rookie2004

pm'd ya John

When you can get around to it you might want to buy a digital scale. About $40 at wal mart. FO is measured by weight and not volume. You can use an old coffee can for a pour pot, just bend the rim so you have a little V to pour from. If your hubby decides to make your presto pot drill the hole in the side just a hair above the bottom. I drilled one right in the middle on the bottom works great as long you have heat gun, to heat the pipe so the hardened wax flows. NOT RECOMMENDED. On the short term you could use a blow dryer instead of a heat gun. It takes longer and they don't last, see another purchase $30 heat gun at Home Depot. Have fun !!!! HTH John

Suzanne Baby Powder is a strong thrower. One of my best sellers. Mountain Pine is pretty good also, but after trying the Spruce Christmas Tree found that I liked it better. If you haven't ordered yet you might try a sample of that one too. As for the others I have yet to try them. Keep us posted. Keep on Pouring, John

Liz this thread has a few links to some glass container suppliers. http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13052&highlight=jars HTH John

St. Louis, Breanna posted this thread a couple of days back.Maybe this will help http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13266 John

Suzanne, Its looks great, you might want to put it on a bigger plate. Just in case it does blow out the side and you didn't notice right away. In the picture it does look a little off center, but that could the camera angle deceiving how it really looks. Keep on Pouring, John

Welcome to the board! Lot of knowledgable people here who are always willing to give their experience. FREE. First things first do you have notes about how hot you heated the wax to, at what temp did you add color and scent, what scent & how much %. Thiings like that, giving better info on what may be happening. I assume you live in the midwest and with flucuations we have been having in weather may part of the problem. HTH John

Sherry I don't use this type of container, but what is the diameter of the jar you are using. That may help others to offer advice.The mushrooming just seems to be something that is inherent to the wicks being used. Myself I use HTP's and always get the mushroom tip, as long as there not sooting up the candle container you are probably okay. There is another thread that may address some of your questions you have, it sounds as though you did everything right with respects to temps and pouring and mixing. Any way here is the link http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13443 HTH John

Henry don't let that stuff bother you, we've all have ask you for your solid advice and got the help we needed. Rudy got what she came for info, albeit it may or not be what she wanted to here. Vicki may have said it best" no scientific proof ". Just look at the top of the jar if you see black soot, it should have a chimney. Rudy did apoligize, so twit or not, lets give her a break and move on. Keep on Pouring, John

I just wanted to here some of the reasons. Why we all started making soy candles. The reason I started doing soy candles or candles in general was that my son was selling soy candles for this gal. He'd make a couple of dollars a candle and I do have to give her credit. Man they were the best smelling candle we ever bought. The problem was he would place an order and it might be 3- 4 weeks before he would get the order. All the while she required the money up front and people were always asking when their candles will be delivered. SOON I HOPE, would be the stock answer. Well if that wasn't enough of a problem, half the time the order would be wrong or exclude a candle or two at the time of delivery. She would make it right eventually. I don't have the patience for excuses. I figure this isn't brain surgery RIGHT! This can't be this hard RIGHT! So I got one of those starter kit online and I couldn't wait for it to get delivered, OMG 1 week felt like a month. Finally it arrives, I rifle through styrofoam peanuts all over the garage floor read the instructions and I'm off and running. They were some of the god awfulless candles I'd ever seen. Then it was off to the internet that's when I found this board. How lucky was I, now armed with much more needed info ordered more supplies from a better co. than I started with LOL My wife keeps track of what I spend on supplies and I believe at that point it cost me 1k before I made a really good acceptable looking, you know no major flaws, great smelling candle. Now I don't think I could sold it to someone, but I could give it away with pride and confidence it would work just fine. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. What's yours. John

Welcome to the board. You can find just about any answer to a problem. I've been on this board for a little over a year and have always gotten good solid info. Also seeing that you are new here you probably aren't aware there was another board they ran, I never did hear exactly what happened. You can get archived info from it also by using the search option, put this link in your favorites. http://www.candletech.com/cgi-local/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=veggiewax;action=display;num=1122036638 HTH Keep on Pouring, John

If you put it in the freezer in a ziploc bag for little while and hit with a hammer it'll crumble like an ice cube. Then you can pick out the pieces you need. PS Do this on a concrete floor. Don't break the bag. Also you can work out your frustrations. HTH John

Its possible you did pour a lttle too hot. You didn't mention how hot. I don't use that type of wax, but if you recall how hot you probably already poured some at lower temps. Good Luck & Keep on Pouring, John

Let your friends and patrons be your guide. I have more times than not had people compliment me on how good the smell is in their homes when burning one of my candles. I've bought tons of candles that did throw squat, so I think its important to give them a richly scented product that throws well. I usually stay around the 8.5% mark with most. People that buy'em want to smell'em. HTH John

Mei Mei Does your candle look like the one on this link. HTH John http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9521&highlight=444

