Chefmom

Are you sure it's not HTP'S?? I like them, especially since they seem to trim themselves, but I have had the same issues using HTPs in my votives. They do great, you turn around and they drown out. I did use some 93s and 104s in jelly jars in my first big rounds of testing, but they lost out to the LXs (6006 parasoy) I also tried 104, 105, and 126 in my early paraffin blend pillars, and I liked the tunnel with the glow but I didn't think customers would go for such a large amount of wasted wax, so again I moved on. The biggest thing I remember about using them with my votives was I needed to cut the wick on the long side for the first burn. Then the flame was big enough in the beginning to do its job, however I couldn't control a customer trimming a wick to the 1/4-inch before burning, so I gave up on them. I don't wait long to try out my 6006 with LX wicks, maybe the HTP need a longer cure. Wicks will be the death of us all !!!

Even green isn't just "one" green for the Holidays. You have traditional Christmas Green which is close to a primary green, but you also have Evergreen and Bayberry Green as well. It depends on the scent and surrounding decor. I do love the Yule colors myself, I don't go with white, but a just off white ivory with a pale Colonial/Wedgwood Blue. In my Baker side of Life I do a lot of traditional cakes in Poinsettia Red and Holly Green decorations, but I have more Solstice customers as well who like the blues and silvers, especially with snowflake decorations. Very wintery, not just "Christmas" only. But......lately you are seeing a different palette in Holiday decorations, glittery sages and earthy deep purples, deep down there isn't a lot you can't do depending on your scents etc.

I usually give my 6006 parasoy and my paraffin blended pillars 24 hours to cure before testing. I know I've read a lot about soy curing longer, but paraffin doesn't seem to need it like soy does.

I've been in this for close to a year and a half and I haven't even touched soy container wax, just the pillar blend. I have (now) close to $2 000 invested and I have been testing every day for MONTHS. I think you just want us to hand over all our testing notes so that you don't have to do the tests for yourself and the info is out there, but you will need to do a lot of reading to find it. AND even with someones elses working recipe you still have to test because your system may yield a different product. Even elevation and relative humidity can alter candles and so testing for yourself is very important. The one thing I have picked up about using soy and palm is cure time, so even if you work 'round the clock you still need to have your products made a month in advance for cure time, that's one of the main reason's I work with paraffin and parasoys, among other things. Good Luck! This "hobby" can quickly take over your life.

OOooooo, I have an old bike with two very usable wheels!! That's a great idea!! I have a concrete patio that I want to set up a turkey fryer with the deep stock pot and for hanging I have a heavy duty wooden clothes dryer that is 5 feet tall and 4 feet long, but I really like the bike tire idea. I'm hoping to be able to rig up something so I can sit. I have feet issues and so I can only stand in one place for a short time. My husband's uniforms for work come on metal hangers so I have a good stack of heavy wire to make dipping hooks I just have to find his heavy duty wire cutters. I spent an hour looking through his garage with no luck. I have my own tools but I don't have anything heavy enough for that thick wire. <<deep sigh>> I just have to wait until he gets home on Friday!! Or just go to Lowes and buy my own!!

Thanks guys! I've done some measuring and calculating with "Finger-Math" and yea, 10 pounds looks like the magic number. I'm even thinking of taking an old stock pot and making a massive double boiler so I can heat up enough wax. I only have 3 or 4 pounds of beeswax on hand, so I guess my next purchase is a case of beeswax so I can get started. ................aaaahhhhh the art of the process........

So.....my brand new dipping vat has arrived, and it took roughly 36 seconds to cut my finger in the process of getting it out of the sea of peanuts!!!! I have been playing with short tapers made in a wide mouth quart canning jar and they are burning quite well. I made 100% beeswax and a beeswax/paraffin blend. I decided in a moment of giddy insanity to make hand dipped tapers for Christmas presents this year and purchased the 15-inch vat. Next is a turkey fryer so I can do this whole set up on my back patio instead of trying to dip with a giant pot on my stove, while standing on a step stool of course!!! However, I'm searching here there and everywhere for the answer to a simple question. Just how much wax do I need to fill that pup up? I want to do 10-inch classic tapers so it will need to be pretty full and I will need several extra pounds to keep the wax level up. I have looked online and see generic instructions, and I have a book that states to just use two pounds of wax, fill the vat with hot water and float the wax on top. However, I have ANOTHER book that says NOT to do hand dipped this way. <<deep sigh>> Anyone have a guess?? And in case anyone else gets the bright idea to fill a wide mouth quart jar with wax and play with dipped tapers DO NOT allow the wax to set up inside the jar........it takes about 2 days of patient melting in water on a very low temperature to get the wax out and not break the jar.

I have an aromatherapy book, but I haven't really used it. Many of the "recipes" called for sandalwood and once I saw the price of sandalwood E.O. I just about fell over..........

