inherowndominion

I've tried WOW wax before and I wasn't too thrilled with it, but that's me. I don't know if this helps, but I tried HTP wicks in that wax. I'm having the exact same problem with soot in 4627. Whereas some people have told me all paraffin will soot to some degree, others are telling me that's a huge no no if it's not a power burn. So I think it might be a personal thing. I think NO soot is obviously desirable, but with straight paraffin I haven't been able to acheive that yet. The only way to know (and I know you are going to hate this) is to try the bigger wick and see if the soot gets worse. If it makes you feel any better, when I tested (different wax though) with an HTP 104 and HTP 105, the 104 actually caused MORE soot. Go figure, you'd really think the opposite, but it doesn't seem to ALWAYS work like that. I'm also using 16oz jelly jars and I know the shoulder catches a whole lot of soot. So it's extra special annoying for me! LOL As far as NG's recommendations for wicks, I've used a couple of their waxes and I have ALWAYS found their wick recommendations to be too small.

I know this doesn't help, but actually I think that looks kinda cool

I'm with Stella.....my thoughts are with you and your son (((((hugs)))))

This is totally IMO but I've noticed that acne bars tend to do better on skin thats oily if the olive oil is kept to a minimum, not more than about 15-20% of the bar. I generally use more coconut oil and add tea tree and some kind of gentle exfoliant. I think that's part of why salt bars work so well on acne, they are high in coconut and lots of exfoliants! If the acne is due to dry skin (I get that, dry skin clogs the pores and causes pimples), I will do a soap with coffee grounds and a little more olive oil. Works like a charm

I totally agree with suds, and yes it's completely normal. If you don't freeze it, then it turns super yellow (neon green for me sometimes), and even sometimes if you DO freeze it it'll do that. A way around that is to add the milk at trace, it doesn't tend to turn AS brown that way

Sometimes if you mix the lye directly with the milk, it'll turn brown (usually turns green for me while I'm mixing), but I've seen it turn beige-brown even when the milk was added at trace. When the milk warms up and gels it kind of discolors...I haven't seen a picture yet so I'm not sure but I've had that happen...

Whether or not this is the "right" way to do it, I've been making soap for quite a few years and here's what I do: Heat up the FO to the around the same temp as your oils and lye. I realize this sounds weird but I found this cured a lot of my acceleration problems. Sometimes I think the huge temp difference "shocks" the soap into tracing quickly. Once it gets to applesauce, stir it a little bit more (with the stick blender turned off) and slop it in the mold and insulate, it's going to gel anyway most likely. I usually insulate with saran wrap AND towels if I get an applesauce batch. Then, as always, TEST it once it's cured. I've never had a problem doing it this way, but that's me . I think it's different for everyone. But now that you know it traces fast, don't stick blend it. Use a whisk (as top said) and that should give you more time to work with. If it rices instead of the applesauce thing, I generally blast it with the blender to see if it incorporates...if not, there's nothing you can do at that point and you gotta chalk it up to a bad FO

I'm having nearly the same problem. The only thing that I have found that reduces the soot, though doesn't completely take it away, is filling the jar to just below the shoulder. It looks a little funny, but I'm hoping customers will get used to it. I'm using HTP wicks and am about to try zinc to see if it helps with sooting (I seriously doubt it since they tend to soot more, but figured it was worth a shot). If you figure anything out, lemme know, I'm pulling my hair out over here too!

I agree, kitchen aid hand mixers work really well...if you want something totally top of the line for soap making purely, soapequipment.com has some really really nice stuff, unfortunately out of my price range though *drool*

Yeah it would! MUCH cheaper! It's honestly not the cost that bothers me so much (though if it would have been cheaper, that would be nice too LOL) it's the ever-changing nature of the dang things. One day I think WOW the throw is great, but the thing soots and I can't seem to fix it, or the melt depth is too deep, or it burns great at 4 hours but not 3, and so on and so on. ARG! Every time I think I got a winner, something pops up. I'm not asking for the Candle Gods to bestow on me perfect candles every time, I know I gotta pay my dues still being a semi newbie to this, but ONE scent that works out of the zillion testers I've done so far would be good. Not even for selling purposes, just to increase my morale LOL It can get soooo discouraging! Now tarts I can do. My tarts I had no problem with, dare I say, they throw better than some of my candles!

