DanaE

Ditto. My presto pot has never clogged, but my 'professional' wax melter does it all the time. I just take my heatgun to the spout and the clogged wax melts and runs out. DanaE

Yeah, and the mold needs to be really clean and then sprayed with Pam or something like that so all the frost comes out on the candle. Well, I should clarify and say IN MY CASE that's what I have to do! If not, the frost stays in my mold and then I get to spend extra time cleaning it! The picture looks like maybe the mold wasn't hot enough when you stuck the motorcycle to the side? I don't know...it's just my impression, since it's frosty and the rest of the candle is glossy and shiny. Maybe the next time you make one, try heating the outside of the mold where the embed is, after you do the pour? You could have runny colors if you held the heatgun there too long, but it might work. DanaE

Lin, do you know of anyone that is getting a rustic out of that wax? It's not a straight paraffin that I could tell, and it's not a mottling wax. If it's a preblend, many of them simply won't make rustics. I tried and tried with OK6228 and the stuff wouldn't make a rustic. I can only get good rustics with straight paraffin like 1343 and mottling waxes like 1274, 4045H, etc. DanaE

It does look like you could wick up one size without a problem. My mottled/rustic pillars burn so that they totally consume themselves. I use a low smoke 19 for 4045H wax, and low smoke 21 for 1274 wax. They worked perfectly from the get-go so I haven't had to test any other wicks with them. If you find the 30 ply aren't doing the job, you could try other wicks - a CD16 maybe, or an LX20-22? I have some 1/0 square braid here and they work well with this wax, but i have to watch them because the wick is a little hot and I can get spill over if I power burn for more than 4 hours. DanaE

I definitely wouldn't burn that many at one time. I've made myself sick burning 4 or 5 at a time, so I can't imagine that many! And yeah, you need to be in a well ventilated place. I'm lucky to have a basement or I probably wouldn't be doing this. Even though I make them in the basement, the scent goes through the whole house and anyone coming over knows exactly which candle I just made. Also, there may just be certain scents your child is sensitive to - mine got sick to their stomachs off of Moonlight Path, so it's a scent I don't make anymore. We've had a few scents that were just so disagreeable to everyone in the house that I decided not to carry them. DanaE

I've made votives with this wax - it was about 5 years ago, when I didn't know any better, but all I did was pop them in the freezer for about 5 minutes and they came out of the molds (also did it with 100% soy container wax - they also came out of the molds! LOL) You can always try one or two and see what you think. I don't even remember what wick I used then, but at the time I wasn't making any containers, so every wax I owned was either turned into a votive or pillar DanaE

I didn't keep close track, but I didn't start selling for years after I started making them. I make hundreds and hundreds of candles a month and gave them away, because that's what I did to keep boredom from taking over. By the time I started selling I owned about 200 votive molds, over 40+ pillar molds, dozens of silicone molds in all designs, had gone through dozens and dozens of cases of wax, tried every wick on the market, tried more than a dozen waxes, made probably 20 cases of containers, played with hundreds of color blocks...... I was spending close to $500 a month buying supplies (good thing I have an indulgent husband). I figure I have $2,000 invested in all the different molds I have, and that's not counting the professional wax melter hubby bought one year for Christmas. So yeah, I put $5,000 or more. I probably spent $5,000 in just one year! But it was great to have a hobby that kept me busy during the loooonnngg winter months of Delaware, and I was so happy to send packages to friends and family every month with all the new scents I made. Even if I never sold another candle I'd still be doing this into my old age. DanaE

Lynn, although this is kind of a general answer, when I blend either soy or container wax into my pillars (145mp preblended wax) I always have to wick up. I usually do it for certain scents that seem to throw better with a little soy, or if I want a creamier looking pillar. I usually wick up 1 size when I add soy/container wax, and that's at about 10 oz of soy/container to 3 lbs 6 ounces of 145 mp paraffin. DanaE

I use this, but it isn't actually wax. It's tiny tiny pieces of glass, from what the supplier said. You just sprinkle it on top of any candle. I bought the one that looks like sugar, as well as several glitters in various colors to use on my candles. Aromahaven (rustic escentuals) carries this and it's called Dazzle Dust. DanaE

