TallTayl

1 hour ago, Forrest said:

I think I might have to accept some unmelted wax to get the wicks far enough apart to keep the MP from getting too deep, but I would be OK with that. I don’t see how I can get a FMP without it being too hot on the inside or outside. Right now I’m using a WI-725, which is too big, but the WI-720 is too small. My other problem is the expense of experimenting with these big containers, the cost of wax and FO adds up quickly. But I’ll try a couple of double wick candles and see if I can make it work.

 

I generally don’t wick with the intention of a FMP. The full melt pool is a limit, not a goal.  I love when those waxes gently weep Fresh wax down into a smaller melt pool like the candles I grew up with.  They lasted for much longer than modern candles, and smelled 100% stronger and more true for the life of the candle.  
 

let’s all work together to dispel the myth that you need a fast FMP for a wonderful candle. 

In cases like that I play with wick positioning. Sometimes  you just need a little extra width of flame in wider jars. Placing the wicks closer sometimes does the trick. I’ve gone as close as overlapping wick tabs on occasion with a lot of luck. 
 

when wicks are positioned wide  the glass can often heat too quickly for many waxes. You know what happens next: the soft wax forms a deeper than needed melt pool and the balance goes off like an overloaded washing machine load of heavy towels. 
 

I’m not familiar with your wax. But that’s how I would approach it. Every wax has its own container dimension sweet spot. Trying to make it work in other sizes can be tricky. 4”-4.5” wide containers are a very cumbersome size to conquer for some reason. 
 

can’t wait to hear how your candle turns out! 

I would test burn a couple not installed in the jar and see if the dimple on the neck of the tab from the crimp machine gives some indication. 
 

in my jars the Premier 700 series curl isn’t as pronounced as cd or CDN so I don’t sweat them so much in my jars/waxes.
 

a twist can work well in some waxes and in some cases.  Soft waxes, though, will not hold the tension of the twist well at all and can untwist.  Two things I learned from twisting tests:

1) you have to be careful to twist up the whole length of the wick.  The weakest point of a wick assembly  is at the point where the wick is crimped in the tab neck. Holding the wick yarn above the metal tab helps evenly twist the length of the wick. Twisting while the wick is secured in the jar puts most of the torsion of the twist at the weak spot, not evenly up the length of the wick.  the twist wants to form there at the easiest spot to give,  and stay there.  That weak point at the crimp is where any leaning will begin in soft waxes. Cd and CDN wicks are annoying with the leaning from the sheer weight of the wick in soft waxes. 
 

2) Twisting cracks the prime wax, so as wax forms a melt pool during a burn the wick material can soften and flop more without the rigidity of the more solid prime wax. I’ve seen some wicks without a good prime buckle under their own weight. 

I DO twist unprimed bleached square in palm and beeswax.  Both of those waxes are super rigid even during a burn, so the twist remains firm from top to bottom in the finished candle. 

6 hours ago, Hal said:

Need to make 5 batches of 12 8oz jars.

The large presto pot is perfect for this batch size.  I don’t use anything fancy (like those after market spouts).  A ladle, pour pot and spatula do the job just fine.

presto pots are responsive and far superior to double boiler types of heaters for many reasons.  

3 hours ago, CandleLab PDX said:

I live within long driving distance from www.letitshineusa.com. Order over the phone and pick it up from the warehouse in Kent Washington. Stop by Swans Candles on the way home for wick and scent.

Swans has some proprietary paraffin blends I will be trying soon. Let it Shine sells IGI waxes same as most companies. Cargill and IGI seem to be the biggest wax manufacturers.

 

i suspect most of the fragrances come from one or two manufacturers and are then packaged and resold by the candle companies. maybe someone here knows different 

Nice that you are close enough for pick up! Lucky!

as for fragrances, there are several big compounding labs (agilex, symrise, etc) and numerous small across the country. After a while you will be able to smell the diluent in th fragrance and figure out where it came from.  Brambleberry, for instance, has fragrances a lab that smell very sweet.  AromaHaven usually has a syrupy smell. 

What batch size are you considering? That may help guide the recommendations.

If you saved at least an ounce a fragrance lab can try to duplicate it. Sometimes you get close enough, sometimes not.
 

A while back I asked Brambleberry if they would special order a keg of a scent for me.  They declined, but maybe their policies have changed?

2 hours ago, Noob82 said:

Got in touch with another company and they said HTP or premier. I will test cdn and premier next. If I don't like them I'll order htp

Once upon a time, HTP and CD were compared and found nearly identical.  There’s a sizing comparison chart on this forum somewhere I could search for.  During the supply shortages of 2020-2021-2022 HTP had a change of yarn  supply that altered the burn of some sizes.  Not sure where that ended up with wicks being made now 🤷🏻‍♀️
 

given the choice between all of them, premier 700 series  have been the most versatile in my veg waxes. 

1 hour ago, Kt444 said:

Can you still use them if there are brown spots? Is it just not as good aesthetically or is it bad to use?

if it's just a little oxidation they should be just fine. 

@CandleCocoon is the one I think might be able to help.  They are in WI also, and use BW waxes.

I’ll call  to make sure they see this. 🤞🏻

Sounds like a browser issue. I’ve been trying on phone, iPad and pc with no weirdness so far. 

