Henryk

That would be great - I'm hoping to get some of those two myself. Really appreciate your postings. My wicking is right in line with Chris' - but right now I'm using candlewic's BW - which seems to be REALLY cleaned - there is not a spec of anything in it - the yellow or white. Like the idea of organic BW though ...

Perfect! Thanks Top.

I use that same MP of wax in the 8oz the 51-32-18C burns really well in most everything I've tried at 6 to 9 % - so, I would think 44-28-18C would be a good place to start. You have a 1.5" height difference though so make sure you burn it more than just a few times. Mine take a couple burns to get rid of the hangup - but the jar stays just warm (not hot) even down into the jar and has a good MP. HTH

Has anyone come across the lowest meltpoint GB Soy anywhere? TIA Henryk

Tony - do you have to wick the buckwheat wax any higher than the other two? TIA.

A selling point I normally see for cotton wicks is that it IS unbleached - but you are ignoring that cotton is one of the most pesticide-consuming products there is AFAIK. You may want to try the hemp core wicks. Hemp is grown with little to NO pesticides but it does have your unbleached cotton braiding. They burn hot and centered - nice wicks - but there are not many sizes of them, but for natural waxes there are enough IMO. KY sells good cottons, BCN sells the Hemps. Both work really well with soy (I've also used the Hemps in BW) and are primed.

Just dropping in to say THANK YOU everyone for the nice comments!

No, but you can just buy the whitest beeswax you find thats still 100% beeswax. The whitest I've come across is from candlewic. Comes in a type of cross between pellet and flakes - very easy to work with.

I've used the additive at http://www.aromahaven.com/wax.html and it does work up to a point. Don't use more than a couple % though as more seems to make the wax pull away from glass more. It does really minimize that post-burn ring you see, however, if you do dark soy candles, it didn't stop that ring in mine - you'll still see it - and you'll see it even when using the dye chips or flakes instead of liquids - it doesn't matter. This additive however, also does smooth out your tops more after the wax sets up if that is important to you.

In my experience I would recommend BW alone. The times I tried experimenting by blending it with pillar soy in varying percentages the pillars sooted, though neither wax alone produced this problem. BW is commonly blended with paraffin and I've heard of MUCH better results that way. YMMV of course.

Stuff like this is why I hate even coming to look in the gallery. Jealous!

I wanted to make some electric candles that looked like ice for xmas (you can see the sort of delay I'm on). I wanted them to look kind of real - not too smooth or anything. I think I sort of got the look I wanted. 160F melt point and added paraflint. The ones on the sides were done with an aqua tint fading to white - but stupid me - I did it the wrong way (should have been reversed) - oh well, they look nice anyway, and no one noticed (they were stocking-stuffers). The stands were just plain white frosted plates that matched really well (I don't know why they look yellowish here - can't win!). (Janet at CG for the mold).

I've tried the swan creek ones and they are convenient as some melts I've seen are WAY too big and too thick to even break with your hands. To be honest, the best throw in melters have been the ones I've made myself using good FOs and just plain ky soy pillar wax. To be fair, don't you think that because they are so small and out in the air (swan creek ones are anyway), that the scent sort of evaporates out of them? I'm new at melts, but I've bought two melters just to use for the holidays, and the one with the 40 watt bulb definitely throws better than the 25 watt bulb one I have with the same wax. Maybe that would help too ?

OK, sorry - my bad Apologies. (This one looked kinda sooty to me - just from the pic). I think if I was selling, I would probably go for a more self-trimming wick - like an LX (even though no wick is completely self trimming). As you said Erin - you never know how people are going to burn candles. Since I trim mine every few hours the cottons are doing good. (I've been using a plain soy - KY115 lately). I've not used any citrus FOs except Orange Chiffon and Lemon Pound Cake from KY, those are more of bakery scents though. I do read a lot that if citrus FOs smell like fuel when they burn to use less of the FO to stop that. Just thought I'd mention it.