There's a container wax on the market that'll hold 20% FO, but I can't imagine using it. That's a big waste of FO, when other good container waxes use half as much and throw an outstanding scent. And I agree with the others; if I didn't make candles, I'd have no idea if 13% was good or not. I'd probably think it wasn't! Back then I had no idea that wax would only hold a certain amount, and I'm sure the regular layman has no idea of the properties of wax. DanaE

The Crafter's Choice wax is wonderful! If I had a local supplier I might purchase it instead of other container waxes. It has an awesome scent throw As for how long the oils are good? If you store them in a cool, dry, dark place, you may be able to get away with a couple of years. Sniff them, test some in some batches of wax and see what happens. I have a tendency to keep my FO's forever since I store them in cabinets in the basement. I have a couple that are 4 years old that are still good (fragrances that wouldn't sell, but I liked so I didn't want to get rid of). DanaE

I bought some of the red silicone muffin type molds to make tarts with and the tarts completely stuck to the mold! These weren't purchased from a candle supplier, but from a grocery store, so perhaps it wasn't the right material. I had to throw them all away (the molds). I just ordered a silicone mold for tarts that makes 40 at once, but it's for candles so I know I won't have a problem. As for wax? I mix OK6228 with either a container wax or soy wax to help it melt faster. I definitely wouldn't make tarts with 4627 unless you pour until the paper muffin cups and sell them that way. That wax is so soft that I don't think anything will harden it up. 4794 makes wonderful tarts too. It's really hard to mess up tarts, as long as you have a good wax from one of the wax suppliers along with good FO's. DanaE

My husband made a holder for me that'll do 6 pillars at one time. Basically it's a piece of wood with six triangle shapes cut out. I just lay the mold in the triangle cut out and then there's a piece of wood nailed behind that keeps the mold from falling all the way down. Hard to explain...when my digital camera recharges I'll take a pic, but you have to excuse my work area! It looks like a bomb hit it.... DanaE

Henry, all my additives came from Candlewic so I think I'm good as far as having each figured out. Mine are very specific as to what they are; the bags say "Gloss Poly C-15" and "Fisher Trop" and such. Today I'm going to add vybar and soy to my pillars and see if I can stop the fingernailing. Darn it, something used to work......without additives! For years and years I didn't have the problem and now it's in better than 50% of my batches. DanaE

Henry, I only get the fingernailing in OK6228, which is very very opaque to start with! I don't really care if any of the additives make it more opaque, since you can't get much more opaque than this wax I don't get fingernailing at all with my mottling waxes or votive waxes so it's not something I'm worried about there. And yeah, I love how glossy my pillars came out with the Gloss poly, but even on a very light, almost white pillar I could still see the fingernailing. On the darker pillars - brown, burgundy, red, etc. the fingernailing looks like someone threw big white circles inside the mold before they poured. I never had fingernailing with 1343, so you may not have a problem with it. I also didn't/don't get fingernailing with 1274 or 4045H. It's only OK6228 and it has always been that one wax that did it. Years ago I took care of the problem by adding container wax. Somewhere along the line I stopped, and then just recently (within 5 months or so) the fingernailing came back. I CAN add vybar, but it's a preblend so I have to be very careful how much I use. I normally add about 1/4 teaspoon vybar per lb with OK6228, along with a couple of tablespoons of Crisco, and occasionally I throw in some container or soy wax. Adding the vybar didn't stop the fingernailing. My blood red, gorgeous shiny pillars, which had vybar, gloss poly and container wax as additives, started fingernailing about a week after I made them *sigh*. So paraflint is my last chance. If it doesn't work, I'm just going to keep adding more container wax until the fingernailing stops. It used to work for me, but maybe I'm not adding the correct percentage to stop it....... DanaE

I use Spiced Cranberry, Christmas Splendor, Home Sweet Home (this is super cinnamony), Apple Strudel or Hot Baked Apple Pie, Mulberry, Eggnog and a couple of other sweet scents for winter/Christmas. Every year I buy a few new oils to test and use during the season also. DanaE

