Mtngrl

Hi, great 1st pillar. It only gets better from here! I would like to suggest that you not leave your candle naked on a wood surface. I've done that before & later regretted it when I found a wax ring on my table. I've left candles bare on a lazy-susan only to discover later that the FO really ruined the surface of the plastic due to the solvents used to produce the FO ... one of those solvents sometimes being acetone that you find in nail polish remover. Highly suggest that you keep something between your candle & anything it comes into contact. Prestos are better to use than 2x boiler method - melts wax much faster & you have more control over temp, BUT you should still check your temps as the gauge can sometimes be wrong. Here's a few thoughts on relief holes: (1) use something fat to poke your holes, say the fatness of a bic pen or a tad smaller. Fat holes are easier to fill than skinny holes made by something such as thin skewers. (2) with paraffin wax, I typically poke at least 4 relief holes. (3) with palm wax, I poke a lot of relief holes. When I make a palm piller, & it turns out poorly, for whatever reason, I remelt it in my presto, laying on its side rather than top or bottom. During the melt process, I remove the candle several times to check for holes. Sure enough, I often find caverns between relief holes, esp if I only poke 4 holes. This seems to be less of an issue when I poke a lot of holes (8 holes or more, depending on mold size). I can't see the surface flaws to which you are referring in your pix. However, I do have a couple thoughts about it. When I 1st started candle-making a couple of years ago, I noticed a pitty surface all over the pillars I was making. I had read, as Mozzie suggested, that one potential cause was pouring too hot. When I decreased the temp, I still had the pitty surface. Over a period of time using the mold, the pittiness went away. I'm more inclined to blame the new mold for this imperfection. As Scented suggested, perhaps dust. I've discovered that if I "season" the mold, this problem rarely happens. Seasoning the mold. Basically, when I get a new mold I fill it w/ clear molten wax, poking relief holes, & repouring. Once the candle has cooled, I remove it from the mold & then weigh the faux candle. This gives me an exact volume for that particular mold, which is particularly helpful on odd shaped molds. I set my oven temp to 150*, place the mold upside down (open side down) in the oven on a cookie sheet covered w/ newspaper. After the mold has been in the oven long enough for the residual wax to melt, I remove the mold & wipe down w/ paper towels. If you can afford to buy the lint-free variety, I highly suggest it. I discovered this trick when I got polycarbonate molds. The 1st one I did not "season" & it severly stained the 1st time I used it w/ liquid dyes. I then "seasoned" the 2nd mold before adding color & it has helped decrease staining. I then adopted "seasoning" as a general practise to get accurate volume measurements on my odd shaped molds (anything other than a square/rectangle & circle/round). Hth.

In reference to the candle on the left, it looks like some variation of "fingernailing". A lot of ppl don't like the look, but I do. Ya, I'm just a weird one that way. It adds a certain amt of diminsion that I find appealing. I can never get that affect on purpose. If I could, I'd make a series of candles in different colors. I have also noticed that I get less mottling w/ MO & more w/ FO.

Totally dig your pink & purple candles!

Nice 1st! :highfive: How's the weather in NZ? Is it cold? Wet? If you have too much of both, feel free to send 'em waaaaaaay up north!

Sorry to hear you've been in a funk. Me, too. I blame it on the heat. Gawd, it's been soooooooo hot!!! There she goes again, fishing for compliments. When was the last time anyone saw anything Julie made that even came close to resembling doo? :rolleyes2 I think I'd have to really dig deep in the archives to find something close to doo, but I suspect it just wouldn't be worth the effort to look so hard for doo. lol. Those are gorgeous. Your artistry really inspires me.

I totally agree w/ Angela & the others who strongly suggest NO SCENT. Let me put it this way, I don't want to smell a candle when I'm eating, esp a floral. Too many competing odors can be overwhelming. If I felt particularly annoyed by the FO, I'd put out the candle. Some FOs have an um .... I don't know what it is but it gets to the back of my throat & then I'm coughing like a cat on a hairball trying to get that whatever it is out of the back of my throat only it won't go away 'til it goes away HOURS later. :embarasse If you need help convincing your client, show her this thread!

