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Leesters

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Everything posted by Leesters

  1. These things would be great. Soon, I'm expecting to completely addicted and way past the personal-use stage of this deal, and will be getting these for sure. What a pain. I'd even like to see them with little roach clips on the side so you can clip the wick and pull it tight.
  2. Double wicked? Doesn't one wick work? Like HTP 83's? Maybe the double wick is making it too hot?
  3. Personally, to me its a moot point. Unless there is a consistant source of odor, FO's do great.
  4. If you wanna try the htp wicks, start with the 83, and see how it goes. Should work great for the smaller jars. Might have to wick up for the larger ones.
  5. I have liquid only, but I'm just going to slowly color it one drop at a time, and splash some on the cookie sheet, make some rings, then add more dye, and keep repeating. I"ll end up with different shades of rings, and some overdosed wax. lol. Its not main wax, just decoration. And I'll make alot of choco-wafers, choco-chips, choco-strips, and whatever my choco mind can think of to put in my choco-freezer bag. (Note: My kitched utensils have numbered days. Slowly and slowly, they'll become candle tools. I'm considering using my cheese grater now to make chocolate shavings out of frozen brown container wax. ) I'll just keep making it darker till it resembles some kind of chocolate. I have brown dye with no black, so its kind of a longshot I'll get there. But I should have some good rings and a good idea what Brown liquid dye does, and I'll make some wafers no matter what.. Does anyone use a chocolate FO that smells real? No Brownies or chocolate cake, just pure chocolate smell?
  6. Hi, I'm in Arizona also, (Phoenix area which is close to the air base) and there's nothing local that I've found. I'm very new to this, but did an extensive search on my first supply order, and could find nothing local. Ended up ordering from Peaks, which takes 2 days to get to your door on "ground". I was shocked that this big town doesn't have one single candle supply store anywhere. If you find one, let us know.
  7. I used to work for a chemical company that sold products for this. It was their specialty. First there are two type of air fresheners. Ones that cover up (overpowering current odor) , and ones that eliminate (by chemical reaction). Citrus oil is one of the eliminators. Its comes oil based, and is flammable. Being flammable, I don't see how citrus oil can be used in a candle. And enzymes won't work without direct contact with food and moisture to keep the enzymes alive and active. If you really want a odor eliminator, its best to buy a can of "Orange odor eliminator" from Wal-mart. Its not cheap, but its very effective. For larger commercial needs, check Neutronindustries.com
  8. I did some test burning the last few days. Just notes to myself here. Boring stuff. ~~ Vanilla Pudding Half Pint Jar (Walmart $1.49 jar w/rubber top) Peaks container wax, 1.5 pounds. 5 drops yellow dye, Swirled one brown drop after pour. Peaks French Vanilla, less than an ounce. - Wick was HP 83, barely off center. Three 3-hour burns. One 4-hour burn. At first there was slight tunnelling, but after 9 hours everything is cleaned off the sides. Tons of wax left, it looks like its barely been used. Looking forward to seeing how many hours this produces. Candle burns smooth, no soot. Wick smolders badly after blownout. Scent throw is sick. Love this wax. -Votives same wax batch. Mold (3 plastic) from Michaels pour-pot package. Glass votive holders from Walmart. Perfect fit. Would like more molds like this. Wick is unknown, got cheap and used wicks from kit, so learned nothing, but they work well. If anyone is still reading (lol) I'll be doing my second hurricane attempt this weekend, and pour full pint jars. Just guessing on wicks, but its working so far. Gonna play with finding a good color formula for chocolate. Would like a milk chocolate color, but will settle for dark chocolate. Making brown rings and starting collection for future swirl candle and chocolate wafers at the same time. More pics this weekend. Hopefully not junk! lol
  9. 9 inches deep, sheesh, I don't think the heat gun will fill a straw sized hole 9 inches deep, but you can always fill it with the second pour. I'd probably try making a wick tab. Tie the wick into the bottom half of a zipper. Or a washer or button or something. Something you can glue down so you can pull it tight.
  10. Hi there, thanks! Guess what, I'm in candle mode. And I just found an idea for a new use for an item I throw away almost daily. A chocolate wafer mold. Chocolate wafers and vanilla pudding candles have been created in my mind. Next they will be created in my kitchen. I have a spot in my kitchen saved. For three large nice jars I got for this just this kind of creation. I was visionless before. But this is perfect. These jars had to smell like vanilla. Its the scent designed for the Kitchen. And TBH, I'm getting a little sick of vanilla. Overdose. So its time to get that scent completed. When I post the pics, try to guess what I used to make the chocolate wafers. Okay, time to get out of candle mode. Have a good night everyone!
