JanetsCandles

I've got a client allergic to both soy and palm both. Palm is questionable, especially on where it's from. My understanding of it is that it comes from refined palm oil, and there's deforestation concerns as well. Most of the prejudice against paraffin seems to come from the fact that it is an oil based product. Oil by nature is a natural product itself, but it takes a very long time for it to renew. Soy is supposed to be completely renewable, and in a short time frame, so it's viewed by many folks as the least "evil" of all of the waxes. But I do agree with you. The allergy can be very dangerous for some folks. Beeswax is another biproduct, but can cause some pretty bad allergies as well (I discovered this one personally. Let me say hives are not my idea of fun...) I do wonder on that vein if those of us that use both paraffin and soy in our work, if we should be including the "manufactured in the same facility as soy products" disclaimer. Would there be any chance of cross over?

General Wax company over in California would be close to you, and Peak in Colorado. There is some talk about starting up a candle supply store in NM, but it hasn't gone anywhere yet.

If you find that the burn quality isn't up to what you want, you can always make the melts. I've done that in the past myself. Doglover had other good ones that I don't make myself yet.

It's cheaper for me because I get it local, without additives, and don't have to factor shipping in. That's the only price break I get, otherwise soy is very close in price.

I've been making candles since 2006, first as a hobby, then after moving to Albuquerque as a business. I've got 7 stores I wholesale to currently. I only have 1 that occasionally asks me for palm or soy, but primarily paraffin. It's cheaper, and on molded candles they like the look better. Plus it's a lot more heat resistant than soy seems to be down here. One thing I do is have tested specific candle sizes and types with beeswax (local farm), soy (from Peak up in CO) and Palm. I offer them, but have the understanding that I don't keep a lot of it in stock, because it doesn't move very quickly. So they have the option of ordering it if they want it.

You can prevent that by getting some paper drinking cups. The wax doesn't soak through them if you pour it out into the cups, then it's easy to strip the cup off and then remelt the wax if you need to. The wax doesn't stick to the cup either like that. I'm using the dixie brand 9 oz cups. Fairly economical and saves a lot of hassle.

Eric, if you want to test, but not spend a whole lot of money, you could use a hurricane mold (the outer mold portion) about 5 or so inches wide, 6 inches deep, and then practice on a small star mold for the insert. I know Peak has all of those supplies. If you don't want to spend out the money for the hurricane mold (I'm using them to practice because they don't have a wick hole and have the plating like a dipping vat does at the bottom), you could try to find some of the big soup cans or veggie cans like they'd use at some of the elementary schools or hospitals. You could ask if you could just take the cans after they were used even. I'd suggest an old coffee can, but they're all plastic now. But all of those options would be cheaper than getting the full vat just to practice on.

Hoping someone there would know. But an excellent idea Thanks! (And I feel a bit retarded for not thinking of it myself.)

Oh dear gods, isn't that the frigging truth! $3.99 for a half ounce of scent, and not all that strong either. *shakes head*

I use Hobby Lobby wax strictly because I can't afford to keep my pricing what it is without it. I can't afford to eat the shipping costs either. Price of wax at hobby lobby locally is $17.99 per 10 lbs. (Michael's craft stores is much more expensive, and so worthless as far as I'm concerned.) Peak is the closest wax source to me at the present time. Their base price for one of the waxes that I'd be using from them comes out to be $1.39 per pound, which is awesome. But that price only remains as long as I pick it up from the warehouse. If I were to ship it, it would then go up to a price of $1.88 per pound. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it is. $0.09 per pound can add up to my customers, and then will lose me sales. It is more cost effective to get the cheaper wax, test and use additives. That said, if I go across the area for a reason (for example, I have to take my children to Louisiana to see their dad this coming month), I do make an effort to stop at a supplier and pick the wax up at the cheaper costs. I still end up testing, but it's even more cost effective that way for me. And I know full well that so many of the candle makers can't do the trips like that. And frankly it sucks.

I use Hobby Lobby wax as well and can't get it to take more than 1/2 ounce by itself. I'd suggest adding steric or vybar. Mine puddled as well, but not quite like what you're talking about. The vybar 103 solved it for me. But as a warning, I'd find an alternate supplier for the vybar if that's what you are going for. Hobby Lobby charges something like $5.00 for a 4 ounce package, other vendors do $5.00 for a full 16 ounces.

Silicone shouldn't react to lamp oil, at least not if you use the standard stuff. You'd have to wait until the silicone was kicked off of course. But silicone won't stick to wax as a general rule (someone else may have found differently, but that's my experience). Polycarbonate should in theory handle the stuff, but no idea if the silicone would stick. Just be aware that you'll need a way to keep the flame away from the sides of the tube (and wax of course). I know they make some sort of glass tube that holds the wicks for some of the oil lamp wicks, so it keeps it out of the oil. I just haven't found a source for it yet. Keep in mind, any special applications or shapes may require you to contract someone for making the mold for the plastic or glass, and that's expensive. If you have a local glass blower, you might ask if there is something that they could suggest. The one I have near me has made quite a few specialized shapes from glass in the past, but I haven't asked for something like this. Good luck on it though!

