aviator girl

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like the regular version it is!

I have heard and read that they have a pretty good whipped cream. I can't find anything on which one I should order. The regular or the CherMark version. Is one better than the other?

You always make beautiful soap!

It's adorable. I love it! Are you going to be doing any in boy colors? Are you going to sell them on Etsy or some other site? I have a little baby boy and am thinking this would be something I might be interested in having!

I like Lime Fiesta-very cute!

I also like Margaritaville-especially for the bath. Just might not be as original.

Ooo some good ones there Jacqui. It does the same for me, but I was running into a road block. I could just call it Jose though lol.

or Cuervo! Now I am giong to be singing that in my head all day long.

...you are a friend of mine. I like to drink you with a little salt and lime....LOL

You know I don't use your wax so some of my comments might not be as helpful as someone that uses 100% soy.

My wick is mushrooming pretty badly. The candle flame is the perfect size, but the wick mushrooms bad enough to interfere with the flame. I get a FMP and it seems to burn perfectly except for the HUGE mushroom effect... lol..

The mushroom is a frustration for many of us! Some wick types are prone to do this more and some fragrances do this more. I haven't used lx wicks other than to test one candle so I am not as familiar with them. Zinc wicks tend to mushroom a fair amount too.

As far as FMP goes...you don't necessarily have to achieve this on the first burn and in a lot of cases you don't want to achieve this in the first burn. Usually by the 2nd or 3rd burn it catches up. Sometimes if you get a fmp on the first burn the candle is going to be too hot at the bottom half of the container.

I use 6006 which is about 70-80% paraffin and 20-30% soy and then add additional soy.

I'm also getting different results depending on fragrances which I find interesting.. (I'm pretty new and still learning)

I find that heavier fragrances like vanillas and cinnamons tend to mushroom more on me and also tend to need a slightly bigger wick.

I have also found that sometimes when you overwick your candle you get a bigger mushroom. Too much FO can cause more mushrooming as well.

I agree with nursenancy. If we know what size container you are using we might be able to help more.

I'm finding the LX wicks are great for some scents, but would any of you suggest me trying for another brand of wick? Or should I be able to get it right only using LX wicks?

Like I said I don't use 100% soy so this may be incorrect advice I am giving you but I think a CD or CDN wick might be one you could try. I am testing CD wicks right now and actually like them quite a bit. They don't seem to mushroom on me as much however like all wicks they all have certain characteristics. If we could all find the "perfect wick" I think our job would be a lot easier. Unfortunately this is where a lot of testing comes in. I would highly recommend picking up sample packs of wicks you want to try. That way you don't waste a ton of money on wicks that might not work for you.

I think if you use different containers too you could possibly use different types of wicks for different containers.

I was also curious if it would make it a bit easier if I added a little bit of paraffin wax to my soy wax.. like 25 percent or so? Or am I just adding fuel to the fire... LOL Eeegads.. I had no idea it was so complicating to make a great candle...

You know every wax has its advantages and disadvantages.It's more a matter of what's important to you. What characteristics are you looking for out of your was. If you have a supplier that's not too far from you and you don't have to worry about shipping you can always pick up a slab of a couple of different things to play with. This might be the best way to find out what you like the best. It's a little more to buy it by the slab as opposed to the case but in the long run it saves you money by not having cases of wax you don't like sitting around.

There is a lot more to making the "perfect candle" than meets the eye but as long as you keep practicing you'll be fine. You are on the right track. It really just takes some time and trial and error.

Hope this helps some! Good luck!

I am testing different wicks because the mushroom really bothers me too. However my friends that I have give candles too all seem to say they don't mind it at all.

You guys are such enablers! Sounds like they have some yummy ones too!

I didn't get a free tart but I loved a lot of the oils I got and can see them as being one of my new suppliers!

I'll try that. They seem to fall over and get more flimsy that way which is why I did it the other way but I am using better wicking tools to center the wick through so I don't guess it matters as much.

I did not try the key lime pie. I have to say though that they do have great fragrances and seem to perform well!

I have been using ezsoy from BC since it's local although I have wondered if there might be another type I should try.

Is it possible that I am getting the jars too warm and it would be better to pour them at room temperature. I think I'll experiment in the next couple of days and try different things and see if something works better for me.

I originally though it might be my containers as I have been playing with the libbey cubes a lot (and they are pretty thick) but I poured some tureens and they did the same thing.

I ordered a sample of this and finally got around to burning it last night. This one is really nice. I am enjoying it. Thought I would share since it's new.

Okay I have been adding the extra 15% soy to my 6006 the last month or so and really like that in terms of no sink holes and no re-pours. Great tip!

