moonshine

Chefmom- I put the vented lid and the dancing stopped... removed it and it began again

Hi Chefmom- I have the smelly jelly lids here- I will put one on and see if that stops mine... I lit 2 of my 4 ounce tins with the same exact EVERYTHING (came from the same batch as my jars) with a HTP 83 wick and a CDN 8 wick and they are as still and solid as can be- I do not get this! They have only been burning for an hour so it will be interesting to see what happens with them at the half way mark but the opening on the tins is as wide as it is deep, no tapering in well I am off to pour more testers and see what happens next.... Thanks for the reply

Believe me...I am feeling very STUPID right now! I have been moving 6 candles all over the house all morning and same thing- dancing flames but no sooting or popping or mushroom forming and the container is not hot at all and the melt pool is good and scent throw awesome.... they are calmer in the bedrooms and bathrooms- my kitchen and living room are wide open cathredal ceilings and windows everywhere and it has been very windy here this past week. The ones I made before adding beeswax are doing the same thing with CD and HTP wicks as opposed to the CDN I switched over to I was reading thru the forum a couple of days ago because I am getting ready to dive into more testing of 415 and I came across a post about dancing flames and I looked over at mine and saw that it was dancing... I have never noticed this before and this will be my 3rd winter making candles in this jar with 464 wax. Another handmade candle in this same jar I bought over the summer is doing the same thing- only worse -and so I went around and lit all my slatkin candles I have here and they flicker and sputter as well although not as bad BUT they have not hit the half way point either Now the candles I made that I lit for the first time are steady perfect.... it seems half way into the jar they start a jig- I am feeling extremely stupid because I am not 100% sure they havent always done this that I just overlooked it somehow or didnt really notice it because it wasnt there before- I went thru all my notes and have not come across anything I documented about this. wickless is sounding better and better....

With the CDN's I do not get mushrooming...but there are some tiny carbon balls that fall off into the wax as it burns The CD 10 in the past (I have not really used them since the CDN's) would mushroom a little and the CD 12's, in more cases than not, always got way to hot towards the end of the burn and huge mushrooms except on some heavy FO's like Smoke and Odor and vanilla but that was before adding beeswax also. My thoughts behind adding the beeswax from what I read about it was to help slow the burn down a little- alot of the time no matter the wick- CD- CDN- HTP- LX and Cotton, my testests would start to burn straight down and extinguish itself before it got a chance to start burning "out", my concern adding the beeswax was that it would burn to hot but at 2% it actually worked the opposite... in adding the beeswax the testers did start to burn "out" rather than straight down and in cases where the CD 10 would burn to hot at the end the CDN 10 was perfect- except now that I am noticing the dancing flame (sigh) I found a couple more here with CD 10's and no beeswax that are several months old that I am going to light up and see what happens to them- I cant believe I never really noticed this before I will pour a CD 12 and a CDN 12 today with the following to see what happens -straight 464- nothing added -with 2% beeswax NO FO -with 6.5% FO and NO beeswax -with 6.5% FO AND beeswax so frustrated

Correct- I fill to where the first thread starts- 7.9 ounces total combination of wax- fo- and beeswax if I use it I will give that a shot in the morning I seem to be having the opposite- steady to start and more and more dancing towards the end Thank you

464 with 2% beeswax and 7% or 8% FO depending and CDN 10 and 12 wicks (I have tried and tried to get 6% to throw and I have not suceeded once with this wax) I lit one with NO beeswax I made a couple months ago with same wax, CD10 wick and same thing- a jig starts going under way past the threads I just lit a square mason I bought over the summer from a company that comes to sell at our town festival to see what it does- I can tell this is either ezsoy or 415 with no obvious additives because the appearance is ugly and its labeled 100% soy which I know doesnt mean anything these days... and theirs is dancing like crazy already to- appears to possibly be a htp wick- its curling pretty good and forming a pretty good mushroom already to- I lit this one half hour ago and only burned once before that in the summer time- theirs is actually more jumping... at least mine is doing more of the hula! LOL

I know dancing of the flame is undesirable in a candle but is it pretty normal for this to happen no matter the wick in this jar because of the narrower opening? Everything else has been working great for me in this jar but the flame does dance around once it hits where it starts to widen out... I never really noticed it before (for the past couple of years!!) but the last couple of nights the new ones I light to test start off beautiful and steady- then once past the last thread they start to do a jig... this is the only jar I have ever used before (besides tins) and I am going to cry if this means something is really wrong! Do I really have no clue about any of this for the past 3 years and have to start all over?*faint*

I use them for votives- I would end up with tons of wickless votives if I didnt! I would get distracted and forget about wicking them before the congeal. The only problem I dont like with them is not always getting perfect centers...I have to go thru mine one day, I have a feeling they are bent a little from tapping down on the cement to loosen them from the pin Another thing for me is I have to use the flat bottom ones- the concave ALWAYS crack my votives in half when removing the pin I do not make pillars- I tried last year to do a heart and it was a disaster to wick...but how would you use pins for these? are not the bottom of the molds supposed to be the top of the candle- or do I have that wrong??

