Alan

When you say single pour, I think "container wax." And most container waxes are way too soft to exist in granulated form, at least the single pour ones. You can get soy in flakes though. And soy is often described as single pour. So, maybe consider soy as an option if you haven't already? Cheers, Alan

I agree. Here is the third one a little lighter... They look great by the way. (I'm partial to the middle one.)

If you have hot glue, do use it. Those instructions were written with the assumption that you may not have a hot glue gun or glue pot handy. I think there was a reference made to review the instructions here on CT if you used containers other than the tins. The tins provide a margin of safety in the sense that, if the wick does drift, it won't break any glass form overheating. Even when using the tins though, it is a good idea to use hot glue if you have it around. I'll modify the kit instructions to highlight that a bit. Thanks for bringing it up. Cheers, Alan

They both work fine. The candles here http://www.candletech.com/coldpours/ were done in aluminum cylinders. HTH Cheers, Alan

Leave the cane unscented. They tend to last years, and the scented ones may discolor over time. cheers, Alan

If you lay a chopstick over the pouring pitcher and hold it there while pouring, you can get the wax to glide down the chopstick as you pour. That will get the wax where you want it, and with less splattering. Gosh... I think this would be easier to explain with a photo. If I didn't convey it well enough, let me know and I'll get a photo tomorrow if I can.

Likewise Amy . We had a wonderful holiday... being snowed in together forced everything to slow down in a nice way for our family.

Sudsnwicks is correct. I don't want to interject too much that could really be saved for customer service, but the discounts can be more confusing than they should be. The discounts are at 5 bottles and 10 bottles. Any sizes, any scents, mix-n-match. You don't need to order full pounds of any of them. But you do realize deeper discounts with the larger bottles because the discounts stack. For instance, the 2-lb bottles are already discounted over the 1-lb price, and if you take an additional 10-15% off... the 2-lb bottles with th extra 15% off will often match drum pricing. This policy may change in the future into something a bit less confusing. HTH:)

Hi Bill, most cases are 60 lbs. The exception is 4627 at 50 lbs, and all the soy waxes. We recently migrated a database and had to do it all manually (still doing it really). It appears we may have missed some of the important things that we may be so accustomed to. If you see any more obvious omissions, please feel free to let us know. We'd certainly appreciate it.

Good Morning We haven't found a means to implement that same discount structure within the new checkout yet. The discount was automatically calculated by a piece of software before. I'll be looking into it further after I tackle a few other projects associated with the funtionality of the new site. In the meantime, we're applying the discounts manually. We visually scan for orders that qualify, but it never hurts to leave us a reminder in the comments area of your order. Cheers, Alan

If it is hard enough, chip as much of it away as possible (putty knife, spatula, whatever is handy). Then, as others have mentioned, a heat gun comes in handy for any left over residues. Another option, if you don't have a heat gun, is covering the area with an old towel and using an iron on it. The towel will soak it up as the iron melts it. Cheers, Alan

Yes, you can. Use a low temp. It'll take awhile. If your doing this just to test a different wick size, you'd be better off just yanking the wick out and putting a new one in the resulting hole. Some will add a little more FO after remelting, to compensate for the little bit that might dissipate. But it is really up to you. Cheers, Alan:smiley2:

It's just one more vegetable oil. But I agree, there are too many other applications for jojoba oil to waste it on candles. Cheers, Alan

Electric non-stick griddle... you can find them in a lot of second hand stores for a couple dollars. They are fairly easy to clean up too since the wax drains into what would normally be the grease channels.

Ha Ha Julie. You know I'd be one to try it, at least in something... if I had nothing else to do. Seriously though, while it would probably burn just fine, it is probably better put it to use in a skin care application, rather than a fuel source. Many botanical oils actually burn well, but are not cost effective enough for using as fuel.

Yes, that is interesting that Yankee is reporting increased sales. I wonder how that pans out as far as earnings, since increased revenues don't always equate to increased earnings, especially with publicly traded companies. It should also be noted that while they may be reporting a 12% increase in revenues, the cost of some raw materials (wax for instance) has gone up by about 20% in the same time span. The only way to get a really good picture would be to study an earnings report (but I have no inclination, even as a former series 7 RR). Their business model may be evolving in various ways too. They have definitely closed down a number of retail outlets around here, but at the same time have become more commonly available in the some of the mall department stores. It's been speculated though that high-dollar pre-9/11 leases on retail spaces are finally expiring, and therefore it is a good opportunity for larger companies to consolidate resources into those more profitable regions. Who knows? The same may even be true with Illumintions, as far as consolidating in the wake of expired leases. Anyway, as I mentioned, it was just something to ponder. Cheers, Alan :smiley2:

