nadiap

Hi Susan, the only Eucalyptus scent I've used is : Peppermint and Eucalyptus Description: Invigorating blend with peppermint, patchouli, cedar wood and eucalyptus. So it's not a 'true' eucalyptus, but I really like it - great as a decongestant for one thing, and certainly invigorating. I'm going to make sure I have some around for winter time in case of colds and flu's :-) NCS do carry a Eucalyptus EO and the description is this: Eucalyptus Blue Gum Blue Gum Eucalyptus Essential Oil is the most well known of the Eucalyptus oil varieties, being extracted from a beautiful, fragrant, tall evergreen tree native to Australia and Tasmania. Blue Gum Eucalyptus Essential Oil is the most well known of the Eucalyptus oil varieties, being extracted from a beautiful, fragrant, tall evergreen tree native to Australia and Tasmania. Sounds like what you may be after - though you'd probably have to up your pricing as it is an EO not a FO. Not sure if this helps at all :-) -- Nadia

I probably get mine at the same place that Tammy does - and I'm afraid that I much prefer the CB 135 over the 464. I did try it, but didn't get anywhere near the same results I do with the 135 :-) I still have some 464 here and will play with it again, but I'd rather keep testing various containers using the 135, even though it can be a little finichy at times, but my best results have been with the 135, so I'm sticking to it - at least until they come out with the Xcel.

As already mentioned the CB135 is a container wax, and not really suited for votives - you should be using a pillar wax for votives - that's probably why it stuck to your mould and wouldn't release. Not used the B444, so not sure if that is a pillar or a container wax. You need to use the right wax for the whatever candle type you are making

Hi Tammy, thank you for that - very helpful - I'll keep an eye out when I'm out shopping next Nadia

Thanks Tops, yep, that's the one - though mine is 1in x 1.38yds - hence the reason for me cutting it in half :-) I'll have to see if i can find where they stock a 1/2" wide roll. More likely a hardware store than the Office Works store I'm buying it from now.

Hey Top, couldn't get to that link - kept asking me for a US postcode, then got shifted to the Canadian site, same thing :-) This is the one I use and find it works for me: https://www.officeproductsdepot.com.au/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=23102&productId=19871&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=19581&top_category=21603 Actually it's the only size I've found at my local Office Works anyways. PS: If you'd be kind enough to give me a US postcode, I could then take a look - I'd appreciate it

Thanks ladies ! Now I know where to look without traipsing all over different stores

I cut a strip the width of the wick tab - and cut that in half - so 2 bits for 2 wick tabs. As there's a paper on the outerside, I go ahead and stick all the cut out bids to the wick tabs at once, and then go ahead and 'unstick' them and attach to the container. Once you get the hang of it and find a rythm that works, it moves along quite well. The intsy bids showing on the corners bothered me me at first, so I used to snip those <lol> but they were such tiny bits it wasn't worth the hassle :-)

I'm no expert, but after a recommendation I found on this forum, I'm now using cut of strips of heavy duty Scotch Mounting tape - and that works real well in all my containers - even when I pour at high temps. Sticks even to a particular votive container I purchased where the stickums and hot glue gun won't stick at all PS: I tried the stickums in tealights and containers and ended up with results similar to what Stella shows in her photo.

Wish we could buy the Presto pot here (Au) with the spigot already assembled. May I ask which pot you went for Jonsie and where did you buy it? I haven't had a chance to go out and have a specific search for one, except I did try K-Mart at one point and couldn't find anything similar. (I'm in New South Wales

Sorry to interrupt your thread, but notice that you are in Italy. I have a relative in Slovenia who is looking at the UK for soy wax supplies. Do you get your supplies from Italy or another EU country? If in Italy, would you mind giving out the suppliers' name? :-) --------- Nadia

I'm thinking to try pouring at a much higher temp. (cb135) I made a few jars last week - no colour at all, but the frosting was really really bad (in frosted jars too :-) I put them in the over, remelted them at a high temp, let them cool completely in the oven and they turned out beautiful ! Funny you mention the USA, I have some here, but never used it, and was just getting onto the pc to do a bit of research on it. have no idea what it does, just purchased it with one of my orders :-D Quite comfortable with this thread - as I mentioned, I'm following the results of the xcel quite closely.