However I am still having issues with wet spots and my impression from people that used this combo was that they didn't get wet spots anymore. I have read the boards and know there a lot of tips. Can anyone that uses this wax combo share with me what you do.

Currently I set my oven temp to 170 (lowest it will go) and leave my jars in there until right before I pour when I take them out and put my wicks in them. I pour around 185. I have heard of leaving them in the oven to cool but how would I do that and still keep the other jars warm and it seems like my wax would slosh around a little when I put it in the oven leaving lines. I don't want that.

Should I just cool in a box and cover? I have done that before I tried this new wax combo. It's actually waming up here and I have my jars inside so I don't think it's overly cool in my house.

I also have a heat gun. Would it be beneficial to hit the jars with this right before I pour.

Just when I though I had it figured out I still am seeing the occasional wet spot!

I currently cool on my counter top on a towl but I might either try putting them on a heating pad(as I saw mentioned here) although I am limited on how many I could do at a time or try the box method again.

I am assuming these are the libbey cubes. FWIW I am testing these right now and find there is a big learning curve with these. I don't think they are the best container to learn how to make a candle out of if it makes you feel better. I started with a round container and branched off from there.

I don't use your way but do use a parasoy blend(6006) with a little extra soy added in. I am finding that I am getting some soot on the little jar (7.5oz) at the very end of the candle. It does pretty good until the bottom. I have tested zincs, low smoke zincs, cd's and htp's. I have some eco's and smaller lx's coming to test as well. So far the htp gave me the least amount of soot on the jar. I am trying to get no soot on the jar though!:rolleyes2 Try a HTP 93 in the 7 oz and see if that is any better for you. For me I found that gave me a little hang up half way down the jar but then cleaned up.

Wonderful job. They both look great but I think those watermelon ones are too cute!

Thank you guys for taking the time to help me. Very nice of you!

This is great informatin and never thought to look to see if they actually put how many pounds of wax can be colored. I figured I would just average what I use since some are obviously going to take more and some are going to take less.

I thought about keeping track of drops. Obviously the most accurate way but not sure how dedicated I could be of keeping up with that for so long- at least until I go through a bottle of dye!

Thanks again. This information really does help!

In calculating my costs to make my candles I am getting stumped on how to calculate the liquid dye cost per candle. Has anyone figured out how many drops are in an oz or bottle? I tried to search this and had no luck.

I don't use much in most of my candles per pound. However there are obviously a few darker colors that I use a little more. I was going to use an average amount of drops to figure cost. Just to plug something in I calculated 0.10 for dye per pound.

Just curious what you guys do/use. The color chips like redi-glow are obviously easier to figure out. Just can't quite figure the liquid amounts!:rolleyes2

I think it comes down to math and figuring out how many drops are in an ounce.

Thanks for the tips! I use 6006 too so it's good to know those worked well for you. Looking forward to trying some new things!

I am pretty sure it was just that it was a fluorescent chip. I tried two different oils with these chips and had the same problem and someone here was nice enough to tell me that the fluorescent chips were the problem.

Just had to update this. Thanks to some help here I figured out what was going wrong. I used a fluorescent dye chip in this and it was clogging the wick.

I'm testing Hot Apple Pie today ... strong cold & hot throw in 6006 at 8% with a 3 day cure. It's a great smelling apple pie ... not too spicy and not too sweet. An awesome blend of spice, apple and pie crust

Soudns good. I have been testing some apple pies. So far I have really enjoyed KY's version.

Still going to order a few samples from them so I'll add this to my cart.

I second Hot Orange Danish. I also like their Orange Vanilla. Those are the only two I have fully been able to test.

The blueberry pomegranate smells good OOB.

Thanks so much and why are we both not sleeping right now??!!! I will order a sample pack of the zincs to test. At this point I will try anything. ECOs are my first choice in this wax but they are still not perfect.

Good question. I was up way too late last night! This forum does this to me. I am a little obssesed lately!

I actually thought the zincs gave me good HT. My biggest complaint again is the mushroom. I found the biggest problem when I had to use a bigger size for a wider container.

I am having a hard time wicking the 7.5 oz libbey cube. I can get the wick size down and happy with the melt it's just producing too much soot at the bottom of the container. So I am trying lots of different wicks. I have tried zincs, wu zincs, cd's, lx and htp's. Haven't tried the eco's though so I think I might try that next. The htp I have in there right now has done really well but I am just now down towards the bottom. I have a feeling it's going to soot as well.

So fwiw it seems like I have seen quite a few people that use this wax happy with either zinc or cd's. I like a lot of the properties of the zinc...the rigidity of the wick and the throw I get. Just don't like that silly mushroom! I did find that if you can use smaller sizes like the 44-32 then I seemed to get less shroom. That probably wouldn't work on your 3 inch wide container though.