RMullen99

Thanks for the advice.....looks like HTPs seem to work best....but cottons have the best HT but tend to smoke.

Hi Everyone....need some advice. I have two cases of this wax and am having problems with soot. I have 3" Tumblers and Straight sided Mason Jars 16oz. This wax seems to soot alot. I have tried different size wicks and still have the same problem or no scent throw. I use 1oz pp.....is there anything that I could use to help stop the sooting....would vybar help? Any ideas? Has anyone used this wax before.....it was so cheap I brought some thinking I could make it work....now struggling....TIA

I have some you can try.....I'd be more than happy to send you a pound to sample -- I have bout 20 pounds of it left. PM your address and I'll ship it to ya.

THANKS...I just sent you an email.

Hi Everyone, I have been on a mission to test as many waxes as I can. I cant get any samples of this wax.....I have to buy a 25 lb block and I really dont want to waste it. Does anyone have a pound or two that I could try? Any help would be great....THANKS!

The waxes we order from C&S haven't gone down at all!

Ours are still at $96.00 a case, but Candlescience has the same wax for $75 a case. I have never ordered from them, but there is always a first time!

Yep the single pour types are still the same. I called C&S on Wednesday and told them the the 4636 is selling for 75 a case at other suppliers....that their prices went down. I was told that they are not ordering another load of wax for 3 to 4 weeks and they wouldnt lower the prices untill than. Sometimes, as a company, you have to take a loss to make a profit in the long run...they should follow these other suppliers and lower their prices.

Hi...I just purchased two of them at Linens and Things for $64 bucks a piece.....best money I ever spent. You have to melt enough wax to cover the heating element before turning it on. I melted down enough in my presto pot.....than poured it into the Turkey Fryer so the heating element is covered......than you can add slabs of wax into the fryer. If you dont do this, than you will have smoke and possibly a fire.....Throw the wax away that is in the fryer now...its probably smoke damaged and no longer any good. Make sure you never use the little bit of wax that is in the bottom of the pot covering the heating element unless you turn it off first. If you do use it, than you have to do this step again....the coils always have to be covered. Hope that helps!

LOL. So you have everything.

I would maybe choose one of the flat braided types and just stick with it while you experiment with the waxes, stearic and fragrance. Later when you have a better idea what sort of formulation you're using you can try some wick type variations.

I think the CDs might work well and they have a good selection of sizes in the range you'll be needing. Don't know exactly what you should start with though. The 3 inch container worries me. 2 3/4 vs. 3 is liable to be just the difference between pulling your hair out or not.

LOL...yeah I have pretty much all of them......Thanks for the advise....I didnt have a 2 3/4" so I just poured in what I had. I do have a 2 3/4"...mason jar that I can try. I looked at the candles before I left this morning....they both seeped out alittle at 5% I might have to back it down to 4%....I ll burn them tonight with the cd's and see how they work....Thanks again!

What do you have?

I have 3" tumblers to wick. I just poured a 2530H and 1288 with 1% stearic in each. I have Cotton Cored, CD's, LX's, HTP's, Cottons from Peak and some sample packs of Premiers and Filltecs....I have a bunch of samples as well...I think I have some ECO's, RRD's, Hemps, Performas. I thought I would try to get as many wicks in to see how each of them work. Yeah ...I spent alot of money but really want to learn this craft better! The only ones I didnt want to use were the zincs...so I dont have them. I know they arent lead but I would rather not have to explain why there seems to be a lead core in a wick....its easier to just not use one. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Top...Thanks again...I am going to try a few tonight. I am anxious to see how they turn out.

Do you prefer a certain type of wick in a straight parrafin? TIA

Hi Everyone......I have a question. I have three waxes, 125 mp parrafin(straight) 2530h from Candlewic and 1288 from IGI. If I wanted to use these for container mottling, which woud you suggest? Does anyone know the difference other than basic Melt point? Is it better to use the 125 and some stearic....does the 2530H and 1288 already have stearic in it? Or are these all the same wax just manufactured differently? Second part....sorry....what temp would you pour at to get the most mottling? Thanks for the help!

