Shirlee

SharonKay ... Why does life make us spend money on things other than wax & FOs? Lol! I'm sorry but "8.5% max" is Greek to me. 8.5% of what? All I know is ounces : ( I did buy 6 or 7 FOs from CS along with my wax so I will post how they work for me. Blessings, Shirlee

SharonKay ... I will have to order those scents too, especially the Fireside Inn. I love spicy scents & that one sounds fantastic! My order from TCS is scheduled to be delivered today! What amount of fragrance should I add to the container blend? Is it 2 oz. FO max per pound of wax? Blessings, Shirlee

Ravens ... Thanks for the info! I do hope they bring back the Winter Night ... it must be fantastic if people are now begging her to do that ... lol! I would love to try a couple tarts. Is there a way to send you my address without making it public? Where do I get these coffee bags you are talking about? Along with that, where do I get baggies to package my tarts? I know you aren't supposed to put them in Ziplocs but I went to Hobby Lobby the other day thinking I could get celophane baggies & couldn't find them there. From Candle Source I ordered 2# of that wax blend you love so much, 6 or 7 bottles of FO, & 48 metal tart molds. I never used the metal tart molds before so hopefully I didn't waste my money on those. I live in Kentucky. Blessings, Shirlee

Mary & Ravens ... I got my shipping invoice! $20 isn't too bad for all that I ordered & it's coming Fed Ex! How do you cure your tarts ... just leave them in the molds for 3 days or pop them out & let them sit on a dish for 3 days or what? Is Winter Night a Candle Source FO or from some other supplier? I take it Peaks is a company? What is their website address? I can't wait to hear how you like working with the wax Mary! I don't know much about Texas but I do remember that Janis Joplin came from Port Arthur : ) Blessings, Shirlee

Ravens ... I have got to stop trying to use the lingo everyone else uses until I know what I'm talking about Someone told me a while back that Candlesourse is not the same as The Candle Source so perhaps that is part of the confusion. I ordered my things from The Candle Source. I'm guessing they're coming from Ohio rather than from Oregon. Secondly, I thought any blend of soy & parafin was considered parasoy. The wax I was talking about is the container blend/preblended wax from The Candle Source. Since the subject at the time had to do with waxes that were a blend of both soy & parafin, I assumed that this wax was such a blend & therefore called it parasoy. Sorry for the confusion. I should just type everything out from now on so as not to confuse others or embarrass myself. At least I know I've got FO right ... lol! Blessings, Shirlee

Ravens ... I didn't spend a lot of time on their site, just ordered the parasoy wax, the FOs & some tart molds, but I'll be anxious to hear about the candles. I didn't notice that you could check the type of shipping you wanted. Mary ... Yes, let's keep in touch & share the results we get with this wax. I always jump in with both feed so I ordered 2# plus 6 or 7 FOs & 48 tart molds. My order came to $80-something. I hope my shipping charge isn't heart stopping. I almost thought about just picking it up myself. Their Ohio store is maybe 3 or 4 hours from me. I don't know what kind of soy I was using. I bought a 5# bag of 100% soy from a supplier on Etsy that was advertised for tarts, pillars & votives. Now I'm wondering what I'm going to do with the probably 4.5 pounds I have left. Blessings, Shirlee

Mary ... you are having better luck with your tart scents than I am. Mine smell great when they've been made & they smell great in the baggies but I get nothing when they're melting. I'm hoping it's because I was using 100% soy. I've ordered some of the parasoy from Candlesource as well per Ravens recommendation & can't wait to try it. I ordered it via the website & paid but never got any kind of response saying it had been shipping or was going to be shipped or there's a delay or anything. I was a bit uncomfortable ordering it because the site said shipping would be added later & I like to know what my shipping is going to be up front. I ordered last week & haven't heard anything so hopefully I will soon. Blessings, Shirlee

I'm happy to read good things about these FOs : ) I ordered several before reading yesterday's responses to this subject & couldn't decide between the Pumpkin Vanilla & The Great Pumpkin & opted for the latter. Hopefully it will be a good one too but I'll definitely order the Pumpkin Vanilla next time. Pumpkin is one of my fave scents : ) Blessings, Shirlee in KY

This has happened twice to me recently & I'm wondering if it has happened to anyone else & what the cause could be. About 2 weeks ago I put some commercially produced tarts into my tart burner (Pumpkin Spice). After they had been in the burner for a while, I noticed a heavy odor of petroleum & my eyes were burning! I turned off the burner & let the wax harden. Usually I can just pop the wax out of the burner when it hardens but I couldn't do that with this wax & couldn't even cut/scrape it out. I had to put the burner tray into the freezer & then was able to get the wax out. Needless to say I threw away the rest of the tarts so unfortunately I can't tell you the brand. Yesterday I put some privately made tarts into the tart burner. I bought these a couple months ago at a nearby gift shop. They smelled wonderful in their little celophane baggie ... a nice cranberry fragrance. However, when I started burning them in my tart burner, the same thing happened ... heavy petroleum odor & burning eyes. I have no problems with any other tarts I've burned ... at least not yet ... but these 2 were horrible! Was it caused by bad/cheap FO perhaps ... or is there a company out there that sells FO that gives off this bad odor? If so, I certainly don't want to buy from that company. Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Sorry ... I didn't realize Candlesource was actually The Candle Source ... I was looking at their website URL which is http://www.thecandlesource.com/id77.html This is all so confusing to me Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Since I am ordering some wax blend from CS I'm looking at their FOs & wondering if anyone has used them & would recommend them? I purchased several bottles of FO last year from other suppliers but wasn't really happy with the scent throw ... but perhaps that's because I was using them in 100% soy? Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Thank you IwantItgreen. I Googled it also & it came right up but the fact that it was in Ohio threw me off since Ravens indicated they were in Oregon. I'll check out this link then. Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Ravens ... Would you please post the llink for Candlesource? Thank you ... Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Can someone please tell me where to find these blends for the KY, JS, etc? I can't find any links here. Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Thank you all so very much! As I stated in another post, I'm a newbie at this as well & all this information is so interesting & so very much appreciated! Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Thank you both! Needless to say, I'm a relative newbie at candlemaking myself so I am learning a lot here too! Blessings, Shirlee in KY

