robertgibbens

I use a postage scale that I purchased from Office Max. It measures in 1/10 oz increments and will go up to 25 lbs. It's not cheap, but at about $100, its still cheaper than scientific types.

Anyone run into their soy container candles cooling back to a frothing consistency after the first few burns? I am using EcoSoya Advanced with HTP wick. Wick is right for the 3 inch tin container (as far as flame height and pool size). First few burns were great. Then about #3 burn it cooled and was all frothy on top!! ?

Which wick centering devices are you referring to? Is BCN Bitter Creek? Sorry for the newbie question. I am trying to find a more efficient method of holding my wick for 8 oz. tins.

Is not the most important purpose of a water jacketed wax melter that pure water can never get above 212 degrees, therefore eliminating the risk that the wax can severly overheat and flash??? Be careful using any kind of oil in place of water. If your not careful the thing will ignite and burn your house down...

Wondering how many of you buy all your scents from say Peak or Candle Science versus those who buy directly from a scent house. Actually, are there really such places as scent houses and is this where the big stores buy their scents? I'm assuming that if their are scent houses it must be like buying directly from IGI. You can do it provided you buy and ungodly amount of product every month. Thanks in advance.

Yup. I think I will be testing down with my wicks. Not as easy testing the balls as it seems you have to let them let burn nearly to the bottom versus straight edged type candles. Good thing it's so much fun making em!!

The mold was a metal ball mold from Peak. Kind of expensive for a metal mold but once you see it you'll understand. It's as heavy as a small cannonball and very sturdy! My plan is to make paraffin (Pillar Blend IGI 4625) and soy (EcoSoya Pillar). This time I used the EcoSoya and it turned out fantastic.

Anyone with experience making ball candles? I am burning my first one and the first wick I used made the wax flow right over the edge. I rewicked with a smaller wick but I'm concerned with the large difference in diameter between the top of the candle (less than 1 inch at the top) and the candle middle (3 inches). Guess I can wait to see what happens but any advice would be appreciated.

If your worried about temperature errors, then I would stay away from infrared spot thermometers. These devices measure (actually they dont measure anything they infer temperature based on wavelength) only the surface of the wax, which if you using a Presto Pot with heat elements on the bottom, will always be the coolest level of the wax. Read up on them. They can give errors from the presence of the person using it. As far as worrying about clipping a thermometer to the Presto Pot..... Since the pot wont be much if any hotter than the wax, it will not change the temp reading at all. In fact, the metal rod type thermometers take an average reading of the entire length of the rod. Since the clip is only attached to the rod over a minute area, it is not likely to change the temp reading.

I think it's good to be paranoid, but it's just too easy to be over paranoid. If a candle maker is negligent for making a candle in a coconut bowl when the user doesn't burn it properly because that bowl was made of a material that could catch fire, then why are all candle makers not negligent for making every candle since their all made with a wax that can flash (and catch fire)? Wax is as flammable a product as wood. And for the record, I have burned dozens of coconut candles till the wick burned out with no fire. Unless your not using any kind of wick tab, the flame will never reach the bottom of the bowl. And it is 100 percent impossible for hot wax to ignite a coconut bowl. Again, even 300 degree wax will not ignite a coconut bowl. Of course the flames shooting from the top of a 300 degree wax will.

Found that lid/cover last week. Thanks.

Wood soaked with wax huh? If wax soaked into wood it would only be a matter of time before the wax leaked out the side. To say that wood doesnt have a flash point is just plain silly. What I find curious about the commission report you sent is that after looking over the first few dozen, I cannot find one wooden candle that was recalled.

Thanks for the link.

Interesting thought on the flammable bowls. Thousands are sold everyday here in the islands. The tourists seem to love them. Of course, the flash point of wood is 572 degrees F. For a candle to get that hot it would have had to reach its flash point. Not sure a judge would deem a candle maker responsible for such a reckless candle burner since the flames shooting out the top of the candle likely lit the house on fire before the bowl actually began to burn. But I appreciate the thoughts as they had not occurred to me.

People, your making this much more difficult than you should. It is not correct to subtract the weight of the FO before calc'ing the percentage. That's just silly. If you want a 10% load in 1 lb (16 oz) of wax its simple. 16*.10 = 1.6 oz. Anyone who believes it should be (16-(16*10))*.1 just doesn't have a very firm grasp on percentages.

Monkey Pod is a type of wooden bowl. Very popular in Hawaii. Plastic lid would ruin the look so that's out. Just have to buy round card stock and punch my own holes.

I am wondering if anyone knows where I can purchase round labels with holes in the center for the wicks. I am looking for the kind that sit directly on the wax. Something I can use for my coconut and monkey pod candles.

I'm jealous folks. Minimum shipping cost to Maui is $2/lb!! I know, I know....

Does anyone know how to make a candle white when the IGI 4630 wax has a light green tinge from the FO??

It is easier to just google soy verus paraffin and look for someone not trying to sell soy candles to get the 411. From the little i've looked, soy is not environmentally friendly, but it is US Farmer friendly and sustainable, meaning the farmer who sells the soy makes money and not the big oil companies. Soy soots just as much as paraffin, but the soy soot is white and therefore not as visible. Part of the processing for soy involves hydrogenation, which means adding hydrogen (hello oil companies). Don't be fooled by those who try and pawn soy off as safer or better for the environment because it isnt. There is a german study out there somewhere which measured the presence of over 200 dangerous chemicals from both paraffin and soy candle burning. Above normal levels of none of the chemicals were found for either soy or paraffin. Do some research...

Had the same problem with Peak. I called them (which is pretty easy by the way), and all was good.

Comfort Blend is indeed soft! What I did to get the stuff out of the bag was to buy some disposable rubber gloves and just hand scoop it out. After trying to use a large measuring cup which did not work too well, I found the hand method pretty easy. Let me know if your able to burn this wax without a chimney of smoke which I got with all the scents at different loads. I switched to 4630 and no smoking at all.

My 4627 is smoking like a mad man!

Help! New to candle making. Attempting to formulate a line of candles using IGI 4627 Comfort Blend with 1.3 oz/lb of tropical type scents from Peak (Plumeria, Sweet Pea, Mango/Papaya, etc.). I am getting pretty heavy smoke using HTP wicks that are sized to burn to the edge of my 8 oz tall tin, coconut bowl (3 inch), and monkey pod bowl (3 inch). Of course the smaller wicks do not burn completely and do not smoke much. I am trimming the wicks to 1/4 inch each time I burn. I am thinking of switching to LX wicks, but since Peak suggests HTP wicks for 4627, I am wondering why they are not working... Maybe a harder wax is in order?