Jcandleattic

9 minutes ago, MrDan said:

@Jcandleattic

 

If that’s the case...

HAHA Love it. You are very talented. 

His poor car by the end of that movie. Reminded me of the car in Blues Brothers.

The Dude just could not catch a break!! And he was so chill... LOL Now I need to go watch the movie again. The only part of that movie I didn't really like was when he was hallucinating was sliding down the bowling ally under all the Vegas girls' legs. It's been about 5 years since I've watched, though, so yeah, definitely time for a rewatch! 

Do you ever watch cake decorating shows? One I watched with Ace of Cakes, Duff Goldman (the owner) did a cake of a big toe with green polish and a bowling pin background, and a White Russian glass next to it.

When others looked confused or would ask him why or what it was, all he'd say was "watch Big Labowski" LOL 

I could have sworn the cake looked better than this, but here's an image - 

FYI - The Big Lebowski is a GREAT movie. I loved Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, and John Goodman in that movie. Anytime I have a White Russian I think about The Dude.  

20 hours ago, MrDan said:

Hopefully I’m not posting too much; just wanted to share

I don't think there is such a thing as posting too much.

Beautiful work! 

Good until July 22nd. 

Welcome! 

19 minutes ago, kandlekrazy said:

wow wish I could get motivated but it's hard in our busy season to get anything done other than working in the stores!

I was on vacation or else it wouldn't have gotten done at all.  

As of today what I got done (I did not meet my goal, but I did get quite a bit done) = 

2 cases 5oz container candles

4 cases 16oz container candles

8 loaves of soap (as much masterbatch as I had) 

and only 5 pillars. 

I will be making more candles tomorrow and waiting for my oils to come in so I can make some masterbatch, to make more soap. 

You are right, it's impossible to tell, as a lot of container soy wax will set like that. 

Is it a candle you bought, or were given? Maybe you can ask the maker, however, a lot of makers keep their formulas proprietary, and they may not tell you. 

37 minutes ago, bfroberts said:

I'm just moving beyond Peak scents when mine run out.  All that shady business with Peak, and now Keystone has so many of the Peak scents out of stock, discontinued or reformulated.  I'm just over it.  Fortunately, I'm not dependent on any FO's from anywhere.  You cannot totally rely on any supplier.  Too many closures and discontinued scents taught me that lesson a long time ago.  

this is how I am and always have been 

But yes, because of all the shadiness and ugliness from Peak on public media I just won't deal with them again. It's a shame, they had great scents. 

22 hours ago, Candybee said:

Quote

I've been mixing dragon's blood with patchouli honey from Elements. The blend is awesome and sells like crazy. But in CP soap it takes a couple weeks for the scent to cure. But once it starts curing it gets stronger and stronger and really sticks.

 

Now how did my post end up in a quote? LOL

I have found that most of my incense type scents take a bit longer to come through in the soap. The scent kind of disappears until it's fully cured but then bam! there it is. 

22 hours ago, Candybee said:

I'm down to masterbatching just for the day's soaping needs. Found I hate MB in batches of 50 lbs or more. 20 lbs for the day is just simpler and easier for me. MB 50 lbs just exhausts me.

I can do 150-200 lbs in about 2.5 hours, so I don't mind doing it. I just have to have the oils to do it with. LOL 

that's odd. In mine my spicy/autumn/etc., candles throw the doors off my house and I have to keep that fo load to 3%. More and it'd be too strong. 

I use CD's in both my palm pillars and palm containers. 

I get most my palm wax from C&S, not CW - but I only use about 3-4% FO, cure for about 3-4 days, and my scents throw just as well, or better, than my paraffin wax. 

From everything I've heard CW palm is better because they manufacture it there themselves, so less chance of inconsistencies. 

Have you tried a different series of wicks? I know CSN's were specifically made for palm, and I know a lot of people use them, but I could never get them to burn my candles correctly. 

Other than that, I'm really not sure. sorry. 

2 hours ago, kandlekrazy said:

Beautiful!  OMG it's time to make Christmas products??  I don't have time.

Yes, I'm really actually way WAY behind. I usually start my holiday making in January/February, so they have a nice long cure, however, it just didn't happen, so I figured if it doesn't happen NOW it's not going too. My philosophy with my soaps, is if they are not made and cured by September, they don't go to market that year, so I needed to get on the ball! 

