patka

Stella, that is a nice shell you have left after burning your candle. I have not had mine burn with a pretty circle like yours, but I have not tried to twist my wicks yet in a pillar. I will try that next time. Thanks for posting your pictures.

Stella, oops, that must be my English (English is my second language..). My candles are regular 3 inch pillars. I meant to say the walls stay 2-3 inches high, not wide! So to be more specific, when I start burning my candle, let's say it is a 3x4.5, with a CSN 14, for the first few burns, the candle will burn down, the wall will remain intact. As the candle continues to burn, the walls will start melting some, but there will still be a wall left when the candle is finished, not the original 4.5, but perhaps 2-3 inches high. I was thinking maybe there was some way to have the candle consume all of the wax, but maybe that is unrealistic. I also like the idea to wick the candle even less to leave the entire wall intact, I think that could be pretty. I just need to figure out some way to twist the wick to get a really nice circle while the candle is burning down.

Grama, I use no FO at all! I have two kinds, one white, uncolored, one colored with oil soluble annatto vegetable color (that is the only color I could find that is natural and works beautifully with candles). They burn well, but I get about a 2-3 inch wall left once they are done burning. Maybe that is the best I could do without them breaking out. I can try CSN12 and see how they look with the wall, it may look nicer if the whole wall is left. I have some CDs here, I may try those. I think I have a 12 and a 14.

Stella, you are absolutely correct! There IS a company, called Lumia organics, link below: http://www.greenpeople.org/webpage.cfm?memid=16871&pmtlevel=0&linkpage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elumia%2Eus They sell candles made with wax from organically (therefore non-gmo) soybeans. They actually partner with some farmers to grow the organic beans for them. I had not thought of them, since they are not a wax supplier. To my knowledge, they purchase the oil only for their candle making. I believe they are a genuine company and their candle is about as green as a soy candle can be. I meant to say that the soywax that is available from suppliers is from nearly 100% GMO beans. I think these are two different issues. One is the issue of personal health. I am not worried burning GMO soy candle would adversely affect my health, and I also worry about my tofu more in that respect. But buying a GMO product means supporting GMO farming. In my opinion, GMO farming has potentially disastrous effect on the environment. So does pollution, but pollution can be (up to a certain point) reversed. Supporting GMO farming means more land for GMO crops and less land for non-gmo crops. Because of unpreventable crosspolination between those two it could happen (and is likely to happen if we continue with planting more and more gmo crops as we have been) that there could come one day that there will be no unaltered edible plant left on this planet and all we will have left is GMO plants. Then, when the scientists find that the GMO plants are not all that healthy to eat, it could be all that is left. I am not trying to be gloomy, just want to explain why I choose to avoid GMO materials, even if they are not for eating.

I agree with what Stella said, one more thing, all soy wax available on the US market is manufactured from soybeans that were grown using genetically modified crops. The impact of genetically modified crops on the environment is potentially disastrous, I don't believe for this alone, soy candles can be honestly marketed as green.

Grama, what wicks are you using in your feather palm pillars? I have been using CSN 14 with my feather or starburst pillars (or a mix of those) and I find that I have a lot of wax left when the candle is done. I am reluctant to try CSN 16, as I don't want the candles to burn too fast either. I thought I would check what others are using too.

Roxanne, thanks for the tip. We have Hobby Lobby nearby, and I will check them out over the weekend.

Ida, thank you, I will go to Home Depot to see if they have any Lexan sheets that could perhaps be used. I am still looking for the Mylar sheets as well, but the ones I found so far were too small.

Steph, I agree, 8.5x11 would be too small for most molds. I am hoping someone will know where to get a bigger sheet or perhaps even a roll.

For those of you who use Mylar to like your soap molds, is there a place online or local (I don't think I have Joann Fabric nearby) to purchase them? I searched, but I only found 8.5 x 11 sheets and that seems a bit small. Are there larger size sheets or a roll perhaps available? Also, I read on this forum that some use Lexan molds, can Lexan be used to line mold? Can it be in direct contact with the soap? Thank you in advance for any ideas. I am looking for some permanent or long lasting way to line mold not to waste freezer paper.

Stella, I agree with Cybersix. I do the relief work as you describe, but when I pour into the disturbed surface once it cools to just slightly warm and poke, there is more air coming out where the wax goes into some holes that may have been created during my digging into the candle before. So at the end of the relief work, I purposely make about 4 holes, and they are wide enough for the hot wax to make its way all the way down into the candle. And then, I start poking and as I poke, more air comes out, so I know there were some holes left. When I do the relief work like this, my candles have no holes, and I did check by cutting them open. If I just finished them off at the bottom, I am sure there would still be air. I hope that makes sense.

You absolutely have to do air trap relief work to prevent caves in your starburst pillars. I also push down the middle of the candle several times until it is just slightly warm. I learned this from Stella. At the end, I poke about 4 pretty wide holes with metal skewers and refill with wax at 200 degrees with. After that, I poke the holes that I have just refilled with the metal skewer and I still see many bubbles coming up, so that part of poking the filled holes is a must for me. I recently poured a pillar and the pattern did not come up as I had expected so I decided to re-melt. Before that I thought to use it for an experiment and I disected the entire candle. It was a 3 x 6.5 pillar and I did not find a single hole in it, so this method must be working .

I live near Atlanta and I order from Candlescience in NC, they are great. I usually get my order within 2 days. They have containers too, but there is also Fairway glass that actually ships from somewhere in Georgia and they have good quality glass, good prices and shipping should be reasonable since it would be within the state.

These are very nice!

Thanks for the tip Sharon, I will try that next time I make pillars.

