Leesters

Does Michaels carry any wick-stickum stuffies?

Ducky, those are amazing. The overpour was uncolored? And they took some of the color from the chunks when you did the overpour? How hot was the overpour wax? How long did you wait for each overpour level? Not that I'm going to copy exactly what you're doing or anything. lol. :whistle: If you don't mind.

Very nice, and what jumped out at me is how amazingly bright the red is. It practically glows. How did you get it that bright? Speak slowly I'm new. lol.

Funny. I tried. With my "interesting" writing style. Its on page 7. But like I said in my first post... if you don't like reading, this thread is not for you. I'll let you know when the thread has pretty pictures for you.

Hey, I just made my first candles! Must have skipped that post. I do realize I'll take a beating if I don't post pics of my first projects. As much as I like beatings, I'll just HAVE to buy a camera for this thread. Working 50 hours a wk (I post from work), and spending every minute with my son on the weekends I have him, time is a challenge. I hope you DO post again though.

Sold! I wish. And I'm glad you like the thread.

Dang. You married? Lol. You should put that in tutorials. Seriously.

Most of these folks have websites, and have a business at it. Me. I just want to learn it, have candles for my house, and give some to friends. Total hobby here. But I haven't even started yet. Have you went to the gallery yet? Its a forum on here. Go check out the pics on there. You'll see how the real pros make candles. Some of them are absolutely amazing.

Wouldn't of hurt my feelings, I wouldn't want any of those ugly chickadee's either. lol. She did like the candlelit room though. And so did I. And the scent is still strong. Came home from work today and it was strong. The scent is associated with the romance of that night, now. Funny how that works. I just can't wait till I make these hurricanes and some containers to light them up. The pictures together are 1/2 inch too big for a perfect wrap around, but I'm just going to trim one side down and have one spot on the hurricane thats not perfect. I wanted them to match up perfectly, but I just want to do it at this point. I might even do it tomorrow. No promises. Have to go to Michaels and Home Depot first.

I really tried to, I swear. But it was just impossible to pour a small amount of wax into an eggshell from a tin can. The first ones were a disaster until I got smart and squeezed the top of the can to make a makeshift pour spout out of it. They were very ugly, but we were basically laughing about it the whole time. They smelled real good, and made a nice mood, so they were worth it. Funny, when we started talking, she wanted to take some home. She never asked for any after we made them. Hehe. And there were actually a couple ones I made too deep, and they bobbed right out of the water and flipped over. Don't try this at home folks. Unless you have killed a bottle or two of merlot. Pic Avatar added. Mystery over. Writing skills unaffected.

Lol. Yes, I left the chickadees in the shell, except for ones that actually stuck to the styrofoam. Lol. They wobbled around quite well. Lol. Floaters should be flatter, but they worked for a bit. The ones that had the wicks off center wobbled over and went pfffff in the water in less than an hour. Egg shells for floating candles is not advised. Most of them didn't more than 2 hours, and none of them outlasted us.

Welcome fellow newbie. You're going to find that people are extremely helpful, bored or not. The only thing I can answer is the FO question and 1 oz per pound is about right, but anything more than that and they seem to "bleed" or as they say on here have "water spots", so a little less than 1 oz per pound is better. I did my first candles with vanilla and was just barely under 1 oz for a pound and had no problem with amazing scent. Anyway, don't listen to me. I'm just a newbie. But the pros on here will be your best resource!

Hehe, no not the shy type at all, as you can tell. But maybe I look like your avatar! So just pretend I look like Tom Cruise or Sean Connery, whichever one is more your type.

Oh, lets not ruin the fantasy, eh?

ROFL! Thats the spirit! I like you already.

Age is overrated. I like women that are young at heart. I usually get along better with younger women, but this particular friend is 46, and we had fun. Age doesn't matter, as long as they like to party and bark upon request. I'm a little worried about the dog referrence, but yes, I have a big fluffy happy dog who is a for sure ladies man. No motorcycle. I live in Phoenix. Crazy drivers here. I'd be dead in a year. lol. Come on out! Hurry up though, its gonna get hot real soon.

Sand candles, then?? Sounds fun! Sex on the beach is just copying the scent of the drink under the same name, right? So smells like fruit punch? I'm digging this french vanilla. My house still smells yummy.

You know why divorce is so expensive don't you? BECAUSE ITS WORTH IT!

