Pam W

:laugh2: :laugh2: just couldn't help myself

:laugh2: :laugh2: just couldn't

Donita, when the heck do you sleep??????

I have an associate that wanted his candles to drip cause he likes the look ---well, he has changed his mind after one of the staff left a candle burning all night and he spent 45 minutes cleaning wax off the restaurant floor .....told him so:laugh2:

6 pillars on my list of 'have-to-do" 1 mango, 2 sugar cookies, 1 sandlewood, 1 patchouli, 1 Essence of Bethlehem(new FO from Aroma Haven - "This oil is a deep blend of Frankincense and musk laced with soft rose petals and sprinkled with patchouli and delicate orange blossoms").--can't wait to get in the wax - OBB is great. Then if time permits, Hazelnut & Almond Pastries I need to pour lots of candles to work off the rough week at work:tongue2:

Tucker, with the wick bar - the wick can be pulled really tight and it stays that way throughout the cooling process. When I used other methods to hold my wicks they seemed to stretch a little when they got wet with the hot wax and when I tie to popscicle sticks, the sticks bow just enough to make the wick relax too much...does this make sense?

....won't ya be my girl, won't ya, won't ya, won't ya be my giiirrrrrl......................

if you wick it where it runs over, you're wasting a lot of wax, FO and end up with a short-lived candle. I wick the ones I make based on who's going to burn them. If I know the customer is experienced, I'll wick for self-consumption. If they tend to be careless w/their candles, I'll wick for a shell and give them a lesson on hugging. At this point in time I only make candles for people I know so it's easy to engineer the candle based on how it will be handled by the end-user.

Only thing I hate about pouring Sweat Pea is that I hum that darn song all day:shocked2:

I basically make only pillars - just one customer requests votives. I find jars to be a PITA. The customers that I make pillars for buy them to BURN cause they can't get a store-bought pillar that smells as good or burns as long.

Can anyone speculate on what type of wax and/or additives would make these candles soooo transparent? This transparent wax is gorgeous. Looks like glass.

Henry, Here's a pic of a test candle I made today to see how far I could go w/stearic w/o losing the mottle - I used 6 tbs stearic pp & 2 oz FO. The pic isn't real good but the best my el-cheapo camera will do. The mottle is lighter than I usually get and more of the mottling floated to the top of the mold which is now the bottom. The candle is slippery but no sweating. The cold throw is sooooo strong that I'm going to wait a couple days till my nostrils clear before I light it.

I've seen this before and even made a couple. Don't know exactly what wax was used for these but it is a foliating wax. I used Yaley's Premium (148 mp) from the craft store. No additives were used. You have to burn the candle carefully at first and when it looks like its about to run over, you blow it out. Then next time you lite it, it will start to form kind of a lip. The wax usually doesn't run over, the lip just keep curling downward. You'll only be able to get this effect if you burn the candle for a long time. Short burns just won't do it. I love watching a candle foliate. I've achieved this but only with 2" candles. From the pic I'd say they too are 2".

Fern, Surprisingly, I didn't have to babysit this candle at all. The bulge did not appear until after the 5 hr burn. I do plan on making another just like it to see if I get the same results or if it was just a fluke.

I also pour into styrofoam coffee cups - they usually pop out pretty easy by pushing on the bottom of the cup with your thumb, put 'em in zip lock baggies till ready to use. I'm sure you could store in most anything as long as the wax isn't scented.

ran across 2 fragances that really complement each other when burned at the same time: Asian Sandlewood and Oriental Spice The Asian Sandlewood (Peak's), I made myself and the Oriental Spice was purchased at local candle factory. I lit both about an hour ago and the whole house smells of wonderful. Each is kick-a$$ by themselves but together - beyond terrific. Just had to share

don't know why it wouldn't work. I use left over Basking-Robbins containers:drool:

Somthing else that works with wicks that curl is to set it off center so that there is room for the wick to curl and and the flame itself willl be centered. It will curl in the direction that the "V" in the braid points UP. I've done this with HTPs and it does work. Had a store bought candle that had a flat braid that was set like this and it did give a centered mp but I haven't actually made one myself. I don't have any #1 rounds to see if they have the "V".

here's a pic of what's left of the 2x w/LX 12. I love 2x's and have a really hard time preventing the blowout. I want my candles to burn till I blow 'em out. :rolleyes2

Carrie, I measured it out into a coffee cup and heated the outside w/the heat gun and obviously got it too hot. There was no chemical smell till it hit the wax which had vybar in it. I certainly will not do this again...with the ones I'm pouring today, I'm keeping my distance.

Made a 2x3 sandlewood, used LX12 --1343 w/stearic and 1st burn was 2 hrs, 2nd burn was 5 hrs with perfect burn. I quit clocking after that but it is set in a container so that it gets absolutely no draft. I'm very pleased w/it and will do this recipe again.

That's one I hadn't heard before. I have 6 3x6s tilted layers in process right now & I'm gonna try this. Thanks for the tip.

Henry, try pouring some vegie oil in the molds then buff 'em w/paper towels see if that will take off any of the stain. It does take off that black that comes off aluminum, maybe it'll pull out the red too.

I have a hunch that it had something to do with heating the FO with the heat gun.:embarasse

Strawberry over vanilla Black Cherry Hot Cocoa ...not done yet -