That's so funny because hubby said he could smell the parasoy just a few minutes ago and I can't smell it at ALL. He said it wasn't as strong as straight 4627 that I've burned, but he said he could smell it from pretty far back. I can't smell anything but what was cooked for dinner tonight (I use my kitchen too!). I put one in an upstairs room and shut the door. I figure, if when I open the door it knocks my socks off, then it's probably throwing pretty well! I think we've both got serious candle nose!

Thanks! I think I will, right now I'm doing 50-50 parasoy and it's only been burning for about an hour, but no throw whatsoever. I'm ready to pull my hair out over here!!!! Thanks for the suggestion, I'm gonna try a 70/30 tomorrow! Maybe I got spoiled. The 4627 throws like crazy!

I looked and I have 45 days to file a claim. I'll email him once, wait a day, then file. I already did email him and still no response. I see that he can respond to message boards and plug his product (I saw that on a soaper's board recently on a different site) but can't answer emails. That's really annoying! And Kitn, I agree, bad business. Real bad business. I ordered a planer too, so it's not like it needs to be CUSTOM or anything!

Thanks top! You are always so helpful! That really helps me out a lot. I just test burned my cuke and melon from just scent, I made 100% soy and let it cure 2 full weeks. I tested it so far about 6 hours and no throw whatsoever! ARG! I'm still battling the soy. Every time I burn them, it's changing a little bit (the 4627), whereas last time it seemed like the 104 was winning out, even got a nice melt pool after a 3 hour burn, once I finished my latest burn, the104 has MORE soot than the 105. So I guess I really am back to the drawing board! You guys have infinite patience, I'm seriously starting to doubt my candle making skills! The soot thing is really kickin' my butt!!!!

I'm assuming by your reaction that's not right? LOL I've heard that from quite a few candle makers....are they lyin' to me? *looks around with eyebrows raised* I'm hoping not cause then it's back to the drawing board for me!

Thanks Top! You are the best! And you aren't throwing a wrench in my work, I'd rather it come out RIGHT than not! I will do the 3 hour burns and see how that goes. I'm also gonna power burn test a different candle, I figured that was a good idea. It doesn't seem to be sooting towards the bottom, it's actually ONLY sooting on the first burn, which leads me to believe it's the jar. I've gotten it to soot much less since I've filled the jars only to the shoulder. I've tried messing with the wick placement, and no matter where I put it it seems to happen and the soot is ONLY happening on the rim. When I fill it MORE, let's say above the shoulder, not only does it soot like crazy but both the 104 and 105 leave huge amounts of hang that don't catch up until nearly the bottom, even at 4 hour burns, if even then. And the jar seems to get really hot on one side. Unfortunately there isn't a HUGE amount of room to play with in that kind of jar and because the mouth is so much smaller than the body, there's even less room to play with without getting scorch marks. The 104 towards the bottom doesn't leave soot, no, the 105 doesn't really either but the depth and the heat of the jar with the 105 tends to be really deep and hot towards the bottom. I was sure that the 104 was gonna be too small and not throw as well or something, but it did nearly the exact same job as the 105 without the heat, soot, etc. And I know you are supposed to go with the smallest wick possible. So I think for this scent the 104 won out. I've been trying parasoy blends too, though I'm letting them cure 2 weeks (too long?) before I even test. I was not letting them cure at all and making 2 testers at a time, one to test the burn and one to test the throw, but I decided that was wasteful so now I'm just being patient with the parasoy. The 4627 straight, no matter what I do, what wick, position, scent, amount, etc I get soot, but it's a small amount, so I'm not too worried about it. I'm 99% sure it's the jar. And since I have a ton of them, I'm gonna have to use them up before thinking of switching jars. I personally think it looks funny that it isn't filled all the way, but when I do that, it just messes up the whole candle. *sigh* Thanks for the advice though, I'm going to try the 3 hour burns today and see what happens. It's already half way down the jar though, will that give me an accurate idea on the 3 hour burns you think?

Not sure about butters and I never ordered through OBN. But I can tell you my experience with MMS I wasn't super impressed, but I didn't order butters. I ordered powdered colorants and they took forever to ship to me, and the colorants aren't nearly as good as like from TKB. They just don't seem to mix as well, like they aren't as finely ground or something....weird I know, but TKB's colorants mix so much better.

