jsanger

Leave it to me to be the oddball I don't know what it is about the zincs but I always come back to them. For the exception of my straight parrafin containers which work best with cds my other waxes just seem to perform better with that cooler burn. As far as multiple wicking, this is the only jar that I am intentionally trying to triple, i normally will do anything short of standing on my head to get my jars single wicked. Most of my local competition focuses on more of the country look, which I like a lot as well, but there is definately a market here for more contemporary candles as well. I just want to have one choice available for those customers that are looking for something a little more unique/classy. That being said, I am glad the rest of my candles are more simple...LOL. BTW, I get most of my wicks from peaks. Horsescents- good thing I didn't hold my breath, I would have surely died of asphyxia by now

My illusive candle scents are all from A Cheerful Giver. They are Aunt Kooks Apple Cider, Juicy Apple, Praline Caramel Sticky Buns (my fav. of all time) and their Banana Nut Bread. Any suggestions would be great

Ok, I'm getting bummed out. Tried my 44Z this morning and they were a disaster. Within an hour I had a lot of soot floating around and by an hour and a half they too were drowning. I poured 3 candles last night without wicks, 1 plain, 1 with bw, and 1 with coconut oil. I am confident I can double or single wick this jar but I really like the look and the symmetric burn of the 3. I have rrds in now, not holding my breath though.

Does anyone have a recommendation between all of these? I have several candles that I love that I have had no luck in finding an equivalent fo for. I am a very little fish though so cant afford to spend big bucks or buy a ton at a time.

Where do you think I should start? Maybe 3 44-24s?

I haven't tried 2 44's yet with this jar but have tested 2 cd8's. The 8's worked alright but not great. I really like the look of the triple wick in this jar but its proving to be a real pain in the butt. I wonder if using reg. Zincs vs the wu's would make a difference? The main problem is even with the smaller sized wicks, triple wicking creates a fmp so quickly that the smaller wicks cannot handle. That's why it would be great if I could up the Mp a bit so that it would take longer for that fmp to form. Do you have any experience with beeswax or coconut oil in either of these two waxes?

Thanks for replying horsescents. I have tried a couple sizes of the Wu series and the 230s worked pretty well but burned too hot if I didn't continously stay on top of the wicks. So I tried the 230s and they were nice for the first hour but then weak flame that eventually drowned along with soot city. Zincs are my favorite so I really wish I could get them to work. Any ideas as to what to add that might up the melt point a bit?

I have never tried htp wicks, do you guys think they tend to burn slightly hotter or cooler than the cds?

I am experimenting with a new straight sided jar that is 3 10/16 " in diameter with 6006, 4630, and a combo of both. I like the look of the slatkins candles that are triple wicked but in my attempts to triple wick either they are way too hot or perfect at first and then drown out. Is there anything I can add that will slow down my burn? The lx 14s looked so promising but toward the end of every test burn there was just too much wax for them to handle (only about 1/2" Mp) and they drown. Any bigger wicks and the glass gets way too hot and by 3 hours the Mp is 3/4" deep. I have read about beeswax and coconut oil but just was wondering what you all thought?

I am testing lx wicks for the first time and was wondering if there was a certain direction I should place them when double or triple wicking a jar. They all seem to want to curl in one direction and I'm not sure if I should position the "curl" toward the jar, toward the middle or maybe it doesn't matter. Also, when triple wicking is there more air currents created in the jar the closer the wicks are placed together? I have made a couple, and it seems that the closer they are the more they dance. TIA:)

Thanks everyone, I will check them all out

Thanks for advice, I see what you are saying about the preblends. I really do like both of them on there own but just wanted to try and improve certain aspects a little. I wish I had more time (and patience) to learn more about all of the additives and other waxes so I could take a straight wax and create my "perfect" wax, maybe someday:). I use the 6006 for most fo's and applications but some just do better with the 4630 so for now I guess i'll just continue using both. Rjdaines - I finally settled on 2 #8 cd wicks for my 4" containers after I couldn't single wick it to my complete satisfaction with my favorite zincs. In other containers though I use the Wu series of zincs with great results. Please keep us posted on your test results from your experiments with the 4630

I use a few different waxes that each have qualities that I really like. My favorites are 4630 and 6006. I love the appearance of the 6006 and the ht is also very good now that I have it wicked correctly but the ct is not quite where I want it. I have found that the 4630 also has a very good ht but a much better ct than the 6006, and all things created equal seems to burn a little longer. So this past week I tried my hand at blending the two 50/50 to see if I could get the best of both worlds but got a surprising result. The ct didn't improve, but was about the same as the 6006 by itself, the burn was consistent with my other tests so that didn't change, but my ht is now worse than each of them separate. Has anyone had this happen to them? Not sure what to make of this.