  11. Not really a blog entry, but wanted this for my own records. http://www.candletech.com/archivedforum/YaBB.cgi.144.html Link to Post for making swirl candles - By Celicagt Gotta try this, I love the possibilities. ("Swirling" container wax?) Cheesecake with Cherry sauce? Pudding with chocolate streaks? Lemon with Marrange? (how the heck do you make white wax?) Blueberry swirls? Yum. Got me thinking about layering container candles now. Using different scents for each color. Desert container candles are 'licious. Fourth of July swirl Pillar? Cutting out stars instead of circles? Swirled circles? (cut circles from swirled candle) Tall rainbow pillar swirl. Fun to think about. Thanks for posting that in the "Swirls" thread, Celica, thats gonna be fun. When I get these hurricanes figured out, I will enjoy pouncing on some pillar fun. Chunk candles are gonna be so much fun.
  12. What a great idea. Great post, great candle, Bookmarked for my own records. Dang, I wish I had my link to the "This thread rocks!" pic.
  13. No heatgunning, must have. Got it. Keep the paper, make it work. Check. Play skewer sticks with 5 pounds of liquid wax and a piece of ice. Okaaaay. I was really trying to avoid that. Don't be a dork noobie and bang on your molds. 10-4, Roger THAT! Excellent wisdom, I'm already fired up and have a direction on next attempt because of your post. When I went out and found out how this project "held a candle" to my western room: 1) Two of them would accent a room almost as well as a fish tank. 2) With much less maintenence. 3) With a candle INSIDE and the lights out, you had to look for flaws. 4) Imagined different themes hurricanes for each room. 5) Yeah GDawg, I love that picture. It goes with my room like it belongs there. Hi-jacked a googled screenie from "western prints" search. Guess I won't be selling it. lol. 6) And I love this wrap around idea. 7) My litlte container wax votive is burning perfectly, lasting a long time, and kicked out the scent. I want these in my house more now than I did before. I can't wait for my second crack at it. I'm gonna make this work. Thanks!
  14. I really enjoyed making the containers. That wax is fun. You can cut it like carrots, and it turned out looking like pudding. And they smell great. Fun and easy to do. I'm gonna go try to clean up the hurricane see what I can salvage. Practice fixing the top. Test a votive, test a container, test the glow.
  15. Whoops. lol. Big enough pics for ya? lol I'll work on that. EDIT: I"m still fiddling with the pics, will post again soon.
  16. Here are the vanilla pudding containers and little guys. http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z179/LeestersPics/HPIM0006.jpg http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z179/LeestersPics/HPIM0007.jpg http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z179/LeestersPics/HPIM0008.jpg Heres the Hurricane disaster. http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z179/LeestersPics/HPIM0012.jpg http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z179/LeestersPics/HPIM0010.jpg http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z179/LeestersPics/HPIM0009.jpg Lets see if those pics work.
  17. Yep, the hurricane was a disaster. 1) The thin layer of wax between the mold and the picture at the bottom of the mold stuck to the mold. Trashed. Best mold release agents will be vital. Heatgunning metal mold before release? Heatgunning mold during cooling? Will try different things. 2) I bent the top of the mold trying to demold the monstrosity. Tweaked it pretty good. 3) Hurricane wax is so hard to get off of things. I need to discover "cleaning up the mess" threads. Not fun. 4) Paper needs to change? Its too thin? Flops around too easily. White construction paper? Maybe poster paper. Something that springs to the mold. I think this will make a huge difference. Must be very obsorbant to bond with the thin layer of wax. 5) Doing this without a heat gun is insanity. The inside must be gunned. It came out so freaky on the inside. Water bath makes it smoother inside? 6) This is not a father-son activity. Having a 9 year old trying to bounce around the kitchen with a melting pot filled to the brim with liquid wax is not relaxing. 7) The mold expanded of course. Made a section of the wrap-around pull out. Making the wrap-around fit perfectly inside the mold when its cold is hard enough. This never dawned on me. I'm going to have to let the two halves be seperate and flexible of each other. Larger black ouside borders for overlap. Thicker paper for better spring. Don't train the paper to the mold. I don't think this first attempt is savable. An overdip is its only hope, but I think its beyond that. I doubt I wanna melt five pounds of wax just to overdip something junky, and I don't have the right wax for it anyway. I'm gonna go play with the camera now. I'll share the pictures soon. This is going to be a VERY challenging project. But I think the potential is worth it, if I have the patience for this wax. Its a PITA to work with.
  18. It's Mothers Day, and I'm doing the oddest thing... Giving first candles made to ex-wife. :lipsrseal Boy makes candles with Dad. Boy gives candle to mom for the occasion. Since I wasn't expecting to burn my first candles. In fact, I wanted to make sure I didn't. I randomly picked a huge wick I wouldn't use so I couldn't. So, It's getting nubbed. My first candle-parenting event is my first candle-son getting his wick chopped off. But Hapy Mothers day to her. He's very proud of the candle. Happy Mothers day to all!
