gerrie

That is one of my pet peeves.........HUGE box full of peanuts and a small bottle of oil. Way to many suppliers do it this way. Genwax was really bad for that, but their shipping was free back then, but to me it was just a waste. Didn't surprise me at all when they finally quit their free shipping. I understand the need to protect the supplies, but let's get real, it doesn't take a 1' square box for 2 small bottles of oil.

Thanks Steph, I do think they look nice. I really like the creamy smooth look to this blend, but I've been using paraffin for 6 years, and this is very different for me. My customers are used to not having to worry about a mushroom or trimming the wicks, that's what worries me. They may not be willing to make a change. Jen, that 12 oz frosted metro jar if very decieving. The melt pool was actually not even 1/4" deep, and it had some hang up on it. There wasn't so much that I was worried about it, thinking it may catch up on more burns. Below is a picture of the burn I did tonight, it was for 4 hours. As you can see they all have a hang up except for the jelly jar, but it's the only one with some soot on the side, very small amount, but worried it could get worse as the burn gets towards the bottom of the jar. Will do another 5-6 hours tomorrow and see how it goes. Mushrooms weren't quite as big on this second burn, but they are still there. I don't feel the need to yank out these wicks to test others, think I need to see where these are going to go when they get to the bottom of the jar. I'll keep posting till the wax is gone.

Got my wax yesterday, poured last night and test burned about 12 hours later, just couldn't wait. I pretty much followed the directions except for the melting temp, I think it got up to 200 degrees. I have a thermometer with an alarm which I set for 178, but the probe got caught on the handle and was just in the wax a tiny bit, so when the alarm went off and I put the probe in all the way it read 200. I really don't think it did any harm. I used 1.2 oz of Peaks French Vanilla pp and 1 ivory chip for color. I used a jelly jar, a 8 oz metro jar, a jar that goes to a holder I got at Christmas,(just a straight sided jar like the metro but different diameter), and the frosted 12 oz metro jar. They all had the 51 c wick except the 12 oz metro jar which had a LX 24 in it. Left to right is 12 oz metro (3"), jelly jar (2 3/8"), 8 oz metro (2 1/2"), and my other jar (2 5/8"). This was after a 3 1/2 hour burn. They all had a huge mushroom, which I'm not used to, would like to find a wick that doesn't mushroom, is that possible? I trimmed them when they were cool and have them going again. Will try to post more pictures after another 3 hour burn. The throw is great, but with 4 candles going you would expect that. I will burn tomorrow with them in different rooms to see how the throw is. Nice smooth top before and after the burn. I'm new to soy.....those that use soy, do you always have large mushrooms on your wicks no matter what type of wick you use?

Oh good, I did too!! Thanks a bunch.

Burning mine as I type. Hope to post some pictures and results tonight. So far I really like this wax, but I remember when I thought the Joy wax was the best, then I fell in love with the 1945 (for about a week, LMAO), so I'm trying to take my time with this wax. I got my wax yesterday and I poured last night, so I didn't even wait 24 hours to cure before lighting it today, plus I didn't have all the wicks I need to try so I used what I did have.

Thanks SC, I have some AOL problems sometimes, so I just wanted to check.

Anyone having trouble getting into The Whisk, I've been trying for several days and not having any luck. TIA

Oh Michelle, those look beautiful, and I don't even do soaps. But I sure like the looks of yours, so smooth and creamy looking, nice job.

Yes, you do need a wick tab, but if you get the 15mm ones they will sit in the small circle at the bottom of the tealight cup and you really don't have to use a stickum on the tab. The tab will hold the wick up. I know many still glue it down, but I've made these for 6 years and never had one wick "float" away on me. It's really your call though, which way you want to do it.

Did you wick up since it's a Vanilla. Seems the Vanillas and Cinnamons are scents you need to wick up on most of the time. I won't get my wax till Monday, so I really am not familiar with this wax yet.

