Carol M

I was just looking at the wax comparison chart on the Astor site, and it appears that there is very little difference between this wax and J223. Both will hold 10-12% fragrance and are rated the same for hot and cold throw, jar adhesion, etc. The only thing that they gave this wax a higher rating on was fragrance compatibility (for heavy or hard-to-blend oils). This information seems to conflict some with the info on C&S (which is also shown on the Astor site in a summary about the new wax); that would lead you to believe that it holds more fragrance in general, but the chart doesn't indicate that. Only that you may get it to hold more of "problem" oils.

You probably would have noticed this, but, since cinnamon is a heavy oil, is there any possibility that the oil didn't get mixed into the wax good, and settled in the bottom part of the candle? That would make the last part smell the strongest. Also, it just seems that I get stronger throw, in general, from tarts than candles. The warmer gets the wax hotter, imo, than you would wick a candle. If you wicked a candle this hot, you would have sooting and other problems. Anyway, I just know that I can pour candles at 1 oz/ppw and the candle not be strong enough, but pour tarts at the same ratio and they are plenty strong.

As one who has been forever in search of the 'perfect peach' (ultra strong, no wax crayon smell, and no sour half-rotten notes), I took Celica's advice and ordered a pound of the premium grade from Aromatics. I have tried at least 75% of the suppliers for Peach, but this was one I had not tried. Guppy is going to send me a tart of the new one from KY, so hopefully one of them will be "the one". Thanks, everyone; I was beginning to think it was just my nose having trouble with the Peach scents.

I got mine here:http://www.oldschoolseals.com/wax_seals.cfm Not as large as you wanted, though; mine was only the size of a quarter. Think I paid somewhere between $35 and $40 to get it made (wooden handle). What I wanted to do was make custom emblems for my candles. I poured wax into a pan about 1/4" thick, let it firm up some and then used a small round cookie cutter (about 1 1/4" diameter) with scolloped (is that a word?) edges to make my shape, then imprinted my seal in the center of that. Turned out pretty well, although the letters didn't end up being "raised" as much as I would have liked.

One of the calculators I use says to just count Crisco as soybean oil. On The Sage calculator, there is an entry at the bottom of the third column about shortening use.

Have you got any comfort blend? CB/straight paraffin is my wax of choice now; use it for everything; just vary the percentages for containers and votives/tarts.

Those are gorgeous, Guppygirl! I've had some clays laying around for several months; haven't tried them out yet, but I've got to now.

I don't know for sure, but I think if you blended straight paraffin with your J223 to make it firmer, and then poured cold, the jump lines might look like a rustic finish. You'd have to do a repour for sure, though.

Ooh, two new ones mentioned that I haven't tried: Candle Soylutions and Fragrance Frenzie. What knocks your socks off from these two places?

Thank you; you saved me the expense of ordering (and paying shipping on) a few pounds to test. I have about 40# of Palm 1, so if they're comparable, I'll hold off. Was hoping for some sort of "miracle palm":D with better scent throw and no sink holes.

Does anyone know how this compares to Astor Q or the Palm 1 from Candlewic?

I think that's what I would do, too. Even if you had to drive a little distance, you would save over having them shipped; those suckers are heavy!

Maybe you could make some tarts or clamshells with them; lots of times, oils/waxes will work well in tarts that don't do so well in candles. If the waxes are too soft, you could add some stearic to harden them up a little.

Lin, check your pm's.

Actually, it may be worth a try. I know that with the citrus oils that I get a fuel smell with, sometimes I can burn them in a tart and don't get the fuel. So it could be related to the flame.

Sounds like we do things here similar to WV. You have to get a license from the state to sell things, and then are required to file quarterly sales tax reports, and remit monies on your sales (if any). This is where you would recieve your tax I.D. number, which would enable you to purchase your supplies tax free. Here, the local/county thing is totally separate. The county Tax Assessor levies taxes on real and personal property, which are paid annually based upon value. Some states include in this the value of any product inventory you may have on hand; our state abolished inventory tax about 15 years ago. So, making candles in my home, I would have almost no liability for these taxes. The only 'fixtures and equipment' I would have would be like presto pots, heat gun, impulse sealer, etc. Since I'm using my home, I haven't purchased any additional appliances or fixtures for this business. In addition, some counties/cities may require that you purchase a local business license to operate in their jurisdiction (but our particular county does not do this). I hope I have helped some; I know it's confusing trying to figure out what to do on a state, county and town level, and every place is different.

I realize that things differ from state to state, but here (NC), a letter from the Assessor would not be in relation to a sales tax. Anything relative to sales tax would come from the state Department of Revenue; even though they rebate a portion of that tax to the county/city, it is administered by the state. Anything from the Assessor would be related to a business personal property tax, or possibly a business license. I work in local tax collections and our county does not issue priviledge licenses, but some of the cities/towns within our county do, so that could be what it is. In that case, it would more than likely be just a permit fee of a flat dollar amount per year to operate within their boundaries. If it is in relation to business personal property taxes, they are trying to find out if you have business fixtures and equipment, which would be taxed yearly based upon value. If they got your business name off a list from the craft show, they have no idea if you are really a "company" or not. Therefore, when you explain your situation, you may end up not owing anything. But I would definitely get a state tax i.d. number to protect myself in the future; I know that here, even at flea markets, the state sends people around just browsing and checking booths at random to make sure the operators have the proper documentation to file state sales tax reports.

I agree; the Bamboo from WYW is a phenomenal oil. The only downside to it is that it isn't skin safe. And if I've ever smelled an oil that "begged" to be put into soap, this is it.:undecided

Make your own! Ponte Vedra (pvsoap.com) sells it, but it's $8.50/#. Made only with palm and coconut and unscented, so probably cost them a whopping .75 or less to make.

That's lovely, Chris; I really like the look. And also the tumbler; very classy. I had some tumblers similar that I got from Big Lots a year or so ago. I loved using them and now can't find any more:sad2: One thing I have tried in marbling paraffin containers is to use finely-grated color block. It takes some playing around, but you can make it look pretty good. Pour wax as usual and allow it to start to thicken. Then add pinches of grated color randomly and, as it melts, it will form streaks. You can use a skewer to gently nudge the dye shavings where you want them. The trick is to add it at the right temp; too hot and it blends too much, too cool and it doesn't melt enough.

No, I've used them off and on for over a year. Unless they are trimmed shorter than normal, there are always puffs of smoke until the melt pool starts to develop. I shutter to think the amount of smoke that would be generated if they were to be left at the normal 1/4".

The thing I didn't like about them is that unless you trim them ultra-short, they smoke terribly when you first light the candle. It goes away after a meltpool starts to develop, though. I just can't bring myself to trim the wick as short as it needs to be initially (guess I'm afraid it will drown out), so I light it and then trim gradually until the smoking stops. Once you get it right, though, you can go a long time between trims (if the wick is the correct size), and they clean up the jar better than anything else I've used; no film.

http://www.fragranceandflavors.com/Default.aspx You can order just fragrance and flavor oils here with no shipping over $50. Prices seem the same as on the regular website. Of course, the Sugared Shortbread that I love is still $2/ounce:cry2:

Well, that's good to know; I'll file that away for future reference. By the way, your website is very impressive; easy to navigate and your products look really good.

I'm going out on a limb here, because I've never tried to make these, but do you suppose that you could mix liquid candle dye drops into the fragrance oil that you brush on, and color them that way? When I was looking at the website that sells these, I remember thinking at the time that I didn't see how their coloring suggestions would work. It would get all streaky when you brushed the fragrance oil on after they were colored. Let us know if you find a solution, because I would like to try these myself sometime.