JacquiO

I know theu have Saturday hours. I don't know if they will extend their store front hours during the workshop. This is my first workshop there so I don't really know what to expect. My friend Pauline and I signed up early so we got a lot of classes to go to. Their is only 1 hour on Saturday that we skipped because nothing interested us. What class did your partner sign up for? I'm wondering if it's the same as one of ours.

I just starting using 1 teaspoon per pound in the CB-Adv. The tops and the adhesion were never an issue with this soy wax but the scent throw and some frosting was. I saw signifigant improvement since day one. At first I thought "oh God this isn't going to work" because the coconut oil made the wax seem really greasy and soft. But the next day when it cooled it looked awesome and the cold throw was much better. I could also smell a definite improvement in the hot throw even prior to curing. We also added cocnut oil to some colored soy and I did notice that the color took much better with the coconut oil. No Frosting on the burgundy or the peach. We also got really rich colors using less dye. From now on I'm always going to use the LouAnn coconut oil in my soy container wax. I was really suprised at how well it worked. I was wondering if anyones tried in the Ecosoya PB?

Anyone signed up for the candlesandsupplies candle making workshops on the weekend of March 29th? I'm full up with some cool looking classes and I can't wait. I'd love to meet some boardies there face to face !!!:whoohoo:

I've heard of slowing down the cooling process to help the wax adhere to the jar. Hence to avoid wet spots. I what I did was stick them in the oven overnight. With it off of course. Just so it's in a more enclosed space with out having to worry about messing up the tops. Now personally I don't even worry about it anymore.

Soy - I like the ecosoya PB - you can use it has a one pour but I repour once and then heat gun flat for smooth level tops. I get mine from candlesandsupplies Paraffin - I recommend CBL-141 from candlewic. This is a pre-blended wax. It has a smooth creamy finish. Takes color really well. Has a high FO load and throws really well too. You still have to repour 1 to 2 times. I'm actually considering mixing the 2 above and seeing what that produces.

I'm having a really hard time following anyone in this thread. CAW - There are 16 oz. in a pound - not 20. 7% of 1 lb = 16 X .07 = 1.12 oz FO hence the ole standby - 1 ounce per pound. It's best to weigh your FO but if you stick to even 1 measured ounce (that's by volume) you should still be okay. You may want to go a little less on thick heavy oils like vanilla or more on some of the thinner oils. If your wax can hold 7% fragrance oil then you wouldn't be overloading it by adding an 1.1 ounce per pound. Some waxes hold more and some hold less. It's best to check with your supplier to see what the fragrance load is. Also additives like vybar help improve the fragrance load. HTH

Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin is a BBW dupe. It's yummy. The one I get from SOS is body safe. I was also thinking of a Spice Chai or Vanilla Chai would make great B&B fall scent.

Sweet Cinn Pumpkin is awesome! Apple somethings - Apple Cinn, Apple Pie - Apples and Roses is a great combo! Also with fall shows it's good to add a little x-mas to the mix. Sugar Cookies, Gingerbread, Fig combos and such. Just some ideas.

FO is what causes a more translucent wax to mottle. You can try reducing the amount of FO. I know that C&S carries transulent crystal additive. I use it in my hurricanes. No mottling but then no FO either. The only wax for me that doesn't mottle is very opaque or has a high mp. But mottled is cool. People actually use a mottling additive to get a more mottled look. You say you don't have money to waste -work with the mottled look. You may think it's fugly but others might see it as pretty and unique especially when done with deep rich colors.

water and wax don't weigh the same. The volume may be the same but not the weight. Best thing to do is weigh an empty jar (have it wicked or not, the weight of the wick is slight) then pour one candle. Once the candle cools weigh the finished container and subtract the empty. Now you know how much wax you need for one jar. You can now multiply that by how many jars you want to pour at once. As for the FO just add the percentage you need to properly scent the wax you are using without over saturating. The FO weight isn't going to increase the volume all that much. There is no need to pull your hair out trying to get the FO and wax to "balance out" to be the exact weight that needs to go in the container. IMHO I did this for my containers and I was able to weigh out the exact amounts I needed without excess or coming up short.

No Sh*t. Sorry scentsational that you had to experience this. It's like getting your cherry popped around here. I use plastic pods that hold 4 tarts and sell them for $5. The acetate boxes are from sunshine container in NJ. I think they also have pods that hold 2. Good luck with your sales and keep up the enthusiasm.

I absolutely agree with that statement. Candlemaking is a HUGE investment of time and money. Just letting people in help's them understand that and the most likely end result would be that they look to buy more handmade candles (as opposed to cheapy retail imports) rather than put the hardwork and dollars into making their own. I think that most people that inquire about how our candles are made are already hobbiests themselves or just curious about the process. . just my

The majority of our trillion dollar deficit is owed to China. They own us. LOL - Not!

I'd teach people how to make candles. I love making them and I love sharing my craft. People have different philosophies when it comes to creating something. One is keep your trade a sercret so no one can copy from you. Works for some especially in the patent office. However my philosophy is what goes around comes around. Meaning the more you give the more you gain and that includes knowledge. I don't plan on taking any hush hush secret candle recipes with me when I die. That's just me. How do I sell them at price?: I buy wholesale. How do I get my tops so smooth?: I use a heat gun. See not so hard. Shoot - sharing my "secrets" and learning other's is why I spend so much time on this site in the first place!!!

