roma92 Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I am hoping some of you more experienced candle makers can give me some advise that will solve an issue that I have been having with my mold. My situation, I am working with a mold that I had made special, its 9 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches deep, I have a brass plate (1/16th inch thickness) with a laser engraved design on it that I coat with Pam and place at the bottom. I melt (in a presto pot) 2lbs of beeswax and .5lbs of paraffin plus steric, yvar and ezwax release (in appropriate proportions according to packet instructions, teaspoon/tablespoon/lbs of wax). I heat the mix to I believe around 200, I have a candle making thermometer that has a chart that says the appropriate temp for "Metal" molds. When the wax reaches the appropriate temperature, I heat the mold with a heat gun and then pour the wax into the mold. After it cools it pops out of the mold container fine but then when I try and pop off the brass plate so that the design is imprinted in the wax I get wax stuck in the lines of the mold in some places and I notice that the wax is not smooth and glasslike as where it is/was against the (I think aluminum) mold container, but on the brass mold the wax seems to stick and have a less clean release, I also use pam on the mold container. Another thing I notice is that in the center of the wax tablet the coloration is a little off and my gut feeling is that the additives are not "Blending" properly with the wax as the center always comes out beautiful and clean and the edges are rough and more likely to 'Stick' In summary I am not sure what I am doing wrong? Is it temperature? Is there something I am doing wrong in the melting where the additives are not blending properly? (I melt the additives separately as one raises the melting point of wax and then when melted I pour into the wax and stir vigorously). Am I not heating the mold container enough or too much or should I be preheating it at all? I have been able to get this to work nicely before and now all of a sudden every attempt fails, I don’t think its the beeswax as I have always used this formula. Please help/advise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LRC06301983 Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I'm really new here so you will have to wait for some of the old guard to really tell you what you are screwing up because honestly I'm sure it could be a million things but...I have been working on my own time a little with using my brass initial seal and some different types of wax for another project (kind of a mini-version of what you are doing) and I have found that if I leave the brass seal stamped into the wax until the wax fully hardens and cools it sticks to the brass seal. Even if I ice down the seal, or rub pam or oil on it, there is a very specific point and length of time where you should press the seal in and then pull the seal back up off the wax (you just kind of have to get a feel for it) You don't really see any candle molds made of brass so there might be something inheriently flawed with using brass. Does that make sense?Is the brass plate something you could heat up (or you could heat up the candle) after the candle is finnished and you could press it into the candle and kind of brand it? You know do it after the candle has hardened and just reheat stuff...How big is this brass plate? does it stretch the entire length of the mold? Hope this helped a tiny bit. -Luke- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma92 Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 The brass plate is 9 inches in diameter and 1/16 inch thick so pressing isn’t really an option as if I was bubbles or air pockets get in. I have tried putting the wax in the fridge for 20 mins before removing it but that didn’t help. I find it odd that the center of the mold comes out clean and beautiful but the edge is where it sticks. brass is being used as that’s the material that I had offered to be laser engraved as well as it lasting longer and being stronger than alum for many uses. It’s just figuring out the proper use as a mold. Given the way it is done unfortunatly the brass plate sits at the bottom for I think around 6 hours while the 2.5lbs of wax cools. Has anyone ever worked with molds made of brass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candle Kitty Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Brass is kind of a touchy situation in itself only because it seems to be prone to various atmospheric and chemical conditions. I know what I'm trying to say but I can't get it out (too early, still on my first Pepsi, can't type, not a good morning at this stage), the brass plate turning a different color to me suggests that you're having some sort of chemical reaction going on. Brass and certain oils just don't mix, no matter how hard you try to work it and if you're trying to work with certain heavy FO's (vanilla for instance), that's going to change the makeup of the FO and I know if I'm way off, Top will chime in....(HELP THE POOR KITTY OUT, TOP!!!!) Changing the makeup of the FO because of the brass may be one of the issues with this. Also have to figure that some additives might cause the reaction as well, there's a lot of variables to this, but the brass definitely, to me has something to do with it.Only thing I can suggest is maybe not use a mold release AND Pam at the same time, try it without dyes, additives (use the Pam) and FO's as well and see if you get the same thing. Or get an actual spray-on release instead of Pam, the chemicals inside it could be causing this issue as well. I hear people rant and rave about how well Pam works and it's cheap compared to some of the other spray-on releases on the market, but I just don't like using it for the safety factor. If you don't wipe off ALL of the oil, you've got a torch waiting to happen. Try different things, that's the only way you're going to find out for sure if it's too many additives or the brass itself. That's the only thing I can suggest at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juliette Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I'm not familiar with brass at all, but if you are using a formula that has worked before I would maybe look at other factors. Has the temperature changed in the room you make candles in so that the cooling process is somehow affected? Are any additives/ingredients you are using from a new package? Maybe retesting to re-adjust on any formula changes?Sorry...not sure my comments are very helpful but good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Sounds like cooling and wax shrinkage (the amount and the direction) might be a big issue with an application like this. Unfortunately, lots of variables you could consider in connection with that. The amount the mold is heated, the temperature of the pour, ambient temperature, the conductivity of the surface you set the mold down on, covering it or not, using a water bath or not. The amount of paraffin in the mix will affect that too. You may have to experiment more than you thought to figure out how to make the results more consistent. Personally I'd play it safe and use silicone mold release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma92 Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 from the sounds of it allot more testing is going to be in order. Has anyone out there worked with brass to good effect? I should not that I do not use FOs or scents, just wax and additives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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