For fragranced candles, around 1 to 3 percent. About ten times that amount for unfragranced candles.

Those are typical numbers but there's no hard and fast rule. You can use whatever amount you find works for your application. I would just add that there are some formulas floating around the board that are overboard in fragrance + stearic. Standards for burn quality aren't always high here.

Thanks Top.....if you have any place to learn more, a book or another site...please let me know....thanks for your help!

Hi question for everyone......Ihave been looking at some one pours and noticed that the J50 seems to be a little "yellow" or off white. Most of the othe one pours are white or clear vaseline like. What would give this kind of coloring to j50? Since they dont call it a parasoy, I am assuming its not soy....could it be yellow beeswax? I am really trying to learn all I can and I hope someone could share their opinion....THANKS!

For paraffin candles, formulations with a large percentage of stearic are usually for unscented candles. Fragrance oils and lots of stearic don't play together so well.

As for the Yankee containers, those are simple mottled candles. There are a handful of waxes you can obtain for that purpose. I think the one that used to be sold under Astorlite was the one Yankee uses or similar to it.

It wouldn't be unusual for stearic acid to be part of a mottled container formulation, but not nearly that much. A few percent would be more like it.

Hi Top...I know this is a general question with probably alot different factors, but what would be the most amount of Stearic used in a wax? Under 30%.....under 20%...less??? TIA

For paraffin candles, formulations with a large percentage of stearic are usually for unscented candles. Fragrance oils and lots of stearic don't play together so well.

As for the Yankee containers, those are simple mottled candles. There are a handful of waxes you can obtain for that purpose. I think the one that used to be sold under Astorlite was the one Yankee uses or similar to it.

It wouldn't be unusual for stearic acid to be part of a mottled container formulation, but not nearly that much. A few percent would be more like it.

Hi Top Thanks for the input. I think astorlite brand was M29.....not sure if anyone else makes it under another name or not.

Hi for those of you who use a printer to print your labels, if you dont mind, who do you use. I got a quote for 500 labels for $300 bucks......just checking to see if the price good.

TIA

Is anyone besides me having trouble with IGI's version of J-50? I use it as a base for my own blend, and even though IGI says their formulation it the same as Astor's, I find it totally different. I'm getting white swirls between the wall of the jar and the wax, and the worst wet spots I've ever seen. Also the wax doesn't look the same after it sets up. It always had a smooth, creamy consistance. Now it looks rough and course. I've tried variety of pouring temperature changes, and actually made a few candles with only the J-50, but nothing I've tried has made much of a difference.

IGI asked me to send them a couple candles to inspect, which I've done, and I'm waiting for their response.

Anyone else see any differences?

Fredron

Hi Fredron, I have used J50 for 4years....its not the same ....I dont care what they say. It used to grab jars great with no white marks(frost) and very little wetspots. Now it seems to have more of a "thicker" appearance vs a creamy one....like they used to much micro wax... I have to use the heat gun to fix craters with almost every candle with their new J50. It still throws pretty good though. Tried crisco...didnt like it. I added a little petro..never had to before.....I wish they would fix it...j50 was a great wax.

I am so hoping that they go down DRASTICALLY. I think NGs is pretty fair. They keep their scent prices down. And some are really good. So maybe they will do us right on wax too. It would be nice to make some money or give our customers a break too.

I spoke to someone at Candlewic and they said that they are hearing February will be when prices start dropping. I think that is as good a guess as any.

Yes your FO could be the problem with throw. Just because an FO works good in the J50, doesn't mean it will be good in the CBL125.

I used to use the CBL125 a few years back and it was good, but I found I had to use 1 1/2 oz./lb for a lot of my FO's. I didn't have problems with soot when the container was wicked properly and I used LX wicks. You could always try mixing the CBL125 with some of the J50 and you'll probably get a better throw. Since the CBL125 is a blended wax you really don't need to add any other additives.