Well, nothing ever goes as planned. And this weekend proved that. I had to work Saturday morning, and I got a phone call from an old friend looking for a romantic weekend. Well, as a divorced 40 year old man, those offers are few and far between. And since I recall this particular friend to be especially fun, I offered to pick her up after work since she was on the way home, and hang out this weekend. One phone call, and poof. There goes my candle making plans. But since I had printed out copies of my pretty picture and trimmed them up all perfect and they were in my truck, we started talking about candles. She was very interested in candles, and the conversation came to how much she likes floating candles. Well, heck, lets make some then for this weekend. So, we got home, and she helped me clean my house which made my Saturday chores go much quicker than I planned, so I cooked a nice meal for lunch. Terriaki chicken strips, lemon butter asparagus, and scalloped potatoes and I made a loaf of homemade bread with my neat little bread maker that has been gathering dust. Luckily I just went grocery shopping, and its so nice to cook for someone rather than just for myself. Lunch was 'licious, and she did dishes! Can't beat that. So, we started in on a floating candle project that I was not prepared for. Now, remember, I have not made it to the stores to buy the rest of my supplies, so I had no melting pot. I had no thermomoter. And I surely had no floating candle molds. So there was some serious improvising going on here. Ever melt wax in a tin asparagus can? If not, I got you beat. So, what am I going to use for molds? Hmmm.. It didn't take 20 seconds before I remembered a post or two on here about eggshell candles. Heck, I just bought 2 dozen eggs. Anyone have a recipe for anything that uses 24 eggs? I have a bowl in my fridge ready for you, if you do. I unwrapped the container wax I had and decided a pound was enough to make some floaters. Container wax is already soft, did you know that? Of course you did. I used my big knife to cut a line to score a pound of wax off and put it on the edge of the counter and popped it right off. That worked well! I rigged up a double boiler, melted wax in an asparagus can, put 5 drops of yellow and a drop of brown, and less than an ounce of vanilla in it. I used a pottery knife (old hobby tools from my ceramic days) and sliced up 24 egg shells VERY CAREFULLY, and lost a few shells, but got good at it fairly quickly. So, I put a cookie sheet under the carton of eggs, and started pouring, and made serious mess, but had fun with it. I think I got more wax on the cookie sheet than I did in the egg shells. I had no idea what temp the wax was. I had no idea how much wax fit in that little tin can. And I certainly had no idea how to make eggshell candles. I was seriously winging it here. Those little buggers are a bitch to wick! I waited about 30 minutes to allow the edges to cool a little bit and started sticking tabbed 18-zinc wicks in them so I could kinda get them to stick in the soft wax at the bottom. 30 minutes didn't help much. So I put them in the freezer. And of course, since they were in an insulated egg carton, the top hardened much faster than the bottom edges. So more improvising came into play. I have a wine rack that was already pulled out for lunch, so I put the wine rack over the egg carton, used some string to hang from wicks from them, and "hung" wicks in the eggs until they dried. Took forever to set that up, but worked like a charm. So, after a bottle of wine, we were feeling buzzed and having fun, so we decided to take a walk next door and play some pool at Uncle Sam's. We made sexual wagers, and I lost on purpose. We went back home after more wine and feeling more buzzed, and watched some Lifetime movies. And I actually enjoyed them. You know, I came to a conclusion about myself. I like to cook. I like to shop. I like romantic chick flicks. I like to do crafts, I like making candles. I used to make ceramics. I like giving oral sex. I love romance. I like to please. I really sound like a chick, or a gay guy, but I'm definetely not gay. So, I've decided... I'm a lesbian trapped in a mans body. Anywaaaayyyy... After a second pour, which wasn't much, they hardened quickly in the freezer. And that night I filled the bedroom with vanilla scented floating candles with glasses all over the bedroom. What a beautiful romantic effect that was! And they burned very well, except for a couple of them that were off center, and lasted a couple hours. It just made the mood, for sure. It actually made the romance that night a whole different type of lovemaking than I've expereinced with her before. Instead of being all intense and physical, it was slow and romantic. The candles made the mood. Very powerful, these little buggers are . So, I've broken my wax virginity on a project I had no idea I was going to do, and 80 percent of the candles did well. But I still don't have a damn hurricane mold broken in yet. Soon, soon. But yes, I apologize, I have no pictures of the candles. They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so I made up for it, and I'm already over quota. Sorry about the lack of pictures. I'll get a digital camera for the "real" projects. Floating eggs I probably wouldn't have posted anyway. Besides, if I took pictures this weekend, it probably wouldn't have been of candles.

The more I read the more this hobby scares me. Very little logic in that, I would have never thought of Candlemans explanation on my own. I think I'll lace up my running shoes again.

Its perfect. For a newbie who really is attracted to canes, this is inspiring. Thanks for posting this Donita. The black frame makes the perfect border. In fact that border gave me a great idea on how to solve my scotch-tape-or-glue problem on the wrap around project. Thanks!

That would be me. My whole reason for doing the google search on candle making was so I can have fun making my own candles. *laces up the running shoes* Nah, all hobbies are expensive, right? And you just never know what hidden talents are waiting to be primed and wicked, right? Who knows, maybe I'll be the next Donita. Or more likely, I'll probably spend thousands of dollars on a fun hobby, and have plenty of candles decorating my house. And plenty of wax marred furniture, and dye stained clothes.

I read all of this, and think I might be getting myself into trouble. Should I just walk away now before the addiction grabs me? Will I be able to just make candles I need and move on? Am I going to be selling retirement accounts just to buy wax? I'm scared now! lol

Thanks folks, I'm looking forward to making a mess this weekend. I have vowed to do my chores before I go out and play, though, so I expect to dig on on Sunday. I need to go to Home Depot and see if I can buy a chain. Ball not included, thank goodness. Also need a heat gun. Then its off to Michaels to get a pour pot or two and thermometer. And then I'll wander aimlessly through the aisles looking for something thats not flowery that I can use for a western looking insert. Nothing looks more out of place than a 40 year old man roaming through the aisles of Michaels looking for something he can't find. Then I'll head to Walmart and bump around there looking for the tiniest little jars I can find for burning containers in a hurricane. I'm glad I didn't buy the 9 oz jars from Peaks. Those look too big. Thats what she said, anyway. Mostly I'm excited about making some neat hurricanes. I have the pictures ready, and hopefully it all goes well. Then I'll make a bunch of vanilla container candles, and wait impatiently to burn something. I can see myself putting hot candles in the freezer so they'll harden faster. That doesn't sound like a smart idea, so it fits.

If only I could have learned in highschool how much a girl appreciates a properly placed wick.