Leesters

Hi Leesters, Enjoying reading your blog, you have such a great writing style and a great sense of humour to. So tell me Leesters have you made your first candle yet?

Nope not yet. Today I had a failed attempt and trying to get the picture I'm using wrapped around on one legal size strip.

Legal size paper still isn't big enough, so I'm going to have to struggle with taping two pieces together.

I did have fun wasting plenty of time taking two copies of the picture look like one picture with an editor though. lol.

I will be attempting my first max welt this weekend.

Thank you for the compliments.

wow lee you are truely great when it comes to writing so I am postive your candles are going to turn out awesome. You seem to know what you are already doing before you even have poured because you have read so much and that is so important when it comes to canlde making.

I can't wait to see the results and your weekend trips sound so fun, we are thinking of moving to AZ so its nice to read the great stuff they have for the kids. (I myself want NV though lol cause there is no state tax lol)

Hmm... Lets weigh the options.

Raising a kid where gambling is rampant and prostitution is legal...

Or no state tax...(but you know they get the money from SOMEwhere, probably from higher sales taxes, gasoline taxes, etc)

Hmmmmmmmmmm.. *scratches chin* I know where I'd pick. Hehe.

I'm biased. I love Arizona.

I am new to candle making and want to start right away. I have a dream of starting my own business from home and making my own candles. Anyone got any advice or references that you can provide me and directing me at where i need to start?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Nicole

1) Read about all the different candles these guys make, and see what interests you to get started.

2) Look at the "Links for newbies" sticky on this forum, and there's all kinds of good sites to look at. Also, pour through this forum for conversations from pros.

3) Read all the "How-to" sites you can on different processes. (There are some on this site, but I'm assuming you have already checked it out since you found the forum) Go Google crazy.

And use the pros in this forum to answer questions, they are amazing. Use the search button and you can usually find tons of topics. I've asked some real newbie questions, and always have patient help.

I can't even imagine trying to get one to stick all the way around. But if you figure it out, let us know!

I'm just so glad I picked such an easy project as my first ever candle. :undecided

Even if it takes me 100 tries, I AM going to make this work.

Rawr!

So did ya make anything yet?

I made an insert, does that count?

No, I have not melted one ounce of wax yet. Still a wax virgin. I hope the process is gentle to me.

I will burn my fingers this weekend.

I don't know how this would work with your gluing and/or taping, but if you soak the picture in the hot wax before putting it in the mold (thoroughly dry from printing though), you wont have near as many problems with air bubbles. I heat the wax in a small baking pan to 200 for soaking. You can watch the bubbles float up and when they stop, all the air should be displaced.

I'm worried about the air bubbles, but once the paper is in the mold against the walls, I don't want to move it.

Since its going to be pretty stable against the sides, I'll let it soak before I start cooling it and thunk it carefully but thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

I'm thinking about putting the mold in the oven before I pour so I can have time to let it soak before it starts hardening. The bubbles are really worrying me. Maybe putting the heat gun on it for awhile will help. Experience would help here. lol.

Anyone know the flashpoint of paper? lol.

Here are some instructions, that might help. Please note, these may not be exact for what you are doing, but they still have some great info.

http://www.candlehelp.com/?content=hurrpaper

http://www.onestopcandle.com/candle/paperhurrproj.php

Thats perfect! The round one is exactly what I'm thinking of. Once I get two pieces of paper to be as one, this is exactly it.

Is Micro 180 better than universal additive, because universal is all I have. Will that be okay?

And, um, how much wax is this 5 inch hurricane mold going to hold? I surely hope its not more than the melting pot does, or I'm going to feel pretty stupid if I don't have enough melted wax to fill it. :embarasse

Here are some instructions, that might help. Please note, these may not be exact for what you are doing, but they still have some great info.

http://www.candlehelp.com/?content=hurrpaper

http://www.onestopcandle.com/candle/paperhurrproj.php

Oh neat. Can't wait to get home to pull these links up. Shopping sites are not allowed here at work. Luckily Candletech isn't blocked, or I don't think I'd be getting into this hobby.

oh....and one more thing.....molds aren't typically the same diameter at the top and bottom. They are designed to be larger at the top....slightly....for easy unmolding...so trying to have a round piece of paper fit perfectly....that will be a challenge. Donita Louise

Ah! That explains why it was a little crooked when I was testing it. Yes, the challenging thing is going to get those two pieces of paper glued together just right. I'll have tons of copies, though. The glue will help because I'll be able to "slide" it around a litle bit while the glue is still wet.

Neve tape....but white glue:wink2: Donita Louise

Hey! Thats a great idea! Does it work? The scotch tape will show through the wax so glue would come out better. It holds up through the high tempature?

