Darbla

After reading some more on others' experiences with 4794, I'm sticking with it. There are too many success stories for me to believe it's the wax and not my technique, so I need to work more on my technique.

Does freezing it for just 15 minutes really make that much of a difference in how easily it shatters? I'll try anything. What about freezing longer, like a couple of hours or overnight? I could do that on days I'm not pouring, and it should be back to room temperature by the time I do start work on more. I also thought about having a candle burning next to me, heating up a knife blade, sticking the blade back in the flame ever so often to keep it hot, and see if that helps. Darbla

I was wondering this exact question, if container wax could be used for votives. Not sure I want to bother with putting them in the freezer, so I may not do this now. But... what made me consider it is it seems I read somewhere that throw is better with container waxes. Does that sound familiar to anybody? Darbla

Hmmmm...I'm using 4794 and haven't been real thrilled with the throw, but I've been adding FO at about 170 (that's what the instructions from Peak recommends). I'll up that to 180 and see what happens. I'm using 36-24-24 Zinc Core wicks. I'm about to order a case of votive wax and was looking up favorite votive waxes. Now I'm unsure whether to order more 4794 or try a different wax. Darbla

OK, not a prob. You just got me excited there for a sec.

I know what you mean, and my candle experimenting (and I'm sure a lot of folks') is very much limited because of this. But I don't know what for us to do but buy what we can when we can and try to salvage as much as possible from the duds (I'm trying to decide what to do with some duds now). I'm sure the long-timers here have done the same thing. As I get better at it, I'm sharing what I learn in the hopes it saves someone else some money. I do that in my work because it increases productivity; if someone doesn't have to do the same research I did, then maybe they can take what I have done, build on it, and evolve us another step that will benefit me too. With candles, I wish there was a garanteed "do abc and you'll get xyz" but after my research so far, I'm not sure that's going to happen. Just too many variables, and while many many people are sharing wonderful knowledge here, this board is so busy sometimes the info that would help me tremendously gets buried under pages and pages of posts. :undecided You bought from Alabaster: are you in Alabama, by chance? I need to get over to the off-topic board and see if there's a post about our locations. I would love to meet some chandlers close to me. I'm in Mississippi. Darbla

Made some 'Vanilla Pumpkin' sachet filler and 4 batches of votives so far ('Amish Harvest', 'The Great Pumpkin', 'Carmelized Pralines', 'Gembertaarts'). Make make a bunch more votives today as I'm itching to get started on Christmas scents.

Are any of you pouring Christmas scents yet or is it too early? How early is too early? Wouldn't scents fade if you make them too long before the market time? I don't know because candles never last long enough around me to fade significantly. Darbla

Thank you, Candybee. I live near Louisiana and would love to visit the Myrtles, a supposedly haunted plantation, and 'Baton Rouge' has a dusty, musky edge to it (but in a good way) that made that idea pop in my head. You could take any word that represents Halloween and match an FO to it. Candy corn becomes 'Trick or Treat'. 'Witches Brew' becomes 'Spellcaster'. Something cold and fresh becomes 'Midnight Flight' or 'The Headless Horsemen Rides Again'. A rich, deep cherry could be 'Blood' or 'Vampire's Kiss'. There's already a 'Full Moon' FO but you could still match that name to a different FO. etc. I've got all these ideas about Halloween but I live in a very strict religious area, and some things like that wouldn't go over well at all. People around here get too offended about Halloween. Except...... there is a metaphysical shop near me. Hmmmm.... I might think on seeing if the proprietor would be interested in putting a few in there. Darbla

Another question: why are some places so expensive on shipping? Are they gouging us on that to make a chunk of extra money? Or is it different shipping companies, some costlier than others? Maybe a combination of the 2?

I would try the coconuts at tanning salons instead of spas. Darbla

(points finger at blazerina): HAHAHAHAHA!! Chantel, do you have a web site? You've got me curious to see your labels now.

Forgot a couple: I use toothpicks to drop dye into my pour pots. Fingernail clippers to trim wicks. Have any of you tried heating a knife or wire for cutting wax slabs? You can buy really expensive heated knives or wires, but I was thinking of having a candle going next to where I'm working, sticking the knife or wire in the flame, then seeing how much I could get cut before it has to be heated again in the flame. Darbla

Sudsnwicks, that's about $1 / lb. The lowest yet in this thread. Where are you ordering from and what kind of wax? Darbla

OK, I'm going to ask this here since this thread is about AH/RE, and I loaded up during this sale: I bought samples of pretty much all of their Christmas scents, and I'm in agony deciding which to pour votives of first. Which would you pour first or which is your fave of their Christmas ones? Somebody give me some relief here! Darbla

'Love Spell' is kind of witchy with that name, or rename it 'Love Potion #9". Change a pumpkin one to 'Jack O'Lantern'. I may do that with Candle Source's 'The Great Pumpkin'.

The other day I needed to pick up some metal votive molds while I was pouring into them (can't remember now why I was doing that though, because normally they're on the countertop when I'm pouring), and I was trying to figure how to pick them up without burning my fingers. I ended up wrapping masking tape around the ends of my fingers and it worked great. I still had full dexterity of my fingers and no burns when slopping wax around. Electrical tape might be even better though. Using old magazines to line my countertops. I figure they won't get black ink from newspapers on the surfaces. To salvage every last drop of FO out of a bottle, pour some carrier oil into empty bottles, swish it around, and use to moisturize skin after bathing. Or use in the top dishes of oil warmers with a tea light underneath. Darbla

'Black Magic' from The Candle Source. But.... I think that would be better renamed to 'Black Forest' (still spooky enough for Halloween) and find something else to rename to 'Black Magic'. Get some dirt scents and name them 'Graveyard'. If you can get Old Mills 'Baton Rouge' to turn out strong enough, rename it 'Haunted Plantation'. Something strongly cinnamon can carry a devilish name. Wonder if cinnamon and vetiver would make a good 'Devilish'? I posted a similar question a few weeks ago because Halloween, my favorite holiday and time of year, was already on my mind. Darbla

Here's a place to start for you: http://www.soapdisharchives.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51438&hl=conditioner

These have drawstring tops, right? I'm thinking of getting Christmas fabric, making little bags/sachets, and tying a ribbon around the top.

Do you have to sign up with ebay to order? Which I guess it's not a big deal. I just haven't signed up there because I wasn't sure I could control myself if I ever started buying.

Who is IFT? I looked in our suppliers post and couldn't find it (unless I'm having a blind moment). Suppliers post: http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5492

What I'm looking for now is how to use that last teeny bit of FO from an empty bottle. Put a little carrier oil in it, shake it up, pour it into the top of the oil warmer. Sorry, could've said that to begin with.

I don't see a problem with it having many ingredients. If you did a search here for 'Cornucopia' and didn't find much discussion of it, I'd try the Scent Review Board and see what people are saying about it. If I had it I'd send you a sniffie, but we're both out of luck. Darbla

I don't like to use water in the top dish of those little tea light oil warmers (some people call them oil burners) because if it evaporates, what's left will scorch. I think I've heard of using carrier oils for that, so are some better than others? Darbla