First thing I'd do is cut down the amount of jars, LOL. That gets to be to much when you have that many scents. You will never be able to figure out what the public wants, so it's very hard to guess what will be selling. I started out taking orders when I did my first party, but as I got my stock built up I started doing cash and carry, and then would take orders if I didn't have something, but I really would rather just do one or the other. I would not ship because of the expense. The way I see it is, if you take as much as you can in your car, and you have that many jars to choose from, people who don't get a certain scent in one jar can get it in another. I know I wouldn't pay an extra 4.00-5.00 to have a candle shipped to me just because I like one jar over the next. Don't make more work for yourself than necessary. And I agree, people do like cash and carry, they seem to like to take their goodies home with them. Good luck with the party. I love parties, they are real money makers.

Wow, that's a new one to me. Where did you see that at? Not sure I like that, wonder how well a 15 watt bulb works in that, and like you say, is that even safe

Just want to let you know the clear cups can melt, so please test, test and then test some more. I had one oil that I had so much trouble wicking, and since I had to wick up on all my other containers with this oil I put a larger wick in the tealight. Well, walked in the main bathroom where I had it sitting on the vanity, and it had a HUGE flame. It melted the cup, and I now have a very unattractrive burned spot on my vanity to remind me what a stupid thing I did that day. Now I test burn everything on my stove top. It was my fault, shouldn't have went with such a large wick without keeping my eye on it all the time.

The Lab Colors at the Chemistry store are diluted, and the ones that BB has are contentrated. I've only used the diluted ones. I did get some of the concentrated ones when Jen still had Lab Colors and had her fire sale (before selling Lab Colors) but I sold them cause I was afraid they were to concentrated for what I wanted to use them for (small batch of lotion and MP), and I didn't know enough about preservatives to dilute and then add the preservative to keep them safe. I find for what I need the diluted ones work fine, but they don't color as deep as the Select Shades. I'm sure if you got the Lab Color concentrate you could get a real deep color. BTW, I don't know why the Chemistry store isn't labeling their colors as Lab Colors, they used to, and the colors on their page haven't changed, so you'd have to email them to see what they say.

http://www.fairwayglass.us/ It says they are 4.5 oz.

Here's one place that carries the Lab Colors http://www.chemistrystore.com/soapcolors.htm

I really like Lab Colors or the Select Shades. I find you can get a deeper color with the Select Shades. Over 2 years ago I made 200 pair of flip flop soaps for my daughters wedding. There were some left over and I still have them, color looks the same as the day I made them and they were all 2-toned. No bleeding, but I also was careful that I didn't use any FO's that had vanilla in them, if I thought there might be some then I used the vanilla stabilizer for MP soaps. I used SFIC base. I had some soaps get realy ugly before I started to use the stabilizer. http://tradewinds.mainsecure.net/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15&zenid=f53c054ef35f6f5097ebf68e607f5294

Beautiful work Donita, as always.

Sorry, can't remember who it was, but someone on this site gave me a link to free lessons via the internet on basket making. One of the things they talked about was mixing food and candles. It was a huge no-no. I was surprised since some things are totally sealed, but they said no. Just passing this along, I have a feeling there are a lot of basket makers out there that combine the 2, but really don't know.

Check this out: http://www.soapdishforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24210&hl=press May not be what you're after, but never know, it might just work.

No need to worry about the ink. Great thing about hurricanes, no waste. If it doesn't turn out like you wanted it to, just peel that picture off, re-melt the wax and you can even reuse the picture, done it many times. I just use a knife to get under the corner of the picture and peel it right off. You'll be surprised just how easy these really are to do.

I am afraid I won't have the correct wicks either. I've always used paraffin so this will be really new to me. I love the LX wicks, but since this is a new wax for me I'm going to go with what Brenda suggests. Going to be testing in the 8 oz jelly jar the 8 oz (2 5/8" diameter) and 12 oz (3" diameter) metro jars. Any suggestions as to where I should begin. TIA

I agree with scented, you'll have a stronger candle next year I actually have some from 5 years ago, they are just fine. But you can keep your oils for more than a year, just make sure they are kept in a cool dark place, that really helps them. I've only had a few oils go bad on me, and most of them were 4-5 years old. But I always keep them in a dark closet, in a cool basement.

Thanks....guess I'll give them a try, I'm sure I can find some use for them.

One of the better investments I've made, it's a major time saver.