Blueroc85

Grama, I did the same thing, only with a compass. I measured the bottom of my jar and set the compass to half that (as the point of your compass is the center of the circle) and drew the circle on paper. Then I measured the diameter of my wick tab, and set the compass to half of that. Using the same hole for the compass point I drew another circle in he middle of the first. I line up the jar with the larger circle and use the smaller for a "target" for my wick tab. I like Grama's idea of the sponge to help keep the jar in the same position every time. I will have to try that! Happy Wicking!

I wick first and then heat. I found it was harder to do it the other way around. I use wick tabs and the heat does not seem to effect their stickiness. The wax on the wick does melt and run a little, but I just pick off the clump with my puncture tool before pouring my wax. It has not effected the wick's performance in any way.

I never thought of making a potato candle! I love the idea of novelty candles. The burlap is a great idea. I looked at the potoato on your site.....very realistic looking. Awesome work!

Thank you all for sharing your heat gun disaster stories and for the helpful suggestions too! I know my family won't care what they look like.....they will be eager to light the wicks! I am the one who cares what they look like! Thanks for the encouragement, Donita! I thin on my next trip to Harbor freight I will pick up two just in case! Unfortunatley, I have never used palm wax, so I do not have any lying around. I can always shave some the leftover wax on top of them if I get too desparate!

Not a darn thing! I used ALL of my wax yesterday. I need to order some more comfort blend! I am going to IL to visit my folks this weekend! Have a good one All!

I am a friend of Ball Mason Canning jars. I use the 8 oz jelly jars. Sorry I do not have any pics currently......I definitly do not want to take pics of my messy top candles since the heat gun blew! I don't sell candles, as it is current just a hobby.

Hubby came home and took it apart to see if he could fix it. A bunch of metal pices fell out if it. Apparently the motor blew. So I chucked that sucker in the trash! It would probably cost more to get another motor then to just buy a new one as I think I only paid $12 for it from Harbor freight. Thank god these candles are just freebies for family members and they will understand the tops being unfinished. I am not going to have a chance to get another one before we leave on Friday. They will probably light them immediatley and won't even notice the tops. I can only imagine the panic of tryingto get an order ready for a paying customer and having it break! YIKES! I feel bad for you on that one Vicki. I figured a cheap heat gun would last longer than 3 or 4 times used, but I am obviously wrong as the same thing happened to Karen's $60 number. I guess you just never know about how things are made these days, and it is hit and miss wether it be brand name or generic. Thanks for cheering me up y'all!

AHHHHHHHHH! Right in the middle of finishing the tops of my candles this afternoon, my heat gun burned up. Everything was going fine......then the gun switched into high by itself (blowing wax everywhere in the process).....smoke came out of the vents and it had a burnt smell. I immediatley turned it off and unplugged it. I checked to see if I had accidentally turned it on high, but the switch was still in the low position. DANG! I haven' even had that silly thing a year, and have only used it three or four times ( I do not get to make candles as often as I would like). I only finished one candle top before it blew. I am taking them up to my mom this weekend and they look just hideous without the tops done!!!! I guess I will have to go out and try to locate another. I tried a mini haidryer that I had laying around, but it doesn't get hot enough on low and the high setting blows wax everywhere! Admittidley, the heat gun wasn't a very expensive one, but I would expect it to last longer than three or four times! Thanks for listening to me vent!

Same Here....I store my comfort blend in its original packaging. I cut down the plactic as I use out of the bag. When finished, I put a wal mart bag over the top to keep the wax from getting dust and dirt in it. Then, I stuff it back in its box and close the lid. I haven't found an easier way than that to store it as of yet!

In addition to Heat and Paper towels I also use Goo Gone to help clean up wax from spills and after I have used my equipment, molds, etc.... It works wonders to get rid of the wax! The pyrex measuring cups are my friends too....glass is easier to clean than the metal pouring pots. I am not too much help on pillars as I mostly stick to container candles. I do know from the few pillars I have poured that poouring sloooooowly and pouring down the wick helps to reduce air bubbling. I hope this Helps a little!

I have wet spot issues with comfort bled as well, no matter how slowly I cool the jars. I love the stuff otherwise! Great hot and cold throw at 6%. I am going to try different types of wicks with mone as the zinc work well, but have terrible mushrooming! Good Luck!

LOL....diving off a cliff..... LOL! That is exactly how I feel when pouring votives. I do not sell my creations, I just make candles as a hobby, so I mostly just stick to containers. I do have several votive candle holders, so I make them for that purpose. All goes well until the repour......I can never get the metal mold filled just right and I ALWAYS end up making a mess. They burn well but the tops either have the lip from the mold or they just look messy! I enjoy pouring them, I just wish I could make them look more professional!

I have two presto pots and neither have spigots. I just pour the wax from the pot into the pour pitcher. I, too, would like to know where you all get the ladles. That 8 oz ladle sounds pretty handy since I use 8 oz jars!

Maybe I'm being dense, but I was wondering........ How do you all heat the wax to the right temperature to pour once you've mixed it with color and dye in the pour pot? Do you use something to heat the pour pot? I do not have a spigot on my kitchen kettle, I just tip the kettle to pour the wax into my pour pot. I add the color and scent in the kettle. I would like to melt a big bunch of wax and do several smaller batches from that by mixing the dye and scent in the pour pot, but am worried it would be too cool to pour after mixing it. I hope this makes sense!

