realmarcha

Thanks to all who took their precious time to answer my Joy wax concern.

Thanks Wendy for your offer to send me some Joy wax to try; I appreciate it.

I took Sandi's advice and ordered a slab of it and will be testing it as soon as it arrives. I am using it as a mixer, so hopefully, I will not run into the problems others are facing. Keeping fingers crossed!

Have a GREAT weekend all!

I use the cotton wicks. Doesn't anyone use these anymore with their soy? ~Dana

I use the cotton wicks and just love them! I have tried all the other wicks mentioned on all the message boards and still go back to the cotton. You are not alone! :highfive:

Hi Ruby!

I am inquiring since I wanted to try the Joy wax again. I read awhile back that people were having problems with it, and I do not want to invest a ton of money in testing "again", if the Joy wax has changed for the worse. I still have some Joy wax I bought around 1 - 1 1/2 years ago and love this formula! I wanted to be able to purchase the "same" wax; not inherit a ton of problems. Wish I could help ya, but from your response I see things may not have changed with the Joy wax dilemma. Why do manufacturers always have to mess with a good thing?

To the left of this screen look for "Basic Instructions" and click on it. You should find the pillar information you are looking for. HTH

Can anyone help me with this? PLEASE!

A few months back there were some problems with the Joy wax and concerns about the Joy wax having changed...are there still problems and concerns regarding the Joy wax? Any input would be appreciated. TIA

I have a bunch of 8 - 10 oz. tumblers for sale at a great price. You can find lids for them at Penn Wheeling. PM me if you are interested. I can send pictures.

I use the 402 in B&B products, but not in candles. From what I have read, and talking with other candle makers, the 402 is generally used as a mixer to help with the meltpoints in other soy waxes. The 402 has a lower meltpoint, and should be easier to wick than other soy waxes, if used by itself. I do recall one post I read where the person just loved the 402. If you do a Search on the Vegetable Wax Candle Making part of this board, you will come up with past posts about the 402 wax. Just type in 402. HTH

Sounds to me like your wick is too hot for the fragrances you are using. I would not think the liquid dye is the culprit. Any time I am using the liquid dyes, I usually have to cut back on the amount of dye cause it is hindering the burn. Also, some fragrances will promote wick mushrooming more than others, so this could be your culprit too. First, I would try wicking down a size, or two, and see what happens. If this doesn't work, I would cut back on my fragrance load a bit. HTH

I used color blocks for years; still do in some things, and have never been able to get the deeper colors using the blocks like I do with the liquid. The liquid color is alot more concentrated than the blocks, so I am thinking you probably will NOT be able to get the deeper red you are looking for no matter what you mix with the red color block. Also, if you already tried mixing black, I cannot think of anything else that would work for you. Keep in mind, if you add to much color using the blocks, your candles will be harder to burn too. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear! If at all possible, if you have a supplier close to you, I would jump in the car and get me some more red liquid color. HTH

Hello Dana!

I ordered MacIntosh Apple from soycandle.com for a friend, and OB it smelled strong and yummy. I haven't touched base with her to see how she liked it, but soycandle.com also tests all their fragrances in soy wax. HTH

Or, you could purchase some of the extra long wick tabs. These tabs will put the wick out with about 3/8" - 1/2" of wax left. Then the sooting problem would not be an issue since the remaining wax will not burn.

I know you cannot control your customers and how they will burn your candles, even with explicit instructions. You can control how they are made though to some extent. HTH

When I cut my pillar wicks, I cut them anywhere between 1/4" - 3/8". Have you tried cutting the wick this small? How high is your flame? Does it bounce, or smoke at this height? I have some pillars where the flame gets a bit large, but if it is not bouncing, or smoking and burns good it pasts the test for me. If the larger flame is not acceptable, you could try wicking down a wick size to see how your pillar will perform. HTH

