jonsie

One other factor that might have been a problem was the candle was over-wicked. Do over-wicked candles alter the scent during HT?

Some scents particularly citrus scents may give off whats referred to as a fuel smell. It may help to blend a small amount of another FO to help with that. Some add a little bit of vanilla while others try different oils that compliment the scent. If this doesn't work I'd test another oil.

Thanks, that's good to know. I hate to mess with this scent, but I have a # so I might have to.

You're lucky if you find a peach that smells right. There are some "peach" FOs that throw well and smell nice, but only if you've never smelled fresh peaches.

Here's a list that Vicky put together (from the sticky in this forum category): http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showpost.php?p=251140&postcount=6

I'm curious if there is a rule-of-thumb when it comes to some of the fruity and citrusy FOs, and any special considerations with soy. The peach FO I got from my local supplier smelled divine from the bottle, and from the cold throw in the candle. But when I burned it, there was a definite rotten/sour kind of smell... it was horrible.

I'm hoping in the case of this peach FO I need to let it cure a lot longer (I got impatient and burned it after 48 hours). But it made me wonder if anything else should be considered for these types of scents, such as how hot the wax is when the FO is added.

Thanks in advance,

Susan

Congrats on your candles, Nadia! They are beautiful.

I just placed an order with NG and rang them up (on Skype) to discuss what kind of room I had left in the box since they were charging for a large flat-rate USPS box (like Tammy mentioned for $55 U.S. postage). They were kind enough to put me on hold, go find my order and work out what kind of room I had left (since I was ordering some odd-sized stuff). I haven't smelled their FOs yet but I definitely recommend them for their customer service!

And I agree with y'all that it is cheaper to have them mailed to me from the U.S. than to drive to my local supplier. I just hate the wait!!!

I find that the sound from the handmade candles with the wooden wicks is not as loud as the sound from the WoodWick candles.

I have heard that WoodWick uses a blend of soy and parrafin, but I don't know the ratios. The soy/parrafin also seems to produce a fair amount of soot in the container. Their wooden wicks are also different than the ones us crafters use since theirs is a single strip of wood, and ours, as you know, is two strips. I suspect they may treat their wooden wicks with something that makes more crackle, and if so, that might also contribute to the sooting.

For what it's worth, I am using soy and trying to avoid using parrafin simply because I don't want the soot. Like I said earlier, my handmade candles don't crackle as much as the WoodWicks, but the sound does get louder with more FO and dye, and the deeper into the containers they burn. I don't know if the parrafin or the parrafin blend produces more sound than just soy. It would be nice to know if it did

Thanks Tammy That will give me something to research.

I bought some of this from my local supplier and this is the description they gave:

Blending Palm Wax: Our blending palm is useful for blending with soy container wax or soy votive wax. Available in 25kg bags bead form. Usage: 1-10%

When I searched using "Blending Palm Wax" I didn't get many hits. Does this go by another name? Any information that can be provided would be very helpful because I really don't know what to expect from it.

I think the disadvantage of using these skewers is your wicks could easily become un-centered. I can even see some in that picture that look crooked.

I use a toaster oven on the lowest setting.

And I try to pour when the jar is not too hot and can be handled by my bare hands. If it is too hot to the touch, then I find I get frosting when it cools.

However, I'm still a newbie and working out the kinks with GW 464 so take this with a grain of salt

Argh... I really don't want to read this!!! It is hell on my resolve to make soy work with these wooden wicks. But I will give it a try someday soon. I have 5 kg of Crystallizing Palm container wax sitting right here that I got from ACS. I had hoped that I wouldn't need to open it until I got my soy tweaked, but that's taking longer than I hoped, lol.

Since my problem with soy is air pockets, would mixing the palm wax with it cause more problems with air pockets? I'm shooting for a single pour.

May I suggest to make a sticky with the list of suppliers who ships all over the world?

I like that idea too! Who do I ask to get it stickied?

I'll also work on adding the suppliers to the first post.

Edit... oops! I forgot we have a time limit on when we can edit posts, so I can't maintain a list in a single post. I'll have to think about this.

The wicks are hard to trim. What does one use??

In the beginning I used some toe-nail clippers, lol. You can't trim off much at a time but chances are you have something like that around the house.

I bought a special tool at Ace hardware here. they are called nippers. I also ordered some, thought I got them at C&S but I can't find them on the site. They are like dikes about 5or6" long . They are in the electrical section.

I got something like that too from the tool section of a store here in Perth. Lets you trim off a little more at a time than the toe-nail clilppers

Thanks Cyber!

