BruceCarvesWax

If they have been in business for so many decades, maybe they are retiring?

I think they changed owners some years back but the name stayed the same. If I member right .

I may have to dig out one of their catalogs from the 70's and check it out.

Bruce

All other candle suppliers for the color chips are just way to high priced.

Pourette was the manufacture of them...

1LB of color chips approx. 520 chips $20.00 - .04each

1/2Lb of color chips approx. 260 chips $15.00 - .06each

1/4LB of color chips approx. 130 chips $8.25 - .06each

Candlechem 1/4LB of color chips $9.98 is the largest package I have found.

I know the color chips are just powdered dye in Stearic Acid but of course I don't know their formula.

So I guess when the other suppliers run out there will be no more

Not so sure about that CM.. I just got a price list from that north valley candle mold place and they have a pound of dye chips for 18.00....

Bruce

I will get around to making the images bigger and clickable for your viewing pleasure, you candle pervs , as soon as I can. Need DH's help for that, I only know how to crop & resize :embarasse.

The board does most of it on its own. If your picture is less than 95 kb all you have to do is make sure its not too huge when it comes up on the screen (size wise ie. 6 inch by 8 inch) and the board will put a clickable thumb nail of it in your post automatically when you post it.

I just noticed you have your pictures hosted some where else so my info above might not help you. If you just use the attach image and browse function on the board the above info will work for you.

Bruce

If you can smell a candle, melt, or anything else at anytime some amount of scent its being released into the air and that scent that is released cant be replaced. There are a set amount of scent molecules in a scented item. Its in there and it can only lose not gain strength.. unlike my son who likes eating cabbage which is a continuing source of... fragrance. Using the right packaging will hold in more fragrance making the product that much stronger for the consumer.

I'm sure there are more technical answers to this because there has to be something in the plastic zip bags that make using them much worse than no packaging at all. It really does SUCK the fragrance out of a product. My first answer was the simple version. My brain power is a limited and I need to save up for the weekend.

Bruce

Might be as simple as zip lock bags are open cell bags and can let small amounts of air in and out over time. Polypro is a closed cell bag... like some suppliers use plastic for fragrance oil bottle but glass is known to be better for holding scent over a longer period of time. Another example is you can fill an balloon up with air, a few days later some air will have leak out thru the balloons skin. Mylar is more closed cell and will hold the air in many many days longer.

Clear as mud right?

Bruce

Here's the deal, if you have a 2 ounce bottle and it just over half full.. it aint 2 ounces. But... some suppliers don't want to carry 2 or 3 sizes of sample bottles so they might not have a real ounce bottle but use a two ounce bottle and fill it half full and sell as a one ounce sample... maybe that happened??? Or they were out of their one ounce size bottles.

Almost every supplier I use (25 of them) fill the sample and small bottles to the top and their done. MOST of them are over filled by quite a bit in some cases. My digital scales read .0625 for one ounce and most sample bottles I get are filled to .0700 or more 10% overfill. THEY make a way good profit on the oils and its takes too much time to get an exact one ounce bottle filled to a perfect one ounce. They will save in the long run because of the extra employee labor wages it takes to get the weights perfect on each smaller size bottle. To them its only a penny or less in extra oil if they fill it to the top.. and they make a killing at 2.00 an ounce any way so no big deal to them...that's the way I look at it anyway. I have over 2000 sample bottle in the basement right now and I'm a perfectionist on using exact numbers and weights so I always check out stuff like this. One pound bottles.. most of them are dead on to a fraction of an ounce, small ones they just over fill to save time and labor. That's my findings anyway, I'm sure all suppliers have their own ways of doing business.

Bruce

One person on here stated that ALL fragrance oil have EO's in them to some degree. IF thats true she would have a problem with all scents. I forget who it was but they seemed to know some stuff about perfume and scents.

Bruce

Bruce, do you have a pic of what you are talking about? I've not tried silicone at all. Di, you need to try the pillars. They are very easy and fun!

They will make a mold for you. Janet aka creative gems makes silicone molds of all kinds. Ask her about the idea of a ball mold made from silicone and see what she thinks. Shes a member here.

Bruce

good idea

or you can get your bags here..http://67.88.53.36/items.asp?CartId={94131244-C3C6-446B-AEF2-F3EVEREST038043C0B0}&Cc=PLASTIC%5FBAG&Bc=

they are a little bit more, but you don't have to order as much.

But those are just the plastic ziploc bags... not good for scented products unlike the polypro bags listed in the first post which are best for our type products.