The best way is always to call or email direct. But, I'd be happy to chime in on both of these questions since I'm in the typing mood. 1) The Cucumber Melon is unchanged and is the same formula that is was when it was originally introduced several years ago. The small bottles and the larger bottles are filled from the same drums, so there is no difference in the FO. When smelling directly from the neck of the 2-LB bottles, you may sometimes pick up spurious notes from the plastic bottle itself (even the empty 2-LB bottles have a slight odor to them). But, any such notes don't make it into the finished product. 2) When the flip tops were introduced, they were packaged separately from the shipping/sealing caps on the bottles. However, they often became buried in the peanuts. And some people didn't look for them before discarding the shipping boxes since the flip-tops themselves were not listed on the packing slips (no reason to hunt through the box if everything on the invoice is accounted for). We'll probably re-introduce them in the near future when we have a mechanism in place to automatically list them on the packing slips. Cheers, Alan

This will be brief. I was touring one of the larger local candle manufacturers here in Denver today (please don't ask who, because I always agree not to share specific information.) Anyway, part of the discussion was about the present state of candle sales from the larger producers. Yankee has appearently closed a significant number of stores. And they are reportedly a $500,000,000 company (unconfirmed, so don't quote me on any figures). And Illuminations closed 43 of their 86 retail stores. So, it seems some of the larger companies are feeling some financial pressure. A number of other companies were also mentioned. I haven't had a chance to think about what this means to the industry. Maybe it means that consumer candle sales are slowing as a whole. Or, maybe it means that some of the smaller outfits are gaining a growing and significant percentage of the market. Or maybe it means something else... not sure. But I thought I'd shared as something to ponder. Cheers, Alan

Doesn't really matter where you get it from if it is the same product. 24 bucks sounds steep though for the same state. All you can really do is add up the shipping and the product cost, then make your comparisons. Some vendors mix them up a bit (lower product, higher shipping) so it'll pay if you take a couple extra moments to compare total cost, since that is ultimately what matters. Cheers, Alan :smiley2:

The aluminum molds have a slightly narrower hole. If you use the same anchor screw as the 6-point star (tin), the screw will be too wide and will cut the wick. Look for the smaller wick screws with the aluminum molds, or consider wick pins as an option. And the putty/metal tape work fairly well with the aluminum molds. Cheers, Alan :smiley2:

160 might do. You'll probably get a bunch of bubbles though, that seem to find their way into the details of the mold. Maybe try 175-180. It'll depend on the wax. They can handle even hotter temps just like RTV molds. And, they'll take a long time to cool, again like RTV molds. I noticed you said something about rust in some of the molds. But, as you've probably already found out, that rust is just on the sleeves, which really doesn't touch the candle. So, the rust is a non-issue. Cheers, Alan :smiley2:

They are expensive to produce, $30-45 each. They are used in mass production a lot in other countries. Mainly, you contract with a rubber company to have them produced in mass (like 1000 units of a certain design). I can't remember the kind of rubber they use, but it is very resistant to degradation from fragrance oils. If you can get them for $20 or $25, jump on it. You'll have a lot of fun with them. They work very well... the candle never gets stuck in the mold because the mold basically peels away from the candle. Cheers, Alan :smiley2:

I've left candles in the car overnight, and they crack as soon as they are handled (kind of neat to watch). I've read instructions telling one to place candles in the freezer for a few hours before burning... to make them burn more slowly and longer. I can only deduce that any such advice is coming from someone who has never actually taken the time to validate the claim. Now there is one thing that I can't understand, but have never explored. In much of the older literature about candles, they say to soak candles in brine to produce dripless candles. I've never tried it, I don't see the logic, but that doesn't mean it isn't true... just something to think about, and probably worth a try when you have spare time. I'm getting my dinner on my keyboard... so am gonna stop. Cheers, Alan :smiley2:

Actually, I'd like to chime in here to shed some light. There were never any reports of inconsistency problems with any of the waxes except the MP140. And when we discovered inconsitencies with the MP140, we pulled it from our offrings (we still have a good inventory of it on hand, and people are still specifically requesting it). The other waxes were what they were, and fit the descriptions we provided. There were never any claims that any of the waxes were identical to any other waxes already on the market from either Astorlite or IGI. There were plenty of people who expressed dissapointment in seeing our Performance Blend and our Parasoy Blend being discountinued. There was never a consistency issue with either of those. But what really happened is that our contract manufacturer was failing miserably at meeting deadlines, leaving us in a situation where we were running out of inventory at a critical time in the season. If a contract manufacturer misses promised dates by several weeks, you're forced to explore your options. And that is exactly what we had to do in this situation. Cheers, Alan :smiley2:

You can get a lot of liquid in there before it affects the burn. I've done at least 20 drops per pound without any noticable change. At any rate, for a deep cinnamon red, try a drop or two of brown per seven drops of red in 1 pound of wax. That's with an opaque wax like 4630. Use less of each for a more translucent wax like 4627.... for a bright red-hot kind of cinnamon, use the seven drops of red with a drop or two of yellow. The yellow influence is pretty subtle when mixing, so be prepared to adjust if needed.