Miadrianel Candles

Grettings everyone, I heard about a soap made with sea water. Obviously the lye is dissolved on the sea water then added to the oils. The person that told me states that the soaps have great qualities. But....Here I am asking questions....This completly goes against everything I know about using distilled water or rain water...But we do use milk, rose water and other types of mixtures or blends to dissolve lye for soap making...Any opinions??

I like the style, thats my type of thing......

Well I have been testing and it has been burning well. I left the wicks untrimmed the other day and it did burn the outer edge of the candle a bit. But as long as it has it's wicks trimmed it burns well IMHO.

Yup it is made with chunks....10 pounds of paraffin would take for ever to harden!

Here it is lit after 2 hours

I am in the process of testing I feel it might be over wicked.....I will post pics later.

Greetings everyone, I love big candles. Here's my latest.... 10 pounds 6 inch dia 12 inch height 5 wicks patchouli fragrance

Interested in this thread..I would also like to make my own.... Can't you make your vats with metal pipes? Get someone to weld them on the bottom with some kind of lid...that's more or less what I was thinking a while ago..

If this was one of those social networks I would absolutely put a thumbs up and like to the previous comment!!!

I've been having problems with Candlewic's feathering palm not coming out of my pillar molds lately. I use aluminum seamless. Is this typical or is there a catch?? I don't remember having problems in the past. What gives? Dan

WOw, everybody thank you for the replies! When I started making them I was hoping to at least make one everyday I could to keep practicing. Unfortunately I haven't kept practicing. We've been so busy at the store that we get home late at night almost everynight. On my next order I'm gonna get better equipment. Some more pouring pots and the right pigments. Maybe the right carving tools too To my surprise I have been using the locally obtained wax and it seems to work just right. Thats just my opinion since I really don't know what to look for in a cut and curl wax but for now it's working. I will sure post more pics as soon as I make more. This is the most I enjoyed making candles in a while it sure was a different experience. Daniel

Greeting everyone, Just posting my first ever attempts at cut and curl. Here are my first, second and fourth candles. 3rd was worthless. Please give constructive criticism!! I want to know how can I get better at this! They might look weird because I didn't use the proper pigments. those are black light reflective. The pics were taken under a blacklight so the colors stood out more on the pic. I'm using 2 empty coffee cans for vats third one for water and a small kitchen knife. I just wanted to try it and see. I dunno but, is it and addiction when you start ordering stuff to make more and better ones??? First one Second one 4th one

http://www.reynoldsam.com/The one I used was OOMOO 25 it has a pot life of 15 min and a cure time of 75 min The 30 has a pot life of 30 min so that will release bubbles better probably and a cure time of 6 hours. Apart from that they're almost identical but if you decide to use this one make sure it's for block molds only or simple 2 piece block molds the tear strength on them is not great. apart from that if you follow that advice they're way easy to use no degassing or vaccum needed not even a scale mix is 1:1 ratio. Dan

Well this wasn't that expensive. Are you sure it's cheaper to buy them? I do get your point I guess it might be wrong. The main reason that I made the mold is for the experience itself I'm somewhat of a jack of all trades master at none...and I love to go in as deep into whatever i'm usually working on. But let me tell you...I bought whats called a trial size amount ( Like 2 pounds of sillicone in separate containers) which was enough for that mold which weighs a 1lb 12 oz and the apple one which is really smaller maybe 6 OZ. It is a durable material you can actually cast low melting point metals in it so it's durable. In the long run it might be cheaper. But like I said I did it more for the skill than anything else. I don't even like fruit on my candles! But for the block type mold this was the easier thing to pull off. Dan P.D. Oh the trial size is $24.95

The apple didn't come out like it supposed to I think I should've poured a little hotter. The imperfections are not produced by the mold itself.

Since I started this thread about silicone molds I think I should post what I have been doing lately with them. These we made in our home. I think this has to be tried by any candle maker at least once, it is a rewarding experience IMO.

Hello everyone! Thankfully I have access to several aloe plants that my mom has. I want to make a soap with them. But I have some doubts. First, when should I added? Second, Do I just put the whole thing in with the green stuff and all in an hit with the stick blender, or do I just get the gel stuff?..I would like to get the green color. I appreciate the help as always! Dan

Jonsie, If you would like to make any molds for soap with silicons you have to make sure they're food grade silicone rubber. The regular silicone for casting resins and waxes usually "sweats out" some chemicals which I don't think are skin safe. But I do know that there are food grade silicon rubber for mold making. What I have on hand is Smooth on silicone rubber. It's just a 1:1 liquid mixture. This ones good for wax casting and some other stuff. The finished product can withstand temps up to 400 deg. F. You can even pour low melt point metals in it to cast. Dan

Erico, Yeah the one under a $1,000 uses a plastic strand extruder so it really doesn't have a smooth texture. The really expensive one like the ones you mentioned before work with a powder that turns solid (works more like an inkjet printer) I have thought of this before but they're so expensive that it's really to much. I think sculpting your own would be harder but cheaper. I'm still looking for a nice shape to make a mold out of I want something different for this. Also making molds out of sheet plastic (vacuum forming) is really really easy. If I find the right shapes I'll probably get on it. Dan

He he he no, not selling just asking because I am curious as to if anyone else is making silicone molds. I'm not sure how popular mold making is among candle makers. Dan

Hello everyone, I have here on my shop some liquid silicone to make candle molds. Haven't tried it yet. Any of you making silicone or polyurethane molds? Dan

Yes my soap gel. I use a wooden box type mold I do not further insulate I do put a lid on top not secured just covering the top everything is made out of wood. Yeah I mean if there was anything wrong with the lye probably the rest of the soap would not come out ok. I just find it odd that as soon as I changed the lye this started. I have been doing everything the same, using the same recipe and all. Not sure how to fix it. Maybe a clue into what goes on let me say that tops stay like if they were gelled. You know that translucent color you get when soap is gelled well it pretty much stays like that and it seeps some liquid. Will try and change water content an see I have always used water at %30. Dan

Nope not zappy.And like I said I didn't have this problem before So I'm not sure humidity is a problem. I mean the rest of the soap is completely fine. I probably should just cut that part out and get used to it.

I've been making soap for over a year now and recently changed lye suppliers. But recently as soon as I started using the new lye my soaps have started developing some kind of a wetness on top when I get them out of the molds. If you cut that part they seems to be fine and the rest of the soap is fine and looks ok. The reason I'm asking is because this had never happened to me before. Any suggestions? Dan

Ok i am making body splashes and some FO make the thing cloudy and it drives me nuts! Some FO don't make it cloudy. I am using WSP body splash base. I am following the directions to the milliliter. Do I need to incorporate FO modifier to get a crystal clear product??? Dan