I use soy and in melts the following few I have tried so far I like... have not gotten around to actual candle in them yet Cypress- awesome scent Havanna Nights- very different feminine scent Eucalyptus- strongest true I have tried so far Hypnotic Tonka Bean- Awesome scent Sweet Orange Chili Pepper- spicy good scent Hope that helps some.... I will be testing candles in the cypress, eucalyptus and sweet orange chili pepper for sure- eventually! LOL

Here is a couple pictures of what I received from Candlemakers- 1 pic is of USA and 1 of Palm Stearic Acid- the USA does not look like their website at all but the palm does Stella- does yours look like this? It is cream up against the palm and in the close up you can see small granules... Imc- does this look like yours? I hope this is right before I dive into it tomorrow:shocked2:

crap- there is where I just got mine from... have not used it yet but that is not good to hear!

I use both in 464 and they both do great with no major wicking issues Oakmoss is stronger than teakwood but I love the teakwood- it is very different and throws great just more subtle

LOL- dont you LOVE that one?? It gets rid of EVERYTHING- my outdoor cat dropped a litter of kittens in my garage last March and that was stinky...5 kittens and mama using the litter - I put a melt warmer out there with that and you never knew there was a single cat...until they started climbing your legs!

Will you for me...LOL I love this scent and I imagine it would be fabulous in soap! I have not gone there...yet -but maybe some simple "melt and pour" in the future

Sandalwood red currant in the kitchen Lilac in the bedroom And for the 5th time testing cracklin birch again downstairs:undecided

That is a wow...in soy I have never had anyone say they smell pound cake in it- just cereal...

My sniffer detects absolutely no butter note (and I hate most all food smells)...its like sticking your nose in a freshly opend bag of fruit loops or fruity pebbles (they smell similar to me)- cannot believe its named lemon pound cake

Kimeroo- Peaks lemon pound cake is fruit loops or fruity pepples dead on... it is strong and lasts a long time (in soy anyway)- I use the name fruit loops:cheesy2:

My brain cannot even begin to comprehend how to begin something like this... They are beautiful and my curiousity even more in the "palm" world! Now how about for containers...does this crystalizing palm mixed with soy make for a pretty candle or is this strictly for pillars? off to read on palm

This is very intresting... For me the HTP 105 burns like the CD 10 in soy (464) an HTP 83 would die in my candle- I use the 83 in 4 ounce tins. A CD 5 in votives is way too hot for me and a HTP 41 dies out I guess alot of has to do with all the variables in what wax, FO, etc. you use Thanks for posting this- I am going to try the CD 12 and HTP 93 in a heavy FO I use and see what I get- my guess is the 93 wont make it to a full melt pool

I don't know about palm but for unique Paris twilight i Breakfast at Tiffany's and cranberry apple marmalade Is amazing Love their black canyon- beach daisy-spiced pear-tall grass-sage and lemongrass-downy-Amish harvest-Lemon pound cake -Peppermint-red Clove -Tahitian village -winter wonderland and red currant!

Like Button You stated in a post that it amazes you how everyone is so set in their ways- they are no different than you- you seem very set in yours and unwilling to HEAR the advice and comments of what others are trying to give you. You posted the question and need to be able to take the good the bad and the ugly in doing so- its how we learn. I am not being mean or rude in saying this...I am simply just saying I commend you for "thinking outside the box" and coming up with a different unique product you dont see much of out there and all of us candle makers can run into major problems at any given time no matter the extent of our testing- that is why I love this forum- to get viewpoints from many different people and many levels of experience I really do hope you figure it out and wish I had something to offer you but I have no experience in this at all.

Let us know how yours does... I'm curious and is it a woodworks brand?

funny you say that... I have a woodworks wood wick in fireside In my basement that is about 4 years old now- maybe more (long before I started making candles) and when I lit this for the first time within minutes the flame was so high and the crackling very loud I told my kids to get the marshmallows we were moving this bonfire outside! And that is a huge brand name I know ZERO about wood wicks but I do have some here that I never got around to testing- I do still occasionally light this one and every time it's a smoke bomb and huge flame thrower-the label says to keep trimmed to a 1/8th of a inch but I still get same results I personally will never buy them again but may try to make and test myself one day for personal use- I hope you find the answers to what could of gone wrong there and welcome!

1. Average batch size -3 lbs 2. Average number of fragrances on hand at any one time -50 plus 3. What is your typical fragrance oil purchase quantity - per oil? -1 lb 4. What is your typical order quantity for wax? -1-3 cases depending on how many jars vs. melts I make (my melts are a blend of 2 different waxes aside from my jars) 5. What is your typical order quantity for glass? -4 cases 6. How long to do you keep wax (assuming you don't change) before you no longer use it? -forever- never not used it 7. What do you consider the shelf life of fragrance oil? -not really sure- I have samples that are 2 1/2 years old and still smell fine OOB- so unless it smells funky I would use them so I guess saying that, I try to buy what I will use fairly quickly BUT I am a FO addict and have many to choose from that could be anywhere from 1 month to almost 3 years old. 8. Is the shelf life of FO a factor in determining the quantity of oil you purchase? no at this point I have not thought about it all- I never have looked for that information when purchasing an FO- I guess I just assumed they all would last at LEAST a year