I'm also seeing that http://brambleberry.com will ship internationally. I'm excited about that, even if it's mostly soap items.

Oooh, thank you WorkBee! And it's nice to meet another candle person in Australia

For the few of us living outside the U.S., I was curious if you could help me learn which suppliers will ship internationally?

It's frustrating to visit a website like Candle Science and see all the fun things they have but then find out they don't ship outside the U.S.

http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/ seems to ship internationally, but I need to call them during their business hours to get a quote. I can live with that.

Any others?

Thanks in advance!

Susan

Oops, I just saw your other thread and your research on HDPE bottles. At the very least I hope the links help you find some caps to assist you.

Best of luck,

Susan

I posted a similiar question here:

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90193

One thing TopofMurrayHill mentioned was to use HDPE bottles (if you are going to use plastic). I assume that means LDPE probably wouldn't hold up to the solvents in the FOs.

I live in Australia and I've had a hard time finding these nifty caps at the stores here, or have them delivered here. I'll be able to have them shipped, but looks like it might be a round-about way.

Good luck.

Thank you Nadia!

Since I haven't heard anything bad about the scents from my local supplier (ACS) I'll give them a try first. My neighbors happen to be my toughest critics so I'll ask them to give it a test. I'll report their opinions (and even mine, fwiw) of the Eucalyptus FOs and EOs when I get them.

I use cb 135 now and am happy no frost no holes no bumps great ht.

Tammy

Tammy, where do you get your CB 135? I've been working with GW 464 since I can just drive over to ACS and not pay for shipping. But the 464 does drive me a little crazy at times.

I am an American living in Australia and I don't believe my nose is refined enough to detect a good, true Eucalyptus scent. My Australian friends are requesting Eucalyptus-scented candles so I want to make some for them.

Are there suppliers here in Australia that have a good Eucalyptus FO? If not, I'll gladly order from the U.S. but seems funny to have to do that. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Susan

I wish I could give you some advice but I still don't know what I'm doing!

I did get my Unity wicks in the mail from my MIL but I haven't done anything with them yet. I'm moving all my candle gear into the guest room so my kitchen doesn't look like a wreck. But I need to rearrange the guest room before I start pouring, lol. It's slowly coming together!

Also, I picked these digital thermometers up at IKEA to keep an eye on the temps. I usually set them about 5-10 degrees cooler than my desired wax temp so they alert me before I get to temp so I can pay closer attention.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80100406

I have one for each of my prestos as well as one for my big commercial melter.

ARGH!!!!! That looks beautiful! And not available at our Western Australia IKEA. I need a bunch of digital thermometers and the cheapest I've seen here is $25. Ouch! At least for now I have two digitals with the alarms like you described. I use them the same way... alert me a few degrees in advance of my desired temp.

I leave C3 in mine and it doesn't seem to harm it. Sometimes it's even smoother when remelted.

I have and do leave wax in my PP all the time.

Thanks ladies! That is so helpful to know.

What can you tell me about the 464? HT? jar adhesion? smooth tops? and did you get your wood wicks yet?

464 is about all I've every worked with and here in the warm Perth weather I've had great adhesion, great tops, HT seems good too. My problem has been with air pockets around the wick that cause it to extinguish. I'll try to start another thread about that. As for the Unity wicks, I still haven't gotten them Fingers crossed I get them today (Friday morning) otherwise I have to wait til Monday

May I ask which pot you went for Jonsie and where did you buy it?

Tribal (below) answered before I did. I got mine at the Good Guys for $70.

Its a sunbeam multi cooker. you can get it at the good guys for about $70 cash normally. I got mine at Casula Nadiap.

Tammy

Thanks Tammy. Did you put a spigot in yours? I was going to head to Bunnings to see if they had anything like what I've seen described here.

I've bought the Aussie version of the Presto Pot and I'm gonna hunt down the spigot and install myself. But before I melt any wax in my new pot, I wanted to know about excess wax left in the pot. For now I'm working with soy (GW464) and my question is, will it be ok if I leave the extra wax to cool off completely in the pot? I like the convenience of being able to melt large amounts of wax in the pot, but I can't always be sure I'll be able to pour all of it at one time. I also don't want to leave my Presto Pot on if I have to leave, etc.

Thanks,

Susan

This is helpful for me as well.

Does this rule of thumb apply to pretty much any product you make, or just tarts?

And does cost calculation include an estimate for labor (assuming I had to hire someone to help me), or is it just materials?

Thanks in advance,

Susan