I'm watching this thread with interest, but just wanted to note that those of you using CB135 and pouring at 110 with no frosting, are having much better luck than me :-( If I pour at that low a temp, I get a lot of frosting and the tops come out horrible - once it sets up, it's as if the top is made up of half melting 'flakes', should have taken a picture, but my camera wasn't working at that time. I find i have to pour between 135 - 125 to get a nice top with minimal or no frosting. Just wish my supplier was allowing the Excel to be tested by their customers - I'm sure they'd get much better feedback, than just testing for themselves before starting to sell the new product...

Ah ok, thanks ! I guess I'll have to work around it then, the cost of freight on just shipping some wicks to Au, would be fairly prohibitive I'd think :-(

You people in the US must be very fortunate if you get samples from your suppliers. I've asked twice already for a sample of Xcel here and haven't received any at this point. I put in an order last night and asked again - we'll see if I get it this time

Thanks :-) Yes, they are 3" pillars. I'm afraid to report that the black one also broke out right at the bottom. I was lying down due to a headache, so wasn't paying too much attention, so not sure why it broke out where it did, because the shell above it was just perfect - one weak spot led to a small fracture and that's where it blew The rest of the candle didn't collapse or anything either ! So now will have to test another, but make sure I pay more attention. Luckily I do have another ready to go.

thanks Linda - definitely a sickness :-) I haven't used CSNs my suppliers don't carry those. I only have access to CDN and HTPs. Also a ACS - but I believe these may be made particularly for the supplier - so have no idea what they actually equate to. I have purchased a few sizes in the ACS, but these are for testing in my jars not the pillars. I like the way the CDN burns in the pillars - I'm not into all the technicalities about wick treatments etc., that Top is talking about in his testing threads - over my head - though it is interesting :-) I just know what is or isn't working for me so far :-) In any case I don't have access to any LXs either, so can't test those to compare with the CDNs - so have to use what is available to me. The pillar has been burning for a few more hours now and all is good. I am rotating it to make sure the walls don't burn more on one side than the other, though even if it did burn more on one side, don't think I'd get a breakout - fingers crossed anyway - that's the purpose of this test

I've been testing since I posted a thread about the wicking for self consumption or for a 'shell' on feather palm pillars. Stella was nice enough to post to that thread with pictures, but I never did get back to the thread, but I really appreciated the advice. I now see she posted a new one with picts of her 'shell' pillars. I'd like to share a few of mine - as I know many of you love to check out testings pics (as do I !!!) I've added comments to the images - makes it easier to explain what I mean directly on the imagery. 1. Gardenia - the wick was too big - was doing well at self-consuming, but then had a break out - so I gave up on this one as I knew the wick was too big anyway. 2. Black feather palm pillar - about 2 months old. FO: Best Friends; Wick: CDN12. Testing not complete, but so far so good on the black one. And now ready to start the burn for the 2nd day - I prefer to burn them for very long hours as I'm sure this is what most people would do. Oh and the HT was terrific !

I agree with Susan, Heaps of experimenting with pour temperatures and have finally found that if I do anything at the 'slushy' stage, all the tops turn out horrid that even the heat gun won't get them as nice looking as they can be. This is the same whether I used CB135 or the GB464 When poured warmer - generally find that 135* - works better for me. I add colour while wax still still very hot and then add the FO when a bit cooler.

Thanks for sharing your results Soy ! I put in an order with my supplier the other day and knowing they had imported some excel asked for a sample, but didn't receive any - so I can only assume they are still in testing stages themselves :-) Love the way you got the dark colours to work - I made a few darker colours the other day using CB135 = they set up nicely, but ended up with frosting on the 2nd day :-( I would have posted a couple of pics to a new thread, but my battery is dead and don't have time to do it now. So keep them coming, this is very informative ! :-)

Just an update: I poured another tester in that gold swish lantern using chanel No 5 but had to use the 464 as I'd run out of the 135 - and guess what - no blue/grey colouring !! I have no idea what the problem may have been, surely it couldn't be the change in wax ?? I suspect t probably too much FO. The top of this candle came out beautifully smooth, not one bump or lump ! I poured around 110* I also poured another tester, different jar using 464 and FO: Dragon's Blood - this one poured at 115* but the top was all wrinkley - go figure ! I cut back to 6% FO as well on both containers - no additives. Anyways, both are only days old, but the HT is terrific, burning so much better than when I'd used 9% FO , it's also making wick testing easier as well. So I've now learned that more FO is not necessarily better :-)