One day I was lost on youtube. You know what I mean, you look up one specific video to watch and then just start clicking the ones that catch your eye, but in a few hours you always end up watching cat videos........There is a joke there somewhere. Anyway, I don't remember who made the video, but she was making liquid laundry soap in a crock pot and it was a very good video. She made the soap with potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide so that it would be a final liquid soap instead of grating solid soap and cooking it. I believe from start to finish it was several days in the crock pot, stirring and adding water etc. I guess my point is that you may want to surf about youtube (watch out for those cat videos, they always catch you!!) and at least have a good look at a liquid soap to give you a visual. :tiptoe: ...............okay, now I totally want to check out Maru!!!!!!!

My favorite thermometer is my old one from Culinary School that I can CALIBRATE. Make a 50/50 mix of ice and water, stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Put the thermometer in and allow that to sit for 5 minutes. It should read 32-degrees F no matter your elevation. Once it's calibrated you will check it every now and then. It has a little socket nut thing under the dial that gets turned to calibrate to the right temperature. My husband gave me a cute little socket wrench to keep in my drawer. Digital is great, but once they are off I don't think you can calibrate, you just have to compensate with "Math". Check all your thermometers and see how they read in the ice water test, then you know who is accurate and who isn't. That is the method Chefs use because it doesn't get messed up with elevation and relative humidity (which can also change your boiling temperature). I'm not sure how a lazer gun thermometer would work, my wax surface is usually more cool than deep in the pot.

Paper towels, lot of them. If I have something that needs more I will turn it upsidedown on a sheet pan on newspaper in the oven on 170*F for a half hour or so, then remove and paper towels. I use some things for wax that I clean with boiling water. When I have all the containers ready to clean I heat up a big pot of water and take everything outside and pour water into the containers to melt the wax and dump in the grass, then wipe with paper towels. NOTHING goes near my sink or pipes. I have a septic system and I really don't want to think what that issue would cost!! Grandma always said, take care of your roof and your septic. Your roof keeps it off your head, your septic keeps it off your feet!!

I use the double boiler method for all my wax heating. I just switched to a presto pot, but I use it with water and still float my pour pots like a double boiler. I have never been able to reach 200-degrees even with a full rolling boil. At my elevation water boils at 209-210 and my husband explained a long and complicated explanation about density and aluminum as to why I wasn't getting wax above 200*F. I'm also a seasoned candy maker, so I do get air density and elevation and all of "that", but I work at taking my wax to 190* (both paraffin and parasoy blends) and I add all FO at 185*, stir and either pour immediately for paraffin pillars, votives etc or I take container wax down to 155*-165* and pour. Also, I like the presto because I can measure out my wax and put in on a "low" setting and I'm able to walk away for a short while and gather other things while the wax melts, and I know it won't get to a "too high" temp. When it's all melted then I turn up to a boil and monitor the temp. I REALLY like that feature over having the pot of water on the stove. I'm just getting to the point on very busy multi-pour days when I'm thinking about adding pot #2 to the mix. Also, you don't have to have the water at a full rolling boil to get the wax temperatures up there. All that does is put a LOT of moisture into your house, which really isn't a good thing for your house, and like you said, it makes you a sweaty mess. Unless you add herbs to your boiling water and call it a facial. If you bring up the water to a boil and then lower it to a "shimmering simmer" (as they called it in culinary school) when the surface just simmers, but doesn't full boil, then add your wax pot and it will reach the 185 to 190 temp without all that steam in your face, or up your walls.

Are you using color in your mix? Deep colors can also weigh down a wick, and I agree with RJ above to try a burn with no fragrance and see what happens. That way you know your wick is working in the wax configuration, and then you can add the fragrance back and if that gives you issues you know its the fragrance.

I have had real Christmas trees my whole life and I was surprised how hard it was to find that perfect pine scent. I tried about 10 pine or pine blends last year and in my trials Peaks' Frasier Fir is the winner. It smells like I just put the Christmas tree up in the living room!! Second Place is NG Balsam, although not as strong. ...............also, I DON'T use pine cleansers in any way so my "smeller" isn't muddled by the artificial cleaners...........

I have been playing with clam shells and wax for the scent warmers and I was wondering if anyone used the clam shell and instead of selling as is, popped the scented wax out and then packaged it in a small (and cheaper) bag with a smaller label, then re-used the clam shell like a mold? I'm so frugal that I re-use everything and anything I can and I thought it was quite wasteful to just pitch that plastic clam shell. I would rather just have a small baggie as the waste. :rolleyes2

The crazy thing is you really need to test in the jar the final product will be in, or at least one with the same diameter and top width. If your scent works and the wick works in a 4 ounce jelly jar and then you just automatically pour it into the large jar with a different diameter it may not work. It sucks, and that is why I started and stuck with a classic jam jar (just like a LOT of people do) because it is readily available without mail order. You really need to test the whole product as the customer would. I test mine for throw in two locations in my living room. If I can smell the candle throughout the room, and many travel the whole way through the house, then I can guess the average person will have a good throw as long as they don't have weird air flow in the room they burn candles in. I also have test jars and new jars. I re-use my test jars but when I give a gift or sell a candle, then I always use a new jar.