OK, I have a question. This will obviously work in a container candle and in a pre-wicked pillar. I heard you Stella say that you use wick pins in your pillars. Would there be any way to get the wick twisted? I guess one could repour after wicking the cooled pillar, but when I tried that I had the wax run right through the hole that was there from the wick pin and it ruined my candle because it ran through the bottom which was actually the top of the candle. Maybe the pillar wick pin I got is too wide? It is definitely much bigger than the CSN 14 I use in my pillars, so the wax runs right through. I do like the idea of twisting the wicks a bit because they do burn off center due to their bending to one side. I was just curious if someone has a way to do this even if using wickpins.

Thanks Stella, I just spoke with BCN earlier today and they confirmed the mold was made from rubber, but said it should take up to 220 degrees temperature well. He said that pretty much all wax would stick to the mold to some degree and all the votives would have to be peeled. But while parafin on soy would still look nice, the palm wax would not crystallize, or at least not as it would in aluminum. That's fine with me, I just wish I had gotten this information earlier when I called them before I got the mold to see if it would work with palm. Whomever I spoke with was not as clear about this. There are some folks on this forum who said they used the mold with palm and it was ok, but after my experience, I can't see that you could get the same beautiful crystals as from the regular molds. I would recommend metal molds over this mold. Just my experience though.... :smiley2:

Hi Stella, I wrote more details on the thread that someone posted soon after this thread, about the bcn mold. I returned it today. I believe that Pam could help but that was just not what I had expected having to do to work with this mold. This was described as an easy release mold :smiley2:. I suspect the mold is not as heat resistant as silicone, my whole apartment smelled like burned tires when I put the mold into a 200 F oven. You should have seen the votives when I got them out they were beat up. I tried twice and the second time I actually left them for hours in warm oven to make sure to cool slowly. I did not mean to criticize this mold. It looks like it would work fantastic with soy, I am sure they would slide right out, but I don't work with soy any more. Also, if someone pours their palm wax a bit cooler, maybe it is ok, or maybe I just got a mold that had some flaw, this was the second batch they got and they were out of the mold for a while. Next time I order supplies, I am planning to order aluminum cups. Thanks so much.

Regina, I am just going to return the mold. I am not talking a little stuck, but totally glued to the point where the votive got destroyed when peeling off the mold. I suspect this could have something to do with the temperature I pour at. I warmed up the mold in a 200 degree oven (turned off) and poured at 195 degrees. As I said, I think this mold is rubber, or rubber with silicon, not just silicon. You could smell the rubber in the whole apartment. I don't think the material is made to be used at that temperature, but I could be wrong. However, this is how I pour my palm wax and as I had very nice results in aluminum, this is what I am going to get instead. I had just hoped having one mold would simplify the process. I am sure this is a wonderful mold if you use soy or paraffin or maybe pour palm wax cooler.

Hi, see my earlier post from today. I just got the mold yesterday and tried to use it with starburst palm wax and was quite unhappy with the result. I am sure the mold would work with a wax that has a smooth finish, but the starburst just got totally stuck to the mold, and when I tried to turn the mold upside down, to get the votives out, I had to use a lot of force to peel them off of the mold. When I did, the outer coating that had the pattern stayed in the mold, so the mold looked dusty and my votives looked beat up, and the pattern was nowhere near how they look when they come out of the aluminum molds. I have never had a votive or a pillar stuck in an aluminum mold. The starburst wax seem to really have affinity to the rubber mold (I think this mold is rubber not silicon, it smells like new tires). Maybe someone has an idea what could be done about this, but I am thinking to return the mold. I liked the idea of having the votives together in one mold, but I also care about having pretty votives.

I have just tried the BC mold for the first time with Starburst palm wax. I poured the votives at 190 degrees, let them cool slowly and did a repour. Waited till they cooled and tried to take them out. They were totally stuck to the mold. I think the wax has affinity to the material the mold is made of, I think it is rubber or rubber with silicone. I managed to push them out by turning the mold upside down, but the mold remained very dusty from where the palm wax was stuck in the mold, I hope this statement makes sense. There was nearly no pattern on the votives, I wonder if it was because of them being stuck and lot of the pattern was left as the dusty part that stayed in the mold. I was not very happy with the result. I wanted to see what others may have experienced using palm wax with this mold. Is there any way to make the mold work to get the full starburst pattern and to get the votives to release from the mold easier without using any additives? The votives felt as if they were really glued to the mold.

Thank you for the replies. I am glad to hear that the citrus scents can be used with other EOs. Plus, I love lemongrass, so I might as well use that since it sounds like lemongrass holds well in the soap.:smiley2:

Someone told me that some essential oils (for example citrus) would not make it through the CP soaping process and would get destroyed by the lye. She recommended lavender, peppermint, litsea and some others, but not lemon orange, etc. I wanted to ask what are your experiences with essential oils in CP and if you could share which essential oils are suitable for making a CP soap or where I could find a list of those that are suitable and those that are not. Thanks in advance.

I think it could be appropriate to ask them for documentation before assuming that they are not telling the truth. The guy from this company actually wrote the article I referenced above and he seems to be quite knowledeable and passionate about the organic issue. They should be able to provide some certification on request.

It looks like the plants that the oil was extracted from were grown organically, but the process of turn the oil into wax is not consistent with the organic standards. That is how I am reading it, maybe it is the hydrogenation? I believe organic standards don't accept hydrogenation, at least for foodstuffs. I guess if someone was selling candles from their wax, they could say something like this: this candle was made with wax manufactured from 100% organically grown plants --- or something like that to be truthful, not to say "organic candle" or "organic wax"