BruceCarvesWax

Nice to see you back ... hope your doing well. Dang it, you caught me at a weak moment where my artistic temper got the best of me Mary! Not that it didn't need to be said but.... when they come here and have already been given a tutorial by god my 30 years of making candles don't count for much I guess and it makes me sad. Bruce

No, he was telling her my pulse rate as I read ForHisGlorys threads.... If god told me to go with 180 I don't think I would have to ask a bunch of candle makers on a candle board what they do. If god is that technical with you this board will not be any help to you at all. I know god has all the answers, I just never thought about asking him about what wax to use and scents ect. Wonder if he could end the many long debates on this board about which is better paraffin or soy?? Now that would be a miracle!

Time for my soap box now. Now do you see why people were telling you to slow down and that they thought you started selling candles at retail far far too soon? The questions you have asked in the past few weeks or so are questions that anyone selling candles should already know before they move to retail. I had to bite my tongue on your one post and side with "Bug" 100%. I had to get up and walk away the computer it upset me so much. People that don't put out well tested well made products are a liability to the ones that have invested lots of years and money to make home make candles better than store bought ones. People in general DON'T think we can make better products than yankers or the other big candle guys and they don't expect it and are surprised when they find out we can. Any person here that can't make a candle better than yankers don't need to be selling candles they need to be testing to find out what they are doing wrong. The good news is that this is a good place to get answers and many people are willing to give them freely ( FYI no one did that 30 years ago) but don't take every answer you get as fact. We all have to find what works for us, wax, wick, color, fragrance, we all have ideas about whats best. What you think is a weak vanilla scent will be a super strong one for someone else so testing it everything. In my best Adam Sandler voice... Sloooooooow Doooown. Bruce

Yes you can but the amount you use in making a good candle would be far more than the amount you would use for a lotion or massage item. 1% or less scent would be about the limit recommended by most sites for lotions ect. You will NOT have a good candle if you only use 1% Even if a oil is skin safe it doesn't mean you can rub it all over you at any concentration. I'm talking about already made strong candles that people are slathering with. Bruce

From what I have seen most of them use this recipe: 1 part soy wax 1 part scent 1 part liability insurance (see note*) 1 part stupidity *You can sub an extra part of stupidity for lack of insurance* Anyone having these items can make lotion candles. I know thats harsh but with that being said, I do know there are a few on here that are going about it the right way and have a good product. My general rule would have to be that if a soy candle is strong enough to fill up a house with fragrance, its going to be way to strong to rub on and leave on your skin. Your marketing should be all about lotion and less on being a candle. The flame should be just a way of turning the solid oils into liquid so you can use it on the skin. Wickless would work just as well with this type item. My gripe is with any current soy chandlers that hear about soy candles being used as lotion and don't alter anything from their original product and tell people to slop it on their skin and it will be wonderful. Bruce

I have made over 2000 scented 8 ounce test candles and only carry 140 scents. Don't expect more than a fraction of your samples you buy to throw the way you want them too. If it were that easy there would be no need for candle making boards. Bruce

Im guessing hes talking about store bought candles like pillars that dont burn all the way saving that wax and making candles from that. Wax doesnt go bad but can change and breakdown if you keep it melted around 200F for days or weeks at a time, but I think that might only change the way the wax throws not really how it is used as a fuel for a candle. 6 years back when I restarted full time candle making I still had a dozen cases of wax that were date stamped 1982 and I sure wish I could get some more of that stuff it was great wax. Maybe wax gets stronger with age... like gunpowder. Bruce

But I DO assume my wax will be the same from batch to batch and it should be the same overall. I know it may not be, but I do Assume it will be and everyone else that uses a certain wax over and over would assume the same. Each piece of wood is different so I see a much more likely chance of them being hit and miss over the wax. I just see the wood wicks are the largest variable in this situation. I see no other explanation for the varied results we have heard about. Now if a wood wick could be manufactured from a wood pulp.. we might have something that can be repeated again and again with good results. If its a natural strip of wood, I have my doubts. Bruce

The biggest problem I see that has to be overcome with wood wicks is the inconsistency of them compared to regular wicks which are more exact from wick to wick. We have equal or larger amounts of people that have horrible burn results from wood wicks from major companies and from ones they made on their own. I think its all in the luck of which batch of wood they come from myself because I cant see any other reason why some people get good results and others have so many problems. Consistently putting out a good product is the key to retail and if you don't or cant get that from wood wicks... Congrats on your great results you have had but from wick to wick Im not sold that anyone can "manufacture" that same burn every time. Bruce

Those look real cool. How long does it take to make a stick of that? I have a hand crank pasta roller, meat slicer... about any kind of tool you can think of but I just don't think the wax will even be close to what you make with the clay. You can do about anything you want with it while its warm. I have a case of micro wax in the basement right now and there would be no way to run a piece of it threw a press or roller. Its still a very hard wax just more pliable when warm and a little less brittle when cold. Its not cheap stuff, but I'm sure the clay isn't either. Bruce

LOL oops I just now saw that you found it... duh

Isn't that the same stuff they sell at walmart in the lamp oil section? I'm pretty sure it is and no shipping charges. If not, look for a restaurant supply house. Wholesale food supply ect. I have a couple of gallons and i got them from a food supply house that sells to restaurants. Bruce

Oh, even better, think about it this way. If you could somehow take a tiny cookie cutter in the shape you want and slice your way down threw a tall pillar candle with it you would have the base piece you need to start adding the color layers onto. Would be easier then having a mold made anyway.