2 hours ago, Sarah S said:

I just love the embeds you do on your tops!

I think the Home for the Holidays is wonderful, the inside looks like a flower to me. Did the shamrocks keep their shape on the top after the cut for the Irish one?

on a couple bars the shamrocks did stay, some didn't. I should have used a single wire cutter, so they all would have, but some of the bars would have been super thick if I did that.

I improvised with the shamrocks, which you can probably tell. They are just little heart embeds, that I arranged like that. Turned out better than I thought. 

The Home for the Holidays is the one my granddaughter picked the colors, design, and made the M&P Christmas trees. That one is her favorite.  

Thank you all. They all smell amazing. Especially the lime one. That's my favorite of the week. 

3 hours ago, Sarah S said:

@Jcandleattic, that is very ambitious! Are the soaps repeats or something new? 

These were all new - I rarely repeat soaps. I have like 3 that I keep that are repeats the rest are always something new. and mostly spring/summer scents. I did do a couple Christmas ones, but in soaps, those type of scents rarely ever sell, so I make very few of those. 

The candles, that's different. Usually those are mostly fall/Christmas scents, because that's the only time I ever do shows, and those scents sell well, but I also make a lot of spring/summer type candles. 

I've been working with palm now about 2-3 years, heavily testing in the last year or so and I think I finally have most of the wicking down. Every now and then a pillar will give me a problem, but that's because I refuse to use several different series of wicks. LOL I'd rather dump a scent than change wick series. 

Irish Pride - in the mold and cut. I liked it better before I cut it. 

Home for the Holidays

Cut Bollywood - 

Christmas Spirit - 

Lime Envy - 

Yeah, it was something people were doing back about 5 years after I started making candles, but it only lasted heavily for about it year, and fizzled out because it was found not to have the desired effects. it would soften the wax too much and produce smoke and soot. Even melts would smoke if the ratios were off even just a little bit. 

That's an old school method and went by the wayside fairly quickly. Especially when you could achieve the same affect but using a wax blend. 

There are several threads in this wickless forum on how to get a stronger throw for melts. 

I usually mix my 4625 with 4794 and use 6% FO and get a great scented melt. 

Could be because of the temp of the dipping wax, and it does melt a bit into the core candle, adhering more strongly. 

It's been a long time since I've made and where I have to cut out the top, but that would happen to me and I would just chalk it up to the dipping wax being a higher temp for those particular ones that don't. It's just an aesthetic problem so I wouldn't worry too much bout it. 

Since I use pigments, my carvings are not meant to burn, so when I do cut out the top I cut it big enough for a tealight, then I cut the wick down, so only the tealight is burnable. Or I pour my core candle to have a plastic well down the center to be able to fill with liquid paraffin, so, only the liquid paraffin burns and not the candle itself. 

Another case of candles down, and I have enough masterbatch to make 3 more batches of soap. I've placed an order for more oils so I can make some more masterbatch, but it probably won't be in until the end of this week or next week. 

1 minute ago, Bellevan said:

I kind of use a journal. I use it to quickly jot down notes and such, how much dye I used and the like. But a month or so ago I discovered Microsoft's OneNote and I love it. I use it to organize everything candle related. It has phone app versions as well so I can have my notes up anywhere. You can upload pictures to it. It's great. I still use my regular journal/notebook, but I then transcribe everything to OneNote.

 

HA that's awesome, I would have never thought of OneNote. What a great idea. 

I have a binder of all everything soap and candle related. I use spreadsheets and software, and even handwritten notes, that I compile all into named files, and then about once a month I print it all out (and also put it on my external hard drive so that if my computer ever crashes, I have it) 

Once printed I sort by what it is, soap making, candlemaking, test, test results., etc. 

For fragrances specifically I have not only my inventory of fo's but how I used them, in what application, by type (floral, bakery, fruity, etc.,) and I also do the same for any blends I create. 

There are times I go several days. weeks, or even months without updating, and I really need to be better than that, but it eventually all gets done. 

Both Christmas soaps because that's what my Granddaughter wanted. 

She made the trees, and designed the Red/White/Green soap- it's scented Home for the Holidays...

Next up - she named it, Christmas Spirit and made the snowflakes (I had to enhance them by painting on Mica, otherwise you couldn't see the details) it's scented with a mix of Ocean, Sea Minerals and Peppermint. It does smell more Christmas-y, than you would think with that mix.