LuminousBoutique

I got a 1oz bottle just to test it.. and I'll admit I am NOT a pumpkin fan, or in general a fan of FO's that smell like food (aside from fruit scents) so I wasnt shocked when I found that I HATED the Pumpkin Souffle - but so did my husband and all 5 of my test smellers (The local post office workers. Not kidding, I bring candles by when I ship orders and they test them for me , lol) so.. I dont think its just you, I think there is something wrong with the FO itself. I let it cure a full two weeks, 10% in an 8oz square mason.. burned one after 3 days and the other after the two weeks... both smelled "off" to me. I hated it in the bottle too. im just not a fan.

LOL I hear that Stella... I think my toes fell off somewhere near the 2nd hour of shoveling the snow this morning! Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone - Its pretty darn cold here (plus we have a foot of snow and more on the way) so probably no outdoor testing for a good 2-3 months but I think I am going to crank the heat in our back bedroom - two or three space heaters and I can have July on Christmas going on in there I bet! I do have walls on my tent and I can request to be under the trees, I get to pick my spot since I've been there for awhile, so that helps.. It just now occurred to me I will have shade all day, so its really just the heat I have to contend with now. I think its back to the drawing board for me... UV additive.. Palm stearic.. parasoy... Man I hate to have to go through wick testing again but such is the life lol!! I've really been considering going natural with my candles as well and forgetting dye altogether so that might help as well. Thanks again!

I decided to start selling my candles this year at the farmers market - (I've really been lazy about it in the past because selling both candles and B&B requires registering twice. blah, lol) So feeling confident in my candles now and hoping to make some more money this summer.. I'm going for it. My only concern is that my booth, while shaded by my canopy, gets HOT. I live in Utah and an average summer day for us is anywhere between 85 -105 degrees; and is most often on the higher side of that. I've never had my candles outside for long periods of time, and never in the daytime/summer. I pour 8oz square masons and 7.5oz straight sided glass tumblers. Anyone have any experience with setting up outside in the heat and having problems? I dont really know how to test this because my oven wont go lower than 170. I could pop a heater in a room and try to get it to 105 for 6-8 hours just to see what might happen (and I'll likely do this) but without the filtered sunlight added in I think my results would be skewed anyways. I'm anticipating that maybe there would be some sweating, or pulling away from the sides of the jar?

Soy is what I was asked for so Soy is what I bought to test/play with.. and I fell in love. I love that it can be washed out of my melting pots with soap and water.. I love the throw I get from most FO's, I love GB 464 (I very rarely have a problem) and I love that the wax melts at a lower temp and that its made from soybeans and is biodegradable. that makes me feel safer with my two toddlers. Even though I pour when they are gone or asleep, I am always paranoid about products I have around them and in their enviroment. I havent sold my candles at shows yet, I just give them as gifts and sell to friends of friends.. but I'm hoping they do well this summer. We'll see!

me too, works on the kids too.

Save on crafts has some great prices on glass jars with cork lids- I used them to make some bridal shower gifts a few years back and I just looked... prices are around the same! They are much more expensive than you will pay for plastic tube or paper bath salt containers but so much more professional looking. http://www.save-on-crafts.com/glassbottles2.html These are the particular jars I used: http://www.save-on-crafts.com/glassbottles3.html they were actually more when I ordered them.. I think I paid about $1.00 each. So its a good deal right now! I used waterproof labels I printed out myself and gave salts and bubble bath in them. After I inserted the corks I turned it upside down and dipped it in a few layers of wax to give it a semi permanent seal and a more professional look... then I hung handmade gift tags from raffia around the bottle necks. Everyone raved about them!

I did this on accident actually.. I put a bit much wax in one of my pots and ended up pouring one and a half.. it worked out nicely to burn that one half candle and full candle at the same time!

I love my wood log molds lined with freezer paper.. my husband made them custom for me (we used solid wood trim that was already precut, sanded, and the right widths.) They are the perfect size and I dont mind lining my molds every time, it ensures I never have a problem getting it out of the mold! We even made lids for them using the same wood trim and a drawer pull! All in all the project only took 30-40 minutes and it cost us the price of one store bought wood mold to make 5 of our own. I've tried using PVC pipes before and I loved the results but had problems with unmolding it, what a pain! Sticking it in the freezer helped but it was still more trouble than I would have liked to go to through.. although I made the mistake of leaving them 2' lengths and I think if I sawed them in half and just poured into two 1' lengths it would be really practical and something worth trying again. One really nice thing about PVC soap is the rounds are the perfect size to use coffee filters to wrap. You just place a coffee filter on top of a roll of duct tape, place the soap in the center, and press down! It wraps around and stick on a round label-done! I dont think there is a perfect mold for all applications but my wood molds are pretty reliable!

I know the sage has one, and from nature with love.. but I havent ordered from either. The Sage's warehouse is just an hour from me so I plan on giving them a call and seeing if I can stop in to test some FO's, if I can get in there I'll let you know how it is

I better go pick some up.. my daughter was pulling on the cord of my digital therm. to get it out of the drawer for me and yanked the wires right out of the dang thing. Joy to the world. lol

Thanks so much for replying

I was looking into buying some of this from chem store to try out.. did they say it was a mistake with just one batch? I hate wasting money but its a product I would love to try.