I've never noticed that fingernailing makes any difference to the way my candles burn. I burn quite a few myself, and usually try to keep the ones with the worst fingernailing. It can be aggravating though, when you're going for a deep red shiny pillar and 2 days later it has white circles all over it *sigh*. Henry, I'm going to try the paraflint and see if it takes care of the problem. The Gloss poly C-15 didn't do it, still had fingernailing on some of the pillars, and I went back to my old trick of adding in about 7 ounces of container wax to a 4 lb batch but that didn't work either! I'll probably add soy to my batches until I can get some paraflint to see if it takes care of the problem. I know that mixing OK6228 and 4794 gets rid of the fingernailing, but I'm low on the 4794 and need it for my cinnamon buns. DanaE

The only time I got pits was when I left a pillar in a mold for several days and had used a heavy, sweet scent. I'm sure there are many reasons for pitting - a mold that has dust but you can't see it, too much Pam/mold release, pouring way too hot perhaps, etc.. I make sure my molds are absolutely, perfectly clean before I pour so I know that isn't the problem. I'm lucky that I only had pitting that one time, since I pour hundreds of pillars a month! (oh, one thing I've noticed, at least with OK6228, is that the wax can be quite dirty when I get it. I let the gunk settle to the bottom of the wax melter and about once a week empty it completely and wipe it all out - it could be something in the wax causing the problem). Now, MY problem seems to be colors like blue and green that just don't completely dissolve and I get cool little color lines on the top of the pillar. I don't stress over it, but I do notice that it only happens with blue and green. I melt these colors in the pour pot, along with whatever additives I'm using, before I add my wax, so I can't believe they didn't incorporate well. I add my wax to the pour pot at around 200, stir stir stir, add FO around 190 and pour right around 190-180 with OK6228, so I can't believe it's operator error! I don't have this problem with mottling wax. All I can say is clean the molds well, wipe out excess Pam, don't pour too hot, unmold within a day or two, and pray! lol DanaE

Fern, you must be my twin. I tried the Astrolite 123 also and couldn't get a scent throw. I also had to use wicks several sizes larger than I was used to. I also have it sitting in my basement. I guess eventually I'll just throw it away! Missy's/JS's 123 is different from Astrolite's though. I did test it at the same time I was testing Astrolite 123 and it's a good wax. It didn't stand out above all the other container waxes I was testing, but the scent throw was really good and it colored well. DanaE

I use my octagonal votive molds a lot with wick pins and haven't had this problem . I wish I could tell you something different -my wick pins stay in the center, and if I have one that is off center, I bend the wick pin. If you can't get your wick pins to stay centered, maybe you can just wick them directly in the molds? DanaE

Sorry Henry - are you going to try it again, with less Gloss poly? Like I said, I was just goofing around when I made them, and I used a big pinch of the Gloss poly, which I figured probably equaled around 1/2 teaspoon for the 4 lb batch. Maybe you need to count out like 6 beads *grin*. I'm going to try it again today, just to see if I can duplicate it. I wanted to play with the pyramid molds some more, so this is a good reason to. I'll post the pics if they come out the same way. It could have simply been a fluke. DanaE

Sorry, should have put the wax in the first post. I'll modify it. I'm using 4045H for all the mottled and rustic pillars, and OK6228 for the light dusty rose pillar. DanaE

I add the UV, along with my stearic acid, coloring and any other additives before I put the wax in the pot. I heat up the pot with my heat gun so everything is melted and then put the wax in. DanaE

I bought them at candlesandsupplies.com - initially they sent me the wrong size stands for the molds, so I wasn't able to use them until yesterday, when I received the right size. I love them - I like anything that isn't round. Six or seven years of doing round pillars is enough! DanaE

It is an interesting effect. My initial thought was also that the top was totally cool and the bottom took away from it. But I think it probably gives them more texture and depth to leave them like they are. And they do look like they're on fire . I betcha they're going to be beautiful when lit at night DanaE