Bruce

How about a silicone mold? Where you pour into the mold would be the bottom of the candle and could be an inch or so wide to create a flat bottom. Then when you pour a candle the candle could just pop out of the one inch hole... or how ever large the bottom hole would have to be to pop out the candle with out cracking the silicone.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce. Sure appreciate the nice comments from everyone. It's the wax. I just melt and pour. What part of MO are you from? I lived in MO for 12 yrs

Hannibal

Most any other wax and these would have just looked plain, but they look fantastic with the combination you used.

Bruce

VERY nice candle you have there. Wish the pictures would enlarge, would love to see them a little closer.

Bruce

Wife did hair for 12 years and bought all that stuff. If PM is in a white with black print bottle then I use that hair spray also.

Bruce

One other thing, I replaced the center metal rod with a longer rod so I can do tapers up to 20 inch long if I desire. Only limited to how deep your dip tank is and with PVC pipe I could even make 3-4 foot tall tapers if I wanted to make a sealed pvc tube that tall and set in the tank of wax to keep it warm.

Bruce

One thing I've been thinking of trying is to make more tapers in one session - so that means a frame and vat.

Has anyone used either of these:

http://www.candlechem.com/images/Taper_Dipping_Frame.jpg

http://www.candlewic.com/store/Product.aspx?q=cTaper+Dipping+Equip.,p202

The candlewic one seems like you can wick it easier, no? The problem is you need at least a 7" vat. With the candlechem one you can get by with a 6" vat. So thats my second question, has anyone come across 7" vats?

TIA

I have the taper frame that is from candlechem and am not very fond of how it holds the wicking on the frame. I have it slip all over the place very often. The one in your 2nd link would be my choice.

If you have a wax melter use that for your dipping vat. If you have one and dont want to fill it full you can try to float wax on water... that works great for the dip and carve to use up any old wax.

Bruce

Spinning the candle by the wick AS you pull it up out of a bucket of water with pigment or paint floating on the surface could give that look.

Bruce

I don't understand white spots. Did it mottle?

I bet its some kind of mottle or fingernail she has going on there. I always like how vybar looks in those candles.. it makes like little ripples in the "water".

Bruce

Yes I did that candle in 5 scents and after they are burned a votive can replace them.

Here is one that is ready to pour with scented wax. The holes are about 3 inch diam. I had to pour it hot enough to connect together the middle area.

Bruce

I myself have never had a problem with heating wax on a gas stove. Its faster and to me easier to watch over since it heats faster you don't get distracted with other things. Either way you decide to heat the wax you have to watch over it all the time. I have heated wax to well over 300F before but sticking around 300F is best for sand candles for me.

Cooking oil and grease can catch fire just like wax can, watch out for smoke and vapor (like the wavy lines you see raising up off the highway on a hot summer day). Wax has to turn into a vapor to catch fire.... you just cant throw a match in it and have it blow up like gasoline until it gets close to its flash point. To turn into a vapor it has to get closer to 400F but each wax is different so that's my general range that I don't get close to. Not many things require wax being over 300F. My largest danger is trying to carry the 300F wax down the steps to the basement to get ready to pour. If that stuff got on your skin it would burn like heck.

Just be safe and watch the wax temp... make sure your thermometer is registering correct temps also. I would love to live on a nice beach I would get a propane turkey cooker fill it with wax and pour them right on the beach!

Have fun,

Bruce

Here! Not been checking the board very often but found this thread.

I wish I had NOT seen it... those are real cool looking and dang it I might

have to add that to my list of things to try.

The dye is not a good idea and I'm almost sure they are not made with dye. Dye will bleed into the clear wax and get all jumbled up and a few years down the road just look gray. Pigment in water... very possible, but im thinking oil based paint drops in water might be the winner. I dont think the color goes all the way into the candles and the pattern is random so its got to be a dip of some kind.

Bruce

The only thing that I would change is the outside should have some sand stuck to it. I have several kinds of sand and it looks like the kind you have is very very fine. That's not the best for making that kind of candle, the sand just stops the wax from going into it. You have to either pour hotter or use another kind of sand to get a sand crust. I'm guessing your trying to go for the same look as Donitas pool candles or most other sand candles. I have an old book on making sand candles that's quite interesting to read. BTW I use the lids from baby food jars to keep the wicks set where I want them. I also pour out the wax after it has set up some like you would for a hurricane candle and when its all set up I repour it with scented one pour wax. Can be refilled that way with votives depending on the wick you use. This way you can use scrap wax to make the shell and save the good wax for the part that can be burned.

Bruce

Your thinking on too small of a scale, you should be thinking how large of a house your candles will fill. Votive = small Apt. large candle= clampets house

Bruce

Weres the animals??? I dont see anything in the candles? Wheres the animals! PETA after you azz now?

Well... for "non" animal insert candles I guess these are about the best I have seen for a while. Nice pics too.

Bruce