Has anyone ever tried E6000? I make button rings on etsy and thats what I use to secure buttons of all kind (plastic, glass) to metal bases... for metal to metal I will only use JB Weld. I just dont know the heat rating for E6000. JB can stand up to just about anything as its used on engine blocks and so on... but E6000 I just have no idea. Testing would be needed. Another thing I might try... Loctite 349 Impruv<--- it needs UV (sun) to cure... my husbands an electronics engineer and he says they use it in some fab's. It adheres in minutes, but he has no idea about heat so I would need to test that. All I really found in regards to this material was this article below. Depending on the heat resiliance, it could be a solution. Glass Sculpture Designer Achieves Strong Bonds With Loctite® UV Adhesive and Durabond® Epoxy Loctite® Impruv® 349™ and Durabond® E-30CL™ Epoxy provide the solution for difficult-to-bond glass on this custom CD and Video Rack. Challenge: Trio Design Glass creates custom glass sculptures and dinnerware. Bonding glass-to-glass and glass-to-steel has always been difficult unless all areas to be bonded are very flat. In the case of a custom CD and video rack, bonding seemed nearly impossible with all of the angles involved. Solution: Loctite® Impruv® 349™, an optically-clear UV adhesive that forms a tough, clear bond even in large gaps, was used on 100% flat components. For larger components that could not be easily ground 100% flat due to equipment limitations, Loctite Durabond® E-30CL™ Epoxy was used.

I had the same thing happen to me with one of my powerburned test candles, an 8 oz in a mason jar, and I used high temp hot glue (plenty of it) to adhere to jar. This candle had been burning for 16 hours straight when I noticed the wandering, about 1/4" from the side of the jar (yikes) so it obviously got hot enough to dislodge the wick. so now I am looking for another solution as well. Gluedots never worked for me... they were a complete nightmare to deal with... wick would just pop right off the bottom of the jar the second I poured my wax, what a waste! I'm going to do some testing with that silicone... it makes me really nervous to think even the high temp hot glue couldnt hold the wick in place during a powerburn.

Not for me.. I add at 185, pour at 160, and have had perfect results on all except the four I accidently overscented (yikes). Heat my jars in a 150 oven, turn it off, let them cool in the oven. Only downside? My oven smells like a candle store

TruValue is the only place in my town to buy it. I dont make enough soap right now to order it online but in a few months I might have to. My biggest problem is that no matter how well I store it, my Roebics has been getting clumpy in the sealed container, so I need to buy them one at a time. frustrating.

I'm so glad to read this! I love CS, this is my first foray into soy candles and so far I've done well, but I've been a soapmaker for years and have wanted to try FO's... but just havent yet. I got Gardenia, Plumeria, Ocean Breeze, and Clean Cotton and have had an amazing reaction to all of them! I havent tested them in my CP soap yet but I plan to this weekend after thanksgiving is over and I'm hoping for good results. As much as I love making all essential oil soaps, I would love to be able to offer more- and to be able to buy all my FOs for candle AND bath from one place would be great.

I use between 1-1.25oz per pound, scents from CS (Ocean Breeze, Plumeria, Gardenia, Clean Cotton) and have had great results. 8oz square mason jar containers. I used 2oz in 1lb on accident and it was a complete mess, had to remelt and add more wax... so I am staying on the safe side and using less than more. So far the throw has been amazing on all those scents.

good one!!

I used sweet cakes flavors and sweetener and I got separation.. I'll have to try the stevia!

wow, very pretty!!

Thank you thank you Thank you ladies!

Heres the avocado recipe I use: 48 oz water 471 g Sodium H 48 oz Avacado 16 oz Olive 40 oz Coconut Oil 24 oz Palm and 2 tbsp Avacado added in at trace. 45 g essential oils. Avacado Oil is only around 37% of the oils, so just over 1/3... but IMO its enough to call it an "Avacado bar". its a well balanced recipe that works well and people seem to love it. Any more avacado oil and I think it would lose some of its harness and longevity. I havent really messed with it though.... why fix what isnt broken!

I just found a recipe for salt bars I have been dying to try.. (I did a search for Salt bars.. found the answer to some of my Q's none of them answered this specific Q so I started a new thread- hope thats OK!) recipe I found... 80% coconut, 15% Avocado, 5% castor.. and suggests using as much Sea salt as oils. It also suggests a 15% discount on lye and 20% discount on water. but I have a question I am hoping one of you could answer for me if you dont mind... I have never made HP soap, always CP... SO-both the recipe I found and another post on here mentioned putting them in the oven after pour.. is that step required for salt bars or just a way to speed up SAP? The recipe I found uses a standard wood mold, and suggests setting them in a preheated oven (it does not say what to preheat to!) and turning OFF oven, letting them sit for 2 hours, then cutting while warm. Is it required they go into an oven after pour? If so... why? I learned CP soap making from my grandma and I have no experience with HP.. or if this even is HP. It doesnt suggest a curing time but with the recipe I found being mostly coconut I assumed at least a 6 week curing time. any guidance would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I use my hands to lather.. I never use washcloths - except on my face to remove masks. With my cream soaps... I'll use a pouf. Men.. different! Both my son and hubby use the bar and rub it on their arms until it lathers, while standing under the shower stream so half washes away, mind you. Im sure my son only does it because hes seen dad do it (hes 4 and imitates EVERYTHING) but then again it could just be that because they dont MAKE the soap they are perfectly happy to waste it, lol!