Starr

Well, these are just for me, and with 4 furry feline minions running around, short burn time is a bonus. When I've bought tapers in the past, I typically go for the shortest ones I can find, less of a chance for teetering when Minion 1 and Minion 2 decide to play tag by running around like little psychos.

Well, I've got a little beeswax left from my local beekeeper, and some wax that *MIGHT* work, and oh yeah, I recently picked up some cotton core wicking as I'm playing with the wicking on my votives a bit. Maybe once I get all the laundry that's hanging around my craft room folded and put away (hopefully today) I'll give some dipped tapers a try.

Really? I hadn't considered using beeswax.

I really wanna try my hand at doing some taper candles but I really have no idea where to start with this one (other then a trip to C&S cause paying shipping on wax is just... crazy if one can avoid it). So ladies and gents... Can you give me any suggestions on wicks? Wax preferences? I'm not against doing the hand dipped method but if I could find a decent mold (that isn't going to make my wallet cry out in pain) that'd be good too or even a mold'able which is what I call those things that aren't *MEANT* to be molds but we turn them into molds anyway. Tips? Tricks? Anything?

If you mean around the sides of the candle (as in through the jar) search for "Wet Spots". I don't see anything particularly greasy looking on the picture you showed but wet spots are something that many many people fight with when making candles.

The drawback to not being in business is not being able to play with the soaping muses as often as I'd like. I'm pretty sure if I make too much more soap DH is going to start getting miffed. So nothing in my soap pot this weekend, but Thursday night I did do a batch of Juniper Breeze and Water Lily and Ivy in my new molds.

OOOOO. They're here. I finally get to make rectangular soap. I'm SO excited!

I got a set of 3... Well, sort of, 2 molds, and 1 cutting box.

Any tips, tricks, suggestions, etc... before I go soaping crazy with it?

Glad you got that to work. Usually when I have my hard oils in jugs like that (Columbus sends them in jugs like you're talking about) I cut the plastic off the whole thing, melt all the oil in my crock pot then re-solidify it in ice cube trays, silicone muffin pans, even tart molds. It's so much easier to get just the right amount that way, then it stores in zip lock bags, wide mouth mason jars, etc... It might be worth trying if you're in for a cold winter. I keep everything in the fridge, so it's always solid.

I've used Bitter Creek's Candy Corn to supplement a blend of mine that needed vanilla. Can't say I've tried it in MP but the blend did discolor in HP, likely, it'd do the same in MP.

Also, here's the link to Bramble Berry's Stabilizer: http://www.brambleberry.com/Vanilla-Color-Stabilizer-P4156.aspx

I usually do mine in a muffin pan with muffin cups. I just let the whole thing sit out overnight, no special layers or anything, by morning, they're ready to go.

Babassu looks good on Soap Calc as a sub for coconut, it's a liquid oil though right?

I LOVE my PKO and use it in a lot of stuff. PKO and Coconut are my 2 go-to hard oils. Not sure I want to try overriding my soaps with double the PKO to compensate for my Coconut. But it is a great oil. Thanks.

I'm looking for a new oil (preferably a hard oil) to replace coconut oil in my soaps. I've got a coconut allergy in the house and whereas she seems to be okay with soaps (presumably due to saponification) it just squicks me to keep it in the house. So I want something that's got similar properties to my coconut and hopefully a comparable price (or at least not frightfully expensive).

Any suggestions?

I just bought a new one at Walmart tonight. Will be keeping a close eye on it.

I have sets of rubbermaid (I think they're Sterilite but same thing) organizer drawers. A 10lb slab fits in one of those drawers if I cut it in half.

Wow. Thanks for the input everyone. I might be able to give some of this a try with some FO's I already have in the house!

DH is on my tush that I need to make a pine blend. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what to blend into pine to make it more acceptable for me but still pine enough for the PITA (aka DH).

Most of the other holiday types of scents are out I would think. I can't imagine cinnamon, cranberry, gingerbread, etc... working out very well with any pine scent that I've sniffled. Whereas I think something pepperminty might work, neither of us are big fans of peppermint scents.

Any ideas?

Rubber holds a lot of heat, it's very likely that you need to refrigerate it because it is indeed over heating. As for the cracking, I guess maybe it's possible that it just stayed too cold for too long but I would think that lye-heavy is also a very good possibility.

That looks YUMMY for CP, I definitely want to try one!

Well, personally, I'm getting away from bottles and switching over to mostly jars. BUT, when I did put thick creams and lotions in bottles, I got a farm syringe. They look like this: http://www.hambydairysource.com/xcart/image.php?productid=2044 and can be purchased from what I understand in a few different places. I happen to live near a few Tractor Supply stores and got them there for about $2 each.

It was easier then trying to force my creams though a funnel but still kind of a PITA in my opinion.

*agrees* That wick looks way too long. Just blow it out, let it cool as it's easier to trim when cool, cut it down and relight it. You should be fine.

Percentages can be a real PITA. Then again, I suck at math. It seems like you got some pretty good breakdowns on it though. Hopefully it makes more sense to you now.

I'm pretty sure I tried using that stuff shortly after it came out and didn't have any problems but I can't swear to it. Hopefully someone else can give you a more definitive answer.