Skiminims

Hey all,

I've been doing some testing of the 3 candles I poured yesterday (posted in the candle gallery)

I tested HTP 52, 62 and had less than stellar results. I had a crooked MP on both (the 62 was a little better but not by much). The 52 had a tiny bit of flame dancing to it, and wax left on the side of the jar.

So I'm now testing HTP 73 and 83. 73 got a full MP, but had some wax hang on the side of the jar and a rather large mushroom.

83 is on it's first burn (1 1/2 into it and I may have to cut it short and start again tomorrow (I was dumb enough to start it later than what I should have).

If the 83 is not much better, should I try the HTP 104? Would that be too much wick for my jelly jar?

Here's what I poured:

1lb 4630 container wax

1 complete dye chip

3/4 oz FO (didn't have a full oz)

8oz Jelly Jar 2.5" diameter

yea .. i've had that happen .. just let it burn off for a lil bit .. till the melt pool gets to the edge of the glass .. dip it to put it out ... an trim the wick an you should be good to go .. its no biggie when that happens ..

for the next time .. instead of useing a hair dryer/heatgun .. just use your fingers .. pinch the wick an slide up an off to take the exsess wax off .. so the wick stays primmed ..

see if that helps ..

I didn't even think about that! I will definately do that next time. I'm burning the HTP52 and I'm 2 hours in (30 mins to go) and my melt pool is crooked. Maybe because the wick isn't completely centered? I got it as straight as I could. Still feeling out the wick bar. My flame has been small for most of the time.

Here's a couple pics after 2 hours. Oh, here's what I'm using:

1lb 4630 container wax

1 complete dye chip (colonial blue)

3/4 oz of Clean Cotton type FO (I didn't have a full oz. I'm not really looking for HT at the moment, just testing wicks.)

8 oz Jelly jar with 2.5" diam.

I have a secret for the smoothness .. i learned by mistake

i was cleaning up a mess .. an used a hot washcloth to clean dye off my counters ..

picked up a candle one day with the HOT was cloth and when i picked it up, kinda slipped out of my hand .. cause the hot cloth an the warm wax from just being released .. well .. the slid .. out of the cloth took out the tiny imperfections an i just played more with it .. an its what i've been doing ever since

only to parrafin .. doesnt work with soy for some reason ..

so thats my secret to share lol .. to get smoothness .. use a HOT wash cloth an gently rub the candle in even strokes lol

thank you girls !!! much appreciated ! i hope my cousin likes them

Gotta love those "Eureka!" moments I'll have to remember that if I ever get around to trying out pillars

i have tons of them jars in my basement .. my cousin gave me .. never used them .. dont plan on it either .. lol .. that style jar doesnt sell here ..

where i live in jersey .. they dont really like that country homegrown look .. thats what those jars look like to them .. there are a few .. but majority rules .. in this town lol

i call them .. Super Snobs :laugh2:

did the papertowel work to get the spils off ?

Haha, here it's almost the opposite! Almost all the candles I see are mason/jelly jars. When I get really good at it and maybe down the road decide to give to friends or sell, I'm NOT using anything country. lol I really like the hourglass jar or the Interlude from Libbey. I'm going for a more modern, trendy look.

I used my old hairdryer that is hot enough to almost spit out fire as my heatgun and got the wax off of the rim. And I used the hairdryer to fix the excess wax on the wick, but there wasn't any wax left on the tip of the wick Any way of getting around that? It lit alright, but the very tip of it kind of curled around itself once it was lit.

Thanks Pixie!

I'm definately going to put in the FO first next time and see if I get the same color.

Noone else?

Don't feel bad, you're the only reply on mine

I really like the wraps you used! The font on the white one is really pretty. Did you make that?

I bet the melon vanilla smells wonderful!

Are you going to be doing more pillars?

So I was thinking my very first pour would be a perfect disaster, and I wasn't too far off Warning, this is going to be a bit of a novel

Although, I have got to pat myself on the back because 1lb of wax was the perfect amount to fill my 3 jars. I had no leftover wax.

I had three jars all wicked with a different sized wick (HTP 52, 62, 73)

Melting the wax went alright. Trying to get to the 180* temp was painfully slow, I was feeling my stove out and I think I figured out where I needed to be by the end of it.

My biggest boo-boo I think was putting my dye chip in first and then the fragrance. The two tutorials I used had conflicting information. One website said to put the fragrance in last so it wasn't subjected to the high temp for very long, the other website said to add the fragrance first and the dye last so that you get visual confirmation that everything else had mixed well with the wax.

I got ahead of myself...(chalk it upto nerves :embarasse ) and poured my wax after putting in the dye. It took me a couple mins to realize that my wax wasn't scented! By then a little bit of wax at the bottom had started to cool. Knowing I was just playing around, I poured the containers back into my melting pot and reheated it to working temps. I then fragranced them and repoured them into my containers. I noticed when I poured my fragrance, that my fragrance was yellow tinted. I saw that when my finished candles began to cool, there was a noticable color difference from the first to the second pour. I liked the color I had before I added the fragrance. So that's why I'm thinking I did the dye and the fragrance in the wrong order. Had I done the dye last, would my candles had the same tint to it?

