DanaE

I have to direct heat it in a small amount of wax to 220. If I put it in my warge melters, it goes up to 220 so I don't have that problem. Donita

I do the same thing - I add a few ounces of wax in with the Gloss poly and direct heat it, stir stir stir, add the rest of my wax, stir stir stir and then add the other ingredients.

I have been able to eliminate fingernailing in the OK6228 wax by using the Gloss poly at 1/2 teaspoon. I've never had fingernailing in any of my other waxes so I can't comment on those. (the other waxes I use are for mottling/rustic effect so I guess if they fingernailed I wouldn't notice it...)

DanaE

I'm jealous. I haven't been able to make any pillars for me lately and it's driving me crazy! I'm either making Fresh scents or Christmas scents, but I personally burn about 99% sweet scents.

I swear this weekend I'm going to clean those 12 molds laying on my floor and make some candles for ME!

DanaE

My pleasure . I consider my husband my knight in shining armor and there's nothing he can't/won't do for me. (yeah, a little hero worship there, even after 15 years!) I don't ask very often, but when I do ask, he always finds a way to make/fix/do whatever it is I asked for.

He's currently studying the way I keep wax in boxes all over my work area...I'm hoping he'll come up with a solution easier than what I currently have! (boxes under the work table, boxes by the wick wall, boxes by the fragrance cabinet....)

DanaE

I had to laugh when I read this cause I'm with Trish! Mine are in several places and not close to being organized!

So were mine, up until about 4 Christmases ago, when hubby bought 2 of these cabinets and then spent Christmas morning organizing them for me! Since then I've rearranged some so that I go by supplier now, but without him I wouldn't be at all organized. (he came up with the wick wall idea after I whined about trying to find wicks in my huge wick box!)

Now I just need him to find some way to organize my molds. Half my silicone molds live on the shelves with my finished candles, some are on a table and the rest in the other cabinet, half my aluminum molds live in a box, 12 of them are on the floor and the rest spread across two 6' tables....maybe that could be his Christmas present to me this year!

DanaE

You know what? It really WAS super easy to make! I went to him and said "Can you make something that'll hold my pillars when I make tilted layers?" and he went 'hmmm'' and 3 minutes later started building this thing.

On the back, where the bottom of the pillar is at the moment, is another long piece of wood to keep the pillar from sliding all the way down (for any of you that want to make it and then find your pillar sliding to the floor or something! LOL)

DanaE

Some of the NG bottles are the same oils. If I order 3 or 4 lbs of one scent, I get 3 or 4 one lb. bottles. It takes up a lot of room like that....

The oils I'm currently using or getting ready to use I keep on my work table and the rest live in this closet.

DanaE

I agree. I love the fluted molds. They're next on my list.... Yours are lovely!

DanaE

We've discussed several times the best way to organize FO's. This is the way I do it, although I sometimes get busy and get them out of order. The companies that i only purchase 4-5 scents from usually get shoved behind a company that I purchase a lot of FO's from...

DanaE

These are made with OK6228. I made them like this because when I eat Creme Brulee at a restaurant there's also a top layer that is dark caramel colored and the rest is a beige-ish shade.

DanaE

Does that make sense? lol - My husband made this so I can make 6 tilted layered pillars at once (wish I would have taken him up on making it hold 12, but I didn't have that long of a table!). (yeah, there's wax in them, I was in the middle of a second pour on a 3 layer set when I took the picture)

DanaE

Yeah, I finally get to make some Winter scents..

I just noticed that the label on the 2nd square pillar is crooked. Oh well...I can't even draw a straight line and I've had to un-shrinkwap and redo several because the labels were so off it was crazy. But I'm not about to do like hubby says and use a leveler or something like that. I'm just not that anal.....

DanaE

I think J50 is better than J223 as well and J300 is not as good.

Jen

I like the J50 better than the J223 too, but haven't tried the J300. When I started making containers I used J50, then somewhere along the line switched to J223 and several other waxes and just within the last few months have gone back to J50. I did sing the praises of J223 for a long time and then something made me try J50 again. I can get a scent throw that goes around most of the house with a jar made with J50. Now if I could just get the time to actually make some containers....

