JanetsCandles

Colloidal oatmeal is supposed to help retain moisture, Candybee. It's the same stuff used in Aveno brand products. It's supposed to be silky smooth, no exfoliating to it. I think baby oatmeal is pureed first, then heavily dried. It smells different too.

Mostly, I use the chart as a place to start when I'm testing a new wax/FO/container/wick size combination. For example, I used HTP 104 for a palm wax container that has a diameter of around 3 inches. It burned well, but didn't get the melt pool I wanted, so I based my observations from that wick on what needed to be changed, looked at the chart again to determine my next test wick for the setup. I finally settled on HTP 126 for my blend. When I start testing another fragrance oil, depending on how the FO usually reacts in other waxes, (I'm new to Palm) I'll use my observations from the last test set and the chart to get a starting point for my wick. And go from there.

Would you mix the colloidal oatmeal in with the rest of the oils at the start or at trace?

http://www.wicksunlimited.com/atkins_pearce_htp_wicks.php That is the wick size, plus a chart to tell you what all the numbers mean. At the top it gives the values. The first number is how many yards per pound of wick, second is rate of consumption (how quickly your wax should be combusted/used up), third is how high the flame is, last column is melt pool diameter.

I've had problems with our local PO too. I ended up finally switching to another one (not that huge of a deal, since I'm in a larger city) and haven't had as much of an issue. One thing I do to minimize my problems though is pay for postage online, print off the postage thingy and just put it in the drop box. No problems since then. Really, though. Send in a complaint. I've had excellent results with talking to the folks behind the 1800 line. They are usually very helpful.

Is there a percentage you guys suggest? Or is this just another "guess as you go" type thing? (I did the guessing type thing with my last batch with cocoa powder.) I was just trying to figure out if there's a method to the madness. I'm specifically wanting to use some of my sparkle micas in my next batch, but how much do I need to get it to show through? And will the mica hold up well enough in CP?

Are you talking about the cupcake inserts that you stick in the pans? If that's the kind you mean, I found mine at Michael's craft store. I think they carry them at Walmart too. Honestly, I don't know if you'll find any made in America at this point.

There they are cut. Got 22 bars out of this batch. Now to let them cure. I couldn't wait and washed my hands with a small sliver of it. Got bubbles!

How long will it take to discolor? It darkened slightly when I added it to the batch yesterday, went from a very pale yellow to the color in the picture there. I haven't noticed a whole lot of darkening since then, as it was drying.

I end up purchasing mine from General Wax. They have better shipping and pricing overall for me.

It doesn't look like there's any glass separating the gel from the candies. In fact, in the second picture (the one with the wick showing) it looks like one of the candy hearts is poking up just above the gel at the 10:00 position. That worries me. But then again, most of these are produced commercially in China and the like, so I'm not entirely surprised.

Those look awesome. And that's pretty much the same way I worked my batch today, added the colorant at the same time as the FO in the batches. Figured I may have it seize, but had it separated out so if it did, maybe I could control it somehow. It worked. What are you using for colorants in this one? Liquids? Or micas? I love the swirl effect.

Oh, I am so not patient tonight with this! Been about 2 hours now since I poured it into the mold and swirled it. Cold process soap, very first batch. I scented it with Peak's Birthday Cake and used cocoa powder to color the brown swirlies. I know they don't look the greatest (some of you guys do a lot better, but hey, you've had more practice ). Now to wait until I can demold the thing!

*giggle* 7 minutes. You were formatting the answers

Unless you are switching wax types between batches, you can very easily fill your presto pot and then remove the quantities you need over time. One of the best ways I've found to do this is to have a second pouring pot available to pour the wax into, then have your main pouring pot on the scale and slowly pour the wax in. You can control it very easily that way and get it to the quantity you need at a time. The thermostat on your presto pot will keep the wax hovering at the temperature you set it at. It won't continually spike higher. And I would suggest adding your FO and colorant to the wax after you have it measured, that way if you have too much in the pot on accident, you can put it back into the larger batch without worrying about cross contamination. If you are working in a cold environment, your double boiler system will work fine to keep the wax at the correct temperature that way, and since you would be working there anyway, it's not like you'd be leaving it unattended.