Those are lovely rustics. I can't wait for cooler weather so I can get back to candle-making. I feel inspired. Ok Julie, where in her original post does it say anything about the FO? I've got some Woodland Trail in a tester right now that has a bit of patchouli but something else that gives it a "dry" smell that makes it even more woody. You might like it, if you haven't tried it yet by BCN. Ok, I just looked at the pix again & read the labels this time. :rolleyes2

Good luck w/ making all those beans; I'm sure it will be worth it in the long run, but oh so tedious! Candle making became complicated the smarter people got, lol, & the more we learned about the technical aspects of a truly well-made candle that burns perfectly w/o dripping, w/o leaving an over-wide rim, w/o sooting wicks, etc, esp in comparison to store bought crap.

As a geologist wanna-be, I can't help but love that! Very cool. :highfive:

If you have a scale, you could always weigh it. Turned out great!! :highfive:

I wouldn't have called your thread "rustic attempts". It appears to me that you were successful on all 3. Even if the candles lost some of the rustic, it just adds a new dimension. NattyCat, you can look on the veggie candle board section & see if it's possible to get a rustic out of soy wax.

Dude, you are being way too hard on yourself. From what I could tell from the itty bitty pix, you've got some lovely carved candles.

I really like the tins w/ the c-thru tops.

I think I would like the clear label better if the text were of a light color when against a dark background, and a darker text against a light background. When there's dark against dark or light against light, it's just too hard to read. I'm one of those super efficient shoppers - if it requires effort .... I'm just not that invested in spending more time reading. KWIM? On the other hand, as the candle burns down, the darker label may be easier to see. Back to the other side, seems to me that making it easier to read may have a better appeal to the consumer inclined to buy. That being said .... Lovely candles & lables.

Hey Jaye, just a couple of photographic suggestions. 1st, most of the pix have that overall yellow cast, which is from your light bulbs. You can eliminate that problem by photographing in natural light ... by a window or outside in the shade. 2nd, some of the pix may be on the blurry/not-quite-in-focus side because the camera is too close to the candles. If this is the case, just put a little more distance between the candle & the camera. If you have any photo-editing software, you can always crop out some of the background later.

hohohohoho ... I would NOT make candles NAKED. And NEVER EVER naked if using palm wax; ouch, THATstuff hurts when it lands on ANY body part! I wear an apron & pants I've already spilled wax on.

I don't KNOW anything for a certainty, but just thinking about reheating glass & glass getting weaker w/ reheating .... that doesn't sound right to me. Just think about all the glassware we put in the oven & dishwasher. Granted, most things going in the oven are a bit thicker than what one might use for a candle container. Nevertheless, I don't really believe that glass gets weaker because it's reheated .... though high temps might be a factor. Does anyone reheat their glass containers over 200*? Whenever I put my containers in the oven to melt out residual wax, I set the oven temp at 150*. I've never had any issues. HOWEVER, to be on the safe side, I do inspect the glassware. I guess the real question might be: at what temp does glass start to melt? Maybe the answer might vary based on its ingrediants - color & other additives, etc. I'll tell you one thing for sure: hot glass that comes into contact w/ something cool & wet will shatter in a nano-second! One time I had placed a glass pot lid over a burner, & days later turned on the burner in preparation of cooking something. When I realized I had turned on the wrong burner, I used a wet dish cloth, which I was using for wiping the counter, to remove the lid & boom! glass pieces were everywhere!!

From what I can see, that is a beautiful c-n-c & you should be VERY proud. Can't wait to see the ones you're pleased with!!!!

You know, when I read that, I imagined you lighting it w/ a torch! 'Cuz the candle itself looks pretty normal. If you did ANY candle activity "normal", I'd start worrying about you, Garf. I've become quite fond of your ... er, what I would call "zanniness." Your posts often qwack me up. I'm glad to see you on the board again.

Well, if that isn't enough, I don't know what is! I really like that your layers are tilted, a little uneven, & the crackle makes it even more special. You've really got a lot going on there. I like it, A LOT!! :highfive:

Well, a cool looking candle is always worth a good bump or two.

Being a Mtngrl, I easily appreciate the name & the logo, very distinctive! Good job to both you & Bizzy B! :highfive:

At first I thought they were printed on paper & then embedded, then I thought maybe they were decalls, only to find out that you hand painted ALL of those! :highfive: Wowzer!!!! I can't believe ... I'm stupified. lol. I know you like to paint, but WOW. Wonderful job on them ALL.

What a fabulous idea! My oldest daughter told me last week she's expecting TWINS!!! You've planted a seed in my mind.

Wowzer! that's cool. Have you thought about using different colors for the lg mold & then a contrasting color/s for the tarts? There's so much fun stuff you can do with that!!! Heck, I'm excited for you.