DanaE

Word of warning on the plastic molds: If you intend to use them over and over again, do not use FO. I bought some plastic molds and after I'd used them twice, they were pitted inside, and in some places the plastic looked like it was "melted". On further research, I discovered that manufacturers recommend that you do not use FO in plastic molds.

This is what is says on Pourette's website, where I bought my molds. I believe they are the same type sold at Peaks......

"Excessive use of fragrance or essential oil will shorten the life span of all types of molds for candles. It will dry plastic and acrylic molds and make them brittle. It may also cause softening, discoloration and pitting in all types of candle molds. This may shorten the life of your mold. Please use care."

Let us know how yours turn out if you use FO......

I totally agree. I was really disappointed in the plastic molds I bought last year around Thanksgiving and Christmas (not from Peaks; I think it was Candles and supplies). They had various designs and I thought they'd make cool candles but after only a couple of uses the candle began to stick and made it hard to pull it off the plastic. The insides of the mold looked strange and all in all I didn't think it was worth the money. I threw them away. Now I stick with metal or aluminum molds, with the occasion polycarb mold thrown in (although they seem to have a relatively short life too!). I guess if you used no fragrance at all you might have a better result than I did, but I was making huge pumpkins for Halloween and such and the people didn't want them unscented....

DanaE

DanaE

What a great idea. I will have to have my husband make something like that for me. Do you use all those wicks????

For the most part yes. The bins where you can't see the wicks are the ones where I actually took the wicks out of the plastic bags and laid them neatly into the bins. Somewhere along the line I got messy and just started throwing the bags into the bins instead of taking the wicks out.

I make a million (ok, it FEELS like a million) different sizes and shapes of candles and I'm always experimenting. It's great to have any size I want on hand, so I don't have to order wicks to try out new molds or new designs.

The only ones not getting used are the Hemp wicks and the lower numbered LX wicks. I have 3 sizes of hemps and just can't seem to find a use for them. I still test them in various candles but so far they don't seem to work in anything I make......

DanaE

I agree on the "A" - it's a great color and great effect.

DanaE

all pretty, but my pick is mulberry, then lemon pound cake. great color.

Gotta agree about the Lemon Poundcake, the color is perfect. It's so hard to get that perfect shade of yellow without either getting it too pastel or getting this shocking bright yellow! (I had to give away a bunch of Banana Cream Pies because I used a sliver too much yellow and the color was wild, but I didn't know that until they'd completely cooled).

DanaE

They all look great - love the mottling on them! My favorite is the blue, but I'm drawn to those deep beautiful shades of blue.

The ball is totally cool. I've almost purchased one at least 15 times but then worry about how it'll burn. When you burn it will you let us know what happened, and what wick you used?

DanaE

It sounds like the extruded candles you're talking about. I really belive this method was designed purely for making consumers think they're getting the same amount for the money. In reality, from what I've seen those compressed granules have air packed in there. I've melted down a whole candle before and had 2" less when it rehardened. Consumers just think they're getting as much candle, it really seems to burn faster. I noticed this before I ever ventured into making them myself.

Satin Ducky, have you ever noticed how light weight those candles feel? I was picking up some candles at the grocery store last week, just playing with them, and I swear that the 3x6 couldn't weigh more than 8 ounces. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how a candle that size could be so light, but from what you've just said, it makes a lot of sense.

To get this back to the topic at hand....I haven't found one that didn't shrink, except for 2275. I still have a case of it, and although it makes great votives I didn't think the scent throw was very good. It has a very high meltpoint and I'll probably just use it for embeds. (maybe you could experiment with some high meltpoint hurricane wax, and pour it right above it's pouring temp? so if it has a melting point of 170, pour it at 165....it might work, although I don't know what the scent throw would be like). It's not called 2275 anymore; when the company was purchased the name changed, but the wax is still available - I think at Bitter Creek North.

DanaE

I use a mix of OK6228, which is a very white, opaque pillar wax, and container wax (parasoy container wax). The container wax makes sure that the icing adheres to the candle and doesn't break off, the OK6228 keeps it white.

