Ilona

I am thinking that it may be the temp at which I add the oils. I normally add oils around 170 and I think that with MC and DS the bakery scents need to be added at a lower temp. I have to test it again. I tied the Pink Sugar Cane one and it was perfect, as was the Better than sex cake and the Jo Malone dupes. So I am having issues with strictly the bakery scents. Maybe It is my nose. (?) I just ordered some more DS samples to test. Thanks! Ilona

Do they have a web site?

Hiya, Does anyone have any frostop they do not need? If so PM me as I need some. Thanks! ilona

Hiya! So I just got my pack of Daystar scents to sample and afetr all the glowing raves about the oils on here I am wondering if there is a trick to the mixing temps. I tried calling them but I guess they are closed right now. Basically I poured 3 bakery scents and all 3 were amazing OOB but as soon as they hit the wax they went diesel/chemical and not so good. I mix all my FO at 170 and use ecosoya 135. I had something similar happen with a couple of the the MC bakery scents (cake scents). So I am asking you, if you are a daystar lover... at what temp do you add the FO to your wax? One of the scents I tried was the Blackberry Jam Butter Cookie which was so good OOB but the hot wax seemed to kill it. I'm bummed as I love the scents. Maybe I'll try to add FO at a cooler temp and see what happens. Advice? Thanks! Ilona

I just posted my candles I made with palm 3's from the same company. They are pillars and I am testing them with RRD 47's, Performa and Hemps. I'm still testing, I should have a better idea tomorrow and will post results but so far the RRD is doing a good job. I'm just at the first inch or so so I will have to see if it bubbles out or leaks or caves. But I went through a bunch of wicks that drowned in the natural waxes. SO not I sticl with RRD's Hemps (I love the hemps) and I am just satring tests with performas that are doing wonderfully. I can send you a couple if you like. PM me. santa chee ilona

Hiya! I just wanted to post a note about the sticky on FO's that rock in Soy. I check it when placing orders and whenever I stumble on an amazing oil that works brilliantly, I PM Vicky. Please PM her your sucessful oils and from what supplier. I just spent 100$ on testers that a good 1/4 are horrible. If we kept that sticky up to date I would use it all the time. It would also prevent me creating a thread for every oil I want to try. Thanks so much!! Ilona santa big PS I am working on a JS order so if anyone has any "do not buy they don't work well" scents please let me know - feel free to PM me.

I got mine from NG. Yummy!

Hi, I just got some samples of these and I LOVE them. But I noticed they are not super strong in my soy candles. What I want to ask (as they are pretty $$ but maybe worth it) is does anyone reguarly use them in candles as the company seems to target soap makers. I love the pink grapefruit and sugar cane and some of their blossom FO so I'd like to keep them. Any opinions? Also if you do reguarly use them in your candles do you find they have to be cured longer? Let me know. Thanks! ilona

Just a FYI. My Hemps (Super Large from BCN) get a FULL burn pool in the 22oz apothocary jars (same width as the largest Yankee jars) with just 1 wick! Yes single wicked and full beautiful melt pool. I am using ecosoya 135 and this is for the soy added with color and 10% FO so it cuts nicely without double wicking. I'll get a pic up in a couple days. I'm in heaven! ilona santa big

Hi Everyone! santa big Sorry it took me a bit to reply as I am pouring all my soy container xmas presents. I think I've lost my sense of smell. Any tips for candlenose? Anyway I got the molds at BCN. They are the seamless molds. if the link works... http://secure.candlesupply.com/catalog_page_Quick_Pick.cfm?queries_index=index8&ProductCodeID=41&ProductSubCodeID=155&NewProduct=0 I have not burned them yet. I will do test burns tomorrow and I know about blow outs so I plan to have a go in an aluminum pan to try out. I have one wicked with the RRD 47 and the other with a hemp 1400 that I may or may not test depending how the 47 does. If the 47 is too big I'll go down from there. I got this batch of wax from BCN and have another 5lb bag from candlewic en route to try and see how they compare. As for temps and such... I have an alarm thermometer and I heat the molds in the oven (lowest temp I turn oven on for 5 min and then let it cool. That makes it warm but not hot). I take off double broiler at 201 and pour immediately. Then I put them in the oven (it is off, but still around 110F) to cool. This insulates the candles and slows the cooling. I read that I could put a towel around it, but I have kids (7 and 8) that I do not want to accidentally pull the towel and get hot wax burns. Now where I did not succeed and need advice is with the color layering. What happens is that as the wax cools it contracts away from the edges, even when not fully cool. So when I do the 2nd color pour it seeps down the sides and looks yucky. Any ideas? Henryk... Yes I plan to do 50/50 soy and bayberry. I'm just waiting on the arrival of the wax. I'm excited. I'll post pix of them when I get them done. I'll also try to get some pix of the burning up here to see how it goes. I'm not giving these as gifts as of now until I have them fully tested, which may take some time. I'm not rushing it as I am a sticler about safety. Thanks all so much for looking. I'll let you know how the candlewic wax compares to the BCN. Have a great holiday!! Ilona santa chee

So last night I did it! I tried my first round of Feather Palm. The two together was my first try. They are scented Cranberry Spice. The pics are a bit light as they are deeper in real life. The second is scented Mullberry and is a deeper shade of berry. I like the patterns that came out on this one. I have right now cooling a 5 inch tall one that is 2 color layered 1/2 Mullberry and 1/2 Blueberry Cobbler with a deep blue. I can't wait to get it out of the mold and see if that one worked. The wicks are not trimmed so excuse them please. I trim them right before I burn. Overall I'm thrilled these came out! Tomorrow I'll be making dark green ones with Xmas Tree scent for xmas pressies. Also waiting for my bayberry wax to make tapers. I'll post those if they come out. Thanks for all the advice! ilona

Anyone know a good source? Also anyone know where to get a nice straight Nectarine? Thanks!