  19. Container wax is fun to work with. Hurricane wax is completely different. Anyway, this entry is mostly for me to keep track. Boring stuff. First thing we did was some containers. My first experiment to finding the perfect color for the french vanilla FO. In about 1 1/2 pound of Peaks container wax I used 5 drops of yellow liquid. I want to see what pure yellow looks like. Rookie must start somewhere. And it turned out that it looked just like vanilla pudding. It was perfect pudding. Made me hungry making those votives and getting them out of their little votive molds. Container wax really is way to soft to make votives, but demolded fine after trip to freezer. Perfect size for glass holders. The "Ticky Wax" stuff worked great. The wicks stayed put, and are able to come off after used. I love it. Cheap and effective, and is down the road at Michaels. I poured at 170 into three votive cups, and three half pint square glass containers. Well, that was the plan. I didn't melt enough wax. Where does the rest of it go in the melting pot? I looked like more than it was going in. So instead I have three votives and 2 containers that quite aren't to the top. A little over two pounds would have been good here. Pouring temp worked well, full glass adhesion and a second pour wasn't needed with this wax. No additives. Keep it simple at first, and learn from there. In the containers, I let an inch of wax cool at the bottom and dropped one drop of brown dye in the center. It just fell to bottom without dispersing. I swirled the wax around with a stick until the drop of dye was distubed, and started streaking within the whirlpool. One was barely disturbed. One was slighty more swirled, and marbled wonderfully. Next time do this at first pour. The containers look like vanilla pudding topped with cinammon. I was very happy. Very easy to do. Walmart has half pint jars by the cases. How far to top should I go on containers? Hmm.. will have to look at Gallery. Then came the hurricane, which is still cooling. This was a beast. Thats a lot of freakin wax. The hurricane mold is the same size as the melting pot. Thank god the pot is a little taller. It takes a long time to melt 5 pounds of hurricane wax in a shallow double broiler. And it went right up to the brim. I had to scoop some out so it wasn't so full. And when that stuff hits air, BAM. Instant frost. Made a mess of my thermometer. Was hard before I could wipe it. After pouring, I could see I won't need quite as much wax. 3 inches under rim of pot will do the trick. No water bath here. The wraparound looked like it was being pushed inside from the slow frosting on the edges. I'm afraid it seperated deeply from the edge. Paper did not expand, but mold did. Conisder putting slight bigger wraparound in after hot wax expands the mold if it pulls away too far. Did not know pouring temp, guessing about 190. Let it cool before trimming top. Almost completely cooled, and it isn't seperating from mold. Worried about mold release. Put in freezer and then thaw mold with hot sponge. Get it to expand before trying to demold. Please don't crack. I want a good picture. Still haven't unwrapped camera. Looking forward for that tomorrow. I'll show you "vanilla pudding" and "eggnog" candles. Hehe. And hopefully not a complete disaster on the hurricade.
  20. Shopping with a 9 yr old boy is very much like "man shopping". Referring to the gender based urge to lets-just-get-it-and-go-please. And when you tell a 9 yr old boy that you'll be going to four stores, he will count them down for you. And he'll even eliminate one for you at any opportunity. He analyzed each stop, trying to justify "Why that store?" question. When I mentioned Home Depot for a chain.. "Thats it?" "Its important." Knowing that he's formulating a strategic beg to not go there, I had to make that non-negotiable. He still probed about the chain extensively. (They moved Wal-Mart. That's kind of a jaw dropper when you go to your Wal-Mart, and its gone. Okay, regain balance. Find new location.) Of course he found a basketball net chain at the new WalMart. "Look its heavy and you can wrap it around good." I hate Home Depot parking. "Sold" I wonder if they closed Home Depot too. I have everything I need. Except a heat gun - Got cheap in a moment of weakness. The reciepts were piling up. Michaels had this cool "Sticky Wax" for wick inserts to stick. At least they were cool to glue in. We'll find out if they work. I bought a few of the nicer glass containers, and some glass western boot pepper shakers for western hurricanes. Small opening, weird shape, but they were cute. Preparations almost complete. Nevous about having a child around being a rookie and all. Taking a break, but will be melting wax tonight. Oh, and I got a camera. Cheapo, but the guantlet was thrown down by prior posters, so I had to step up to the plate there. I'll be posting some pics if I turn out to be smarter than the camera.
  21. I'll be making my very first "real" candles this weekend! Hurricanes, (or at least one), and a batch of containers (little jars) I'm expecting.. how shall we say... a learning experience. Hehhe. I am NOT expecting much success, but will be fun!
  22. I was planning on a train ride to the Grand Canyon this weekend, but my dog just cost me 500 bucks, so I don't feel like throwing money around this weekend. So, we shall stay home, and making candles is on the agenda! We will be making hurricanes with wrap around picture embeddments. We will be making small containers. Tonight, I go to Michaels and buy melting pots and thermometer. Tomorrow we'll go to Home Depot and pick up some chain and a heat gun, and see if I can get some kind of "glue gun". I don't want to buy a glue gun. I want to find something that lets me re-use the containers. I'm actually going to be trying chewing gum to stick the wicks. And of course..... I have to go shopping for a digital camera that takes close ups. Any consumer help on the camera, candle makers? Looking for a cheap camera that can take close ups.
  23. Welcome to the board from another newbie. You'll find this as one your number one resources in your quest of learning. Being brand new I have no worthy advise, but welcome nonetheless.
  24. I need to find something cheap that sticks the wick, can be removed after burn, and can be removed from the jar. Gum work? lol.
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