Do any of you have problems getting these out of the cookie cutters once you have baked them? I really like them but don't like the weird sort of edges that are left. I have tried cooking them for less and more time, using cooking spray and no matter what I do I just can't get them to come out with smooth edges. Snipping the edges does work but it's time consuming and they then look flat and cut vs shiny and round if that makes any sense.

Good morning everyone! I am looking to purchase a few new molds for both candles and melts and was wondering if any of you guys had any favorite suppliers. I am specifically looking for a jelly bean mold right now. I love the purple molds from candles and supplies (esp. the pudka pumpkins) that make tiny, 3-d melts - not the ones that are completely flat on one side. TIA:)

Ravens- I got mine from bcn but they are discontinuing them so all they have left are sampler packs. As soon as I run out I guess I will have to order from wicks unlimited too so I hope they don't have a minimum. Just thought I would add that I poured another tin tonight and realized that mine are only the four ounce ones so not sure if you would need to go up just one size but I have had really good luck with them in every fragrance I have tried so far. Also, if you are looking for that wick that would fall between a 51 an 60 the wu wicks might be the ticket. They have quite a few sizes and I do believe on wu website there is a comparison chart that gives you the the reg. Vs Wu equivalents. The lady that I consulted with about them also said they are "suppose" to burn a little hotter than the regular zincs bit now sure if that's true or not.

I use 6006 as well and have had pretty good sucesss using the Wu230z wick in the same tins. Hth:)

Just wanted to give an update on my experiments with my tart waxes. I tried several different combos over the past couple weeks and I think I have found a combo that I am happy with. I really love the hot and cold throw that I get from the ky parasoy (good scent throw for an average of12-24 hours- some more, only a few less) but I am not a fan of the rippled tops at all. Blending in 25% of the 6098 has not only eliminated the ugly tops it has improved the overall burn quality. It hasn't seemed to make them last longer but I think the ht is stronger longer of that makes any sense. It has given a richness to the ht that I really like as well. At least for now I am very happy

I've only tried the one from ky and I really like it, it throws great hot and cold. Don't have anything to compare it to though. Hth

Thanks Jeannie, I know what thread you're talking about and it does have a lot of good info in it . The thing I was most curious about was regarding how to get the best out of my 6098. I searched through as many past threads and posts regarding this wax in particular but there's just not much that I could find. I did make up several tart combos last night and even though I put them downstairs to cure I couldn't help but melt just one this afternoon and the ht was amazing. The true test though, will be to see how long that lasts. Thanks goodness testing is fun or this hobby would be torture

I think I might try adding the fo around 185 next time to see if that helps. I would definitely try adding a harder wax to this as it is pretty soft. I have on hand 4794 (which I am not loving), the ky votive and tart wax and the ky pillar blend. Do you think either one of those would work well? How long are you getting really good ht from your 50/50 blend if you don't mind me asking?

Thank you for this link as well, it sounds very interesting and kind of fun

After reading through all of the posts I decided to try some new waxes for my tarts as I have not been happy with the longevity of my current blend. One of the waxes I am testing is the 6098 victory blend from c&s. I've only tested a couple scents so far (fruity loops and jack frost) but haven't got much more than 6-8 hours of good throw from either of them. I followed the directions I got from c&s which was to heat to 200 (seemed a little high to me) added the dye and fo, stirred for a couple of minutes then poured @ 140 into clamshells. It seems if I pour any of my waxes much higher than this in the clamshells I get a plastic smell in the ct. Anyone have any suggestions of tips? I am also testing ky parasoy blend which I am having the best results from so far and have some tcs wax coming. Hopefully one of these three (or a combination of them) will give me the ht as well as the longevity it seems most of you are able to achieve. :smiley2: TIA

Thank you for the link, that sounds just like what I'm looking for

I just designed my labels using Microsoft Word so as of now they have been pretty simple but I guess I could import our picture and use it that way. I was hoping to make a more creative "label", one that kind of looks like a picture frame with a snapshot in it if that makes sense. I am not familiar with water slide decal paper, is it easy to work with? I love making these candles because each scent represents a special memory we have together. The first one I made for my sister was one I mixed to make a bananas foster smell - our favorite dessert we always get when we go out to eat. The name of everyone of them is just "friendship" regardless of the smell, it makes it sooo much fun watching their faces when they smell them for the first time as they are trying to guess what it is. It's amazing how so many memories are tied to our sense of smell.