I get the one from Natures Garden and it is very good but yes it is clove heavy. I add 1/4 orange juice FO and it is perfectly ballanced. Then I call it by the name of the decorations when you put cloves in oranges in cool patterns. They are called pomanders. Here's another tip tho, you can get clove essential oil and add it to orange FO and it works just as well. Then you are in control of how clove heavy you want it.

That is beautiful! I love white candles too. Simplicity. Brill.

OK *crosses fingers* I'm off to heat me some wax. I'll let you know how it goes. I feel like such a feather virgin. ilona

Hiya! I just got some BCN Feathering Wax and would like to play with it. I was wondering if anyone can point me to a good tutorial. It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! ilona

Any suggestions on 135 suppliers. I know Peaks has it but I'd like some palm wax as well so I wanted to find a place that has both and good shipping costs. I'm in Florida. Thanks

I agree with the Pine scents leaning toward floor cleaners. I have tried a bunch but they don't do it for me. My solution is getting other xmas tree scents that people think smells like a forest. So far I have tested BCN (none were good enough), PEAKS (Spruce Xmas tree was good), NG (none), MMS (none), GL (none), and MC (has two that are great... the Balsam Spice is amazing, and the Mistletoe is a great blend of Pine, Spruce, Evergreen kind of smells. It is a great dupe of the Yankee mistletoe. I would try for spruce which most people mistake for pine but it has that amazing fresh cut xmas tree scent. Try peaks and if you can get samples of the MC Oils I mentioned. Brilliant! BTW I use ecosoya 135. Take care! Ilona

Hiya! So I just recieved a big order from MC of FO and most of them are doing well. I do have an issue with 2 FO. One is the Birthday Cake which has barely no CT or HT and smells odd, like an aftertaise but with regards to scent. Does that make sense? I use 135. Anyone else try Birthday Cake with good results? Also the Butterscotch was icky. I wanted the scent of the butterscotch candies (yellow ones) and it was nothing like that. It smelled extremely artificial. The sandalwood is not too good either, but I'm not a big sandalwood person so my friends will be doing the burn for HT. So I am biased about this. On a positive note, the Raspberry Vanilla was fabulous and the French Vanilla is my favorite Vanilla scent of all the ones I have sampled so far. The Sweet Orange Chili Pepper is to DIE for. I blew through the 8oz bottle I had and sold all of them, now have to buy more. I think that is one of my all time favs from them. Another winner is the Balsm Spice. Anyone else have hit and misses with MC? I'm interested if it is just me and my scent perceptions. thanks! ilona

I have just been going through similar issues! I use 100% soy and after test after test I came to these conclusions: color DEFINATELY affects burn rate. I had all my scents and wicks perfectly burning. Then I added some colors to a few of the candles and the wicks never reached full diameter. I freaked. ECO always drown in my candles. I use various brands, Peaks, MC, NG, BCN. ECO never worked no matter how high I went. I use RRD 47 for my uncolored but try to explain this...I went up to a RRD 55 to try and tackle the slower burn with the color issue and it burned worse than the 47. I got a huge mushroom and no more diameter than the 47. How frustrating is that? On the other hand, my hemp testing is showing that an 838 hemp that is supposed to be for votives will go full diameter in uncolored 3 inch! I am waiting for the larger size to test in my reluctant color candles. LX, HTP no matter what sizes I tested, all drowned on me. One other thing, when I initially tested the 47's RRD and they burned perfectly, it was warm outside. Now the cold has come and it is killing my burn. Three degrees akes a huge difference in reaching full melt pool. Annoying yes. So that's another thing to keep in mind, what is the temp of your house? Crazy that we have so much to consider. My advice is to test things independently, colors, oils, wicks so you know how they behave. Then if you know a color slows down a burn, and you know wick so and so works well in slower burning wax, then you have solutions and it will help u feel more in control. I know I get frustrated. I just got a bunch of naughty FO that I am trying to tame. Good luck! Ilona

I use RRD's. So far I've tried eco, LX CCD and hemp. LX all drowned in the soy, no matter how big I used. I put a 24 in a 1.5 inch diameter and it still drowned. Eco and CCD were a bit to hot. RRD's were great. The hemp I am just now starting to test and it is lovely. It will take me a bit to test it but it is looking great. Good wide pool, slow burn, no mushroom. Also it depends what wax you use. And for example I use 135 with only FO and usually use a 47 in a 6oz glass that is 3 inches across. But if I add any stearic then I have to go up a size. Also CBA needed a completely different wick in the same container so I had to use a ECO. Which brand are you using?

I was wondering, do they have clear lids or are the labels on the wax? I'm wondering because I've never seen tins with clear lids. They look amazing. What a great idea! ilona

wow that is breathtaking! WOW. Beautiful.

Thanks! And thanks to everyone for all the compliments. I am always in awe at some of the amazing work that people do on this site. It is an inspiration and makes me want to strive to make the best candles I can. It does take testing and work and lots of time, but I get so excited when I get a great HT or CT and something comes together. I feel like after all my testing and wicking, waxing FO testing, I'll never use another container! I swear I wish people realized what goes into making a good candle. Thank you all for helping me with my soy experience. It was worth the work. Next is more HP soap

Hiya! So I wanted to ask any of you how you deal with the winter cold, trunk of a car or shipping during winter, etc. Im using ecosoya 135 and notice that now it has cooled off and my home is kept at 68-72 degrees my candles pull away from the glass. It does not look bad, actually as long as it is completely pulled away it looks fine. But I was wondering does anyone else deal with this during cold temps when you have to leave a box of candles in a trunk or the back of a UPS truck. What's your opinion? Thanks! Ilona