rjdaines

As promised here is a photo, I calculate about 190 grams of wax left. If the wicks had burned longer maybe the side would have been cleaner too (GW 464 wax). Left is double wicked CD 5 and right is double wicked CD6.

I am testing 464 wax with Lonestar CD wicks and while I have been pleased with the results, there is certainly a lot of wax left over when the wick burn out. I assume the these have fairly high necks on the tabs. A great safety feature but wasteful of the wax. Should I look for a source of pre-tabbed CD wick with lower necks or just use these? How do customers react to a fair amount of unusable wax at the end of a burn? I will post a picture when container cools. Just did some looking, the Lonestar pre-tabbed CD wicks have a 10 mm neck and I've seen other places selling 6 mm and 3 mm. I assume that the longer neck holds the wick straighter at the end of the burn but the residual wax seems excessive.

This is not art, this is merely trying to make money off of name recognition and using another companies labels and trade marked material. As far as going "green", glass is very recyclable, repurposing it might appear to be a green use but is it really the intent here?

Too funny, this thread brought me my morning smile. I suppose if one were in a survival situation knowing that twisted or braided TP can be used as a wick might be useful if one had a fuel source.

I've got some old T-shirts I could tear into strips, I won't use the underarm sections...

I may have asked this in another thread but a FAQ about starting a home candle business might be worth having on this site. I've started looking at what one might need and so far I have identified: insurance, license from the Town, County and State in which I live, all for tax purposes I suppose. Selling through craft shows might require more paperwork as well as selling over the Internet but I don't know. As far as paraffin not throwing scent well, there a many kinds on the market, I have 4 on hand and have time to work with one so far. For me, my first task was wicking it properly, so testing and more testing, additives, more testing and once I get one that burns to my satisfaction I can work on the fragrance part. What i can say so far is that cold throw seems great at 3% but that is just with the Hobby Lobby low oil wax. I imagine that burning a 3% candle won't produce as much hot throw as a 6% candle but my suppositions have been proven wrong before in this craft. Also, 1 once of fragrance from one shop may not the the same strength as 1 ounce from another or formulation for that matter. So even making a "simple" vanilla candle requires the testing of wax, wicks, dye amounts and fragrance. All effect the final product and it's qualities.

This forum always brings up points I've never considered, for example. If one sells candles in glass containers (let's say apothecary jars) and customers return the jars after the wax is gone, how many times would you consider reusing the jars so long as they were free of cracks and chips? I'm thinking I am going to hearing "Never" a lot. How about lids? They are less recyclable than the jars because of plastic parts and are not used in the burning. As far as the OP and the printed bottles, nice idea but if the company does not approve or license of the use if it's logo or trade marker for that purpose, it could mean trouble down the road.

I am working with 464 right now and while I am still a newbie at this I would say that cure time does not affect wick burn and the scent throw in 48 hr cured 464 seems pretty darn good to me. Check out my 464 testing thread for me details. As of today I am leaning towards the CD wicks but I am not tried ECOs. Good Luck

Best thing to do is get those sample packs of wicks and try'em all. As for me, LX in paraffin and HTP and CD in soy. I must try the Eco's some time.

Here is the latest test results but now trying CD wicks as suggested by members of this forum. CD6 and CD5 double wicks are used in 4" containers with GW464 wax. Two drops of liquid color are used along with 8% FO. Cure time is 48hrs, first burn time was 3 hrs. CD5 had a ROC of 0.22 oz/hr (combined wicks) and the CD6 had a ROC of 0.25. So on a per wick basis, lower than the published ROCs. FMP was achieved in 3 hrs with the CD5 at ~1/4" in depth and the CD6 at ~1/2" in depth. See attached photo. Test burns will continue but the CD5 looks like a winner so far. These wicks came from Lonestar and the CD5s were short retabs which work fine in the 8 oz containers but I will need longer ones for the 16 oz jars. Anyone know of a source for 6" pretabbed CD5 wicks? Photo shows CD6 left and CD5 right.

Wonder if it is pH effect.

I'm using the dye from either Peaks or Candle Science, on average I use 2 drops per pound, 3 if i want a dark color but in my short experience, less color is better as to how the candle burns. If it is a test candle, why not leaves as is. Or, use it a color "chips", this works great for me if I want less strong colors, some times even a drop of liquid color is too much.

yummmmm...........donuts (insert drooling face icon) I received a delivery a few days ago too, no donuts either.

That is so cool, I may actually try that in the near future. Looks like I could use a candle for a mold as there are not high temps involved. THANKS

Yes, I could do that and probably will but the idea was that I would have spare candles to put in the jars when needed rather than buying a lot of spare jars.

I have some Libby Status jars that I want to use outside in sconces but my 3" pillars don't fit. I have seen, in the stores, pillars that are 2.8 inches but I have not seen any molds of that size. Does anyone know of a source? Thanks

If you have a Hobby Lobby near you they sell basic paraffin slabs (10 pounds) for about $15. It has a melting point of 133-135 and can hold about 3% fragrance, much more than that and it sweats out.

Indeed hard to answer the question without me info but LX wicks and soy weren't a good match up for me. I never got a mushroom like that but close. HTP wicks solved the mushrooming for me is soy but I am now going to try the CD wicks. @Stella - great website link, very helpful

Still waiting for those CD wicks to arrive but in the mean time I have been burning the those test candles in the above pictures. One observation, neither candle has made a melt pool as deep as the original burn regardless of burn time. Both are "struggling" to melt completely to the edges and the depth averages about 1/4". I am guessing the is has to do with the shape of the container. Both candles are in the same location and the room temp is the same. These things defy logic at times. :smiley2:

It's your choice of course but as for me, I just bought 10 lbs of palm wax. Why? If the objective is to have that "hurricane" effect than palm may do it better than soy and it will glow. I have yet to see a PB soy pillar that I made glow.

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Insurance? Oh dear. In the future I would like sell my candles and have a small business. Is there a FAQ somewhere on this site describing some of the key features needed to start a candle business?

@Brown5052, been there are done that too. If I want a creamier paraffin candle I throw in about 20% to 25% soy (either Ecosoya PB or CD Advanced). At that ratio I can use my paraffin wicks rather than the soy ones. Not sure I will buy any more PB once it is gone.

Once I get my soy containers settled (wicked) I may go back and look a soy pillars but I am not thrilled with them. I think I'd rather go with either Palm or paraffin which gives a better glow. At least with the soy pillars that I made, the wick just disappears into the wax and I can't even tell if it is burning. Maybe that is all my fault and I will see but for the sensual experience, soy pillars are not for me.

I have to agree with Stella though I originally thought that one could deduce at least some elements about the composition of a store-bought candle (in my case the ones for Bath & Body Works). After having experimented with my own (wax and wicks) I realize that my ideal candle is not there's (BBW). There are some aspects of their candle I would like to emulate (virtually no hang-up, scent throw) but some others (wick mushrooms) that I would not. In the end I want it to be "my" candle (for better or worse) and not a clone of someone elses.