C3 Newbie

[Sandgarden]

Hi everyone. I am getting back into the swing of making candles again. Had used Ky125 for many many years and it was discontinued. I am in the process of testing C3. Poured my first few testers a couple weeks ago and am now test burning. Did my first one yesterday and am looking for suggestions.

I used 9% FO..lavender vanilla from Northstar 3C. That percentage was suggested by them..no additives. I know C3 has a load of 6%. They didn't think I would need any palm stearic for their oils. I used CD16 wick in the 12oz status, 3" diameter. The throw was incredible..very strong..  This was poured at the early "slush" stage..just getting slightly cloudy.  I did notice some bubbles on the edge of the melt pool.  I am guessing that means I had some air pockets in there.  However, the wick was very steady throughout the entire burn.  I have been doing alot of research and reading on the C3. I have read quite a few posts on here. not sure if I should cut back on the FO, wick up, wick down, etc. Not sure if I should heat gun the top to level off and continue testing this one or repour with a lighter fragrance load and retry the CD16.   I have 2 other testers I poured as well.  Both at 9 %.  One of them at that cloudy stage and the other at 135 degrees.  The one I ooured "hotter" set up much nicer and smoother.  I am hesitating to start the test burns until I hopefully get some suggestions from his board.  Being as I am new to C3 not sure yet on it's behavior.  Thanks for any help

 

 

[NightLight]

That looks underwicked to me after three hours. C3 requires larger wicks that other waxes. I would go up to Cd 18 and see if you get a full meltpool 2-3 hours. Also try another fragrance that does not have vanilla as those I always seem to need to wick up on. C3 candles have great cold and hot throw but the wax is quirky. Great adhesion but little bubbles in the wax. Do you have any htp wicks?

[Sandgarden]

3 hours ago, NightLight said:

That looks underwicked to me after three hours. C3 requires larger wicks that other waxes. I would go up to Cd 18 and see if you get a full meltpool 2-3 hours. Also try another fragrance that does not have vanilla as those I always seem to need to wick up on. C3 candles have great cold and hot throw but the wax is quirky. Great adhesion but little bubbles in the wax. Do you have any htp wicks?

Thank you Night Light!!!! I do have htp's, 104,105,126,1212,1312.  I have smaller ones too, but they don't apply here.  I have 2 others that I can test as well.  I will check the info on them to see of they have any vanilla content.  I wouldn't think so (warm pear and cedarwood, campfire).  I feel like I am learning all over again...eek

[NightLight]

Try 105, 126 and see if you like the burn. I would test two fragrances at same time. It can tell you a lot.

[LanaH]

I use a CD 16 in that jar normally, sometimes I go to an 18. I only use 6% fragrance oil though. You might try to cut back a bit and see what happens.

Edited July 7, 2019 by LanaH

[NightLight]

Yes CD wick 16 plus or minus one depending on fragrance additives can work. You don’t  need 9 per cent with C3. Try 6 as other suggested.

[Sandgarden]

Thanks all.  I will cut back on the fragrance and give that a try.  I did go up to a CD18 and didn;t have much better luck...however, with the 18 I started getting some flicker and a few little smoke puffs at about the hour and a half mark....

 

Since I only ordered sample sizes of the fragrances I tested will have to order larger ones now.  Then the long wait to test burn.  I do have a ton of other fragrances to test in the meantime though from other suppliers....oh the joys of starting over with a new wax...

[TallTayl]

When making new scents I often pour extra maxi tea lights to spark up while waiting. The maxis are at Aztec. You can tell a lot from a small maxi while waiting. 

 

As for your flicker, you may need to pick up some hotter wicks, like eco or cotton core. C3 can be a bugger with all the additives.

 

If it’s too hard to wick (like I sometimes find c1 to also be) having some naked wax (soy with no additives) like Midwest soy could be helpful.  Use it to dilute the overall wax to make it more reasonable to work with.  10-20% of a naked soy can help quite a bit in many cases. 

[TallTayl]

Oh, and often fragrance is the culprit for crappy or cool burns.  Chemically speaking waxes and FO don’t always play nice.  Where an FO makes one wax easy to burn, another wax type can be darned near impossible. So there’s that variable to consider too. 

[kandlekrazy]

I used that wax for almost 30 years, 9% is too much, 6% works just fine.  The only additive I used was a bit of Universal Soy additive, like 1 TBS in 5#.  I use cotton wicks.  Unless you're into blending waxes, I'd try it with less fo first.

Edited July 9, 2019 by kandlekrazy

[Sandgarden]

Thanks everyone for your help and advice.  I am going to get some new testers poured up using 6% and see how that works.  I currently don't have any additives on hand.  I never used them with the KY125.  Is it something I should have on hand for use with the C3?  I do have some cottons - 51 & 62.  I didn't use those much, but had a few fragrances I needded to use them with in the 125.  I use mostly CD, CDN and HTP...