Your three cents is worth a nickel, Donita. Okay okay, maybe a quarter, but no more, I'm cheap! Actually, its worth alot more, but I'm not a paying customer, so there ya have it.

But you miss the beauty of this process! If you have a full circle of paper on the inside of the mold, it won't come off the edge! But I have to find a way to keep the circle of paper together, because it will be in two pieces.

But imagine a legal size paper placed in the inside of your hurricane mold. It will wrap all the way around, and will stick itself to the edge. I *AM* gonna make this work. lol.

Now, Donita, I'd almost bet my favorite dust bunny that you've tried to use scotch tape in a wax mold of some sort in your vast experiments. Does it melt?

They won't. lol

I can read these forums until sunrise, but until you actually do something, you can't really learn much. Kinda like trying to learn to play the piano by reading a book.

I will have to slice up my thumbs, spill melted wax on the dog, and ruin some clothes with liquid dyes before I even start to make anything worthy. Hopefully I won't burn the house down.

But I'll try to get pictures of the disasters so everyone can chuckle at the disaster-pictures along with the disaster-stories. Unfortunately, my digital camera is lost somewhere between here and Sedona, and its not calling home. I'll have to get a new one.

The cool thing is that I'll have this thread as a little journal for notes on pouring temps and waxes and formulas used, etc etc.

Anyway, when I start making disasters is when this thread is going to get truly entertaining. Hehe.

Okay, I'm going to be making hurricanes, and I'm using printed pictures as the embeddment.

The pictures will wrap completely around and I'm hoping it turns out well, but I have some questions.

1) Will a picture printed on a laser printer hold its color or will the hot wax make it "bleed" or "melt"? With the color stay on the paper? lol

2) I will be using 2 pictures, wrapping them completely around. But I was thinking of using scotch tape to keep the two pieces of paper together which would keep them against the round mold. Does scotch tape melt in wax?

3) Will I need to beat the snot out of the mold to keep air bubbles off the dry paper that gets hot wax poured into it?

Just some interesting questions I have mulling around in my head.

Sedona was last weekend. We did a horseback cowboy cookout and it was a blast. Went to a big ranch there, and did a sunset horseback trail ride, and then they took us to the top of a mountain and had a campfire while they fed us steaks, corn bread, baked potatos, corn, and peach cobbler. It was great. There was a cowboy singer with guitar as we cooked marshmellows in the star filled sky. I strongly advise the cowboy cookout experience if you like horseback riding. My boy had a blast.

Tombstone was okay, but Bisbee and Kartchner Caverns were better. The cave was amazing. And I want to move to Bisbee an start a candle store. lol. Dreaming, but what a life that would be. I just love that town. The hotel was 100 years old, and I took lots of pictures hoping for ghosts on film, and my boy had a blast again. I probably wouldn't go to Tombstone again, but it was neat to see it. But I'd love to go back to Bisbee and see the other room of the caves that is closed because the bats are living there in the summer.

Next weekend will be Grand Canyon Railway, as he's never been on that, and thats just a very pretty ride on a neat train, and well... The Grand Canyon speaks for itself.

I only get him every other weekend, so I try to make the best of it. But this weekend I'm going to be making candles. My first ones.

And I expect complete disasters that should be fun to read for veteran candlemakers. Hehe.

:laugh2: :laugh2:

I am soo glad you are having fun Leesters! I got a box from Peaks today and I forgot they give you samples, I got some Orange Chiffon Cake too! Isnt it great they do that?

Have a great weekend!

That was the frosting on the candle, right there. I wonder if its a heavy or light oil, eh? It smells great though! Made me go buy a donut.

:laugh2:

ok from now on when I read your posts it will NOT be as I am drinking a diet coke. Thanks for making me clean my monitor! lol

Coffee is a bad idea too. That monitor needed cleaning anyway. *taps on glass through the cyberspace* Looks much better, but I think you missed some sticky stuff in the corner there.

Woo, another chime in from an Arizona gal!

Will be staying in Bisbee, at the Queens ..uh.. forgot the name, how lame! The Copper Queen. There we go. Old hotel since the beginning of the town. Over 100 years old! They say its haunted too. Saw a pic of a guest on TripAdviser.com where he caught an orb on film. I'll be taking pics. lol.

We just hijacked this thread, but nice to hear from you.

Hehe, thank you. I figured that would get a laugh or two, and I'm so excited. I can't wait to get started. I have found (out of copyright, so shhh) some great western prints online, and copied them to paint.

