Fern

Very nice indeed!

Fab as always...great job!

I'm probably too late to jump in on this but...All you really need to do is reopen that hole down to the bottom of the container and widen it a bit more as well. By reopening the hole and widening it, you're ensuring that the void will be totally filled when you hit with the heat gun and melt it until the hole fills in and the top becomes level. Make sure you keep your wick secured until it's completely set up. When your done, it will look as though nothing was ever wrong with it.

I hear ya waxwench, I've never seen those candles before either, and I've been making candles for awhile myself. I agree though, they are very nice looking!

I used to use soy wax, and if I recall correctly, you've got to heat it to 180-185 degrees, add your fragrance oil and dye, then let it cool to 150-155 degrees before pouring. If you add your fragrance oil and dye at 150-155 degrees, it will be difficult to get it to fully incorporate. Especially the vanilla based oils, which can be difficult even with the higher temperatures.

You can put anything you want on the lid of your baby jar...after all, the lid is not on when you're burning your candle, so you don't have to worry about using flammable materials. My sister fills 9 oz hex jars with all different types of natural materials, i.e., stones, shells, sea glass, potpourri, etc., and then adds a decorative piece on top like quilled or painted plaster flowers or whatever else happens to come to her very creative mind. Look though some craft books to get some ideas, I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something by looking at what other people have done.

I always make rustic pillars. I use 3 heaping tablespoons of stearic per lb of wax and never see my relief hole re-pours. Using the stearic will increase the opacity of your wax so you won't be able to see through your candle while it's burning.

When you make your relief holes, you want to stop about an inch before the top of your candle. Make sure you make your holes about 1/4" wide and re-open them periodically while they're setting up. Once your candle has completely set up, do your re-pour. How the heck are you seeing your relief holes any way? You do realize that the top of your candle is actually at the bottom of your mold, right? Some people who are new to candle making, make that mistake. Just thought I'd ask just to see if that was the case.

Peak's Sugar Plum Berries smells just like Yankee's Christmas Berries...and it's very strong! Might even be an actual dupe...but I can't confirm that.

I've used Lone Star's...it's a very masculine scent and STRONG. It's OK, but not something that I particularly care for...but that doesn't mean it's not good...just depends on what you like.

I'm thinking it may be the soy pillar wax you're using as well. I've made 3x6 and 3x9 pillars using soy and I've had them crack...so I'd venture to say it's probably the wax.

Wick pins and plummers putty here...works great!

I use a flathead screwdriver and hammer to break up mine. I use the screwdriver like a chisel. It works great. I can break up a slab of wax into manageable sizes in about 10 minutes. I've tried the dropping it on the concrete thing but my bag always ended up ripping, plus it didn't break into small enough pieces.

A higher sustained heat helps it throw more as well.

As the others have said before me, you definately want to poke relief holes when you're pouring containers. Even if you don't see any sink holes, there can be some air pockets in the candle, usually around the wick underneath the surface that you cannot see. You usually discover them when you've been burning your candle for a little while...then suddenly your wick starts drowning and you've got a tunnel going down around your wick. That's why the relief holes are so important. Keep the holes open until the candle is almost completely cool...then hit the top with your heat gun to close everything up. Also, it helps to reduce the possibility of air pockets if you pour cool...around 150-160 degrees. By the way, you can easily fix that candle without having to dump it out and start over again. Widen the hole and then take your heat gun and go over the top in a slight sweeping motion until the melted wax fills it all in...it will look good as new.

Sometimes too much fragrance oil will drown out your wick as well, so if your overloading your wax with FO, that might be your problem. Just a guess since I don't know what kind of wax your using, or the type of wick and size for your 4 oz container. Perhaps offering a little more info will give you the answer your looking for.

What I think will probably happen, even though you've got a full melt pool now, that sooner or later the wick is going to drown out. I'm assuming that at one point you had a larger flame and then it slowly diminished in size...is that right? To keep your candle burning nicely and consuming the appropriate amount wax, in an appropriate amount of time, you want a sustainable flame of about 1/2-3/4"...give or take a smidge.

Those are right on the money, girl! Love them! Great job!

That is some beautiful wax and the color is outstanding. Great job!

Oh dang! That's too bad, I was really hoping to find a dupe of Fierce. Thanks for the update Smelly! :smiley2:

I've got some of those bags that I purchased years ago from KY Candle Supply. Many people on the board say that the only plastic bags that will not suck the scent out of your candles and tarts is polyproplene...which I am quite sure that I spelled incorrectly. Any way, I have packaged tarts in small zip lock bags that were not polypropolene before and the scent remained after a couple of years...so, based on that, I no longer believe that it must be polyproplene in order to preserve the scent. I no longer use the bags or zip lock bags because I shrink wrap all of my tarts now...just because I like the way it looks better.

I have the same problem with pink sugar in my J50/OK6228 tarts. They start out looking a beautiful soft pink color and then gradually over time they discolor...that is...with tarts that have already been packaged and have been sitting around for awhile. Don't know why it is, but it only happens with the Pink Sugar FO. I've had many other candles and tarts that I have dyed pink and they don't discolor...I don't get it either.:undecided

I used to be a die-hard Yankee Candle fan before I learned how to make tarts and candles myself. Yankee's tarts were always strong when I bought them about 5 years ago, maybe along with their price increase they decided to "decrease" the amount of fo they used as well. Their container candles were good throwers too but they produced a lot of soot and were ridiculously expensive. Their pillars and votives were not good...the throw was very light to no scent throw at all. I sure am glad I know how to make my own stuff now. :smiley2:

www.saveonscents.com

Thanks SmellyWax, for the info on Ezra. Glad to know that I'm not going to waste my money on the scent that I didn't want. Appreciate it.:smiley2: