Crowded House

I got that when I tried to use 415 soy for tarts. Once I switched to a votive wax it went away.

I haven't done a whole lot of craft shows but no, I've not run into that with candles. Apparently lots of people on this board have, though. Some of their stories are truly hilarious.

Quality of the candle, scent list, jar style, product availability (lots vs few), shipping point, customer service, style of manufacture, advertising and name recognition, color, and wax, for starters I guess.

ASDA Dunno if they have tart warmers, though, as apparently the website doesn't have a product search function (if it does then I can't find it).

Wow-that's great Robin! Congrats!

I think it just depends on the crowd, the day, the show itself, etc. Yesterday some lady came up to me (at a school fair) and told me that "they" were selling soy candles in the hall for $3 apiece. I asked her what size candles and she mostly unwrapped a plastic bag to show me a jelly jar that looked to be about 4 oz. So a little while later I took a walk and found those jars. They were $1.75 and had bath salts in them. Didn't see any other jars like that anywhere. I figured at that point that she must have been trying to get me to offer her a deal (on my 8oz jars). Did pretty good yesterday considering we had an ice storm a day and a half prior. I always set out a lot of business cards. Sometimes people aren't ready to buy right then but after considering the product for a while they are.

I use 2oz tins. Often they get made when I am pouring containers and have just a little wax left over.

That's a sinkhole. Usually a heat gunning will take care of that. To attempt to avoid them in the future you can play around with your pour temp. Around 135* has worked well for me with CBA (but as always your mileage may vary ).

General consensus has it at around 1" diameter for each hour of burn time, but small variances are okay, IMO. Look for a depth of between 1/4 and 1/2".

Okay, candle is a 7.5oz double wicked square jar, Chocolate Brownie Special FO (one of my great throwers in 415). Wax is 80% CBA, 20% 444. Test burn is now at 2 hours. Burn pool is 1/4", a little hangup in 2 corners but no big deal. Aesthetically, it's beautiful. Scent throw? Meh to decent. Back to the drawing board.

I used to get very frustrated when I was first starting and just wanted a formula for the perfect candle, but now I think of it as the "theory" part of the science part of candlemaking. It appeals to my inner child, who likes to ask, "I wonder what happens if I do this?"

I've never seen anyone recommend taking soy over 200*. I don't think it hurts to do so briefly, but it can affect the color of the final wax product if heated that high for too long. On 444 soy test candles I've found that heating between 185 and 195 helps the smooth tops, and of course soy needs to reach a certain temperature to help the FO bind to the wax. I have not had good results with heating to and mixing at just above the pour temp, but have read that others do. That to me is the most interesting part of testing. What works for someone else doesn't always work for me. I don't know why there are so few universal factors involved - it's a mystery to me.

I'd start with the manufacturer's recommendations and adjust if you're having a problem. For example my 444's set up much better if I pour at 145-150 degrees instead of at slushy (which gives me a candle better suited for spelunking than burning).

I've got a mix of CBA and 444 curing now. It set up with the traditional 444 sinkhole but reset nicely after a heat gunning. I will be testing the burn tonight.

I'm testing the Advanced right now and am so disappointed in the throw because it looks awesome - sets up fantastic, resets up beautifully after a burn, and it does resist frost wonderfully. So now I'm attempting to blend it with other soys to see if I can get the best of both worlds.

That does sound sweet. Mine was state of the art in 1993. I may have to check that Sharp out.

Dani, wouldn't the metal wick tab in the glass container cause some problems in a microwave? If I didn't want to use the oven I'd place them in a pot of water on the stove, like heating up a baby's bottle.

Are you talking about the Chocolate Brownie Special from BCN? I have that and I wouldn't consider it a "heavy" oil, necessarily.

Wow...medium wicks, adding FO by the drop...I am learning all sorts of new things about candlemaking this week! No offense to you new candlemakers - I just can't believe there are serious supplies and instructions out there like that. That's really...something.

There are a couple dozen sizes of cotton cored wicks. Which one is "medium"? I'd probably start with a 51-32-18c, and wick up or down depending on how that went.

You used three *drops* of scent in a pillar candle? How much fragrance oil you use does have something to do with where you got it but I've never heard of adding it by the drop before.

More niche market, less broad appeal. I also plan to do more research to find which local niche market is undersupplied. Oh, and pillars! Looks like fun.

I would think that you're not getting a full melt because your wick is consuming the wax almost as fast as it melts it. Try wicking down and see what happens.

Boxes.

This was interesting. The numbers in the wick size