I cut, carve, pour and hand shape wax for a living and yes you can make simple things and place them on the base candle but what I'm saying is that you cant come close to the detail you see in the candles in the pictures you posted. Not hand made out of wax, no way. The multiple colors and how small the lines and patterns are in the wax would be impossible to do with out the right (big) equipment. I have about 20 kinds of wax in the basement right now and can make about anything out of wax by hand, but the time it would take to make something as pictured would be outrageous. Here is my take on how to make something like that if I wanted to mess with it. You would have to start with a mold, say a butterfly mold that's very very tiny about a half inch wing span but very very tall like if you layered many butterflies on top of each other. Pour the mold with wax and then take that base and dip it into other colors of wax, 2 layers of one color then another so it builds up many colors inside. Once it gets to about 20-30 coats of wax it will have taken on the shape of a regular taper candle or close to it. Cut and slice it into thin pieces to be put onto a base candle. That still wont get you the detail and colors of the mass produced stuff but it will get you the same general look. I'm guessing you buy your millefiori in the shapes you want and just slice it which would be easy to do compared to wax shapes that you will have to make from scratch. Bruce

Those are not canes they are solid wax candles with the coating on the outside. Machine made I would assume. I can do the same general thing by dipping layers of colored wax on a wick and twisting and pulling it like taffy then you slice it into pieces and layer them on the base candle. If a person were to try to make these by hand the time it would take to get them done would be hours and way too costly in time to think about retailing. I have one in the basement right now that I bought and there is no way you could make peace signs, stars ect and get them to look that nice by hand with wax. Plus you can buy them all over the net dirt cheap from china. Bruce

Same here it looks about 3/4 inch deep to me.

Some scents of mine will smoke some dont, HAS to be the fragrance oil since I use the same % oil in them all. Vanilla and vanilla type scents will smoke more than others I have found.... just like they turn your finished product brown when you make soap with those scents. Bruce

I think they get too hot myself. Anything above the melting point and the closer to the melting point of the wax the better. I bet my obi warmers get hotter than the temperature you stated yours gets, you might check it again against the temp of your other warmers you use. My bet is they get closer to 200F. Bruce

Super nice candles you have there! Bruce

I'm not a Peaks rule person by far. I have ordered from them a few times and received good results, but I also order from 20+ other candle suppliers and most offer at least the same quality service. I'm glad how ever that they started probably the largest most active candle making board in the world and try to keep that in mind with my posts. I don't poop here but sometimes have a little gas to release. You cant get cheaper molds than when you go to the source so yes if I were a supplier I would buy from a manufacture like pourette to resell also. I don't think that's a huge part of a supplier like peaks business though.. its the fragrance oils that bring the customer back for more each month. The molds and other items are more or less a convenience item so you can get everything at one place. I think pourette changed their wholesale program in the past year, I forget what they did but i know you use to get a nice 40% off in quantity orders and have to register with your tax number. If you don't have a tax id or business, I would think that a place like Peaks would be a reasonable alternative for purchasing molds and such. Bruce

Im sure a supplier like peaks doesnt buy/resell from pourette or candle wic unless its molds (pourette) or wicks (candlewic), that i can see. Scents (the money maker for everyone) and wax .. no way. Plus you have to remember this board was started and operated by the peak company for several years before they turned it over to the mods here but still hosted by peaks. Lots of loyal peak users here because of that reason alone.

Most carvers use a half full 5 gallon bucket of glaze, dip your candle and then raise it out of the wax but not out of the bucket and spin the heck out of the candle to throw off the extra glaze. Blow on the surfaces also to get rid of any bubbles in the detail areas. I have seen them also stand there with a hair dryer and blow dry the glaze so it stops dripping quickly. Some people cut the glaze with water up to 50/50 its something everyone works out on their own I guess, no set rule. Once the candle has been spun you hang it up on a nail or hook and let the extra drip off. Not much saving the drippings, but the spinning takes most of it off for you. Keep bucket covered up until you dip the candle in it as the glaze can skin over if you don't. Lots of companies carry the dip on glaze so its just trial and error on if you add water or not. It's nothing more than a fancy commercial floor wax. (looks like it, smells like it, dries like it, and yellows over time like it) You can cut it with water just like you would if you waxed your floors. Like I said in another post lately, future floor wax is what alot of carvers used back in the day. Bruce

Acrylic.... aka floor wax. Johnsons "acrylic" floor wax was what some carvers used back in the day. It yellows on candles just like it does on floors over time. Bruce

Why do you want aluminum?

Cool! Would love to see a picture of yours. I wasn't watching the tear drop one very close and while I was working on something else I heard it fall over onto the scale and go out. I wish I had taken another picture before it split, it was neat looking as it burned deeper down. Thanks everyone for the comments. Bruce