Venetti Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 I am making baskets for my family for Christmas full of my candles/melts/etc. I was going to order plastic clamshell molds but I realized I had some already. Unfortunately, they have already been used. I popped out the wax and am left with 12 empty clamshell molds. I'm wondering if I am able to reuse these? If so, ANY AND ALL advice on how to get the smell out is highly appreciated. A few of them also seem to have residual wax left in them. Also, does anyone have any experience in removing permanent labels from these molds? thank you all again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 (edited) 20 hours ago, Venetti said: I am making baskets for my family for Christmas full of my candles/melts/etc. I was going to order plastic clamshell molds but I realized I had some already. Unfortunately, they have already been used. I popped out the wax and am left with 12 empty clamshell molds. I'm wondering if I am able to reuse these? If so, ANY AND ALL advice on how to get the smell out is highly appreciated. A few of them also seem to have residual wax left in them. Also, does anyone have any experience in removing permanent labels from these molds? thank you all again! Goo gone! I rip a square of paper towel, put Goo Gone on it and place the square of soaked paper towel over the label and let it sit over night. The label or any remnants should come right off no problem. I don't color my wax and I use a pillar wax that pops right out, so I don't have good advice for getting the wax and scent out. :-( Edited December 9, 2017 by Lana 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venetti Posted December 9, 2017 Author Share Posted December 9, 2017 Thank you very much! I actually didn't have any goo gone and researched that WD-40 does the trick. I gave it a shot and it worked extremelyyyy well at removing the permanent labels. It was strong smelling but I'm letting them sit and the smell is dissipating. I think I may try boiling/hot water bath-ing them to get the FO wax out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Venetti said: Thank you very much! I actually didn't have any goo gone and researched that WD-40 does the trick. I gave it a shot and it worked extremelyyyy well at removing the permanent labels. It was strong smelling but I'm letting them sit and the smell is dissipating. I think I may try boiling/hot water bath-ing them to get the FO wax out. Awesome! The goo gone has a strong smell too and it dissipates after a little while. I'm sure it works faster than overnight too, but I just like leaving it overnight and peeling the labels off in the morning. Good luck! I used this method a lot when I re-branded and needed to relabel a ton of melts. It was such a pain but I wanted to change the look of everything all at once. Edited December 9, 2017 by Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Be careful with heat on those. They pucker and shrink right up with too much heat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Good GOLLY... (goo gone... blech) Wipe them out with some naphtha (aka: Zippo Lighter fluid). It dries quickly and won't leave any residue behind. TT's right, heat and that stuff won't get along at all... IF it's PVC naphtha might cloud it up, but it's probably not of the rare ilk of PVC that will cloud up. (If you'd otherwise pitch it anyway no harm in trying the naphtha). I personally can't stand goo gone, truly nasty stuff to me with all that d-limonene and mineral spirits... (gag) That's just me... -Sponiebr (see sig line for further info) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Personally if they are for gifts and not testers, I would not reuse the containers and give them out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshine Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Buy some more clamshells - they are so cheap and will look a heck of a lot better than trying to recycle plastic molds if you were doing this for your own self tests different story but giving them to anyone I wouldn't do it 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuzyK Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 I'm on the I wouldn't reuse them team. Unless I was making them for myself but even then I don't keep the used ones lying around. They looked used after one time to me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandlekrazy Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 I wouldn't reuse either. The scent stays and I personally mess them up when I pop out a cube, always wrinkled. I'd worry about leakage as well, tiniest split in the plastic and you have a mess when you pour. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueH Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 I'm with everyone else, I would get new ones! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickie Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Honestly, I would never reuse a clamshell myself. They hold scent and color. Depending on how old they are, the fragrance can start eating the plastic too. Overall just not a great idea to put a chemical on it to remove what is there, then pour more hot wax and more fragrance chemicals. Asking for a disaster, if you ask me. Plus it is not at all expensive to buy new ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venetti Posted December 12, 2017 Author Share Posted December 12, 2017 I ended up buying some the same night anyhow. I've spend so much already I was just trying to salvage what I could. I purchased them on amazon and tossed my old ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 As cheap as you can get them, why go through all that? I wouldn't reuse them.... Trappeur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary in Canada Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 I would suggest either buying new...or refill the old ones with the very same scent, wax, and colour...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belinda Posted December 13, 2017 Share Posted December 13, 2017 I've tried reusing clams a couple of times but by the time I pulled off the old label and cleaned up the clam it just wan't worth it and they didn't look good at all. New ones are much nicer and crisp and clean looking in my opinion. You won't be sorry that you bought new ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crafty1_AJ Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 I have re-used them a couple of times, but only for personal use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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