Thanks guys! Good to know I'm not alone! As far as FCS goes, I ordered last week and got an email already telling me "to be patient" go figure. I'll wait another week before I email again. I just really really wanted a wire soap cutter. I heard theirs was good so I gave it a go. As far as TOG goes, I've heard that he's not pleasant to work with. He STILL hasn't emailed me back, no surprise. I'm giving him 4 weeks, then I'll shoot him another email, and if nothing, I'll file for a refund with paypal and go elsewhere. I agree, they really should be upfront about how long it takes. Not a fan of having to wait 8 million years for supplies. I'm not sure why they do a "made to order" thing? You'd think you'd at LEAST have 1 made at all times...is there something I'm missing here? I certainly wouldn't sell soap that hasn't been cured yet and then tell someone "Oh, sorry gotta wait another 8 weeks..."

Well guys, I think I've finally done it. I think I've got myself a winner. For one scent, anyway LOL I did the HTP 104 in the JJ and made sure to pour under the shoulder of the jar. I'm still getting soot, on one side, but it's not too bad. It's not BLACK, you can definately see through it, and it's very minimal. I've heard other candle makers say straight paraffin will soot, that it's the nature of the beast, and I'm willing to accept that. I've tried, no joke, dozens of scents, candles, wick types and sizes, FO %'s and I ALWAYS get a little soot with this wax, honestly I think it's the jar. Because it tapers so much it's creating a little wind tunnel type thing, and it soots on the first burn, but only the first. Now here's my question for you guys: When I test, I make the test jars in 3 different wick sizes. Once I've got my "winner" doing 4 hour test burns, I make another candle and test that in 8 hour power burns. Do you think it's safe to consolidate the two test burns in one candle? What I mean is: Do a 4 hour test burn for 3 or 4 burns, then an 8 hour power burn on the same candle? Or should I keep doing seperate candles? By no means do I test just ONE candle out of a batch I think is a winner. If I do a power burn candle, and a 4 hour test candle, I make at least 3 more and test those as well. Trying to be totally certain. I'd rather that than get sued!

Thanks guys! I ordered a beveler from him...I did email him asking how long it'd take, but no response of course. I'll wait a month, any longer than that and I'm filing a paypal claim. It shouldn't take a month to build a beveler. I also ordered from FCS, I ordered a cutter. I hear those take forever too....ugh!

I just placed an order with tog on etsy, and I know it takes a long time to get stuff in, I've read a lot of negative feedback about how long it takes. But most of the stuff on this board about TOG is from a year ago. Anyone order lately?

The only thing refined I use is palm oil. Palm tends to turn my soap really ugly colors if it's not refined, ditto with pomace olive oil, can only use virgin. It's my recipe, so that might not happen to you. If you are using cocoa butter, the only thing I could see you wanting refined for is if you don't want the scent. using when they refine it, they deodorize it too. I think it's a shame, I love the smell of cocoa butter. I've never used refined shea or mango so I can't comment. HTH

Apparently no one else uses this blend but you and I LOL I did a power burn on the 1212 and the 126 and here's the weird thing: The melt pools were both deep, no surprise there, but the 126 had MUCH more soot than the 1212, which barely had any. I'm totally frustrated by this LOL

Good luck with your adventures! It's totally addictive, isn't it? I will say though, IMO, the POP colors don't come out nearly as pretty if you gel your soap. If you are doing HP or doing it in a crock pot, it's gonna gel, so don't be upset if the colors don't "POP" as much. The gelling just dulls the colors a little. I used to use a whisk, but I couldn't live without my SB. However, if you are just experimenting, a whisk is probably a good idea cause it'll move much slower that way. As far as molds go, Aldi, Costco, etc have tons of boxes for free that will make awesome slab molds! I still to this day use a pallette knife to cut my soaps, works the best! HTH

I bought the wick stick um's from BC and I have their EZ setter and the black wick holder things (can't remember what they are called!) At first when I started using the stickums they came loose, which btw is SOOOOO FRUSTRATING, now I heat up the bottom of the jar, then use the setter and the wick holder and they NEVER come off. I can pick up the wick and the jar comes with it (16oz jj) Whether it's the heat or the other gadgets doing it, I'm not sure, I'm just happy they don't come loose anymore! I re use my test jars, so the silicone thing just wasn't an option, you gotta chisel the stuff off!