I have about 12 liquid dyes from Peak's, Lonestar and Candle Science. ALL of them have a "wank" out of the bottle, but I can not detect any smell once they are in the wax and it's set up. I have a super sensitive nose, and I can even tell the difference in the different WAXES based on smell. When I mentioned it to the hubbie he just HAD to give me a test. I was able to tell the difference between 4625, EcoSoy PBlend, 6006, Joy wax and of coarse bleached and unbleached beeswax. I could NOT tell the difference between 140-degree plain paraffin and 4625. That is the only one that stumped me. So, even the dyes that do "stink" don't keep their scent in the wax and they don't mess with your fragrances. And for the record, Joy wax is the weirdest smelling of the bunch!!! It smells like the donut fryer grease, and so, even after you add fragrance there is an "essence of donuts" that I just couldn't get past.

I have had hits and misses with all of my suppliers. So far I have had the most hits from Peak's and CandleScience. I have had hits from Nature's Garden, and some faves. However, every single one, out of about 10 different scents from The Candle Maker's Store have been great epic fails for me. I JUST received my first from Moonworks, and I agree with the others that Bergamot Tobacco is amazing, will be pouring those this week.

I really thought in the beginning that I would not dye. I made everything white and I thought "OOOoooo, natural". Well, I'm a professional Cake Designer, and a Textile Artist so color is my world. I have been hand mixing colors for 20+ years and I just couldn't do white anymore. I now have a LOT of dye chips and liquid dyes and I hand mix most every color. I have made some GORGEOUS colors and I couldn't go back to just white.

HA!! I'm now on a first name basis with my UPS guy. He's so sweet and carries in the heavy boxes for me. Last time he delivered I baked him cookies. We're buds........:rolleyes2

Candle making can be a great hobby and a great way to create gifts and fill your house with candles and scents. However, if you want to make a truly great candle and your goal is to sell a safe and quality product you are going to invest a lot of time and money. I started "playing" 15 months ago. I'm about $1 500 in and I'm just now ready to start a line with about 25 scents. I've gotten a jar I like, and packaging etc and I'm ready to order wax by the case instead of by the slab. Candle making for me came from losing my job. I walked away from a job that I loved because of my boss, the owner of a caterer/restaurant/bakery. I just could not be treated so poorly when I poured my heart and soul into that job. The kicker was when I was told "You don't have the brains that God gave a cabbage." So, now that I was jobless and depressed and beaten down I turned to my art (textile artist) and began to fill my house with rugs and blankets and quilts. I was always burning candles, some scented, some not, and I found that many just didn't burn well. Scent didn't throw or made you gag, wicks didn't burn well or burned too fast. I picked up a 100% soy candle that put so much black soot on my wall that the whole thing had to be scrubbed and I threw away the drape on the window. As many of my endeavors began, I figured I could do better. I had some candlemaking supplies on hand already. I bought paraffin on clearance with a few molds and wicking. I meant to make some, I just never did. HA!! I had no idea what I was getting myself in for. I can now look at a wick and figure out what kind it is, I can walk into a room and tell you the fragrance from the candle in the house, I can smell a perfume and tell you some of the ingredients of the scent, I can look at a pillar and tell you what it's made of, and if the wick is doing it's job or not. I have burned so many candles and just WATCHED that I should make one of those documentaries like a wildlife photographer, only with candles. I am a tedious, process person to begin with, so this has fit right in. But I am now making some beautiful candles, and some great smelling ones. And it has taken up a LOT of time, and a good chunk of money. I didn't go into it wanting to create a business, but I am in the process of starting a business because I have fallen in love with the whole process, as maddening as it is!!!! It's science and art, just like baking (I'm a Pro-Baker in my former life) and I love it!!!

I just purchased Hansel & Gretel's House from CandleScience and it's a very heavy Gingerbread scent. Heavy on the butter, but not so "clovey" as the NG Gingerbread. ........in my personal opinion..........

Oh Good. I'm not the only one. I keep the 1 ouncers so that I can refer back to them before ordering. Yea, I make the lists, but sometimes you just have to re-smell them to be sure. I do have a small box of the rejects to make sure I DON'T order those again.

"Baker's Math" can easily be done in your head if you just convert to grams. Instead of a one pound batch make 500 grams, instead of a two pound batch make 1000 grams. Most digital scales these days switch over to grams easily. I can do baker's math in my head easily, and I can switch back and forth between ounces and grams easily in my head, and I know the rough weight of almost any ingredient in an 8-ounce measuring cup. But, hey, I'm a Baker.........and a bit of a freak.

Nothing scented this weekend. I'm playing with beeswax. I did some really nice hand dipped last weekend and so I caught the bug, trying some beeswax pillars and bswax blended pillars. I love the scent of beeswax!! However, I am burning apple pie upstairs. The whole house smells nice.