57 minutes ago, Milk Machine said:

I did end up buying the ASTM F2417-17 Fire Safety for Candles. There is nothing about container surface temperatures.   I'm so disappointed. I spent the $57 for peace of mind and to cover myself. It provides no guidelines on this subject. No 140° no 170° no 175°.  I don't know where other people get these figures from but it is not from that document. So if you are considering buying it to get that official guideline don't bother.  All the other information contained I have read here or other candle blogs. Big waste of money

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought it too. Worth the $ to me though for testing. If something goes wrong with a candle in the wild, at least I can prove I test correctly and that I chose proper containers! Not combustible materials of any sort. And I know how to test tea light holders. Lots of good info in there. 
 

i have a bone to pick with those who profess to the 175*F temp though. The quote came from somewhere, and like a questionable opinion blog post, was copied and pasted far and wide as fact.
 

Where I do see temps to consider is the UL testing documents I have posted about before. 125*f for metal and 150-145* for glass or ceramic depending on the test version used. Google around for those PDF results. 

The difference could be as simple as heat loss from the proportionally larger surface of the bigger jar compared to the smaller. There’s not enough thermal mass in the big one to offset the much larger surface area on top, causing the solidifying of the surface.  The inside shrinks as it cools and has no place to go but to create a hole.

got distracted before adding to try a little tent, like a paper towel or box inverted over the top to see if it helps. Small drafts over the top cool the surface down very quickly. The tent often helps prevent that, or at least slow it down enough to not be as big of an issue.

5 minutes ago, Ernie said:

Ok, I just discovered something. I also poured a 6046 in the same 16 oz mason jar and it did exactly the same thing. Jars were both heated in oven, house temp right now is 76.  Didn't get any of the sink holes in an 8 oz jar, only the 16oz.

 

Is that little hanging bit on the top center attached to the wick holder? It’s hard to see on my small screen. 

the wick holding device may be altering how the larger mass of wax cools just enough to cause new issues. 

I feel so relieved… I met my cut off date and time for Christmas delivery and am ready to put my feet up and rest a bit before clearing the “crafermath” that is my work shop.  Round the clock production and shipping is exhausting, but the kind words from pleased customers has been worth it all. 
 

onward to a new and different 2023. 

1 hour ago, Ernie said:

I recently purchased the Calwax version of this and for me I have to do a double pour. It sinks really bad in a 16oz mason jar. Seems like 6046 is a better wax than this supposed luxury wax.

 

Sounds like the batch contains too much of the binder. Bummer. His is not the first time or the first supplier that flubbed a wax lot. I’m soooooo tired of inconsistencies. Soooo irked b the wide range of “acceptable” batches released to unsuspecting consumers. 

Please use caution when putting flammable or combustible  materials on any candle as decoration. People WILL light them as-is despite any stickers or warning labels and you as the maker will easily be held liable for the fire damages. 

Welcome back. 😊

rustic Escentuals calls it Diamond Dust / Dazzle Dust or something like that. (If this is similar to what you remember)

https://www.rusticescentuals.com/candle-making-supplies/glitter-diamonds-dust.aspx

That will definitely help short term.   temp fluctuation during the life of the product will eventually cause grains to form.  It’s the nature of the beast with butters high in stearic. 

4 hours ago, DCC said:

I've been testing different variables for a couple days now. Surprisingly, when I used heavier fragrance loads, the swirls are less prominent. When I compared 10%, 15%, and 20% fragrance loads in the lab (we commonly use 10-15% for production), the higher fragrance loads had less swirl. The worst of this effect was with no fragrance.

 

One of the things I tested was topping off the candle vs going through a remelt process. The top off did have some color variation on top but nowhere near that swirl effect.

 

Next, I'm going to see the difference between barely remelted vs overly remelted. Update tomorrow!

The uneven surface is likely due to the components and additives in your wax blend.  Every additive in commercial wax has a purpose driven by consumer demand (better glass adhesion, less shrink, higher fragrance load, etc). Each of those additives has different melt and drop temps., and they coalesce at different rates (causing uneven surfaces as they stretch and shrink during cooling).  
 

Adding that much fragrance does several things, such as diluting the additives, or wetting the wax crystals for longer in the candle.  As the candle ages sometimes those additives continue to shrink along with the recrustallization of the wax crystals the,mselves and cause tiny, inconspicuous voids where fragrance begins to seep and pool. 
 

Process improvement potential: often heating the wax to reach the melt point of the component with the highest melt temp, followed by thorough and complete blending as the wax cools improves the finish.  
 

adding more fo% is a viscous cycle.  As fragrance retailers stretch the dollar with more and different diluents to keep the price point profitable, the wax  manufacturers are tasked with making normal wax hold more of those diluents. I have moved away from most FO retailers for that reason.  It should not take 10%-15% to have a wonderful candle that burns safely, cleanly and throws hard.  I may pay more per lb for my FO custom from the lab than most are willing to pay from a retailer, but I use a fraction of the % and end up with better candles (and soap, shampoo, melts, etc)..  

There used to be a miracle product for controlling stearic grains called ButterEz. There may be new offsets on the market by now. 

On 12/13/2022 at 10:48 AM, NETS Candles said:

Hi everyone. I'm Trace a new candle maker. Your expertise would help me in every way from those who are here to share their knowledge with those that need it most. 

 

Ok, here is my question. What wax is use for making wax melts?

How to calculate the wax I need for my candles before I make and waste any leftover as I always have 2-3 Oz's left over after pouring my jars.  If I'm making 4- 8 oz jars, I times the 4x8=32 and I still have too much left over like I mentioned earlier. Please,help thank you a lot.

this may help figure out how to measure/calculate how much wax you need. 

Pastry bags 😊

Any wax can be used as a melt. Packaging becomes the tricky issue.

Anyone remember the squeeze melt gel wax? 

Hi!

An awful lot depends on the consistency of your product as you package it.

If it is a thinnish liquid, a funnel (especially with a "stopper" like a chocolate or pancake funnel) helps. 

If it needs a squish, a pastry bag (or ziploc bag with the corner cut out).