candledog

The fuel smell was with the pure wax, I also noticed that it really turned colors, the scent seeped out of it lots more than with the ky pure soy or other brands, really strange, got a big yellow spot on the tops where as with the same conditions in other unblended soys I didn't. I don't think it was the wax that smelled like fuel though, I think it was the wicking was wrong, I will never go back to zinc wicks again, works for some, just not for me.

C3 needs at least a week to cure for good scent throw, and it is a hot pour wax, that should help your cave in problem. I can't help with the wicks, have you tried the eco series? they are from lonestar which should be close to you. hope that helps, I've been hacking at it for 8 months and I'm just now getting to the point I like my 'proprietary blend' So don't expect miracles in a week, month, or two, no doubt you will keep changing until you get it just right.....(hundreds of dollars later..........)

I make bw tapers, but just for myself because of the fact that I get all of the bw from my families bees, it just seems too sacred to sell, I would way overprice them, but they are SO NICE to burn and last FOREVER. For selling I just use the bw for body salves, lip balm, cp soap, etc,, the pure is so nice, so much richer than the boughten, so I hope you can find a local source. You guys must not have as dirty bw as I get, the cheesecloth would never filter out all of the crud I get in mine, our bees must be dirty little buggers.

I would try the ecos too, I switched from the htps because they just weren't preforming correctly. try the 12s and then 10 or 14 depending upon scent, they are great performers.

I have been reading all of this crazy stuff about melting bw in water , etc.. to clean it, and I know it can be done this way, but to me it is really scary to be adding water to anything that will be later used in candlemaking, because, what could be a bigger tragedy? So this is how I have always cleaned it from my grandpa & dads uncleaned pure beeswax. Melt Beeswax. Get a flour sack towel and bind it around a bowl or container in which you plan to let the beeswax set up in. Pour beeswax through towel, presto, clean wax, no junk in it, takes 2 minutes- all for the price of one flour sack towel, and no chance of water in your beeswax, and thus in your candles.... pricesless.

Still waiting on official testing from adding the beeswax or not, so I will update you when I get to that 24 hrs & counting....... But, don't go with all of that melting with water nonsense to clean your beeswax, as personally adding water to ANYTHING that I will be using for candles really freaks me out. To clean my grandpas for use in bath , body & now soy all you have to do is heat it up until melted and take a disposable (you will have to chuck it after you use it up...) flour sack towel and bind it around a bowl or water you plan on storing your beeswax in. (I use stainless so its easy to melt the edges and pop out.) Pour the melted wax through the flour sack towel and presto, clean beeswax with no misc... bee parts or junk. (yes, unfortunatly you do get bee tragedy in your wax blocks... ) anyway, hope that helps.

So, considering that C3 is a hot pour wax, and pure soy should be poured cold, what temp do you recommend pouring at for testing?

I poured up some pure soy from natures garden awhile ago and after a month or so they got all yellow at the tops of the candles. I used 1oz/ per lb. of F.o & it seems that no matter what fragrance it was, they yellowed, does this sound like a problem that could be cured by uv?

So, today I'm going through some of my 'bum' tests and the C3 seems to have caught up on hot scent throw after 1 month of curing. What are some other opinions on the hot throw of c3 naturewax vs pure soy? I have learned to deal with the pure soy appearance issues for the hot throw rewards, is it just that C3 takes a long time to cure, interested in others experience with this one.

I was really kind of mad, considering I guess that they figured since I was doing it anyone could.... they were formally using another ladies soy candles, that were wonderful, and they figured, if we make them we can make the profit, it also needs to be noted that the 'candle makers' are also the ones that run the organization.....hm. making money off a non-profit, I just tried to stay out of that one. Just goes to show that these things DO TAKE SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE! hm.

I was wondering if everyone is recommending pouring cold on the ky and ez pure soy because of the flakes it develops on the top, or does it develop other problems too, such as glass adhesion, etc.... I have poured hotter and have gotten the flakes, but it seems like I could market these as 'primative' then, what does everyone think?

I will test my next batch with the pure soy formulation that I have and adding beeswax, (My dad & Grandpa- 86, bless his heart!) have a local apiary so I have tons of beeswax at my disposal that I usually use for lotions & lip balms, it will be interesting to see if the beeswax changes the scent throw, as, if you get pure beeswax it does have a very sweet scent, as oppossed to the stuff you buy, I'm not sure why, the store stuff must somehow be cleaned or something.... But I'm so greatfull for this forum and all of the expert advice, any of you want to start cold processing soap, let me know!

So, I'm interested in opinons on this one, I know some ladies that knew I had been testing soy for awhile and so they decided to throw a 'fundraiser' for a local org. in which they were selling candles, ( that they had never made ever, not even parrafin) So they called me asking what wax, wick, etc.. to use and I said I had no idea, that I had been testing and retesting for EACH SCENT and this is what you HAD to do or you could burn down someones house, make bunk candles etc... anyway, they had already sold 200 of these at $7 each and decided just to make some anyway without testing because 'it was for charity'. THey used C3, 16oz masons and lonestar scents, however they added 1 TABLESPOON of vybar PER POUND, and, I'm interested in knowing how this may have turned out. They used the eco 14 wicks, and now when I sell my candles that are tested to be good around town, people keep asking me if they will smell when they get home because they bought these 'other soy candles' that didn't, do you think that the vybar at THAT AMOUNT probably seized their scent and thus ruined our local soy trade?

oh, I forgot to ask if there is any difference in your opinion between natures garden pure soy and ky pure soy, thanks again.

Hello to all of you master soy makers out there! This is my first post although I have been fully educating myself here for about 4 months, and have been testing and retesting and retesting...( you all know how it goes....) for about 8. I have spent countless hundreds of dollars on waxes and wicks and fragrances.... and I think I have it narrowed down and would like some EXPERT opinons. I am a cold process soapmaker by trade, so I really like the fact that natures garden lists the scents that you can use in both... saves time and money to dual purpose scents.... anyway. I am pouring into 16oz. round masons and using the eco 12 or 14 wicks (papercore) and I am thinking of trying natures garden pure wax again & scents, the first time I tried their wax I used the zinc wicks they recommended and I got all of this terrible smoke and fuel smell, (even with the non citris type scents) however, recently I stuck an eco into one of my bum test candles and lit it and it smelled SO GOOD! I have also tried the htp series wicks, they seemed to burn uneven for me, and have tried kypure soy and cargill naturewax c3 (of which I cannot get a really good fill your house scent with). So, I'm would be very thankful and interested in your possible predictions for my next line of testing as follows: naturesgarden pure soy natures garden scents (mulled cider, christmas splendor, bluberry muffin) Eco wicks 12 or 14 16oz. mason round pouring cool at 110. thanks so much!