DanaE

Here are two pictures of a grubby I did last night. I have 7 more of them to grubby, but I'm testing the wick since it's wider with all the frosting on it DanaE

Those are beautiful! Thanks for the link - They have the animals I wanted so now I get to try something new! DanaE

Oh man, sounds like you spent the whole day trying to get the grubby to stick! LOL After you whip the wax, start applying it to the candle (I use a wooden stirring spoon) when it's the consistency of whipped cream. It'll stick without a problem and you also have a little bit of working time to get it spread around. Once the wax in the pot gets too stiff to work with, or stops sticking to the candle, hit it with the heatgun to melt it a little, stir it around and apply more. I love grubbies. I know a lot of people don't, but they're fun to make and I always think of little cakes when I see them....... DanaE

I think these are beautiful and unique. I've been dying to do a couple of these for my sister - where do you guys get the embed molds for these? I've looked on a few sites but I only saw the regular embeds (strawberries, blah blah blah). My sis lives in Wyoming and I'm dying to make a couple for her that have horses and buffalo on them DanaE

I used a mottling wax with all of these except the cinnamon buns and pumpkins. With it you can make some cool rustic looking pillars by pouring the wax when it's very cool (I pour at 150 into room temp molds). To make them mottle I pour at 180-190 into hot molds. (one word of advice, if you're doing rustics, spray the inside of your mold with some type of release agent, I still have an orange and yellow candle stuck in the mold because I forgot!) I make the layers by tiling my molds in different directions. My husband actually made a contraption for me that holds 6 molds at a time and I can lay them almost all the way down in it without spilling. Thanks for the words of praise guys . I love to make funky looking candles! Now it's time for the apple pies and grubbied coconut cream pie and then I can rest for a while! DanaE

So, my way may sound violent, but it works everytime . When I use 4794, my wick pins ALWAYS stick...always always always. Drives me crazy. I take the votive out of the votive mold, reach over and hit the wick pin against the concrete wall. LOL - they slide right now. DanaE

I use a silicone mold (actually, 6 of them). I have the wax here to actually roll my own, but I keep putting it off. It's not hard to do and I don't know why I procrastinate.....it just seems so much easier to pour into the molds! DanaE

Color me Pink, what type of wax are you using? I used 4045H mottling wax to make the Orange vanilla and so far no fuel smell at all. I haven't tried it in container wax yet though....that's next. I *hope* (fingers crossed) that I won't end up with the fuel smell! DanaE

The cinnamon bun one again, because it didn't appear to show up in the first picture....

I posted this one before. It's a banana cream pie, and a pie in the jar candle.

Some chunkies. The 2 middle are Island Mango, the 2 on the outsides are Lick Me All Over.

Cherry Cheesecake....

I was going for burgundy and gold but didn't quite get the colors I wanted. These are Country Gift Shop.

Country Christmas...I got silly with the colors and the design....

Some little pumpkins (about 7 ounces)

These are Creme Brulee....

I like the way these came out - they smell wonderful too! DanaE

Going to try adding pictures. Haven't done it since we switched formats. If it works, there'll be two pictures, one of my regular sized cinnamon buns and the other are cinnamon bun votives. The shiny stuff on top is dazzle dust, which looks really neat in real life

I can't explain it. When I started making candles in 1999 I always added 1/8th teaspoon vybar and some crisco to all my candles because the first directions I'd read said to do so. I always had an outstanding scent throw, whether I was making votives, containers, soy containers, etc. I LOVE to experiment, and after a while I started playing with tons of other waxes and just forgot all about adding vybar and crisco to the preblends. I got frustrated recently because I'd tested so many container waxes and wasn't really happy with any of them. Some had wonderful scent throws but too much black smoke no matter how small of a wick I used, some were too picky with scents, etc. So I thought back to 1999-2000, when all my containers threw a strong scent and I was always happy with my candles. I realized I'd been using J-50 with vybar and Crisco, so I went back to doing that. I feel like the scent throw is increased, although it might be just the vybar and not the crisco. But I'm not chancing it so I use both I know that using the crisco/vybar in my OK6228 pillars and votives does help increase the scent throw, but I have absolutely no idea what the chemistry behind it is.....I just know that for me it works, so I stick with it. There have been many debates on the use of Crisco in the past. Some say because it's an oil you can load less FO into the wax, but that's not correct. By using crisco/vybar in the OK6228 wax, I can get 1-1/2 ounces of FO per lb, although it's not supposed to hold that much FO. Same with the J-50 - I can load it to 1-1/2 ounces of FO pp if I want to (although I usually keep it at 1 ounce pp). Obviously this is just my experience. DanaE

