KoalaGirl

Steve, Ive long suspected the 'devil horns' had something to do with the the way the wick is cut {by me}. Some of them are huge and look damn ugly! I will do an experiment and push two wicks into the same wax/fo combo. One wick with the cut end {cut by me} exposed and the other with the manufacturer's 'cut' end exposed. If my cut causes ears and theirs doesnt, then thats the problem. I will then have to try and find a different way to cut the wick. Like you, Ive always thought that the cutting of the wick, squashed the fibres somewhat, causing them to fray at the edges. I just compared the my cut with the manufacture's cut and mine makes the end more oval in shape. Theirs is perfectly round!

Chuck, Im hearing you! I used to make beautifully burning container candles using CS Dragons Blood. Suddenly they burnt terribly, almost drowning out, as if the wick was clogging. I then noticed that the bottle of oil had a dark coloured 'sediment' in the bottom. It was extremely noticable if I 'swirled' the oil around in the bottle. If I shook the bottle, the whole contents turned very cloudy. I gave the bottles to my daughter to take to her science lab to filter the oil through extremely fine filters. The oil was a little less 'sedimenty' but still cloudy and I havent been game to make any more candles with it. I rang my supplier about the problem {even sent him a partly burned candle to test for himself} but he didnt have any answers, just maintained that the oil was the same as they had always sold! Its extremely disappointing and I just use the oil to make tarts now. Each bottle of FO I receive, regardless of the fragrance, I now check for sediment.

I have a mask that I plan on wearing whenever I pour {dont want to get the dreaded candlenose affliction} but I seldom do. However I always wear it when I pour Nag Champa or Black Cherry because I cant stand the smell.

I dont know anything about soap making. I had always used Imperial Leather soap and had no problems with it. One day I bought some goats milk and lemon myrtle soap from a farmers market and loved it. Ive been using it for about 2 years now. Recently, I had run out of it and had to use a 'regular' soap. The 'chemical?' smell, almost made me sick while I was using it. I never noticed that smell in all the years I had used that soap. I guess I was just conditioned to the smell. That was a real eye opener. Also, the skin on my face felt 'tight' after using it which is something I never get with the Goats milk/lemon myrtle soap. Thats just two reasons why I love my 'natural' soap!

Curlycoat, I've emailed Bert's to ask about flashpoints of their different oils since I couldnt see anything about it on the website. I havent heard back as yet. Did you find that there were many oils that could not be sent because of low flashpoints? Thanks

Yes please, a sticky a sticky:yay:

Bart, nooooooo I emailed them on Sunday and am still waiting for a reply. I hope its not the cleaning lady who answers the phone when I ring them tomorrow!

Tribalvixen, I agree that the Dragons Blood is not quite as good however, I had MAJOR problems with NCS {CandleScience}Dragons Blood. Suddenly, it just wouldnt burn properly, wick almost dying like it was clogging up. I thought it was the different batch of wax, but no other oil was affected. I noticed that there was a 'residue' in the bottom of the oil bottle {black sludgy stuff} that was noticable when I swirled the bottle around. When I shook the bottle up, you could see the 'bits' floating, so much so, that it made the oil cloudy! I have 2x500 ml bottles of it. Cant say I noticed it in previous bottles but I do know that my dragons blood candles used to work perfectly! Has anyone else noticed this 'sludge' in the Candle Science Dragons Blood oil from NCS? I dont know if its supposed to be there or not. In desperation I bought a bottle from ACS and it was crystal clear {of sludge} and burnt beautifully. Jonsie, ACS may get some oils from Candle Science but the majority of them arn't {unless the've changed the names} NCS used to always answer emails promply but Ive been waiting two days for a reply re their t-light cups {Im starting to freak out....I need them for a wedding in a months time}. Hopefully they will soon revert back to their 'old self' so I can stop stressing if Im going to be able to get supplies in a timely fashion. Bart, thats a generous offer that I will take you up on. I have used some of their oils and I do like the fact that they are ALL phlatate??? free! I have used LOADS of Candle Science oils so can give you the benefit of my opinion on those. Cheers

Hi Richard, do you happen to know where ACS get their oils from? I'd like to be able to read reviews about the oils before I buy them {so many to chose from!} I'm rapidly losing patience with the other supplier.

Hi Richard, I once had a postage quote from onlinelabels and it was ridiculously high. Did you negotiate a postage price that brings them in line with labels by the sheet?

Any thoughts on what you will call this new scent?

You really have to be careful when determining a price to sell to friends and relatives. What if your friends sister or friend wants one after seeing hers? Do you charge her the same amount? Would that person feel 'ripped off' if she had to pay more? Where do you draw the line between those who get 'mates rates' and those who pay regular price? Remember also, that if they buy it at a certain price and then come back for more, they will expect to pay the same price second, third, fourth time around etc. You could find yourself run ragged and not making anything from it. Dont forget also that it costs you money to make the candles to test. If its just a 'hobby' for you and you are glad of a home for your candles that you've churned out just for the love of it, then thats different but if your trying to make a decent profit then dont sell yourself short. Really close friends will know how much blood sweat and tears {and money!} have gone into your quest for the perfect candle and will want to pay you a fair price. Those that baulk at paying a fair price, are not really friends at all.

I actually wick down on Very Vanilla.

We have had so much rain here in the past week, EVERYTHING is floating!