I currently use zinc, but they are not low smoke. The only time I have trouble with my wicks smoking is when the wax is nearly gone. I have been thinking of switching wick types because of the marathon burners (like my mother) as the wicks tend to smoke if not trimmed properly and when the wax is nearly gone (because it is hard to trim the wick in this low in the jar). I am afraid I wont be able to get as good of burn with different wicks as I do with the zincs. I am going to have to experiment! I have no problems with the zinc when the wicks are kept trimmed to 1/4 inch.

I heat mine to 175, both Jars and comfort blend, just as Shari does, and have had no problems with scent throw. I use 8oz Ball Mason jars and zinc wicks. I usually use 51-32-18z size wicks, but have noticed that some fragrence oils require me to go up a wick size as I was getting sink holes and tunnelling with the usual size. Maybe heating your jars to the same temp as your wax and/or uping your wick size will help.

Ohhhh, they are all Beautfiul, but my favorites are the colors on the Moonlight Sonata candles and the patterns on the Amber candles!

Great deal! I use the Ball 8oz Jelly jars (the non crystal quilted) regular mouth and paid $7 and some change for them at Kroger. The quilted cryatal ones are more expensive by a couple of bucks. Everywhere else around here was sold out of the ones I use so I had to buy from Kroger. Did you know there is a Ball plant on I-74 near Danville? I noticed it on one of my many trips to visit my parents. I have great results with these jars as they are not too tall, are made to withstand canning temperatures, and are the same width from top to bottom. Happy testing!

I use the Reddig Glo Dye Chips and have never had any problems!

I am originally from the Bloomington, IL area. I don't have any experience with Blue Kangaroo, but I love BCN and get the majority of my stuff from them!

My husband just bought me a heat gun, as I need to do some leveling on some 4627 containers. The lowest heat setting is 650 degrees F. Is that the temperature that your heat guns have or do yours go to a lower temperature? I was just asking as I didn't want to overdo on the heat (650 seemed excessive to me, but I ave never used or owned a heat gun before)and cause a fire, break the container, etc.... I'm just trying to be safe! Thank you in advance for your information!

Thank you all for the wet spot information. I only had the one get wet spots for some reason. I am going to take Indy's advice and slow my pouring way down on my next one and let the wax sit a minute before pouring. I wrote this down in my notes so I won't forget! I do not have a spout on my presto pots so I just pick up the pot and pour the wax in to my pour pitcher. I think next time round I am going let the wax settle in the pitcher a little longer before pouring into the container. I don't melt the whole block because I only make a few candles at a time. I give mine away as gifts or burn them myself. One day I would like to start selling them, and then would start pouring in greater volume. I am still learning right now.

Good Gravy! Its more for shipping than the actual products! I have not tried Peaks yet, but I do use BCN's FOs and have not had any trouble with them. They have a great variety! I put my last order in on a Sunday evening (the 10th)and the order was in transit the following day. I actually recieved the order on Wednesday (the 13th) but it will most likely take longer to get to Iceland. I hope you can find a place that works for you.

Before I tried the Comfort Blend I was using the IGI 2243. It isn't a one pour wax and I added vybar to it. The comfort blend is much simpler to use as doing repours in containers is a pain. I had to be carful and only repour up to the original pour line or there would be a line around the candle. I forgot to mention in my first post that I am getting some mushrooming. I chalekd that up to using zinc wicks as they did the same thing in the 2243 and when I did a search on the forum, others confirmed that they had the same troubles out of zinc wicks.I just make sure to keep the wick trimmed up and get rid of the mushrooms before lighting the candle.The scent throw is much better (both cold and hot) in the comfort blend than it was in the 2243. Good luck to everyone else who is trying this. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

I made some container candles using 4627 (my first time using this wax) on Friday. I have been test burning them yesterday and today and I must say I am extreamly pleased with the results:grin2: ! I am using 8oz Ball Mason Jelly Jars for containers (they remind me of when my dad and grandma used to can garden vegetables and fruits). I am testing two different scents using 51-32-18Z wicks. I trimmed the wicks to 1/4 inch before lighting. I am getting an even burning 1 inch steady flame. There is no visible soot or smoke being emitted and the jar has no visible soot build up. There are no wax hang ups and the melt pool is great. The scent throw is awesome! I usually don't have a good sense of smell, but I can smell these and I used the standard 1oz FO per lb of wax! I can't wait to test some more fragrences! I think I have found my favorite wax! I was a little apprehensive about the softness of the wax in the finished candle, but it doesn't seem to be a problem as long as someone is not deliberatly trying to poke their finger into the candle. The mess also was not as bad as I originally envsioned. I used a giant serving spoon to scoop the wax out of the bag and into a glass measuring cup for weighing. I don't have any pics yet as the camera needs batteries (darn thing really sucks the battery juice). Hopefully I can remember the batteries on my next errand day. I also had visions of my candles smoking and sooting to high heaven, turning the jars black, but that has not been happening(WHEW!). My only problem showed up about 24 hours after pouring; my chocolate candle ended up having numerous wet spots. There were no wet spots at all in the cake batter candle, and they were poured at the same temperature within 10 minutes of each other and cooled in the same spot. Go Figure! I guess I can't have it all! I just wanted to share my first adventure into the land of Comfort Blend! I hope my next tests go as well as these! I also have a jar candle that I keep refilling for my own use. It has a glass shade that will only fit this particular jar, and I want to try some comfort blend in it as well. It is about an inch to an inch and a half wider than the jelly jars, so I may have to wick up. Thank you for listening! Amanda