I can't tell you where to get stuff in Canada, because I've really got no idea. But, I can answer a bit of what you are asking. I would suggest liquid dyes to work with. They are a bit more accurate and usually easier to find than things like dye flakes. Glaze is often optional in our candles. I've only seen a few people who use it, to be honest, and they don't use it on all of their products either. Depending on what kind of candle you are making, you may never need it at all. Most pillar candles don't need it, for example. "Which wax is better" comes down to what you are using it in: container, pillar, votive, melts... And then it depends entirely upon your formulas too. I did a quick search for you, http://candlemaking.craftgossip.com/canadian-candle-making-suppliers/2011/06/30/ this link has more information about suppliers up in Canada. Some work only with soy, but others work with paraffin as well. You can find more results like this by doing a google search for "candle making supplies Canada" if you'd like. The people you had linked to for wax looked more like a higher amount supplier (you'd be purchasing a pallet of wax or more, which is NOT a good plan for starting out.) For one, it costs a LOT of money to do that, and if you don't have your formulae down yet, you may end up wasting a lot of the wax because they don't accept returns if you don't like the wax. The other companies in the link I provided are more like some of the American suppliers you have seen referred to here on the board. Hope that helps and good luck.

I don't think too many folks think that the American Cancer Society is directly related to the Komen Foundation. And I imagine with the media storm and political fallout that SGKF is getting off of the whole thing currently, the ACS is going to make sure it is known that they are NOT affiliated. That said, you may talk to your contact in the ACS to see if there is anything you could do in the labeling to make the point that you aren't affiliating yourself with the Komen Foundation. They may already be making plans along that line as well. I think, regardless of the politics involved with the SGKF, if something is making you nervous about taking the particular assignment with the ACS, I'd find out more information from them directly before making a final decision in promoting the product line.

Sounds like a plan. I'll have a few extra things sitting around just in case I need them, and I'm actually hoping for needing extra to try out the layered soap

Actually the layered bars sound kinda cool. Is there a problem with letting the excess sit for a while before adding a new layer? Would there be any adhesion issues doing it that way?

I feel rather dense asking this, but I'm new to CP soaping and would rather not screw up the first time around. Anyway, I measured out my box for the mold, multiplied it by .4 like the formula said. Now I went to my soap calculator and plugged in all my values to get my lye mix. Now comes the stupid question: I'm not going to overflow my molds with the extra water added to the lye to make the mix in the first place, am I? No added space needed? I really don't want to have everything set up then find out I've got too much raw soap and have to scramble to find another mold. I'm mainly wondering because the lye calculator tells me I need between 17 and 25 fl oz of water for the lye. Seems to be a big variance there. Excuse the probably obvious question from the newbie please!

Weird enough, I'm getting stuff ready to do my own soaping (thanks for the addiction, guys). In the process of it, I'd been looking for a mold to use, didn't have a shoe box. I went to walmart and found these little drawer organizers. They are almost the same exact size as a bread pan, so going to test this out. Weren't that expensive either. It might be a thought instead. And no metal to worry about.

I'm thinking of experimenting in the direction of using Essential Oils in palm wax, specifically in the Glass Glow Palm. Anybody else work with this setup? I'm trying to get an idea of how much EO I should be using in it so I can see if it's even going to be worth the cost for me right now. Also, would be awesome to know if there were any problems with getting the EO to absorb into the palm. I actually don't expect problems in that department, but hey, you never know.

Good question, and I'm interested as well. I'm doing a test run with HTP 104 in Glass Glow Palm in the next few days. Just poured tonight.

I have, refilled the oil warmer kind, but didn't replace the wick, just refilled my oil jar with reed diffuser combination stuff. The kind I had unscrewed from the actual jar so I could refill. But I'll warn you, I wouldn't resell those under any circumstances, and it's really not the best idea. I was just playing around with it in my own home. Also note, the jar only lasts for a short while, and I haven't found any supplies commercially for this. I never had any smoking problems, but I can seriously see a problem where that could occur. Basically, I wouldn't do it unless you plan to keep very close watch on it the entire time it's in the plug in.

Testing, testing, testing. It takes a decent amount of time to start up a product line because of that, especially when you're new to the craft. Usually the candles have to "cure" before you can do anything with them. Then you have to do multiple tests on all of the candle styles, wick, fragrance, color... all of them will change the results you get on the burn. Add in the idea that you have to test for fragrance throw to get the right level of scent you want and then you have to do the "what if" type tests. Things like power burning. Most of your customers won't follow the safety instructions you give on the candles. Most won't even look at them. So you're not only testing for optimal burn under good conditions, you're also testing to make sure your product isn't going to catch someone's house on fire if they never blow it out and the container busts. Some folks don't have the time to devote to solid testing because they have day jobs when they start the craft, ect. Also, it's a good idea to look into product insurance if you're going to be selling. And I'm sure other members of the board will probably chime in with some stuff I missed here too.