snewbie

The pattern difference is caused by using the heat gun. Ditch it with palm wax. Poke 1-3 holes with a thin metal skewer close to the wick nearly all the way to the bottom when the wax has formed a significant crust, but before it is much more than half cooled. This is my general palm wax method. I am just a newbie, but Ive been eating and breathing palm wax for 4 months now. 2 pours and you are done usually once you get the timing down. That glassglow is awesome. I gotta try and get some.

My ambient temps are around 18C. I wear a sweater in the house. Saves elec. I wish I could just follow Tops advice of a single pour, but I just cant stand the idea with pillars. Containers I wouldnt worry about, but with pillars I'm afraid the voids could contribute to a blow-out. Maybe cut a good sized hole in the top of the box or cool in the oven? Cooling at higher ambient temp should work too.

For me, the heat gun with the palm is a no-go. It worked fine with soy. I think we will all find our best method for ourselves.

Ive found the heat gun to not be my friend with palm wax. Try just doing a final pour 2-3 mm above the last level. Nice looking wax.

I sort of split the difference and get perfect looking results now(still need to test wicks). 3"X6" pillars. I pour 1-2 mm from the top into a hot mold at 200F, then cover with a cardboard box for 30-50min, then I poke 1 or 2 holes(there should already be one hole in the crust) in the crust and pour 1-2mm above the level of the wax already there. Youll have to figure out how soon to do the second pour since you dont want a nasty ring of uncrystalized wax on the bottom of your pillar. If you pour too soon, you may as well have not done it since youll end up with a hole at the bottom(obvious cavitation) in the end.

From a PM answering the same question. Posted by topofmurrayhill Allow the candle to cool completely, then slice into the wax and cut the wick to the desired length with a craft knife. The bottom isn't ruined because it's not finished yet. Paraffin and tortoise shell palm pillars will require a second pour. Feather and starburst palm pillars can get a bit of hot wax to plug the hole. The final step is to use a hot surface and a perpendicular guide to flatten and level the bottom of the pillar. That provides the finished appearance, as well as a stable base and a place to affix a warning label if needed.

Considering the store it came from, anything is possible. What do you all think otherwise? Is there anything else I can do to be as natural as possible without taking the fun out of it? Has anyone used essential oils? Which ones did and did not work? I'll add another one: Rose Geranium/Palm - Weak.

Its a fairly strong smelling soft yellow beeswax, which is nice, but it doesnt combine well with some scents. I added a very small amount of leftover ylang/amber(from candlewic) palm wax to some and it smells awesome.

I guess I should add my experience with the reach dyes from just by nature. I havent noticed any effect of dye on burn quality, but that is only testing palm votives. I use 1 drop per ounce of wax for full strength. The blue and yellow are awesome. The red is a little bit rosey pink. The orange is a little bit peach. The green and magenta are too weak to bother with. I tried mixing orange and red, and a little bit of red (5 drops to 20 orange drops)overpowered the orange. I mixed an ok blue violet by adding 1 drop blue to 15-20 drops magenta.

Apparently phathalates are an additive used to raise the flash point in many FOs for candles. At least, that's what I heard. I do need to do a lot more research on it. Thanks. All of candlewics scents are phthalate free. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate I didnt like the combo of my particular sticky smelly beeswax with the lavender I'm using. My wife thought it smelled weird too. Palm has basically no smell.

Ya I know, define natural, right? I searched the topic, and the most recent halfway decent thread was this one. http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65328&highlight=natural+candles Anyways, I'm not interested in bantar about semantics and what the definition of "is" is. I'm just looking for some recent experiences from those of us that try to make the most "natural" candle possible. I'm not trying to take the fun out of it, but am also trying to be "green". I'll start by sharing. Scents Essential oils that work in Feather palm wax: Lavender(a bit weak), lemongrass(strong), and peppermint(medium-strong). 1oz EO per 2lbs wax. Phathalate free fragrance oils. Bad combo:beeswax and lavender EO. Wax Bees, palm grown in an environmentally sustainable manner. Soy(preferably from non-gmo/"organic") Wicks Anything but zinc-cored. Dyes Reach compliant from Just by Nature.

Ya, thanks. Ive come to the conclusion that starburst is only good as a 50/50 mixture in 3" pillars not even votives. Aesthetically, I just dont like starburst. The mystery wax was because the imbeciles at swans candles couldnt even tell me what the wax was that was misslabeled, "crystal brite"(11lb bags). I only discovered its real identity because I switched distributers and bought a case of star and a case of feather. For me it will be feather pillars and votives and 50/50 pillars. I'll wait and use CSN wicks because time and money are of the essence,and there's no point in trying #2 SB. The #1 is still burning slowly with no blowout. It is hurricaning, but I think it will brake the top of the shell in the next burn or 2.