PLEASE wick down Also, and don't take this the wrong way, but if you are getting that much soot on the jars with only 4 hour burns something is wrong. (I assume you are doing the standard 1/4" wick trims before each burn?) I'm talking about that pic of the lone hex jar with the flame extinguished with the wax level 50% down. From your many pics I'm guessing that the sooting starts with the wick as it gets lower into the jar. The flame starts getting crazy because your jar is hotter at that point, and there is less oxygen for it. You are compounding the situation by using the hex jars with a smaller neck than the rest of the diameter of the jar. They are nice jars, but harder to wick. I'm curious as to how your flowerpot container is doing - that should be more forgiving. I would say, that unless you HAVE to use these jars, get containers with straight sides - no necks, no tapers. You should have a much more uniform burn from start to finish. I think it would help to have jars of this type when first starting candlemaking. I've just been doing it for three years or so now, but even now, I rarely will use jars that don't have straight sides I'm not real familiar with eco wicks, but you have a large melt pool down at the bottom of that one pic and it seems like the whole wick is getting dangerously close to the glass. Perhaps try a stiffer wick - a cotton, small hemp, or even a zinc (in that jar) would be what I would consider if a smaller eco still gives you that problem in your wax/jar/fo combo. I've never had an LX do that either - even at the bottom of the jars. Wick down would be the first thing to do. Final things - you have to tell your grandparents to trim the wicks also. You can make a near perfect candle, but if its not burned right forget it. Also, no drafts of any kind - ceiling fan, windows etc. Again, you can make a candle that throws hardly any soot, but walk by it and cause a draft and you'll probably see the flame dance and throw soot - this is for ANY wax - soy or not. HTH

Hi, If I am interpreting your pictures correctly, and I have no idea how long you burned that one hex candle, it does look like the wick is too large for that size jar/wax/scent combo. I can tell where your melt pool was, and IMO, its pretty deep - and right at the point below is where your post-burn frost line appears. That will be more noticeable in dark-colored candles. Plus, if you do really long burns, or if your wick is too hot for the system, that glass and wax gets really hot - and that causes that frost line to appear heavier. Also, everything I've read, the hex jars hold heat more so that others because of the smaller opening on the neck. You look like you have really have progressed very fast though. I would definitely wick down (You shouldn't have "a really high flame shooting from it after about two hours"). The mushrooming - candles, and soy a bit more so, mushrooms, nothing can be done about that. However, testing and choosing the correct wick size and type, and not over loading with FO will REALLY help with mushrooming. HTH

Doesn't it always seem to go that way? If you do get some, the LX16s may work really well in your BW votives BTW.

I've been using plain old cottons now mostly - but also LX. Both have centered melt pools which is really important to me.

Treat a votive like a pillar candle that TURNS INTO a container candle. So, you want it to clean the glass as much as possible without the MP getting too deep and the glass too hot. In soy I usually use an LX14, I've not used the HPTs, but the 1212 is way too big for a votive. If you are worried about the hangup on one side and/or its getting to hot on the other side - you may want to try a wick that gives a more centered MP - such as an LX - or a cotton (on the ones you are not using FO, you should get very little mushrooming). Here's a Martha Stewart tip for you. I do it all the time and it works perfectly. After you are done with the votive - stick it in the freezer until it gets really cold. Any left-over wax - paraffin or soy - should pop right out. It even works with beeswax - up to a point. It won't work on a "films" of waxes but after you let it warm up, just use paper towels. HTH!

Not Ilona, but I thought I would post my results with KY115 and KYPillar. Made 2 contianers both with 9% FO. One had 9% KYPillar. Both each had 2 red diamonds - pretty dark red for only 6 ounces of wax! I had the opposite result. I did not add BW to either one. The one with the added pillar wax frosted worse than the plain soy! I was surprised that the 115 had only a little frost on top - both before and after burning - I expected MUCH worse for a plain soy (I am new to the 115). So, at least with my waxes, I won't be adding the pillar. Just goes to show how different waxes perform.

Good idea Ilona, I'm going to try it with my container and pillar soys and see what happens - and I'lll throw a pile of red dye in it to really see what happens! Thanks!

6028 is my fav soy/para free-standing blend - pic at http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7046

A good trick: Add a bit of a GOOD brown. It deepens the color without making it look dingy like black usually does. (JMO). Adding brown will give you those classic deep "prim" type colors.

If that is all it is - frosting - than no, its just aesthetic. It is possible, with bad air or pour temps, certain FOs, or solvents in some liquid dyes to cause the wax not to set up correctly, which is not good esp. with soy - if you see this - you'll know the difference - it looks rather like flaking all the way deep through the candle - even under the surface. HTH

Sounds like you want shrinking. Yes, a paraffin like 1343 will shrink, as will others unless its specifically blended to shrink less or hardly none at all. (Like many container paraffin blends I believe - most of the ones I've tried did not really need much if any "top off"). What you describe for the KY votive/pillar wax is usual also. I personally think its good you still stuck and poked relief holes - just for insurance. For pillars and votives with this wax you may get a sort of dip - I've tried playing around with pour temps with this and still get it. HTH