I only got a little bit of yellowing one time, and I was using Southern Vanilla FO for the icing. Right now I'm using cinnamon bun FO for the icing on the various sized cinnamon buns I'm making, and although the FO looks thick and slightly brown, the end result is very white.

I've no doubt there are many different waxes that'll help you get the icing white and keep it that way, so choose whoever is closest to you, supplier wise, and which you can experiment with the cheapest.

DanaE

That's the wick I would have started with also. If you have a complete melt pool (nothing stuck on the edges) and you have black soot on the rim, try going down to a 44-24-18Z. I used that size last year in some Choco-latte items (did the whipped thing on top too) and the 44Z worked perfectly for those.

If you don't have a good, complete meltpool with the 51Z I wouldn't recommend going down a size, because you'll end up with wax left on the sides of the cup. In that instance, I'd change to a different brand of wick, probably a CD7.

DanaE

My wicks lived in a box for a long time. I was going crazy trying to find the sizes I needed. I started spreading them out all over the floor.....

So hubby bought a piece of plywood, got the boxes (they come 4 to a set at the hardware store) for a little bit of nothing, and made the wall for me.

I have to say, the amount of time I save by being able to reach over and grab the correct wick immediately is enormous. And my irritation level has dropped by many percentage points. I used to get so mad when I wanted a CD6 and could find everything BUT a CD6 in the darn box that I wanted to throw stuff around.

It's the little things in life that make us happy

DanaE

These are soooo beautiful!!! What is Fisher Trop, I've never heard of it?

It's a wax additive. If you use too much you lose ALL your mottling, so you have to figure out how much to use to just break up the mottling a little, not lose it LOL!

DanaE

They have some great prices and cool labels...I wanted to try them but I thought I better check and see if anyone has ever used them before...they do say they are backed up on orderes...Im a little nervous to order..I would like my order in a week or so..I did email them and ask how long...but Ihavent heard back

here is there site...

www.candleandsoapstuff.com

You can pretty much forget getting your package in a week. Try a google search and see if you can find another company with the same items. Even before they were running behind and had medical problems it took me a month to receive both of my orders. They have adorable items, but it's not worth the stress to me so I just moved on.

Others on here and other boards haven't received packages they paid for several months ago, so you might want to check around and see before you consider ordering.

DanaE

I use the 6228 for both pillars and votives, and I do use zinc on my votives, and never have that drowning out problem. I use Flat and Square braid on my pillars, but they are still in the experimental stage for me. I am glad to know I can use 1.5oz pp as I was under the assumption ( I know I know...assume) that I could only use 1oz pp..

Yeah, many times a manufacturer will say a certain wax can only hold 3% and yet it'll hold 6%. It's the same thing; I can get 1-1/2 ounces of FO pp into this wax with no separation unless I'm using a sweet scent. But adding a few pebbles of vybar or a few ounces of container/soy wax usually takes care of that problem.

Can you tell me which flat and square braid wicks you're using on the OK6228 pillars? I'm a wick freak and I'm always on the look out for other wicks to experiment with. Just let me know if you're using 3" around or 4" and which wicks you're testing? Thanks! (I tried an LX30, which is a flat braid if I remember correctly, and although it does okay, I'm sticking with my low smoke zinc 17's until I find something better).

DanaE

I'm lucky enough to have a huge basement, so my work area is way too large to get in one picture. I should take a picture of just the place where I put the molds when I'm pouring...what a disaster area that is! I have probably 40 aluminum pillar molds in various sizes and they are just everywhere...the dirty ones are at the back of the table so I'll know to clean them, the clean ones are lined up in a couple of rows at the front of the table, some are over by the votive molds, some are over by the wax melter....I really need to get more organized!

If I get a chance today I'll take a picture of the main work area (It's two 6 foot long tables pushed together). I have another table just for pouring embeds and tarts, and I use the tops of my unopened boxes of wax to pour icing on candles (put wax paper underneath the candles first). I feel the need for about 4 more tables just so I can spread out more, but then I'd just have a bigger area to make a disaster!

DanaE