sawyer's moon

I love BCN's. It's "knock the windows out of your house" strong :smiley2: . Jen

I personally like Snowtops - definitely cut back on it or headache central (very very strong). Jen

And see I think colored candles are tacky and the creamy white of uncolored is classic and upmarket. Go figure. We're all different! Jen

I'm a nekid soaper too. I'm not good with flowery words but to me, there's nothing more beautiful than a gorgeous bar of nekid soap. I don't get freaked out by germs though... Jen

I have excellent luck with KY's Southern Vanilla in every wax I've tried it in. Jen

Also - on #3 - yes you can add something else. Since you find fco dry and jojoba greasy (ie non-drying), why not combine the two and do 50% fco and 50% jojoba? So your formula might look like this... 37.5% fco 37.5% jojoba 25% fo Or whatever percentages you want.... Jen

re the % being for larger amounts...not true. A 1/3 oz roller bottle will contain .33oz (or so) Lets say I'm doing 75% fco and 25% fo .33 * 75% = .2475 oz .33 * 25% = .0825 oz .2475 + .0825 = .33 oz The nice thing about working in percentages is you can size your recipe up or down very easily! Jen

My MIL is allergic to soy and my soy candles make her quite sick. Jen

Thanks, everyone! You all have given some excellent ideas! I'll be testing more this week and am certain it's going to go smoother . Jen

Thanks you guys! I typically use 7.5% fo load with J50. I know, I know..but I've tested J50 a ton and have tested all my faves from 6%, 7.5%, to 9% and am always disappointed at 6% (throw - again - fo dependent) and very happy at 7.5% so 7.5% is my norm to begin testing an fo (9% was way back when - don't ever go that high anymore (with J50)). Had a helpful pm that mentioned holding my wax at a higher temp longer (which is in keeping with what you're saying) and I do agree that the Pyrex is cooling down too quick so will try my metal pour pot (like being able to see the wax which is why I've used Pyrex to this point). I've also heard of switching to coffee pots and warming on a griddle - makes sense as I can still see the wax and the glass is thinner so shouldn't cool as quickly as the Pyrex. Or - just do as most and use the metal pour pots . And thanks for the J50 vs parasoy blend info - I was befuddled on that one. Again grrr....of the hundreds of fos tested over the past two years (and most in J50), this is the worst run I've had. I tend to lean towards heavy vanillas and spicy scents so am quite surprised that I haven't had this happen before but hey - that's what testing is all about! Thank you! Jen

Grrrrrr. I poured some J50 testers last night (haven't poured J50 in awhile) and had a tough time incorporating some of the fos into the wax. First ran into a problem with TCS Warm Orange Gingerbread (or whatever it is) - it's a heavy orange fo and it continued from there. I poured mostly TCS fos last night (Cinnamon Frosting, etc) which was my first experience with them (but I don't think that's necessarily the problem). I also had problems with NG's Hot Orange Danish and RE's Celtic Moonspice. I just couldn't get things to incorporate! My procedure is to heat wax in Presto and decant into warmed (in an 180 degree oven) Pyrex cups. The temp once decanted is about 198. Normally, I add my fo at 185, stir to incorporate, and pour into heated jars at 165. Ran into the first problem so then tried incorporating at 190 - still had problems, and tried at 195 and STILL had problems. This is the first time in two years that I've run into a problem like this and I've poured many a heavy vanilla and/or spicy fo. I could chalk it up to fos I haven't tested before but I have poured Celtic Moonspice before, albeit in GL 70/30, and have not experienced a problem. So - any suggestions? I'm kind of confused on this one... Looked at the jars this morning and fo is definitely not incorporated. I'm going to try one of my tried and true later today and see if I have problems but this kind of sucks right now . Any help appreciated! Thanks - Jen

I'm another that lives dangerously and don't stir...always think to myself that I need to remember to do it and then forget...

I love San Francisco Herbs... Jen

When I was using this wax, I tested ecos, htps, cds, and zinc (and maybe a few others - notes are at home) and found that everything smoked and mushroomed horribly for me except the zincs so that became my wick of choice for this wax. Jen

I think the only one that's made me gag is Daystar's Blackberry Jam Butter Cookies (or whatever that one is) - I know it's a fave of many but blech! Florals give me a headache but I can at least pour them. Jen

Monoi is comparable to coconut oil (76 (or is it 72?)) - not FCO. I get my monoi from Lynn. Gooooood stuff . Jen

You know...I've tried to get Vanilla Velvet to throw in various waxes and can't. So - I bought some candles from people that I *know* use Vanilla Velvet (and rave about their throw) and they have no scent throw either. I do like some of BCN's scents...just not Vanilla Velvet. Now - the Autumn Spice CO? I put that sucker in EZ Soy and lit it a couple of hours after setting up and it was throwing all over the house. jen

I love it!!!! I love your name and logo so much and the soap pictures look wonderful!!!! Jen

I don't understand the wasted wax bit. I calculate what I need for each batch I want to make (regardless if it's only 1 to test a fo or many to fill an order) and I don't have any waste. The only *waste* I have is in making testers and I decide I don't like the fo but I write that off as R&D. Jen

I don't *get* BCN Lemon Pucker. To me it smells like 7-up gone bad . I love SW LLC and BCS Lemon Pound Cake (need to try Peak's next!). To my nose, LLC is a lighter version of LPC (not in terms of throw but in terms of foodiness...if that makes sense!). Jen

I've tried it and don't like it...I agree that there's something a little too sweet in there. Snowtop does have a Buttercream but I haven't burned it yet. Daystar has a yummy Buttercream... HTH - Jen

And she has time to partcipate in plenty of swaps (often doubling up for the month) on a swapping Yahoo group! I left the group because it just sickened me that she was able to do that but completely screw her customers over time and again. Jen

I agree with you completely!!!! Jen

Posted before I read that you replaced the pko with liquid oils...I'll do some more thinking! Jen

It's much easier to think in percentages. Here's how I do it. I know that my container (says its 9oz but it holds 6.8 oz) If I want to use a 6.25% fo load (1oz fo ppw) I calculate like this: 100 - 6.25 = 93.75% (<==this is my percentage of wax) 93.75% (wax) + 6.25% (fo) = 100% (candle) So I know that to make my candle, I need 93.75% wax and 6.25% fo which calculates like this: 6.8 * 93.75% = 6.375 oz wax 6.8 * 6.25% = .425 oz fo 6.375 + .425 = 6.8 Now - if I want to make a bunch of candles, I can use my *formula* to increase the amount of wax and fo I need to make the batch. I have another container that holds 7.5 (it's an 11oz container). Since I already have my formula (from above) the calculation looks like this: 7.5 * 93.75% = 7.03 oz wax 7.5 * 6.25% = .47 oz wax 7.03 + .47 = 7.5 Hopefully that make sense. Since I make soap and other B&B items, I have to think in percentages so I do this for candles as well and it makes it soooo much easier! Jen