I use both soy and paraffin. I like soy a lot but it is very fickle so I understand why a lot of people stick with paraffin. Paraffin is much easier to work with. It holds higher fragrance loads. Throws better. Colors much better than soy. There's much more you can do with it as far as designing candles go. The key to soy is finding a wax that works well for you, sticking with it and praying they don't change the formula. With paraffin you have is a lot more choices to play with and you can just about get something really cool looking out of all of them.

I saw some of those grease splatter screens at a local dollar store a few weeks ago. I need to check back to see if they still have them. That's a good idea. I'm going to stick with the bottles. Mainly because of the spacing issue. I plan on making about 5 to 10 fragrances at a time. I don't mind pouring enough solution to cover the punks in the bottle but I'm still wondering if any one knows if the 3oz is sufficient or not.

Thanks!

I'm making incense sticks for the first time. The instructions I was looking to folllow recommended using a glass jar or HDPE bottle. I plan on using a 16oz HDPE Bottle. The instructions said you only need 3oz of your FO/DPG mixture. I this correct? If I only have a few inches of FO solution in the bottle will the FO solution seep all the way into the punks or should I have enough solution to cover the punks completly? Also regarding drying. What do you dry on? Again the instructions I have said a window screen or rack. Appart from spending $$$ on baking racks - are there any recommendations for alternatives that I could rig easily and cheaply? TIA, Jax

I have to agree I think that too many handcrafted candle makers charge too little. It deflates the market. I don't buy imported store candles at all but I was on ebay looking to see what candle makers at home where charging and I could not believe how cheap they were selling their handmade stuff at! 8oz jar candles at $3.99! By the time you've payed the ebay and paypal fees you might as well give them away. Also I'm sure we've all felt the crunch of rising wax prices. My soy wax went up over $20 a case to what I bought in October! Talk about a big ouch. You really have to love this hobby to stay in it. I've decided to go more artsy with one-of-kind and customized candles with big$$$ price tags and leave the generic stuff to the chain retailers.

Thanks for all your wonderful comments. I have no problem sharing how the glass gem stone canes were made. You need a wide cane mold so you can get a pretty thick wall. Using an insert we added the stones filling the walls of the cane up to the top. I even wanted some to poke out a bit from the top edge. Then pour you hurricane wax and transport to water bath. We didn't need to add any extra weight because of the gems. The tricky part was figuring when to remove the insert. You need to get a fairly thick outer shell so the gems don't start falling into the center. For mine we waitied too long and I almost couldn't get the insert out. With Pauline's I don't think we waited long enough and a couple fell to the bottom but the shell cooled thick enough to cover them. Once the the cane has cooled enough to cover all the gems and create a smooth wall cut out the top skin and dump out the rest of your wax and let cool overnight. Because of the gems your not going to get the normal shrinkage and may have to struggle getting them out of the mold. We had to pop ours in the freezer for 10 minutes and then had to apply some serious elbow grease but they did come out. Also make sure to use a mold release spray when prepping your molds. This probably helped us tremendously. Now comes the fun part. Get out your heat gun. I let the canes warm up from being in the freezer before applying any heat. The last thing I wanted was to see them crack. Over a shallow baking sheet and working from the top to the bottom we melted away the wax just enough to bring out the gems. I'd say heat-gun-it on low but impatience got the best of me and I found myself working back and forth between hi and low. If you melt too much the gems will pop out so take your time. Pretty much that's it. Not very complicated. Just took a little time and ingenuity and a lot of patience. If you try it be sure post 'em in the gallery. I'd love to see them!

My friend Pauline (CT: CandleDungeon) and I tried our hands at making some canes. One weekend we did glass gems and then the a couple weekendslater we tried some picture canes following the techniques from Sharyl55's tutorial. Although we weren't able to participate during class time we still followed her guidelines pretty much to the letter. Thanks so much Sharyl! I'm so happy with the results! Our Glass Gem Canes: Jacqui's http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture003.jpg http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture016.jpg Pauline's http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture007.jpg http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture026.jpg Our Picture Canes: Jacqui's http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture005.jpg http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture020.jpg http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture021.jpg Pauline's http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture008.jpg I didn't get a good photo of Pauline's lit up. They all came our blurry. Sorry Pauline. Well anyway I was really happy with how they came out. The pictures of them lit really don't do them any justice. Although we each designed our own canes the production of them was definitely a team effort. Cheers, J

I'm drooling!!!

Thanks Cathy and Sharyl for answering my question. I will to try your playdo plus nail technique very soon and let you know the results. Cheers, J

When you said trophy candle you really meant a trophy! LOL I was expected some award winning candle. I must say though that it was well made. I'm sure her BB team was thrilled.

I really want to make some everlasting palm pillars. What is the best way to embed the votive holder? I saw a silicon plug from C&S for $16 bucks but I am curious to know if there is a better (and cheaper) way to acheive the same result. TIA, Jax