I've been looking for one as well. I went to San Diego recently and saw a dipping tank over in Toby's Candle shop in Old Town there. It looked to be custom made. Was a recessed heating area, covered vats for each color and all housed in a round countertop looking base. I'm rather thinking that I'll probably be working on making my own vat sooner or later. The main concern with any of it is the heating source. I know some places use immersion heaters, but it seems that the candlefun version is an open air tank, which will evaporate over time (and probably much quicker than a closed system would). The jacketing system might be the most tedious to do. You'd have to have access to an arc welder of some sort to be able to weld the stainless steel. But that's about as far as I've thought on the whole thing. It's something I'll have to work up toward, and need a lot more space than I currently have available.

I have the same shipping problems as you do David. Shipping out, I am growing, but still don't have enough to get the discount I need for my customers. I sent out 2 50 LB boxes via UPS a week or so ago, and we paid $60 or so dollars for it. (Or I should say my customer paid that). But it's frustrating. They apparently count what you ship in on your own account and what you ship out as well, so I suppose I could run the rest though my UPS account to get the totals up there, but doing it that way would probably kill the shipping totals even worse. I'd absolutely love to get large enough to order direct from IGI...

You are exactly right, Scented. And I'm having shipping concerns as well. There are no suppliers in New Mexico. Nearest supplier to me is Peak over in Denver. And the horrible thing is that it's actually cheaper for me to catch a flight, rent a Uhaul and load up with wax and other supplies to bring it back home than it is for me to ship the wax. And I'm seriously considering it at this point.

I expected that, yes. Petroleum base. It just shocked me with how high it went so suddenly.

We make 99% of our own molds here. I use Smooth-On for my supplies. A couple things you might want to know, some of the polyurethanes and silicones need a vacuum chamber to reduce the bubbles inside the mold. Another thing we've discovered, with the polyurethane or the silicone, if the candle size is too big, they will get a texture on them, much like the apple picture from up above. It also happens if your mold material is too thick around the outside of the candles. We're reducing it by putting them into the fridge immediately after they've been poured. The molds though are perfect for getting a mottled pillar without refrigerating. Pot time is the amount of time you have from the point of mixing the catalyst into the base and the time you have to pour it for your mold, if that makes sense. Basically you could substitute "working time" instead of pot time. Cure time is how long it takes to set up. Cure times can vary depending on how much humidity is around and also how warm the room is. Another thing to look for, especially from Smooth-On. They use something called a "shore" in the name of the molding materials. For example, Miadrainel's OOMOO 25 is going to be a softer material than one with a number of 30. To be sure, ask the people you are purchasing from. Another thing to watch for when making your own molds. You can't have major undercuts (for example, stacked up balls like you'd find in a snowman, how the candle would have a V shape into the side) and expect to pull it out without cutting the mold. It's a LOT of trial and error. I've got a slight advantage here. My fiancee is a former plastics engineer, so used a lot of the same things we do now. I'm by no means an expert into it, but I'll share the knowledge that I can!

Ok, so I just got home from a trip and found out that the local wax prices jumped about 20%. Which is frustrating at best. I am looking for out of state providers now that are cheaper, but the shipping is killing the pricing as well. So I ask, is this a local jump, or is everyone feeling it? It's 134 F melt point straight paraffin.

http://www.generalwax.com/glass-container-jars--lids---gift-boxes/glass-containers---jars/cate_104/p___Z905500.html Those are what some of my store call a "50 hour container" (Which by the way, thank you, I've been looking for another supplier of these). I work with General Wax for a few of my other jars, and the dimensions you are seeing are the case size, not the jar size. So it's for 12 of the glasses. I have some of the containers, but from a different supplier, so my dimensions may be a bit different, but they are about 5 inches tall and 2 ish inches in diameter. The last set I had were from over in China and they were slightly shorter, probably about 4 inches, but I don't have one handy to measure. But at the very least, call their outlet store, give them the product number and you can find out the dimensions that way. The bottom does taper on those glasses. It comes down to be about 1.75 inches at the very bottom inside the glass. So that might help you on planning out wicks as well.

They're sometimes called dust covers. I've found a plastic type that sits on the top of a jar, much like a lid on a butter tub would fit over at Bitter Creek Candle Supply, but I can't track down a paper one. I am wondering if they have another name other than dust cover. One thought is that if you can't find anyone here that knows what they are called, you might bring one of the lids to a box manufacturer. I know my local Supply One will make things like that, specialized labeling, ect, but you do have to purchase a minimum amount usually. I'm betting though that the ones you're seeing at Walmart are coming from overseas, so I'm not sure if we've got an American based supplier for them.