There's also some cosmetic things I want to fix and I just want to make sure I do them right before I do them

I've attached a pic of this, but it looks like a little bit of wax bubbled up around the wick or the fill line lowered a little bit and a tiny buildup of wax stuck to the wick. Will a heatgun fix that?

Also, I got a little sloppy on my second pour and have a few wax drippings and residue on the inside and outside lip of my containers. Can I zap those away with a heatgun?

Any advice would be awesome so I can know what to do or what not to do on my second attempt. For now, I look forward to testing these three.

I've attached pics of the wick buildup and the color difference.

Thanks all!

LOL I'm a visual learner, so I'm trying to envision how you dip a lit wick into the melt pool....do you tilt the wick with a knife into the MP or do you scoop up some hot wax and pour it on the wick? Is there a picture of this somewhere? :embarasse

Thanks all! I didn't want to bake my poor wick! I have a laundry room that stays pretty warm right now with the weather the way it is, so I'll keep them in there until I need them!

Hey everyone,

Got another newbie question. I'm hopefully going to be pouring my candles today (yay!) But silly me, I wicked my containers yesterday before I realized that for better glass adhesion, I should put them in a warm oven for 10mins (right?) My question is, will my glue under my wick tab melt again and mess up my wick? And will the wax coating on the wick melt? Silly questions I know, but any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!

Oh wow! Absolutely gorgeous! I'm LOVING the ocean themed candles! So cool! The brown and white is very pretty too

Pardon my ignorance, but what is wick dipping?

I'd love to hear more input on this

Besides keeping dust out of the candle do the lids help keep the fragrance strong or are they more of a personal preference?

LID ! lol .. i use lids to put out the wick .. just slap it on an the wick goes out no smoke to get in the air from blowing it out ... an yes i am that lazy i dont wick dip to put them out

Haha, whatever works!

I apologize if this is posted in the wrong section

I was just curious..those of you who sell, what sells better, or what do you carry that is more popular?

Jars with lids?

Container candles without a lid?

What are the advantages of container candles with lids or is it purely aesthetic?

Thanks for the info Leah! I just got my sample pack of HTP wicks in the other day, so I'm chomping at the bit to get started!

Thanks for the input everyone!

I think I might try out the plastic spoon and if it doesn't work, use a skewer until I can get something else. I think she bought some of those white plastic spoons from wal-mart, so if it works for you, it just might work for me

I use wooden skewers all the time, they are so cheap they can just be thrown away. Never had a problem with FO and colour not mixing properly. I sometimes have to scrape the bottom of the pot with the end of the skewer to get excess dye mixed in, but it does the job.

Outstanding! Thanks!!

Ditto on the cheap metal spoons...easy clean up and last forever....well almost, I did have the "spoon" part break off, but that was only because I had already used it for 5 years! LOL

Stirring is serious business! LOL

Haha! Extreme stirring!

I've got a ton of skewers for BBQing that we've never used...will that work until I can get a metal spoon? Or is the skewer so thin that it wouldn't mix the FO and dye into the wax very well?

Haha, so I have kind of a silly question regarding spoons...

I was going to buy a wooden spoon for stirring my FO and dye into my wax, but my mom gave me a spare spoon she had but it was a hard plastic spoon. Is it ok to use a plastic spoon to stir in hot wax? Would the wax get hot enough to melt the spoon?

I know, major newb question, but I don't want to mess up my first batch

What a cute idea! I love it!

Thanks Stella

I am a newbie too and that is exactly what I did. I use 4630 and I started out using canning jars first, too. I found that with 4630 a lot of the different FO required different wicks, so I had to do a lot of testing to get it right. After all that I decided to try a square jar that is approx. 4x4. Now I am back to testing again and using lots of wax and with the cost of this stuff I wish I had started out with what I wanted to begin with. If I were you I would find a jar that I like and just order a few and for testing purposes ONLY I would reuse the jars. Be careful because reuse can weaken the glass and I watch mine quite closely. At least that way when you figured out the wick you would not have to start all over with a different sized jar. I wish I would have. Hope this helps!

Hey alright! Another newbie, and a fellow Okie to boot Did you use 8oz canning jars? If so, is there a crtain wick you used frequently? I know you said diff FO's required certain wicks.

I'll admit I'm a bit conflicted with the different advice I've been given, but since I bought and opened my jelly jars already, I guess I'll start with them. Any experience is good experience and the more I test, the more I'll learn.

I think one thing at a time. Get your wicking down on one container and then move on to others when you have a better *feel* for wicking.

That's what I was thinking too. I'm glad I got those jelly jars to start out with. Thanks!

Also be aware that canning jars sometimes are only in stores during canning season. So if you start with canning jars and plan on staying with them, you might find it difficult to find them at certain times of the year. It can also be difficult getting stores such as Walmart to order them for you. But not always. You will have to see what you have available in your area.

Find a jar you like and stick with it. Don't test in a jar you have no plans on using or selling. To do so is a waste of time and money IMO. And make sure you have insurance before you start selling. Good luck and have fun.

Thanks for the advice Meridith!

As for the jar situtation, the only reason I went with jelly jars at first is because this is my first time making candles and I didn't want to buy really fancy jars if I wasn't going to use them all if I decided candlemaking wasn't right for me. If I do like it, I plan on getting jars I will stick with for the longrun.

Thats why I was asking about the Tureen jars. I'm still considering using them but just double wicking. Whatcha all think?