NattyCat

hubby goes near it and I'll use it to chop his wick off. It's mine mine mine.

This is the one I got: It pretty much allows you to saw at any angle and length with extreme accuracy - but that blade gives me the heebie jeebies - I can already see my fingers taking a short trip in a ziplock bag to A&E. It should be here on Tuesday so i'll give you an update and see if I can build up the balls to cut a candle with it.

what are you using it for? Candles? B&B? If candles - what wax? In soy you need the ultra or preferably the extreme strength as they are too weak in soy at the standard SOS strength. If it's in B&B - i've no idea.

I'd be interested as I may be too dangerous around a mitre saw. I've ordered one but depending on how it looks when it gets here will determine whether it scares the shit out of me or not. I once met a man who sliced his hand in half across the palm with a mitre saw so I'm a bit wary of it. Although - it was a clean cut and his hand got sewn back on so it's not ALL bad! With regard to the heater, i reckon I could get away with a hot baking tray heated on the hob then placed on the angle plate maybe?

I would use a hot plate, but upon inspecting the level of the surfaces in my kitchen, they are WAY out. I can level my candle all I like, but they will always be at an angle because the work surface I am using to level - isn't level itself - which is why I wanted to find a way of making them exactly 90 degrees. I've just bought myself a big electric chop saw that has locks and brackets so you can chop at an extremely precise angle. Can't wait to play with it (translated = get my hair caught in it, chop off my ear and then try to figure out how to wear my glasses with just one ear....)

yup i've changed my mind on this - the kit is too expensive on it's own without the added shipping drama. I'm gonna get me a mitre saw and chop the bottom off (as well as my fingers probably)

http://www.candlewic.com/store/Product.aspx?q=cAngle+Plate,p205 Does anyone have this? Is it any good? How do you heat it - does it plug in or do you have to put the base on a heater of some sort? It looks good but the amount of information Candlewic gives on their site about a lot of their stuff is minimal to say the least so I'd like to know if anyone has this or knows more about it before I part with $150 to get the thing shipped to the UK. Thanks

pretty much tried all their oils Angie, and it's touch and go whether they work or not. I've had some that will NOT blend with wax no matter how hard I try - and that's soy AND paraffin - it turns the wax to cottage cheese. Some others I've had have NO scent throw at all. The only ones I actually like are mama's pyjamas and monkey farts - but they don't do monkey farts anymore. that's the problem - you buy an oil, test it, like it, go to reorder and they're out, never to get it again. They just buy in surplus stock from manufacturers and sell it - when it's gone, it's gone apart from the very few "house blends" they do. It's cheap for a reason!

You may have more luck with Eco or RRD wicks which are both good performers in soy. Sorry, I'm not Stella but I have been making candles for several years - despite my post count not being that huge.

lmao at 3 days. Try 3 WEEKS and you MIGHT be OK. But hey, It's been ages since I saw a horror movie where someone's skin gets burned or peeled off, so ask your customers to film themselves using your soap for the first time will you?

Every time I read a post by this person - I look around for the hidden camera.

aww never mind - there must be somone ordering soon so I'll hang tight and see if anyone wants to help out.

I need some FO from Rustic Escentuals but their shipping is too expensive to the UK. If anyone is ordering, can I tag my order on (3lbs of oil) and then you ship it to me via USPS? Thanks Nat

EXACTLY the point I was trying to make. If you have ever had just ONE sinkhole with any particular wax - whether it is so-called "one pour" or not, then it is simply unprofessional if you don't check every candle you make to ensure there are no more. It's called quality assurance. You may NEVER find another sinkhole - the one you got may have been due to the bloody lunar cycle for all we know - but the fact is, if you DID get one then you should check your candles to make sure you don't have another - It's not hard to do and just means you are being cautious and putting your customer first and not their dollar. Of course, there just is NO telling some candle gods.

sorry - I was referring to soy, not paraffin and any experience I was or may be referring to is based upon my experience with soy. I don't use paraffin and have probably only poured possibly 5 candles in total in pure container blend paraffin. I'm sure you don't want a detailed description of exactly how I pour candles. The point I am making is that I find ecoysoya cb-135 to be inconsistent and that on occasion it has produced air pockets. BECAUSE it has produced air pockets, even if it had done so only one time - I will ensure that I check for them EVERY time "just in case" another turns up. Even you can't deny that soy is inconsistent - in fact you said as much in another post, and also said you don't like to use it as it is unstable. It just so happens to be unstable for ME in the form of air pockets.

how exactly can our techniques be so different? we melt the wax, don't put any additives in it, add scent and wait for it to cool down before we pour. Whilst there are technically several things that contribute towards what is classed as a good candle - it tends to be the quality of the fragrance and the selection of wick that are the most important. There is nothing complicated about the actual act of melting and pouring the wax - it's the same the world over and there are no secrets. I am not new to candle making and have poured this wax under every variable I can think of regarding temperature, cooling, glass temperature - even down to the temperature of the room I'm pouring in. I don't get pockets on EVERY candle, but I do get enough pockets to ensure I make a relief hole in every candle to be on the safe side. if you've never poked a relief hole with this wax, or have poked a few times and found that you don't have air pockets - what makes you think you never get air pockets? I've had some candles that don't have air pockets but a majority of them do - you can't possibly know if you have one unless you poke a hole and find out - just saying "i don't get air pockets" because you've never actually burnt a candle that had one isn't, in my opinion, the best practice. You could have 20 candles with no air pockets, but sell the 21st one that does have one - isn't it always better to check for an air pocket rather than "hope" you don't have one or "assume" you don't have one because you've been lucky enough to have not discovered one so far? Each to their own I guess, I just like to be conscientious and err on the side of caution myself.

I have been using ecosoya cb135 for more than 2 years now, and it DOES form air pockets. It is not one-pour. Even if the top sets up beautifully and it looks perfect - on the first burn it hits the pocket, the wax falls into the hole and the wick gets destroyed because it burns too far down where it is exposed. You do need to poke relief holes with this particular wax. I have found that pouring cool or hot makes no difference really.

no - this isn't for eating, its actually for putting on the body. I sell it as a moisturiser. It's pure white, set solid and you have to gouge it out. So that's too posh to use in candles then? Blimey - not sure where to get the cheap stuff in the UK.

Tried 1 teaspoon of pure virgin coconut oil in 1lb of wax. Used dye. Still got frost but also a funky looking top - almost like a crust. Made absolutely no difference with my CB-135 - in fact, I'd say it was worse, I got pockets of frost through the whole candle, not just on the outside and the top took forever with the heat-gun to stop having this cracked, almost shell-like lacy effect.

nah, that's a wheel clamp!

Nope, a car boot is a local sale. You take your car to a big field, drive up and park in rows, then you unload all the old shit you don't want onto rickety old wallpaper pasting tables in front of your car, and then sell it to some sucker who thinks your trash is their treasure. It's like a garage sale, but in a field. It's called a car boot sale because you only take what you can fit in the boot (trunk) of your car.

I just got a response from them from an email I sent last week. Their offical line is that ALL of their oils are unsuitable for candle making and are for B&B use ONLY. What a bummer, I really wanted some of their dupes and is the ONLY place I've found the new Prince fragrance "3121".

not really - I have no idea what a fundraiser is either. It's not something we do in the UK so just a llittle info as to what it actually is would be interesting. Seriously - I read these "fundraiser" threads also, and don't have a clue what it's about.

sorry to drag this up again - but how are these oils in soy wax candles? They have the dupes I want but I've only seen reviews on here for bath/body products. I'm wondering, that seeing as its called "wholesalebodyoils" with emphasis on body - that they won't be good in candles? Nat

Cybersix is in Italy. I am in the UK. We don't have Dollar Store OR Walmart.