Jen

Candles with a smaller diameter will generally cool faster than larger ones. It depends if you're using a water bath or not. Air cooled candles can take anything up to 12 hours to completely set. Ambient temperature will affect it, but not all that much. Personally, I've left candles in the fridge for over an hour (forgot about them!) but have never had any ill effects. Whereas I've grown to hate water baths, it's too hard to keep all the water out, weigh them down properly and I had problems with the candles pulling away from the sides. But definitely don't try and force them out until you're absolutely sure they're cool!

The temps are finally going down here! I'm testing my new Yuzu FO this weekend, plus new tealights. Also have Mexican Cocoa FO on its way to me, can't wait!

When I colour my candles and am not making custom, I usually go with what the original scent "looks like", like red for watermelon, brown for chocolate, purple for lavender etc., so I guess what you're after is colours for "types" like Passionate Kisses and things. Personally I'd think of what kind of theme my candle is going to have, is it sexy, is it relaxing, is it fresh? And then colour accordingly. Red/black works well for sexy, soft pinks, blues and purples work well for relaxing, bright greens and ivory for fresh, that sort of thing. In the end, everyone's going to hav a different opinion so do what works for you

Some FOs can be naturally cloudy, but it's possible that the seller gave you pot pourri oil instead of proper candle oil. I get a lot of my supplies from eBay but I make sure my sellers are bona fide first! Looks like you just got a bad lot

Here goes Test for cold scent throw and hot scent throw. Extinguish your candles before testing hot throw! The wax is what smells, not the wick. Always burn a candle 1 hour for every 1" of its diameter, i.e. 3 hours for a 3" candle. This will tell you whether you've got the right size wick. Also look for burning properties, like even melting, leaks, any strange behaviour, high flames, no flames, sputtering, stuff like that. Basically, does it behave like you want it to? If I was testing votive mixtures, I'd make maybe 4 different batches of wax and just pour the one of each. If the mixture's a dud I don't want to waste too many of my precious supplies! Always take notes and label so you know which is what. Once you've got a winner, then it's time to make bigger batches. HTH!

Scented candles will smoke more than unscented ones, and if your wick was a bit wonky, it's probably just that so I shouldn't worry! Although if this happens again, I'd try a different make of wick and see if that helps. BTW, I always let my candles cure for at least 48 hours before lighting. Who knows why, but it really does make a difference! HTH

Personally I always wrap my candles and melts when I'm storing them. FOs can evaporate so I keep them in cello or cello bags to help prevent this. I guess if you want a definitive answer, wrap some melts and leave the other unwrapped and test after a week or so to see which is the strongest

I bet you always bite the heads off jelly babies too!

I just Googled that, and apparently it's at best unproven and at worst a hoax! Not that I'm trying to, ahem, plug air fresheners...(I'm sorry, that was bad). Any electrical item has the potential to cause a spark/fire, especially when misused. Just gotta be careful!

OMG! That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! I won't even leave a lit candle in the next room! :rolleyes2 I mean, I love candles and all but in that case, I'd use a plug in air freshener!

OK, I may be wrong here, but candle flames will flicker regardless of wick size if they are in a container due to poor air flow at the bottom. Like when you light a votive in a container, it burns fine at the top, but as it melts down, the flame flickers. Could be something to do with CO2 being heavier than air, but I'm no physics brain! The only way to stop it would be to drill holes in the container at the bottom, but of course then you'd have problems with wax leaking everywhere. I agonised for weeks over my votives when I first made them because the flame flickered. I tried different recipes, wick sizes, scents, additives, but all no joy. Until my dad pointed out the air flow thing and I burned a votive on a candle plate and voila, no flickering. Flickering is the price we pay for great scent throw

I don't use liquid myself but have heard from others that it can be quite messy. I have blocks and chips, I use blocks when I'm making something creative and chips when I want to be consistent. You can put 1/2 or 1/4 chhip in different wax batches and still get the same colour.

Make chunk votives If you have chunks peeking up from the top, this no longer becomes a problem. OK, probably not quite the answer you were looking for but an answer all the same...

I always let any of my candles cure for 48 hours, regardless of size. I always think it's a shame to light a scented candle right after it's set just to test the burn time! Plus the 48 hours let your nose readjust to 'normal' so you can actually smell it.

If AC means air conditioning, it's quite likely that your moulds are too cold - bubbles tend to form when you don't tap the mould after you pour or they're too cold or both. Try heating it with a hairdryer or heat gun, or in the oven for a minutes before you pour and see if that helps. I'm not sure what this has to do with repours though! HTH

Could it possibly be that there was an air hole near the wick? I know it's unlikely but it sounds to me like what happens with air pockets! Something like only 5% of dissatisfied customers actually complain (meaning 20 other customers may have had this problem and not told you about it!), so I'd take her seriously and make sure she's happy. Give her a freebie on this occasion and she might become a loyal customer. But do make sure you get the candle back so you can have a good look at it. Try lighting it yourself (on some newspaper!) and see what happens. On the other hand, people don't half do some strange things with candles in their own homes and she may well be trying to get something for nothing - there isn't just one way to burn a candle! But word of mouth is important with small businesses and making her happy is better than having her bad mouth you to all her mates. Spend a fiver now instead of risking losing potential future sales would be my advice.