Wet spots and cracking on jar candles

[craftimade]

Hi all, I made about 20 jar candles when I first started about 8 months ago and they were all great, no wet spots of cracking and I was using Soy CB-135 wax in large 320ml jars.

Since then I have moved onto melts and clam shells and doing very well with those. But now a few customers are wanting jar candles and I started making them again.

Something had gone wrong and I can't figure it out. I have attached a few photos.

You can see the top has cracked in a "ring" about 1cm from the jar edge. I have never seen this cracking on the surface before.

I have tried pouring at 100,110,120,130,140 & 150 degres in hot and cold jars, no colors, no FO and no wick. I'm just trying to figure out why it's doing this.

The jar is a clear medium metro jar, Size = 10.4cmh x 7.5cmd 225ml.

Im pouring 180ml as the lid also needs to slot into the jar.

I have tried using the hair dryer to melt the wet spots but that makes it worse, it's like it starts to mold and go white like fungus (really only see this with color candles).

I'm hoping someone can make suggestion.

Next wax purchase im to try using C-Soy wax rather then CB-135.

Thanks.

Dean

Edited July 7, 2013 by craftimade

[B@BlissStreet]

Hey, Dean. You don't state your location. Is it possible you were pouring those during a different season and in a different climate? I would guess they cooled too quickly and cracked. AC can wreak havoc on pouring results. Do you keep a standard room temp for pouring year round if climate is a factor?

[craftimade]

I'm in NSW, Australia. It's pretty cold out side - about 10 degrees during the day and about 1-2 degrees at night. The room im making the candles in is about 20 degrees all the time. Mind you when I made that first batch it was summer and about 23-35 degrees everyday and about 18 degrees at night.

[Candybee]

I used to make a parasoy blend with CB135. You can use as little as 25% paraffin in your blend and the cracking and wet spots won't be a problem anymore plus it improves hot & cold throw.

The only time I would see cracking on the surface on my candles would be around the wick indicating an air pocket.

[craftimade]

I found out what it was, well my tests today suggest that it's because of the thin glass jar. I tried it on thicker jars, some smaller some larger and got better results using the same methods.

The glass is about as thick as a wine glass. Very thin. Also no cracking on the top for the other jars.