I will be playing with them to wrap them completely around in the hurricane mold so they'll stay. Hopefully. And I also have some Arizona Cardinal wrap-arounds made also.

New Candle supplies, NFL draft is tomorrow, and I hit my sales goal at work for the month today.

I'm just happier than a puppy with two peters!

Woo hoo! I felt like a kid on Christmas morning! I ordered my first candle supply from Peaks two days ago, and went with the cheapest shipping option, ground, figuring it would be at least a week till I got my goodies.

A very big box filled with lots and lots of popcorn showed up at my place today, and I couldn't wait to rip it open!

Digging through the popcorn was almost as fun as cleaning it all off the floor.

Amidst my hurricane wax, container wax, red blue yellow and brown dyes, 2 hurricane molds w/insert, stearic acid, universal additive, vanilla and cinammon FO, and 3 sample wick packs, was a very nice handwritten note from some lady (not a guys handwriting) from Peaks thanking me for my first order, and wishing me fun.

Also included was a FO catalog and a free bottle of Orange Cake smelly stuff! Thanks Peak, you have a happy customer! Fast shipping, and free FO! Everything was included, and I was happy.

After my giddiness I went to dump my box and all its popcorn in the big dumpster outside my apartment, and as I dumped, I saw 4 black things dump along with it. As I peered into the empty dumpster, I noticed they were eyedroppers. Oh no!

Now, if you can imagine a 40 year old man climbing into a trash dumpster for eyedroppers, you have pictured the next scene.

But I'm still so excited, I had to come here and post before I took a shower.

This weekend I have my boy, and have planned a road trip to Tombstone, a ghost town and Kartchner Caverns, so my supplies must gather dust.

But they shall not gather dust for long!

:whoohoo:

Peaks delivered ground in 2 days! I have candle supplies! I get to make my first candle!

But alas, I'm taking my boy to a trip to Kartchner Caverns (largest stalagmite cave formations in Arizona) and Bisbee (Ghost town) and Tombstone.

So no candles for me until next weekend. But at least I can get the hurricane art ready as I'll be able to have the molds in my hands and cut up the prints to make them fit perfectly.

Can't wait to melt some wax! :whoohoo:

1) Just put the leftovers aside cause you can use it next time.

2) Keeping the melt pot off the bottom -- I hang it on the side of the pan and it doesn't touch the bottom....isn't that what that handle is for??? If you need some pots/pans -- get them at Savers or Goodwill.

3) order a bunch of sample wicks cause you'll need them. Cin and Vanilla are both heavy oils and a bugger to wick sometimes.

4) you need a heat gun -- any hardware store OR watch the sunday paper for Michael's 40% off coupons...I bought their embossing gun and really like it - small & easy to handle.

5) Phoenix, huh? Me too.

Happy pouring:)

Hey! Howdy neighbor! Good to see someone here in the valley on here.

Hanging the pot by the handle is perfect. Its one of those "why didn't I think of that" ideas.

Hardware stores, Savers, Goodwill, craft stores, art prints... this is not a working-single-dad kind of hobby here. At least I can get the chain and the heat gun in the same store.

Thanks for the tips, you had a winner there. Phoenicians rock.

Just recycle the leftover and make another hurricane. :smiley2:

And then you have leftover again. Hehe. Unless you're making hurricanes infinity, eventually you're gonna have leftover hurricane wax.

Unless you keep making shorter and shorter hurricanes. lol.

Yes you can but it is very hard to keep the holder centered and from floating up when you pour the wax in.

Could you use a chilled metal holder? That way it would harden the wax around it quickly and being metal, might stay put? Maybe put a amall layer first and then fill it up after it sets a bit?

Oh wait. Nevermind. I have no idea what I'm talking about. Just a newbie thought.

Since you're pouring most of the hurricane wax back..... and you'll always have leftover because they always have to reach the heighth...

What do you do with the leftover???

I was thinking about making wax "plates", but thats only because I don't have any clue what else to do.

Oh cool. I was kinda wondering what kind of additives I was going to need for those hurricanes. I think its going to take experiments to find out what happens. I think I'm leaning on a wrap-around-picture as embeddment so I'll get a bunch of copies. lol.

On the part about doing pillars first... Well, you know... if I start doing pillars It will be weeks before I get to hurricanes. lol. I know I'm gonna wanna play with pillars with layers and rustics and colors and different FO's and etc etc.. lol. Uh, better make that months.

I was thinking about getting used to hot wax with containers to begin with, as they seem pretty simple, so I have something to burn in my hurricanes. That way I can get a little practice before I start messing with water baths and 5 lbs of wax "slinging".

I just want the hurricanes for myself, if I can avoid the addiction, that is.