Hi Thanks....I was really hoping I didnt have to use more FO. I like staying at about 6% pp....otherwise its just a waste. I know its already a blend but I was hoping with a little additive it would lessen the soot and not effect the throw that much. If you dont mind me asking, what wax are you using now? Thanks for the help

Hi Everyone, I have a question. I have 2 cases of this wax. I like the wax in general but it needs alittle tweaking. Scent throw is ok but not as strong as the j50 I normally use....and it smokes a little more than the j50. Anyone have any ideas on how to get a better scent throw with this wax? I have 3" jars using cotton wicks and 1oz pp of FO( FO isnt the problem..strong in j50). Not sure if adding vybar or stearic would help with soot or not ...or how much that would effect the throw. Any help or advice appreciated.

As pointed out, I never said the candles burn as hot as the sun or put out as much light as the sun. Stella seems to be trying her hardest to defend making paraffin candles and I'm not trying to say that's wrong, I'm only telling you what I have read. As far as links on the internet, I'm afraid I don't know of any. What I have read was printed material. I'm kind of sorry I even responded to the post in the first place.

Me too

I made one last night ....it was 60% C3 and (should have used parrafin) and 40% stearic. Madison Jar with 1oz of FO. I used a CD 20 at 4 hour mark I had a little hang up on the side away from the bend. Candle burned real nice....but smell was weak. Now I didnt give this anytime to cure obviously...I was to anxious to see how it burned. I dont think I liked how the wax looked either...it was alittle brittle/bumpy looking. I think if you were to do a 30% stearic and 70% low parrafin, you may have a real nice motte container wax. I am going to try this tonight. Has anyone else experimented with this? It kind of reminded me of how yankees looks.......do you think they use high stearic acid in LMP parrafin?

Sorry...this should be a 4" Morgan Jar.

Yes you can make a candle using all stearic kind of expensive but it can be done. I am not sure why they would add that large of a percent in a container candle I could see that in a pillar if you where going for a certian type of an effect.

I made one last night ....it was 60% C3 and (should have used parrafin) and 40% stearic. Madison Jar with 1oz of FO. I used a CD 20 at 4 hour mark I had a little hang up on the side away from the bend. Candle burned real nice....but smell was weak. Now I didnt give this anytime to cure obviously...I was to anxious to see how it burned. I dont think I liked how the wax looked either...it was alittle brittle/bumpy looking. I think if you were to do a 30% stearic and 70% low parrafin, you may have a real nice motte container wax. I am going to try this tonight. Has anyone else experimented with this? It kind of reminded me of how yankees looks.......do you think they use high stearic acid in LMP parrafin?

That sure does sound like a lot of stearic, but you've got my curiosity up. Do you have any links the candlemaking with stearic that you could share?

Sandi

Hi....I didnt keep the links.....I would have to go search again and hope I find it, however, I read some inside a Amazon Book online Books name is "Commercial Waxes : Natural and Synthetic" by H. Bennett

HTH

You're saying that most of you don't have scientific journals laying around is the precise reason you shouldn't be making comments like you did. I don't mean to go off "half-cocked", I just don't like being the brunt of uneccessary jokes.

Being a commercial beekeeper, I HAVE read everything I could get my hands on about beeswax and it's properties in order to learn everything I could about my craft. Now, whether what I have read is right or wrong, I only meant to help out a fellow candlemaker.

I thought that's what this forum was for...

Beekeeper.....our posts were not meant to insult you. It was all in good jest. Watching a candle burn as hot as the sun sounded pretty funny to me! We all laughed and shared stupid jokes...it was not meant as an attack in any way and I hope you can rise above this. I do not think that a candle can burn as hot as the sun...could I be wrong...sure...please prove me wrong if it is the truth....send me a link....I would love to learn about it if it is true.

HI ...Ive been googling stearic acid and found a few formulas for container candles that have anywhere from 30 to 50% stearic in them. I know I read a post about an all stearic candle here on this board. What benefit does that much stearic bring to a candle?

Bump....anyone? Thanks