle, but (as others have stated), it takes time, effort, money (and lots of it) and a willingness to be patient. I have been making candles for 15 years now and just recently (in the last 5 years or so) have seen any sort of quantifiable profit. Before that, IF there was a profit, it all went right back into the business with purchasing new supplies, etc., I know others have seen a profit sooner than this, of course, but I work full-time and had to stop for a year or two here and there, but even without those hiccups it still took me 2 years of testing all the different combos of wax/fragrance/wicks/jars etc., to get the candles good enough for me to sell. And that was after thousands of dollars in supplies. So then it took years to recoup that loss and another few years to make a profit. Now I have a decent flow of income from my shows etc., but having other items to sell adds to that. As others have said, we are not trying to discourage you at all. We just want you to realize the reality of making a decent, safe, sell-able candle. When bad handmade candles get sold, it reflects on all of us, not just the seller of the bad candle. We see a lot of people, especially this time of year, come in and want to start making them now, to give for THIS holiday season, and it just isn't that simple is all. We wish you the best of luck, and keep that passion alive! That's what you will need during the daunting testing period...

No worries - I haven't read through the whole thread yet but I'm sure it's been said many times, but I want to reiterate - candlemaking is not a "make money quick" type of endeavor. It takes a lot of money, a lot of patience and a lot of time and testing. All equally important as the rest. Also what might not be mentioned here, before you start selling (even if you have perfected your craft to the best possible outcome you could possibly have) get insurance. It really is a must - especially when dealing with candles and the unpredictable way people burn them. *** And now through reading the rest of the thread I guess I am just paraphrasing what others have said, but now you have it from several sources. Good luck in your endeavors. Don't give up, and don't be discouraged. When you have questions, come, ask and we will all try to help as much as possible. Welcome to the board. With time, patience and testing testing testing? ABSOLUTELY it is. In most (but obviously not all) handcrafted and homemade candles are much superior to Yankee and GC simply because we do take the time and effort to perfect our craft where as all they are looking for is the bottom line and profit and machine make their candles and IMO use inferior products.

Just cut them and they turned out great. I'll have pics tomorrow. My camera, phone and iPad are all dead atm. LOL I will be making another one with several different colored M&P chunks and call it White Jewel Fudge. (you know, like the Christmas candy)

How long did you let the candle cure before test burning? Sometimes they need to sit for up to 7-14 days before getting a really good hot throw...

That's how my candles slide out of my molds as well. They literally just slide right out...

Oh, I see. I don't do that when I use a wick pin, I just wick it and light it and have never had a problem with them burning correctly.

Yep, just wick, wick tab and foam. No, I don't add anything else. The only time I get leaks is when I pour too hot. How hot are you pouring? You might be pouring too hot and that's why you end up with the leakage. The hotter the wax, the thinner the liquid which makes it easy to flow through and sometimes will even melt the glue on the wick stickums and duct tape. I don't know what you mean by messing up the top if you use a wick pin? if the LX doesn't come in spooling, most likely they will already be tabbed and primed making it almost impossible to twist them, unless you melt the priming off, and then twist and reprime, running the risk of the wick being too short. I hope this helps some. Let me know if you have other questions.

Do LX wicks come in spool form? If so you can use a generic "jiffy wicker" system. Any piece of foam, and a wick tab should do it, then just thread and twist. You will need a wick bar as well. (see pics) If not and you need to use a wick pin, the easiest I've found is to use a well seasoned mold and some stearic in your wax for an easier release, you could also spray with a mold release (I use a silicone spray - see pic). My molds are so seasoned at this point though that the pillars just slide right out of the mold without having to take the wick pin out of the mold. Good luck!

I wish there was a HUGE like button for this statement. I tell people this all the time when they are spouting Natural = Good, and when they say if it's found in nature it's automatically good for you. Like you said, Hemlock, is found in nature - as is arsenic, Poison ivy, Poison oak (I mean, come ON - it has the word POISON right in them!!) and several other fatal, or sickening substances. All natural. And now I will slowly slither off of my soap box and go about my business. LOL Sorry, TallTayl, I know nothing about EO's and I don't use them in candles, so can't help you at all. I am just barely starting to do some extensive research into them to put in my soaps. I've done a bit of research on Orange 5x and Cubeba Litsea. Oh and Lemongrass. Those 3 are the only EO's I've ever used and own.

I've never used it and have not researched it so have no idea what the benefit (if any) would be. Sorry. And YW,

My 16oz and 5oz Apothecaries sell about equally well, but out of the 2 I personally prefer to burn the 16oz. I have an open floor multi-level house and the bigger candle throws the scent throughout the whole house where as the 5 ozs throw only throughout the bottom and mid floors usually.

Thank you! I'll definitely be doing this method some more... It was different, but fun, and it went pretty quickly...

Ah, you are so sweet! Thank you so much...

I will be cutting it tomorrow after work... I'm excited to see what I will be cutting into.

I used my typical recipe and I think it worked out well. I had read Nizzie's several years ago but at the time it didn't interest me... I think I like doing this method and will definitely explore other recipes with it. I think today's effort turned out pretty well. I like the actual soap part turned out cool even though the design wasn't what I was thinking in my head...

No, not vybar, maybe some stearic. Vybar can make the wax more pliable, but if you use too much, even just a few grains, and you can bind your scent and you'll end up with no scent throw.

I tried to make this one look like sea glass strewn throughout, but eh. I don't know. I like it and it was easy enough to make - not sure if it will gel or not, but I have it wrapped in towels. It's a 1lb batch and it poofed up to almost completely fill my normal 2lb mold. I whipped the oils for about 15 minutes on the highest setting of my stand mixer, and then added ice to my 50/50 lye solution to get it to a 33% water solution, then added that to the oils being mixed and then let the mixer go for about another 5 minutes or so. It kind of turned a yellowish color, but it looked like vanilla frosting. It is scented Mermaid Kisses by NG and I used the cut up M&P trees from my other project as the "sea glass". The M&P is layered throughout the soap, but not sure how it will look when cut. Here it is in the mold -

LOVE them! Good job!

I think I will try it tomorrow. I've read many different methods - the only thing in common from everything I've read was to use a mixer, so I think what I will do is a mash up of all the different methods I've read and whip my oils, use COLD lye solution added slowly with the mixer and then plop into mold. Not sure what scent or colors, but I've also heard that the white stays pretty snow white with this method (provided you don't use a discoloring FO) so I have to think on what scent. I'm sure I will post the results for you guys.

Is there a special recipe/oils to use when making whipped soap? I'm not talking about cream soap that you use both KOH and NaOH, but just a whipped soap, like Ivory. LOL (but you know, not Ivory) It's one of the things I haven't really ventured into yet, and it sounds interesting. Anybody have any tops or tricks? TIA

Thank you guys. I love it. It was fun to make. I'm loving working with embeds.

So beautiful. I love your clay work. I wouldn't even know where to begin... (Even with your wonderful tutorial - at least that would be a good start! )

Again, they look much better in person, I love that the blue turned back to be the exact color I wanted it to be. It seems to have a yellow hue throughout the bars, and I'm not sure what that is. It was weeping some FO a little (yep did the zap test, no zap, just FO) so I think that might be it. I know it was fully incorporated though, because I always add my FO to my oils and give that a good stick blend before adding my lye. IDK - soap is weird. LOL

Oohhh that's really pretty!!