I use 3% BW in my soy plain 415. Tried 4% once it made a beautiful smooth top, but I needed to wick up to HTP 105 from HTP 104. Naturally I only had a few 105's, so I dropped back to 3%. Not to mention the added expense and benefits didn't out weigh the other. I too notice a different kind of smell with some scents especially the lighter fragrances. We are most likely our biggest critics in search of that perfect candle. HTH JOHN

I get plain 415 from NG. Never have had any problems with the wax. I do wait to pour at about 105 to 100 for a smooth top. Depending on the FO with some you can pour a little warmer, but it's only couple of degrees difference. HTH John

Linda, I'm using the 9oz hex jars, I think there about 3" wide and about 4" tall. How fast are you pouring your jars. I ask that question way back on how fast I should pour a jar and found out I was dumping the wax in too fast. It caused a multitude of problems from air bubbles, sinkholes, rough tops, etc... The others here said it should probably take about 30 seconds to fill my jars. Patience is not my virtue lol. After I slowed down my candle making got much better very fast because I slowed down. I've been reading about Premier wicks. Whose stocking them? Peaks. I'm really having a hard time wicking the 449, HTP 105 too cool 1212 too hot. I took a test candle to work burned it for 5 hrs still had a hang up in the top corner and 1/4 inch melt pool. I noticed you had poor adhesion to the sides, I had that with the 444. The 449 did great in that area. I think that I'll like it once I figure it out how to work with it. HTH Keep on pouring John

Finally had a chance to pour some 449 test candles. Poured 3 test with 449 use NG French Vanilla at 8.5%, 1 drop liquid ivory dye Peaks and 9oz hex jar. Poured 1 @ 160, another 155 and 150. All had smooth tops almost like paraffin and none had the circular surface cracks I experienced with 444 because I probably poured too hot. I really like that I can pour at higher temps with 449. Now to figure out which wick to use. Did a few test burns the first was with HTP 105 melt pool was a little shy of the edge of the jar after 2 1/2 hours, next I dropped in a HTP 1212, flame in my opinion was too high and too hot full melt pool after 1 hour. Next I'll drop back to the HTP 105 exercise a little more patience see what happens. Thats what I did with the 444 and got pretty fair results. Throw was very good cold and hot. Keep on Pouring

Finally had a chance to pour some 444 test candles. Poured 3 test with 444 use NG French Vanilla at 8.5%, 1 drop liquid ivory dye Peaks and 9oz hex jar. Poured 1 @ 160, another 155 and 150. All had smooth tops and all had the dreaded circular surface cracks. What I did notice was the cooler the temp the further out to the edge of the jar the crack was moving. No sinkholes at all. Did a few test burns the first was with HTP 105 melt pool was a little shy of the edge of the jar after 2 hours, next I drop in a HTP 1212, flame in my opinion was too high and too hot full melt pool after 1 1/2 hours. Dropped back to the HTP 105 exercised a little more patience, after about 3 hours the melt pool was wall to wall and about 3/8 inch deep. No hang ups and I didn't notice any unusual residue on the sides of the jar either. Next time I'll pour about 135, 130 and 125 to see what happens, I'm thinking that should do the trick at one of those temps. I only had to wicked up 1 from my normal Plain 415 and HTP 104. To 444 and HTP 105. Throw was very good cold and hot. HTH Keep on Pouring, John

It most likely will tunnel if you short burn your candle. If one does tunnel a bit you can zap it with a heat gun and pour off the excess. A blow dryer will work in a pinch if a friend across town has a problem with tunneling. HTH John

Before I started making candles I was happy when the wick wouldn't drown out. Wasted a lot of money. Now having made candles for friends and family, I get reports that they smell great and fill up the whole house. The fact they burn wall to wall really pleases them and me. I know I'm more critical about others candles now, simply because I've learned what is a good candle. DW and I went to a huge craft show and naturally I had to check out the candles. My wife made the comment their candles had very little cold throw and were filled to different levels in their jars. Sloppy. Some were pretty pricey at other boothes because of the containers they were in little ceramic pots and stuff. I won't spend $25 for a 10 oz candle in a cute little container just to find out it's not worth $1, because it doesn't burn well at all. I haven't seen a wick like that. I wonder if it supposed to split or just a fluke. Maybe someone can chime in here and enlighten us. Keep on Pouring John

Looks like a good scale, being stainless it should be easy to clean up after have spill. I like the numbers having a shield. My scale is plastic and fragrance oil have stain it in a few place. Still works though. John

I use a small paint stir stick. Wal Mart sells them in the craft section, then I just write the scent on the handle. No mixing of others, just for that fragrance and color. I would think after a couple of batches the wood would soak up as much as it could and that would be it. HTH John

I did a little surfing on the web and several sites have them. The stainless fryers are about $185, but just the regular one is about $119. Here's one site with free shipping. http://www.buymasterbuilt.com/p-mn-ct-2/turkey-fryers.html HTH John