Flicker

I sell a ton of Mistletoe from BCN and I also do a 50/50 Blend of WYW Vanilla Grapefruit and Mistletoe I call Winter for after the holidays.

Also soaping room temp can help. Mint scents tend to want to burn off easier...same with citrus. I find that soaping room temp oils/lye solution and NOT gelling it can often help. Did the company you got yours from originally do it CP and did they use EO specifically? That can change things up a bit. On that note though, I have also had good luck with the kaolin clay/room temp and also cutting, curing and then shrink wrapping the bars to retain the fragrance. I make a patchouli/lime EO blend for myself. The lime is a bugger to get to stick and this works. Good luck!

Thanks! I decided it was really time to update my website...so will probably be posting a lot of pictures. I get good inspiration over here. I've been soaping for about ten years...sometimes it just seems I burn out on creativity!

Made 94 lbs of CP this weekend and figured I'd post some pictures over here. It's pretty rare I post any pictures these days. Gotta change that! This is BCN Honey Coco Mango Soaped at room temp with 50/50 lye water solution. Olive, Palm and Coconut 1 oz fo pp of oil and I did use VS hoping it does not discolor. Colored with Orange & Yellow Mica and TD.

I work for BC, did you just get the cart estimate or was that the total on an actual order? I just got four boxes, I am in MN less than 100 miles away and mine cost $87 shipping. It was two cases of wax and two other boxes that weighed a lot. I think the order weight was around 180. Shipping has went up in the last months due to the fuel increases. What I ship out is costing more. I am shocked at $14 a case unless you had over 200# total and got the hundred weight discount. I want to say shipping a single case to me is around $20-25 and has been for years. I would call the office Monday and speak with Ladonna to see if that is the right amount and maybe why the last one was so much less. 877-635-8929 ext. 1

http://www.gelcandlemaking.com/section4.html That shows the difference in a picture. Polarity is simple to test for.

Oh how I love these customers too. The last time a customer complained that the tealight she purchased did not scent her entire living room I politely suggested a double wick apothecary candle or a room spray. They don't get that the diameter and depth of the melt pool dictates how strong a candle may be. The other one that gets me is why isn't vanilla as strong as cinnamon? Really? Wow, just wow!

Unfortunately the manufacturers no longer want to mess around with the smaller guy. The philosophy was that they would rather sell to the larger customer and exclude doing business with the smaller company. In some ways they were really biting the hand that fed them and realized this. Allowing only larger distributors to buy in bulk and re-sell was more cost effective for them , smaller customers just didn't earn them a paycheck. The answer is I am afraid that all the big boys have excluded doing business with the smaller candle company. Wax companies (IGI in particular) have also done the same. They raised their minimums so high that you are fairly well forced to buy from a distributor until you are pretty big.

It really has nothing to do with the size of the candle but rather the diameter. For example, I have a 8 oz jar that is 4" wide. Using two wicks that jar will blow you out of a large space with the right scent. The same 8 oz jar in a jelly jar will fill about a 12x12 room. Rule of thumb, the smaller the candle diameter (the area of the melt pool) the smaller the room it will fill. The larger the diameter, the larger area it will fill. Saying that a 8oz or a 16 oz should fill a specific area is not realistic.

I use the regular line Lavender from Bitter Creek North in my CP and it sticks fantastic and the smell is great. I use Lavandin EO in my body products and I've made soap with it and the BCN Lavender and it side by side I can't tell apart unless I look. I don't use color in EO soaps.

Where did you learn that? A mushroom is nothing more than a carbon build up at the tip of the wick due to incomplete combustion. The correct wick will not only prevent this but it will also burn the candle correctly. If you are relying on a mushroom to burn your candle correctly, you've got a lot to learn yet. It has nothing at all to do with natural waxes or high fragrance load, it's simply telling me that your wick isn't the right size or series for the wax you are using and or fragrance.

I went ahead and ordered it. I will let ya know how it does in soy and CP. It's not cheep! OUCH! $26 pp but it said it had awesome HT in soy. We shall see. I don't like raspberry but I do like black raspberry vanillas that I've smelled. Maybe they are less fake berry smelling? Dunno. I am crossing my fingers! LOL

Anyone used this? I am pretty sure I'd be safe ordering from them but ya never know. I use a few other scents from them and a client I sell to wants this fragrance badly. I use Ez Soy, but will likely be switching to Eco XceL within the month so will likely test in that and make oodles of CP which is where I think the bulk of this will be sold and in other misc body care. Opinions are appreciated. Thanks! Flicker

How long after you make the candle are you test burning the first one? Soy needs 48 hours to allow for proper crystalization. Testing prior to that may cause you test results that are not accurate.

Have you tried the IGI 1302 mottle pillar wax? That is what I like in terms of beautiful and constant mottle. I've yet to find a fo that will not mottle well in it. It is a blend so has steric etc in it already. I've used mottle max to allow for fo loads up to 8% with excellent success. In a 3" diameter I use a 1/0 square braid cotton.