This is the second question I am asking for a friend of mine who decided to try making candles. Yesterday she bought some burgundy colored tapers which were on sale at the Dollar Store. She chopped them up, removed the wicks, & melted them down. She then added "candle scent" from Hobby Lobby & poured them into jars. When the candles hardened, they "sunk" in the middle. She thought this could be remedied by simply pouring some more wax into the depression. However, it sunk again. What could be causing this? Blessings, Shirlee in KY

I'm actually asking this question for a friend of mine who just made her first batch of candles. She bought an apple spice "candle scent" from Hobby Lobby but is not happy with the result. The candles she made really don't have much of a scent. She thinks she perhaps should've bought "essential oil." I'm not familiar with what Hobby Lobby might be selling as "candle scents" but are these scents & essential oils the same thing as the fragrance oils talked about here? Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Vicky ... Thanks so much for the information! I don't mind buying a good parasoy blend & giving that a try ... could you recommend one or more? I am, however, wondering what to do with the 5 pound bag of 100% soy I have now. Any ideas? Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Candybee ... Thank you for responding to my question. I cannot recall now how much FO I used for scenting last year. I just went to where I keep all my supplies & I do not see a tart recipe. My guess is that I ended up memorizing a recipe from somewhere & used twice the FO they indicated. The wax I used was advertised as 100% soy wax for pillars, tarts, & votives. The ad read "This wax comes in an easy to use bead form. Leaves a smooth surface with a wonderful throw. Holds fragrance very well." Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Last year at this time I decided I wanted to make tarts. I bought all the equipment & purchased the best soy wax I could find. I also purchased the best scents I could find, all of which were recommended to me by members of this forum. I decided to double scent my tarts thinking that would make the scent "better" & that it would last longer. However, this was not the case. The tarts smelled pretty good after I was done making them. However, when I put them in my tart burner, I could smell the scent for a brief time & then it was gone. I have purchased tarts at craft shows, etc. One bag of tarts that I purchased is heavenly! I have had one of the tarts in my tart burner now for several days & it still scents the entire downstairs of my home. It is indicated that these tarts are made with a combination of soy wax & paraffin. My questions are ... 1. Is there a limit to the amount of fragrance you can add to a tart mixture? I'm thinking that perhaps since double scenting didn't work for me, perhaps I could triple scent? 2. Is the fragrance factor of a tart based upon the type of wax used? As stated above, I used 100% soy. Should I have used beeswax, or paraffin, or a combination of soy, beeswax, & paraffin, or does it really matter? Any help you can give me on this would be greatly appreciated. I would like to try making more tarts ... as well as wax ornaments & bowl fillers ... & I'm holding back becaue of the scenting issue. Blessings, Shirlee in KY

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've been here. Lots of life struggles unfortunately. However, the weather is turning cooler & my thoughts are turning to tart/candlemaking once again :smiley2: Last year around this time I started making tarts with soy wax. However, recently I purchased some tarts & it was indicated they had been made with a combination of soy & paraffin wax. I did not know that you could combine waxes. Does anyone know what the ratio might be & why you'd want to combine in the first place? Blessings, Shirlee in KY

The "recipe" I was given said to use .25 oz of FO for every 4 ounces of wax. My scale only measures out to the tenth so initially I used .30 oz of FO with 4 oz of wax. As I said, they smell great on the counter but you can barely smell them in the burner. For my next attempt I doubled the FO to .60 oz with 4 oz of wax. Once again they smell great on the counter but not much to write home about in the burner. Blessings, Shirlee

Barbara AL - Thank you for the tip about plastic bags! I didn't know they suck the scent out of your tarts! I will do a search for cello bags today : ) islandgirl - I just checked my tart warmer. It's one of those metal ones with a punched out design on the bottom. It has the bulb that came with it. It says not to use anything higher than 40 watt so I'm guessing that's what's in there. The bulb looks like one of those candle bulbs used in chandeliers. How long should I reasonably expect the scent from tarts to last? I sometimes turn on my tart burner & have it on all day. Other times it's just a couple hours. The lady at the store where I bought my warmer & some tarts told me they would scent for about a month. ??? Blessings, Shirlee

I am having this problem as well. I am using a 100% soy wax made for pillars, votives, & tarts. I made two batches of tarts ... one was a Christmas tree scent & the other gingerbread ... & they smell heavenly in just sitting on my counter but when I put them in the tart warmer the fragrance is very, very faint. So I thought I'd be smart & double up on the fragrance oil & attempted two more batches. Again they smell absolutely wonderful as they are sitting in Ziploc baggies on my counter but in the tart warmer the fragrance is barely noticeable. I am melting my wax to a temperature of 185 degrees & then adding the scent, stirring it around for a while, & then pouring. Is this not right? Blessings, Shirlee