I have used Joy wax in the past, and just like paraffin, when it gets to the bottom of the jar it tends to soot. My personal observation, and opinion is, once the wick gets that far into the jar it has reached a point where the air circulation is much less, the jar becomes hotter melting the wax quicker, so the wick starts to "puff" thus producing some soot. I have found this to be true with the parasoy blends also. Could you wick down one wick size and still get the burn and throw you want? If so, I would try that to see if you can get rid of, or lessen the sooting issue. HTH

I have tried the SS parasoy which is a 50/50 blend. I got a great scent throw, vibrant colors, and little to no soot. You need to wick it just right to achieve little to no soot. I used zinc wicks from Fil-tec, and Bittercreek. HTH

www.greatcandle.com

There are alot of threads in this section on these two waxes that you can read where folks posted their results. I tested the 444 and no matter what temp I poured at, I got lots of airpockets and sink holes. I could fix it by poking relief holes and zapping with the heat gun but that was too time consuming to me. I wasn't impressed with the cold throw either.

Meridith:

Have you tried the reformulated 444 wax? It sets up alot better and the cold throw has improved immensely. Soycandle.com is carrying the reformulated 444 wax, if you want to give it a try.

Personally, I was not impressed with the 464. Half way through burning the candle, the scent throw was minimal to none. I know others have had good luck with the 464, I didn't. Just my opinion. HTH

Any quality fragrance will work in tarts. I use anywhere between 8% - 10%. I use two different waxes for my tarts depending on what I am pouring; the Kysoy Votive/Pillar wax and the Southern Scentsations Votive/Pillar wax. The SS votive/pillar wax is a bit softer than the Kysoy, but both work well for tarts. These are both "natural" waxes. HTH

I leave mine natural. I get some very interesting colors using just the fragrance; from yellow, to ecru, to tan, to off white, to white, and everything inbetween. It gives my line a unique look. I think just white in every candle fragrance would become boring...just my opinion. HTH

I have wicked a similiar jar to the one you are describing: narrower at the top and wider at the bottom. I used a 50/50 parasoy blend and found the zinc wicks work best in regards to sooting issues. I found, if I used a wick size for the top of the jar, once the wick burned down inside the jar it did fine since the flame heated up the jar sides. There were 2 - 3 burns where I had a nice meltpool, even though there was a bit of hangup. The hangup did catch up nicely though and I ended up with a clean sided jar. HTH

I used this wax for pillars and found it to have a great scent throw and good burning capabilities, so I do not see why it would not work for votives. It may be a bit too hard of a wax to get a good scent throw from tarts, but you could add some soy wax to it to soften it a bit which would help the scent throw. The best way to find out is to test some votives and tarts with it. HTH

The jars are called "bulb jars" and come from Anchor Hocking. You can purchase them through Marck & Associates out of Toledo, Ohio. Or, if you can stand the minimum order amount, you can purchase them directly from Anchor Hocking. These jars are a challenge to wick using the soy waxes, but can be done. HTH

I have bought a few things from them and have found them to be very helpful and honest. HTH

I mix my color and noncolored candles up a bit:

I color my votives, tarts, and pillars, and make my jars with no color. I, too, got tired of fighting the frosting with the soy waxes, so I decided about a year ago to eliminate it from my jar candles. My customers did not care one way or the other. I have had comments pertaining to my jar candles on how great it is to be able to put any fragrance in a room without having to worry about color coordination. It is a toss up, when it comes to the customer base you deal with in your area, but having color in some candles and not in my jars has worked out great for me. HTH

I use Grandma's Pumpkin Log from Southern Scentsations in 100% soy...throws GREAT!

www.greatcandle.com

HTH

I am looking for the tart clamshells that have 6 cavities and hold 1.8 ounces of wax. Wholesale Supplies Plus carries them, but to get a price I can handle wholesale, I have to buy 1000 of them. I prefer the look of these compared to the other 6 cavitiy clamshells. Anyone know where to purchase these elsewhere? Any help would be appreciated. TIA:yay: