snow

Hi all, I also got Reindeer Poo and really like this fragrance. A few of my customers liked it too, so far. Another great one I just got from NG is Pilgrim's Pie.....Very good scent. Everyone loved this one! Strong scent and ooh so yummy!

Beth...I think your seashell cane is very pretty! Like the color too. I also like the bigger starfish, can't wait to see one with the dolphin! Thanks to you for the plants....

Looking for some sage advice and input here....

When I started making candles I chose 4627 due to its reputation for great hot/cold throw and adhesion to the container. I have no complaints against the throw!

However.....ah, the shrinkage and wetspots are insane. It doesn't matter what temp I pour, if I preheat my glass or not, how I cool them...sooner or later (usually both!) my candles look horrible. Full of shrinkage AND wetspots. Now I've searched regarding wetspots and it says learn to love (or at least accept them) and if it were just an occasional one or two I might be able to do that. But it is horrific, really...my candles burn well and smell great but look horrible.

I'm at a loss, as I just am not happy with these. I'm not sure if I should change or alter my wax, container, method, etc.

Has *anyone* else had this problem with 4627?

I'm open to any and all suggestions!

Thanks so much

Dana

For as much as I know, which isn't a lot, sounds like the candles are cooling to fast....That was my major problem. When I can get them to cool slower I have way less wet spots. And thats what the box does for mine.

Hi, I went thru the same thing! For over a year fighting wet spots. I started with J50, then changed to 70/30 wax. I get less spots with the 70/30 a nd I have tried everything also, from adding crisco to cooling in an insulated box. I honestly believe its in the temp. This summer when my candle room was HOT, my candles looked great! A friend of mine made me an insulated box, and that helps. I don't use the wax that you are using...but maybe try the box! I know when winter hits I'm gonna have those darn spots again, but not as many as I had b4 the box! Hope I helped a little. I could never learn to love the spots either, And my candles, like yours, were good except for looking ugly at times. The box is easy to make, let me know if you need any suggestions on how to make one and good luck!

Anyone try this fo in candles? I see NG has it and I want to try it. Just wondered if anyone has any reviews on this scent. TIA

I want to make a citronella candle in a dollar store bucket, its a small one...4" dia. I did a search and found some interesting things. I will coat the seam with hodge podge like ppl said. If you wanted to scent it, do you just mix a fo in with the wax and citronella? And how much would you use and can you use any wax? I'm thinking I need 2 or 3 wicks for that size bucket, correct? If you were going to add 1oz of citronella and then fo, would you use 1/2oz of each? I didn't know there was so much to making a citronella candle, I hate the scent! I have made a few votives b4, but wanted to try something different. Thanks for all help I might get!

I use an 8oz salsa jar from Makes Scents, but my friend always picks them up for me. I would think about shipping if I was just deciding on jars. I'd try to use a jar that didn't need to be shipped, maybe something that is close to you. Shipping is a killer!

I had bought those jars from the jar store and really liked the look, but I could not get them to burn right. I used J50 and Z wicks, but that was a while ago and maybe now, that I've learned more about how wax and wicks work, I might be able to do it right. But they are nice jars!

I've playing around with these and so far no baloons have burst, thats a good sign. But I can't seem to get the shape nice and round. Do you put wax inside of these? Like at the bottom to make it thicker? Cause if I level it, its gonna have a hole in the bottom I'm thinking. Or maybe its just not thick enough, how long do you leave it in the wax? Any advice? TIA

No pic, dont know why...I'll try again sorry

It says attachment error...dont know why

I know its not good, but not bad either for a first! It needs to be thicker but my next one will be better, promise! It was fun. I don't know if the pic attached or if several did, so either way I'm sorry,

No pic, dont know why...I'll try again sorry

I know its not good, but not bad either for a first! It needs to be thicker but my next one will be better, promise! It was fun. I don't know if the pic attached or if several did, so either way I'm sorry,

That sounds like the same thing snow was asking about over in the other section... the mottling, snowy stuff. I've never noticed it develop in my pot before but I've only done plain white. When I get it inside my canes, it's a surface texture as well as the snowy look.

Umm.. is that a plain paraffin you're using or a blend? That really looks more like a traditional mottle from plain paraffin, but it requires oil to make it mottle.

I'm stumped, sorry

Those are the spots I was getting inside my canes. But I added 6 pellets of vybar to the wax and left them in the water bath longer and NO MORE SPOTS! I really think it was a cooling thing. Taking out of water bath to soon and then as they cooled at room temp the spots appeared. Anyway...I'm so glad they are gone!

I'm guessing on the pillar you were trying to just "fix" the outside a little bit? Doesn't work very well that way as you found out.

On the shells you have to get heavy handed with that heat gun. Repeat after me... my heat gun is my friend.... :DTalk soothing to it, keep it close and use it often. Most important... respect it's power and danger.

When you clean up the shell, be prepared to take at least 1/8" to 1/4" off. I usually end up taking 1/4" or more off, inside and out. The key to a smooth finish is to keep heating and rotating as the wax melts off. The entire shell will become soft. Start at the top all the way around and slowly work your way down. Don't let it cool down and harden in the middle, while the drips and runs are soft they will melt off easier. Once you get most of it smooth run it over the whole thing while warm and you shouldn't have any drips, they will just blend in with the melting wax.

Since I don't know what you're going to do with the shell, here's a possible tip. If you're planning on putting flowers or something outside, you'll be over dipping it afterwards anyway so the surface doesn't have to be perfect. If there are any small lumps, trim them off while warm so that it's level. Dipping will cover the difference int he finish there.