Well, I ve figured out that my mystery wax is feather, so I can comment now on my test. 3"x6" pillar, rose, pink, square braid #1. No blowout after 8 3-4hr burns. Was doing well, but the last 2 burns, the flame is very small. None of the shell has burned but it is close. I call it a failure. Maybe a #2 squarebraid would work, but I'm just waiting on my order of CSN wicks. Oh and I think the 50/50 featherburst is a better starburst than the 100% starburst.

The difference between the 2/0, 1/0, 1, 2 is gradual, so I thought it would be a good choice with a 3" pillar.

Is there a reason why the square braid wicks havent been tried?

I went to their shop on Saturday and asked for pillar palm wax. They have a record of my earlier purchases and gave me the last 5lbs of the PB wax marked Crystal Brite Palm Wax PB. They told me over the phone that it was missmarked. It was really "PF 507". During the very vauge conversation I remeber "CB" being mentioned too. Anyways This new wax which I bought a case of on Monday is in a big tarp material bag which reads: Palm Wax 5801 A Net Wt: 25kg Lot No: LSB/10-2446 Made in Malaysia I asked them about the earlier wax(awesome), and I couldnt get any real strait answer. I have switched to an IGI distributer, so I'll have access to the feather and star palm PB blends as well as Beeswax. Thankfully, I havent spent a bunch of time testing.on this earlier very awesome mystery blend( I was just getting started), so i'll just start over. Too bad cause this first run with squarebraid #1, 3" (mild pink, mild rose)pillar is looking good after 4-3 hr burns. The new stuff wont even come out of the 3" mold. I used Pam before pouring and tried freezing. I poured at 200F in a heated mold. The old wax had minor but insignificant trouble coming out. The votives just arent as beautiful on the sides like the mystery wax is. I'm hoarding the rest of the mystery wax to myself. I'll post pics and see if you can ID when I get a new Camera. These are the same people that say that the only container palm wax is 100% palm stearic acid.

The stupid shop that secretly switched palm pillar waxes on me told me that Id get better results if I pour at 220F. Later when that didnt work, they said pour at 250F. Isnt that really high? Well other than votives, I cant even get it out of my molds that the old stuff came right out of. The wax is CB palm wax 5801 PB

Edit: apparently, the wax that Swans was selling up until this last monday was misslabled(I only bought it in 11lb bags). The new wax is crystal brite 5801 PB. It sucks compared to the mystery old wax. Swan's candles has lost my business for #1 missrepresenting a product, #2 for switching waxes without saying anything, and #3 for not even being willing or able to tell me what exactly the old mystery palm wax was. The only answer I could get was "PF 507". If that means anything to anybody, please let me know, because it is a fantastic wax, and this new stuff is only half as good. Thats not even counting the fact that one of them is half asleep all the time and another one is very rude. I found another distributer who clearly and correctly tells me EXACTLY what wax they are selling, so I think I'll try them.

Sorry to bring up an old thread, Id just thought Id let the OP know(since I cant PM) that the new palm wax from swans is not the same as the old CB palm wax. It has about half of the complexity of crystal structure as the old stuff except for the top exposed to air(in the case of votives). Pillars wont be half as pretty as the old stuff, so hoard what you have.

Thanks for the help. Im used to things either being or not being. With candles I'm gathering "what works for you, may not work for me". That just goes against my nature. Thanks again.

I havent had a problem with repouring since I dont wait until the candles have cooled enough to pull away from the mold. The only easy thing in this whole candle business for me has been those beeswax and palm votives. I feel like I could make a 1000 per day if I had enough molds and space!!! Edit; I am using crystal brite Palm wax PB poured at 195F in unheated votive molds cooled in a 65F room.

Ive been reading those threads. The so called TPP stearic acid I bought was $15.00 for 10 lbs, so i had no trouble using it in big 1-2lb candles.

Well I just called 2 more shops. 1 shop said that they(the first shop) are lying. That the stearic acid is probably not even triple pressed palm wax. He also said that I should use HTP wicks for palm. The other shop said ya it is palm wax and that I dont need any special additive. So basically the only people that say I need an additive for the wick is on the internet. No-one else says that I should use stearic acid as a pure candle wax except the first shop. Why not? Most of the people I have talked to seem to only kinda know what they are talking about. I also just found out that wax has gone up in price. Is this how the candle making business is? A bunch of different people telling you completely different usually opposite info. This is crazy. I think Im gonna just make a few candles for myself and be done with it.

I just talked to the people at the shop, and they had no idea what you are talking about in regards to wicks needing special treatment when used in acid waxes. Ive read quite abit, but Ive never seen anyone talk about using pure stearic acid in candles.

I just started candle making this year so forgive my ignorance. Have any of you ever used pure triple pressed palm stearic acid in container candles? A shop near me said that's what people use for palm container candles. I tried some, and the crystals are quite striking, but no matter what the wick size, it only tunnels about the size of a silver dollar. (wick size has noticable, but minimal effect). It makes some neat caverns if you triple wick, but I doubt there is any way to get anything wider than church glass to do a complete burn. Is all palm container wax like that?