Pam W

do 1 w/cinnamon, 1/w clove and 1 w/both .. see which you like best based on your expectations.

I'll have a 'clone' by the end of the day

Bought one today - $5.99 introductory price, reg price 6.99 - came w/2 tarts. The refills are 3/$2.99 - w/enclosed coupon when you buy 2 refills you get a 3rd one free - each refill pack has 3 tarts. The metal base has two prongs that stick up on each side of the wick. They get hot from the flame, heat up the metal base inside the tart and melts it within minutes. The tarts are pretty small - .06oz. The wick is funny - looks like round cotton braid w/paper core. The throw is only so-so. Worth the money??? 3 hr burn for $1 --- no way. I will be experimenting with the base when it's done burning

I have to ditto Trish. Some of the scents on the list are very similiar, i.e,, Cinnamon Stix,Cinna Bun, Red Hot Cinn: Spruce Xmas Tree, Christmas Splendor, Pine needle: Hot apple pie, Apple Jack, Mac Apple, Apple Strud. That's 11 scents that could be cut down to 3 for now then rotate the scents based on the season.

I've seen them at Michael's & Joann's. I just use a tiny pair of scissors that go in a manicure set.

I worked hard to get these wrinkles & I'm keeping 'em

Sounds like a great idea, but I'm not gonna volunteer to be your tester:p

How much FO did that baby take??

That's what I thought - one big pool. Otherwise, the wicks don't burn well in those deep tunnels, henders the glow and waste so much wax. I've already replaced the 44-32s w/ 60-44s. The melt polls are now one but still have a little clover shaping on the outside of the mp. It took about 1 hr for the pools to merge after replacing the wicks. On this particular candle I do want to have a 1/2 outer wall - it'll be burning in a public place & I think that's safer. I think this wick is going to be a keeper Since this candle is 7", the 60-44-18Z would be too big for Sheryl's 6" candle unless the wicks were placed a little closer to the middle. And since I'm using straight paraffin & no FO, our results will naturally be different.

Looking for Eastern Fig FO. Does anyone know who might carry it? I tried the Med. Fig from Peak but it is not even close to the scent of the Eastern. I know where to buy this scent in a ready made candle but of course, I wanna make my own.

Mtngrl, I did pretty much the same trying to wick my jello mold candles but did it by hand. I'm working on a 7" (8 lb'r in a plastic bucket) I measured & marked the bottom of the bucket just like your drawing then copied that to a piece of paper. Poured the candle wickless then used the template on the top of the candle, poked holes in appropriate places & stuck wicks in the holes then did a little repour to set them in place. This is for testing purposes only & when I get the burn I want then I'll now where to place the wicks. But I do have a question on the melt pools for these large candles. Is the goal to have the 3 melt pools form 1 large pool? I've purchased these from the store and they always make 3 separate tunnels. I've got 44-32-18Z burning in it now but the MPs have a 1/2 wall between them so I should wick up another size or two, right?

thanks Scrubzz, that'll save me some work.

Got a request today for a big candle. Customer wants something "kinda the size of a milk jug" (where the heck do I find these people????) Anyway, I will be using a 1 gal spackle bucket as a mold, straight paraffin, no FO, color w/b dark yellow or gold. Customer specifically requested an odd number of wicks - some superstition about even numbers 3 wicks should do it, I think 5 would be over-kill. I was thinking about starting with #1 square as all of my pre-tabbed wicks are only 6" except for some 44-24-18Z which are 9". Any & all feedback will be appreciated.

E: thanks, that's good to know cause I make more rustics than mottles. I was starting to get depressed since I just bought a case!

How does 1343 perform w/rustics?

shortly after this thread started, I received an order of Peak's 3" economy molds that they had on sale and to my surprise they are a touch under 3" in diameter. The wick pins will not fit inside. This mold will actually slip inside my other 3" molds and they are flat bottom so a lot of putty is required to level them on the pin.

Just a little FYI - I'm in Phoenix, AZ & when I got a Peak order last week, the slabs of wax had melted together & the FO bottles were very hot and we all know how well Peak packs their shipments. UPS delivers to my neighborhood late in the afternoon so the box was on the truck all day. I wouldn't ship anything to this area unless it was marked for early AM delivery or better yet, have it marked for 'pick-up' - that'll keep it out of the heat.

This is an informative thread. I got a case of 1343A last week & promptly poured 3 pillars - they are bulging like ya'll are describing with the 1343. They are all bulging & sweating big-time so I naturally thought I had over-wicked. 1) added mottling oil w/o FO - sweat for 2 day. 2) mottling oil w/Lavendar - also sweat for a couple days & when lit, the sweating started all over again - I did use a lot of FO. 3) added a little stearic w/Sweat Pea - a little sweating while curing & mucho sweating while burning but not as much bulge as the others. The lavendar & Sweat Pea sweat so much that when hugged, I gotta go wash my hands. I can cut back on the amount of FO in the future but I don't think I like that bulging. Would adding more stearic or vybar give some hardness to the wax & prevent the bulging?

I pour my leftovers into tart molds - if it's just a small amount. If a larger amount, I pour it into styrofoam coffee cups for later use. A few days ago I was totally bored so I pulled out a bag of these tarts, remelted & made a really nice 3x3 draped layer.

Votives??...I can do that The whipped wax sets up quickly & I have to keep dipping the pots back in the hot water to keep an equal consistancy of each color. I've noticed that when hugging one of these, the wax tends to 'crumble' rather than simply rolling in...the cooler the wax was when poured the more crumbly it will be when hugged. Would using the heat gun on the mold after pouring help bond the layers? (haven't bought on yet but probably should)

remelted some blue scraps, added some black for darker color, got way toooo much black , so added a little red & ended up with a really dark purple. Poured the solid color & decided it was still just too dark for my taste so I melted some clear, whipped both the clear & dark color, & spooned into molds. For some reason unknown to me, I get a lighter color when I whip the wax. Anyway, I'm pleased with the end product.

some of my best work has been w/scraps. Having a little bit of this & that laying around promotes experimentation. You're candles look good.

Ducky, Never done a bear but I did have an Ivory pillar that turned yellowish/brown after a couple of months ..wasn't pretty!!

I use a digital postal scale from the office supply. Don't remember the price but I think it was less than $40

Ditto..sounds like Yaley's Premium. That's what I've been using for the past year and no complaints. I checked w/Yaley customer service to see what if any additives were included. They told me there were none - it is plain 'ole paraffin. I've made all different styles of pillars & votives with it, (shinny, rustic, mottles, chunk, whipped) - didn't work well for containers tho. You can get a nice creamy look by adding vybar, mottles well w/stearic, nice rustic and/or frosting if poured into cool mold at aprox 150*. You're in for a lot of fun Peak's had molds on sale really cheap a few days ago - I ordered several. (Bought some of my original molds at craft store and the bottom line was painful).