hoshikaze

thank you for speaking your mind, ah-soy. i intended to practice much earlier, but i didn't think about what i could use to substitute for a pour pot. i don't wish to give unsafe gifts, but it's uh... one of those no $$$ things. i'm making this in an attempt to have at least something to give. i will of course warn everyone that these candles are not perfect, and to be very careful when burning them. it's not an ideal situation, i know. and i plan on spending more time learning the craft as my financial situation (hopefully) improves.

FO will remove dye? really? @_@ i gotta try that.. last night i used diluted clorox and that lightened it, but didn't remove it. oh! after searching some posts i decided to put my oven on warm and put my batter bowl in there. that mostly did the trick. i wasn't counting on my candle taking so long to burn. *sheepish grin* i'm hoping things turn out okay, because i have to make another candle tonight for a gift. i just wish i had a bigger pot for a double boiler! using a skillet took FOREVER, but nothing else would fit.

i'm feeling massively stupid, but i can't seem to find the "edit" button on my thread. sorry for the double post! the candle stopped tunneling and the wax pool is *nearly* to the edges. it looks like it's creating a shell, which is what i hear palm wax likes to do. so maybe i got the right wick after all? we shall see.

i wanted to make some candles for christmas presents this year. and wow.. what a crazy experience. @_@ first off, my pour pot never arrived. (i've ordered two. neither arrived. at least one i wasn't charged for.) so i used my pampered chef batter bowl to melt the wax in. only problem was that i didn't have a pot wide enough for it, so i had to use a deep skillet for the boiler. i put cookie cutters on the bottom so that the bowl wouldn't be touching the floor of the skillet. it took FOUR HOURS to get the wax up to 190 degrees. i was pouring glass glow and everyone says to pour at 195-200+. well.. by 5:30am i just wanted it to be done. ** the last hour and a half i started covering the bowl and checking the temp every 10 minutes to make sure it didn't spike. i didn't get to try and break up any air bubbles because i fell asleep, but the patterns are pretty. now i'm testing the wick and (surprise) it's not the right one. well, i don't think it's the right one. it's flickering a ton even though i trimmed it twice, and it appears to be tunneling. the weirdest part is that the flame is distinctly leaning to one side. i thought maybe a breeze or something was directing it, so i turned the candle. flame still leans over. i used a bamboo skewer to push the wick to the other side a bit. flame still leans over. weird. anywho, in all my reading on how to make this, i discovered that there is one thing not covered in any tutorials. CLEAN UP! my sink is now several lovely colors and my batter bowl is very waxy. how do i fix it? i took a bunch of pictures and i'll post them when i figure out how to upload them. ** for now, i'll be happy with figuring out what to change so hopefully the next one i pour will be an okay gift.