You really dont know what to expect from one market to the next. The last market we did, a lady bought every tart we had in red. Dont think she cared what scent it was, as long as it was red! We had a stall set up next door to us that sold all sorts of sweet loafs. They had little cube's of each variety cut up for testers {banana, choc chip, date, raisin etc.} When she sold out of each variety, she ask us if we wanted the bags of testers that she hadnt opened. My freezer is half full of cut up cake. Ive made trifles, slices, puddings, you name it! I hate seeing food go to waste! Anyone got any recipes for left over cake??

Some people see body parts, some people see Shrek. Im thinking ''Shreks body part''!

My guess is that its the Salmon dye chip. That colour is almost impossible to disolve completly in wax. I refuse to use it anymore. I was at my suppliers recently and they had a box of dye chips in the showroom, for sale. They were ALL salmon so clearly they are hard to get rid of. Dye's seem to have an adverse affect of wicks, so instead of using a full dye chip of pale pink for example, I now use a tiny amount of red. I still get the desired colour, but a better result as far as frosting/adhesion to the glass and wick performance. It costs less this way also. Of course, this only works if your after a pastel colour.

I use a round black plastic container from a soap supplies shop. They are used for mineral make-up. It has an inner clear lid with holes and an outer lid that stops the contents from spilling when traveling. I just leave the outer lid off and put the pot beside my testers. The coffee beans can be smelt through the holes and there's no drama with spillage or breakage if its dropped. It looks quite stylish too!

Hi Nadiap, only this morning I poured a Chanel No 5 to test using the cb135 and 4% FO {its a strong scent!}. No dye, just a tad of UV so I'll see if it discolours. Were your testers exactly the same? If so, its weird that one discoloured and not the other. I truely believe that the soy gods just pick a candle maker at random to wreak havoc on for their own entertainment and then move on......

Hi everyone, Im probably not posting in the right forum but not sure where to put it. Is there anyone on here from Israel that makes soy wax melts? Im asking because I have a customer from Israel who buys from me {in Australia}. The postage costs the poor girl almost as much as the products! I will be posting a package off very soon to her {as soon as the volcano ash sorts itself out and planes are able to fly again!} I dont mind sending her my products of course but I dont mind pointing her to a supplier closer to her home that will save her hefty postage costs either {Im a nice person....its in my nature :-)} If there is anyone who is interested, I will include your details in the pack I send soon.

$55 us postage for 13 bottles is great, and yes it does compare to our prices over here! Ive been to their website and was overwhelmed with the FO choice. Are all their oils suitable {and work} in soy, cb135 in particular.? Can anyone recommend some good ones? I normally wouldnt buy 1 lb bottles until I know what its like.

Hi Nadiap Ive only poured 2 half jar testers with the excel at this stage. Im trying to get the Dragons Blood to work. I found that the initial top was very smooth although more of a matt finish than the cb135 {but Ive only used the Dragons blood with no dye} After burning, the tops were very smooth and shiney! I have some cb 135 metro jars in my cupboard that I poured at 58 degrees celcius. They have been there for a couple of months and there is no frosting or pullaway or wetspots whatsoever. Others have developed pull away so it seems to have a lot to do with FO and dye colour {I use minimal dye for that reason}. Ive been having a look around NG website. Can you give me a ball park postage cost. e.g. for say, 6 x 16oz {equivalent in size to our 500 ml ? }bottles of FO. How does the price including postage, compare to what we buy over here? Does it make each bottle a lot more expensive? Have you found that their oils work well in CB 135? NOOOOOO I DO NOT NEED ANY MORE OILS!!!! But Im oil addict :-( Thanks for any insight.

Hi Nadiap, they sure look good! That shaped container would have scared me off I think. I love the CB135 {except for a major issue Im having with dragons blood that was perfect in the tester and subsequent burns are pittiful}. Different batch of wax. Supplier said thats it very unlikely to have been any different but I know better since reading this forum! I had to get some supplies yesterday and he gave me a 1kg sample of Excel to try. Poured a half jar tester last night with Dragons blood. PS Where do you buy ''wedding day'' scent from? Sounds interesting.

Thanks everyone for your reply's. Yes I have only bought in lots of 10 kilo's. {about 25lb} because at this stage, I dont even know if my candles will be a big seller. The first 10 kilo's got gobbled up with testing {and a few sales} so I didnt want to buy a case just yet {I assume by a case you mean a 50lb box?}. I find that doing the half jar test first helps in wick selection since the second half can often burn radically different than the first half. If it doesnt work the way I want in the second half, I dont bother pouring a full jar to test. Can I assume that if the new batch is different to what Ive previously tested, ALL FO's that have previously been successful, will burn differently in it? Dont worry, hell will freeze over before I DONT test every FO in every NEW batch of wax from now on. Good news! I found a contact number for the lady who bought 3 of the dragons blood candles so I will contact her to tell her there *might* be a problem {not totally sure if her candles were made from the bad batch}. If there is, I will be able to replace them, once I get the new wicking sorted. When the penny dropped that the wax was at fault, I did a search of the forum and found lots of info. Seems this is not uncommon :-(

Ok, I just did some 'sleuthing'. The tester jar was made on the 20th Feb. I was almost out of wax {I remember that much} so had to order some more which arrived on the 28th Feb. The 'new' batch of candles were made on 19th March so most likely they were made from the new batch of wax. Holy cr*p, could it be the wax? Even though its the 'same' wax, could different batches {from the same supplier} be so different in burn quality?? I dont have lot numbers to compare but I'll sure be keeping an eye on that from here on in!!! I only have one other scent that has 'passed muster' that *could* have been tested in the original wax. I'll be burning one of those tonight! Good Lordy is there ever an end to this hair pulling???