Not sure this will help BUT....if a supplier does not use the same source for the finished wicks each time OR you change suppliers and that supplier buys from one company and the other another the same size wick can and will burn differently. The tension the tabbing equipment places on the wicks can cause huge variables in how they burn. Also the wax coating can make some difference but usually only enough that it may alter the height of the wick when it hits the wax. Just food for thought. It is best to always buy your wicks from a reliable source that is always purchasing from a steady feed.

Ok, I poured them last night. Here is what I have so far. First candle was poured 1 oz pp Twigs & Berries with two chips per lb of wax. I used a CD 12 wick in all of them. After 12 hours I am getting some frost with this scent. I poured this candle right at 130*. The top was perfectly smooth and level. This scent did not throw at all for me in 135 or advance. The cold throw is out of this world. I can live with the frost, it's not near what it was with the 135 and not as minimal as it was with advance but a happy medium. This candle is adhered to the jar nicely still. The second was made with 1 oz pp Honey Coco Mango, again CD 12 wicks but this time I used orange powder dye. After 12 hours it is pulling away from the jar but leaving weird residue behind. I poured this one at 150, the top is not quite a smooth as the one poured at 130 but I would not repour it or heat gun it, just sort of a nipple around the wick. I don't see any frost or other problems and again, fantastic cold throw. I have used this in 135 and it threw well but have not tested it in Advance. The third I did was 1 oz pp Sandalwood Vanilla. Again this was made with a CD 12 but this time I poured at 140. I used brown dye block. The tops are perfectly smooth, no frost and it pulled away from the glass and did not leave any funky residue. Beautiful candle! Once again I am blown away by the cold throw! This one seemed to look the best visually. No frost, smooth top and it pulled way so no wet spots. I am pretty impressed with the overall look of the candles. Smooth tops, nice color, the frost I did get wasn't horrid (at least not yet! ) I liked that it could be poured warmer for sure!!!! The cold throw is mind blowing fantastic! I used all standard 8 oz smooth side jelly jars btw for my testing. Dan at Eco recommends 48 hour minimum cure to let the soy re-crystalize properly so I will wait to burn them but so far so good. I am impressed so far I will update once they are burned with further results

I will be testing this wax tonight. Dan sent some samples to us at BC to test and I will gladly post my results when I have them. I have a few scents that throw fantastic in Ez Soy and Eco 135 but would not do a thing in Advance. I plan to test a few of those for comparison.

And I do CP and can pour soap when it's 95* with matching humidity or rain or -40 and bone dry with little to no variation. Must be differences in recipes? With bath bombs, the humidity affects the citric acid and causes them to bloom. It's not pretty. I also avoid making bath salts or M&P soap when it's very humid.

If I had to wait to make candles in Minnesota for GOOD weather, I may never get any made. Go ahead, the weather won't affect wax. Like another said, bath bomb's yes, but candles, soap etc. not a problem

I wish it were that simple. I work for a supply house and with all the customers we sell to plus the fact that it is busy season, there is no way we could possibly email every customer that ordered a specific item in the past say year and let them know we would not longer be carrying it. Often we don't find out an item is no longer available until we go to order it ourselves too. Sorry this happened but this is why I ALWAYS find product that I can back up in an emergency. It stinks but it's also wisest. Where are you located geographically? I am sure someone in your area may know who carries the jar as well....even if you can buy out the rest of the stock to get you through.

Yes, Wicks Unlimited is higher, 10,000 per wick size unless it may have gone up.

Soy tends to be moisturizing but too soft to use in soap in quantity. The soy flakes are fully hydrogenated so harder, and lend hardness and moisturizing properties both. I use the SAP for soy oil when calculating my recipies. I use about 6-10 oz per 3# batch. I really love soy in soap! As long as it's 100% soy you are fine in terms of knowing saponification values. I say GO FOR IT! I've used soy flakes in every bar of soap I have made for the past 8 years!

Exactly, Top. It's amazing how much of a variable machinery can make! I am glad this information was helpful. Most suppliers will keep their supply sources the same from one order to the next. BC uses Wicks Unlimited wicking for this very reason. It's vital for the candle maker to know they can test a wick and it will always be the same from them. Thus as I said before, if you test from a source, don't assume that wicks from supplier X, Y & Z will all work the same. They only will IF they are all purchased from the same assembler.

The machinery the assembler uses can make a HUGE difference. When the wicking is waxed and cut, it is sent through massive machines that basically wick and re-spool it. The tension that the wick has placed on it can greatly affect the finished wick. The machinery Wicks Unlimited uses is by far hands down the best. Their wicks are very consistent because their machinery is consistent. I have spoken in person numerous times with Bruce from Wicks Unlimited who has given me this information. The same raw wick from the same source tabbed by two different companies will almost always react differently. Thus, if you plan to use a wick, buying from the same source repeatedly is essential.