Hi all, thanks for all the comments! I didn't realise that such a discolouration could happen with the wax at least. I've also used Dolce Gabbana where the actual fragrance is blue, so that wax has to be tinted blue :-) Yep get my gear from NCS as well. I've also purchased from ACS whenever NCS is out of stock - for me it's the delivery time with ACS that's a bit of a problem, unless I order well in advance - and you know what it's like when you suddenly run out of something you need it like yesterday! :-) I was talking to Julian from NCS yesterday and a lot of their jars are prob. 5-6 weeks away from getting into stock (I use the honey pots - which they've run out of, except for the frosted one and it looks like they may be discontinued anyway!) I actually suggested they should look at other jars like the ones with the silver, gold, black lids, but he couldn't comment on that :-) As for wicks !!!! ha ha ha, I'll join you in the garage sale, I have every single size that's available. I also agree that they are out by one size generally with their recommendations. I like the picture you posted KoalaGirl of your jars (where you tried the sock treatment :-) are those the Apothecary jars? Oh and please don't worry about polluting this thread - I work alone here and love to listen to all your gossip and news when it comes to candlemaking :-) Richard, thanks for the offer of wicks.. I have enough trouble testing either htps or cdns - though I've found the cdns work better in the honeypots - so I don't need any more headaches right now! Actually have a beauty of a real headache from all the jasmine tealights I poured last night :-( I'm pouring a few honeypots tonight, so I'll test another chanel and see how I go. PS: I know Richard uses Palm wax, but Koalagirl and Trivalvixen, do both of you use the 135?? I've tried the ACS 464 but didn't like it as much as the 135 as the tops didn't set up nice for me. Do you both sit around the 6% mark for the fragrance for containers? I think I'm over fragrancing most of my jars in that case and can probably wick down. Oh and Julian says that they are also testing the 135XL which should be in stock soon as well. Enough from me - need to go and melt some wax - container time ! :-) Thanks again, nice to hear from some locals

Time to get some sleep for me - it's after 4am here now! but thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone has seen a problem like this or have any clue as to *why* this has happened. I've included pics to explain the problem This is a small lantern opening at top: 2.48in wide at widest middle section: 3.54in height: 2.6in I used CB135 No colour No additivies Fragrance: Chanel No. 5 at around 9% Wick: HTP 126 I've added notes to the pics, but essentially, I burned the candle for about 4.5 hours and achieved full MP. The HT wasn't too bad at this point (this has been curing for about 2 weeks now). The colour at the top gradually changed to a grey/blue colour with the bottom remaining the natural soy wax colour. I stopped the burn, let it harden up again and the top became all squiggly (as seen in the pic - can't think of a better word and the blue colour remained. Trimmed wick to 1/4in, relit the candle for about 15 minutes to see what the MP looked like and it was as if there was a residue inside it, not nice and clean as it should have been. I then poked around to bring up the bottom of the candle which you can see if the pics. What could have caused this ?? I freaked out when I saw it, never happened to me before - I've made other candles using Chanel and no such problems. The container was filled right to the top, just under the top ridge if that makes a difference? Not happy with the HTP wicks at the moment have switched to CDNs but the supplier recommened the HTP126 wick and that's what I thought I'd start with for testing - I do believe the wick was too big - mushrooms at top of wick - about 3 of them! I'm thinking that there is too much fragrance (to cause the shrooming) and the wick just isn't right - but I'm stumped about the colouring. Sorry this is so long - but it was the only way to explain the problem... any advice / help appreciated. Also, from you more experienced - what wick would you have used as a first test for this container going by the measurements supplied above ?? Now I'm off to bed ! I need it after just pouring 300 tealights and I'm feeling pretty high from the Jasmine fragrance !! Again,thanks for any offers of advice ! I love this lantern and would like to get it right for a girlfriend who loves Chanel (though it's too strong for me !).

Quick question - when you make these - what is your intention when burning? So that a thin shell is left and the middle section of the candle burns down ?? Or do you aim for the whole thing to burn down as well. ??? I have a pillar that I tested yesterday -at last I think I found the right wick !! it burnt right down to the end through the middle - with a shell that stayed in tact for about 1/2 the height and right near the end of the burn, I did have a little bit of spillage / melted wax leak onto the bottom of the plate holding the candle... just curious :-)

Nope, gave up on that one :-) when I relit it, the appearance just got darker , though the underlying solid wax was the correct colour, just the MP that was 'icky' :-) I've repoured 2 new containers, this time using a CDN 8 and a CDN12. I too don't think I need to wick down, as I mentioned, it was the first jar for me where the MP was achieved as required. However, I"m willing to try again - I'm a glutton for punishment I think :-) Let me know how you get on as well. Nadia