Here's a picture of my set up I use. The shell is on a tuna can turned upside down for the excess wax to drain off. The pan underneath is a stainless steel stove burner cover sitting on a lazy susan. For the longest time I just set the can in an empty aluminum pie tin and turned by hand. It works ok too, but the turn table is so much easier. I do trim the seam off with a knife before I start zapping it though. This I haven't started on yet. You can see kinda how thick the shell is when I start. Most people probably don't have them this thick, but... as I said, I love playing with my heat gun I find it very relaxing just heating, pouring out wax, heating pouring out wax (inside work). I do clean up the inside and take out most of the extra thickness in there first, then do the outside. That way I don't mess up the finish while playing inside. The shell on the left is finished, you can see the difference in thickness. Though towards the top, the shell is thinner. The bottom has about 1.5" of solid wax left in it.

Now that I've written a whole dang book here...lol, maybe the info you wanted is buried in that somewhere.

PS.. ignore the mess on my bench :rolleyes2

I do my shells the same way (LOVE the heat gun too) but I haven't got a lazy susan yet. I melt off quite a bit too...if I'm gonna put a decal on I don't melt from the top because I want the top part real smooth so the decal will go on smooth. I just keep going around with the heat gun where the shells are to expose as much as I want, and dont keep the heat gun in one place to long! I love seeing how it all comes to life with that heat gun! It's my favorite part, its always a surprise to see how the shells are placed....:rolleyes2

Use a wrap-around label lol!

Now I like that idea! I HATE them too, I put mine in an insulated box to cool very slowly, that helped a little, well more than a little, but didn't get rid of them.

I had the cane lit and I think its the blue circle that is out of place. Maybe if the cane was blue, the dove looks nice, kinda' flying over the ocean, but the blue sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm gonna try a blue cane. Thanks for all your comments!

Very adorable... hope you aren't "Shell-Fish" (slaps knee), and keep it for yourself.

Nope not a bit shell-fish, Its for my MOm, but I'm not sure I like it.....I might do another one. Something just doesn't look right! Maybe the color, I'm my worst critic, anyone agree?

Not good at pics, what do ya' think?

Ok, after playing around today, I think I might have figured out what I was doing wrong. NOT leaving it in the water bath long enough, thus causing it to cool slower once removed, and thats when I started to see the mottle. I did 2 today and left the second one in the bath a little longer and no mottle....but the first one has it, it wasn't in the bath as long. Does that make sense? The light bulb came on....once removed from the water it slowed the cooling process, makes sense to me! Hopefully I got it now. Now if they come out of the molds I'll be in great shape! Wish me luck....thanks for all your comments and input, it all helped.

Of course there is a difference with the photo cane and the sea shell ones. When you pour in the hot wax over shells, it cools quickly. When a candle takes longer to cool....that is how mottling works. To make a mottled candle it is good to let them cool slowly so the mottle works it way to the surface of the candle. So to stop the mottle do it backward. Cool faster. I am pretty sure you are dealing with a temperature problem. Winter is different than summer too. Play with the water bath temp and see what happens. You don't want it real cold or the wax will actually crack....but it you let it cool slowly you allow time for it to mottle. It really is a balancing act. Donita

Donita, My water bath is 70 degrees..maybe the wax is too hot? When you remove it from the water, does it matter at that point how slow or fast it continues to cool? After the water bath is when I can see the mottling start, about 10 mins after it is out of the water. Some little thing is probably causing this, probably not a big deal, just a pain in the butt!

The spots are in the wax, if I had to heat gun them away I think it would be to much. It doesn't happen all the time. As it starts to cool I can see them forming. Mostly looks like mottling and then sometimes like cracks. When I do the seashell canes this never happens, go figure. Just with the pics. I heat to 200 and let it cool down to 190. add the pic into the mold and swish it around to get the air bubbles off. Then I start to embed it. Using the ice cube method. When it looks good in the water it goes. It makes me crazy. Could it be with the cooling process? Somehow cooling to slow as thats when they start to form, I don't know!!

All I know is I use micro 180 for hurricanes, now I'm not sure if that is the same thing or not. But it makes the hard cane wax less brittle, I think! :undecided All I know is that it works for canes. I get mine at candle wic and its not expensive, comes in 1# bags. Hope that helps a little, I'm sure one of the pros will jump in.

I've asked this question before and I checked my notes and its not there. Sometimes when I do a photo cane I get these little white marks and cracks inside the cane. It doesn't happen all the time, but its a real pain in the butt when it does because I always rip the photo off and start over. Heres what I do...3# of 5055 and add micro 180 @ 3%. Heat to 200 and add photo at 190, oh and I also add a little mold release. Spray mold with a tad of mold release too. Then I put it into a water bath @70 degrees. So what do you think is causing this? Yesterday I made one for a wedding gift, the photo looked great, real pretty candle done in red and white but I could never sell one with those little cracks and white marks. DARN! Makes me mad! Any one know what the problem is? TIA

I'm looking for a good ocean also. I just got a sample of Daystars Ocean Blue but haven't put it in a candle yet. Smells good OOB. I'll let you know.

I got 5 samples and so far tested 2...Apache Tears and Ethereal Daydreams. They all smell great but my question is...how much oil do you guys use? I made 2 candles using J50 in a salsa jar, each candle is 6.5oz. Heres what I did..13.15oz wax and .85oz of FO. One of the candles with ethereal daydreams has oil settled at the bottom. So do you cut way back on the amount of DS oils? I"m thinking yes. I'm burning Apachee Tears now but it hasn't been burning long enough yet to get a good scent throw. Whats your opinions on these oils, tia