joanncat18

What does it do? The reindeer feed, is it just for fun?

Here are a couple of the Christmas tarts I made in the last couple days. Just for friends and family. The red and green is Peaks Hollyberry and Ivy. The red and white is Peaks Purely Peppermint ( I am calling it Candy Cane).

I looked into this, but decided against it. I live in the same state as Swans, but decided that I wanted to start with a wax that more is known about so I could search the forums and such for help. Good luck and let us know. I hear it has a slight coconut smell to it.

Ok, so how much dimple is a dimple when you talk about it? Anyone have a pic? Soapfreak...how did you get those colors?? Awesome looking tarts. I bet they smell good too.

Thanks for the info. Got any pics of your pretty tarts?

Hi there, I know there are a lot of people who use the KY votive/tart wax. I also know that a lot of people mix soy with it. I want to hear from those of you who use straight KY votive/tart blend on how it performs. Does it ripple on top? A small dimple is ok with me but I have been using the IGI votive blend (4794), and it is rippling quite a bit I am using 6% FO right now). I like a smooth look. Also, does it come out of the tart bowl well? I have read that it throws well and that a lot of people like it. Just wondering if it would be worth a try. My IGI votive blend I have been playing with a mix of different precents. I made a batch of about 12% Acu Para 30 (container blend) and the rest the IGI votive blend. This got rid of the ripples and they looked nice, but even in the freezer wouldn't come of of the bowl too well. I finally did get it to come out if there was 2 tarts melted instead of just one. A higher volume of wax came out easier than the smaller volume in the bowl. Then I tried just 8% of the container wax and there was still a lot of rippling. So tonight I made a batch with 10% container and 90% IGI votive, this is cooling now. We will see. For tart making I would really like to avoid blending waxes.

Let us know how your jars burn. I am interested in this combo too. What size wicks are you starting with? What size jars?

Mom baby nurse here too...the candle making hasn't been as frequent lately because of my 20 month old. I can't make them during the day because she will get into stuff in my basement/shop. Oh and I am afraid of the Hobo spiders in my basement...need to spray again. I am making a lot of tart gift baskets with tart warmers for christmas. Good luck with nursing school...so glad I am done with that. And welcome to the obsession.

Oooh very nice shop and set up.

Oh so you are considering making tarts with the container wax if it throws better? I have heard nothing but good things about the KY votive/tart blend, but haven't tried it because of shipping cost. Also don't know about the container, but I would think the votive/tart blend would be better and easier to work with.

Because you can have a larger amount of wax in the jar than in a lot of tart bowls. So the scent can last longer. Second because it's easier clean up. Tarts you have to wait to cool and put it in the freezer usually to get the thing out to change scents. With a wickless jar you can just take if off and put another one on. Don't have to wipe out the bowl or anything.

I tested the lonestar ones and they recommended to trim to 1/8 inch to start. Then you can just pinch off the excess with your fingers when needed. Of course after it has cooled. Works pretty well. I used a pair of flat end trimmers from te hardware store to trim it down to size. They cut straight down and straight across. Didn't have a problem keeping the one I made lit. And it had a nice crackle. Needed to wick down and put that project on hold for now.

So what is the mechanism that makes those self centering tabs work?

Oh that's a good idea. Do you put the wax in first then set the extras in there?

Neat. Unique for sure.

Cute, what did u put in there?

Hmm, I just checked it out on ebay and it looks like it's still the standard auction. Did we need to contact him to get the buy it now thing?

Very nice.

Oh I use the individual fluted molds and they are easy to clean. just put paper towels down on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 min and all the wax just slides off. You don't even have to clean them sometimes if the wax isn't all over the outside. The outside gets messier than the inside because I spill some.

I would really start with a harder wax more suited for tarts and then slowly add and increase the percentage of your container wax. That way you get the throw of the container but not the problems with it being sticky and not comming out of the molds. Then you will probably still have the problem of your tarts not popping out of the bowl...possibly even after putting it in the freezer. I made some tarts 50% parasoy and 50% pillar blend and they came out of the mold easy. I liked the creamy look of them. They would scuff up easy because they were soft, but held up pretty well. These would NOT come out of the tart bowl even if I put it in the freezer. Then I decreased the parasoy container blend down to 25% and the pillar up to 75%...still having problems getting it out of the bowl. Had to turn the warmer on for a couple minutes to be able to slide it out. I am now trying IGI's votive blend. I made some 100% of the votive wax and next I will be adding 10% parasoy to it to see how that works. HTH. Jamie

Very nice candle. I would be too nervous to do it.

The recipe page is on the home page, you scroll down a little and it's the picture of the soap with the blue and purple stars. On the left side. Then the translate button says it's translated by google toolbar, which I use. So I think the translate button is a feature of google toolbar. HTH.

Good idea. So you are putting the label on before you zap it with the heat gun?

When I went to the page there was a bar that showed up on the top of the page that had a "translate" button. It might depend on what version of the internet explorer you are using...if that's what you are using. I didn't notice it at first. I went through the site before I noticed that button. The bar appeared right below the "tabs".

I don't have a sealer...I am not sure if you can shrink wrap with just the bags and heat gun. I tried it once, but the plastic came open. I was thinking maybe polypro bags. Either zipper or flap top resealable ones. Anyone know who has the best price. I think a 3x4 I can fit 2 1oz tarts in if they overlap a smidge. Then I could have 2 in each bag and a bag for each scent. Do the resealable bags work just as well as the zip bags? Anyone have a preference which to use? Thanks for your advice. Jamie