I just found one! WSP's Orange Vanilla. I made the candles 3 days ago and burned one yesterday and it was out of this world! I thought "Dreamsicle" everytime I walked into the kitchen. I've also mixed KY's Orange Chiffon and Ky's Southern Vanilla and it works good too, but I was happy to find one that I don't have to mix myself DanaE

I've only made a few of them, but the last one I made I used 44-28-18Z and they worked really well. I think I used HTP 73's one time also. I'm getting ready to make another one (I'm going to grubby it so it'll be a cake) and I'm going to use the 44-28Z again and pray that it's right! DanaE

I'm sorry Jim, I can't tell you what the particular problem might be. I'm currently using J50 with 1/8th teaspoon of vybar and 1 tablespoon of Crisco per lb, adding 1 to 1-1/2 ounces of FO per lb of wax, heat to 180, add FO immediately, cool to 160 and pour. I can burn the candle the next day and get a wonderful scent throw. I can say that sometimes I use a wick that is giving a perfect melt pool with no black smoke and can't seem to smell the candle. It seems that the melt pool simply isn't hot enough. If I wick up, I might get a full melt pool faster and the melt pool may be a little deep, but that's fine with me because I get a significantly better hot scent throw. (example - right now I'm testing 2 different wicks in a 16 oz apoth. jar - 2 44-28Z and 2 low smoke 23 zinc wicks. The 44-28 is giving the perfect melt pool, taking the right amount of time to get a full melt pool, isn't getting too deep, no black smoke, etc. but the scent throw isn't very strong. The other jar wicked with the 2 low smoke 23's is kicking butt! It's the same batch of wax, but the low smoke wick is hotter, the melt pool is deeper and I'm getting a full melt pool quicker than what is considered the norm. Are you buying your FO samples from the Classifieds? Maybe you're getting old samples or something? Try buying a couple of scents like Fresh Linen and testing them. I've found those scents to be very strong and will throw at much smaller percentages. Other than that, all I can say is increase your FO load to whatever the max amount your wax will hold, wick up one size and see what happens. DanaE

Yes, that's right. Comfort Blend has to be poured hotter than other container waxes. I also had to use hotter wicks in this wax versus the wicks I use in J50. Personally, I loved the 4627 but it really can become a pain so right now I'm using the J50 with 1/8th teaspoon vybar pp and 2-3 tablespoons of crisco per 4 lb batch and get an awesome scent throw. I like that the J50 is easier to wick, isn't picky with which scents it'll throw and doesn't get sink holes. But then, next month I may be using another wax I still have 20 lbs of Comfort Blend and I'm sure I'll be using it soon....I just don't feel like breaking an arm scooping the stuff out of the bag! DanaE

I have lots of plans this week . I'm making a bunch of pumpkins for Fall (only have 2 molds so it takes a while to get 30 or 40 made). I've already made my apple slices and crumbies so this week I'll be putting together a bunch of 5" apple pies. I'm also working on a few scents I'm testing from various suppliers - Orange Vanilla, Christmas Past, Home Sweet Home, Spiced Cranberry, Sage & Citrus.....etc. I have some of these already from other suppliers but wanted to try these because they were recommended by various posters. I'm also working on using some of my everyday scents but coming up with different colors and variations to make them more interesting. I'll be posting some of them soon, although I can't guarantee they'll actually be pretty! Unique yes, pretty? who knows. DanaE

I mix: Peach and Pineapple Supreme Peach and Ginger Peach and Mango Papaya Peach and Coconut Cream Pie Peach and Home Sweet Home (which is actually just a cinnamon scent) DanaE