lightmyfire Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 I have been making candles for about 5 years now and doing well in the wholesale market on a small but busy scale. I'm using the 9 oz straight sided amber jars and I have a love/hate relationship with these things. The small mouth opening can get tricky with pours (I stop my pour right before the neck gets smaller) but other than that they are my go to vessel. I'm using 6006 wax and CD wicks--all is good there. Here's my problem.........these stupid lines. It's just one line on each jar, not multiple. I know it's a "wet spot", more like a "wet line" and it drives me insane. I didn't used to get these and it's driving me crazy trying to remedy them. I know it's no big deal but when you go from not having them to well, having them, it makes one a bit nutso. I am pouring at about 155 degrees and then I wrap each jar in a little felt cocoon-like I always have. Any idea why these are appearing and how I can get them to stop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 How close are your jars when cooling? Usually, in my case, those appear when warm jars are close to other warm jars causing that spot too cool slowest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted September 28, 2019 Author Share Posted September 28, 2019 29 minutes ago, TallTayl said: How close are your jars when cooling? Usually, in my case, those appear when warm jars are close to other warm jars causing that spot too cool slowest. I never put my jars close together--in fact this particular jar was a single candle I poured for a FO/wick test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Still looks like uneven cooling, like a draft from the other side. You could stick it in the fridge for a few minutes to shrink away that last little strip. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted September 28, 2019 Author Share Posted September 28, 2019 15 minutes ago, TallTayl said: Still looks like uneven cooling, like a draft from the other side. You could stick it in the fridge for a few minutes to shrink away that last little strip. that's what's so odd; as part of this test I put a box over the darn thing so there's no draft at all. I think it's gremlins. I'll go try the fridge technique. Thanks--I'll let you know!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnKush Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 These work the best. You can get them at the Dollar tree. That jar is a perfect fit. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted September 28, 2019 Author Share Posted September 28, 2019 5 hours ago, CaptnKush said: These work the best. You can get them at the Dollar tree. That jar is a perfect fit. Thank you!! As luck would have it I went right by a Dollar Tree after I saw your post. Unfortunately, even though it's still 98 degrees in central Texas, they don't have any Koozies right now. Neither did Walmart. I found some on Amazon--I'll give those a whirl. If that doesn't work these will work great for holding a cocktail while I'm figuring out this dilemma. The freezer tip did work-----love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted September 29, 2019 Author Share Posted September 29, 2019 8 hours ago, TallTayl said: You could stick it in the fridge for a few minutes to shrink away that last little strip. Holy moly--------the fridge trick is the bomb!!!! TT you are my new hero! Why does that fix it??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 3 hours ago, lightmyfire said: Holy moly--------the fridge trick is the bomb!!!! TT you are my new hero! Why does that fix it??? A wet spot is just pull away from shrinkage. The chill completed the pull away. The down side side is wet spots can reappear as the Candle ages, and can weep wax into the gap when the candle is burned. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchenpups Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 (edited) Your brilliant idea of using the Koozies was wonderful. The problem for me is that my 3.5 inch cube glasses are too big for the Koozies. I prefer NOT to have pull away and the best way to guarantee this for me has been to warm the glasses before pouring. (another time consuming step). I thought that the Koozies idea would be perfect to hold the heat in and avoid pull away. I decided to look for Neoprene fabric and make my own to fit my cube glasses. Suddenly, I saw some silver insulation laying in the corner, because I always save packaging material so I can reuse it when packaging and shipping my candles. I decided to try using it and it worked wonderfully. I just cut it, wrapped it around the glass and taped it together. Now I just slide the glasses into them before pouring at 150 degrees and ... NO MORE pull away. Thank you so much for the idea. Below is with and without the pull away. The one on the left has the undesired pull-away ... the one on the right is perfect using the homemade insulated Koozies. Below is a picture of my homemade insulated Koozies. I was able to get a dozen from the sheet that I had. Edited October 3, 2019 by kitchenpups misspelling 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 11 minutes ago, kitchenpups said: Your brilliant idea of using the Koozies was wonderful. The problem for me is that my 3.5 inch cube glasses are too big for the Koozies. I prefer NOT to have pull away and the best way to guarantee this for me has been to warm the glasses before pouring. (another time consuming step). I thought that the Koozies idea would be perfect to hold the heat in and avoid pull away. I decided to look for Neoprene fabric and make my own to fit my cube glasses. Suddenly, I saw some silver insulation laying in the corner, because I always save packaging material so I can reuse it when packaging and shipping my candles. I decided to try using it and it worked wonderfully. I just cut it, wrapped it around the glass and taped it together. Now I just slide the glasses into them before pouring at 150 degrees and ... NO MORE pull away. Thank you so much for the idea. Below is with and without the pull away. The one on the left has the undesired pull-away ... the one on the right is perfect using the homemade insulated Koozies. Below is a picture of my homemade insulated Koozies. I was able to get a dozen from the sheet that I had. Wow--that's fantastic!! I have been using pieces of felt that I wrap around and sometimes those work but where the felt overlaps where I wrap it around causes the pull away I believe, because it's double insulated. Hope that makes sense. Any idea where I can purchase this silver insulation? I would be fantastic to use for all of my different sized jars. Thanks for sharing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchenpups Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 I wish I knew where to get it. I don't even remember what was delivered in this insulation so I only had the one piece. Have you tried taping or gluing the 2 ends of the felt so they just meet rather than overlapping? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Ov Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 I wrap towles around my candles and cover with a box, so the other day i made 4 candles, but one i unwrapped and took out from under the box( like 8 hours later) cause i wanted my husband to smell it. I wrapped it back up and put it back. Well come to find out that the one i took out is the only 1 out of the 4 that had bad glass adhesion, so i guess i need to set it and forget it for a whole day or more . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strugglebrother Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 Is "Crisco" something that is still considered to be helping with wetspots? It seemed to be something that was recommended about 10 years ago for eliminating this but since then I haven't heard much about it in candle making. I did try it a couple of years ago but can't remember the results from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 So I poured 6 candles in my amber jars last night and used the Koozie technique. Can you believe that the lines are even worse now???!!! I'm ready to beat my head against the wall. Starting to wonder if it's a glass issue? So hard to fix a candle problem when you don't know what's causing it. I will not be defeated!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wax Addict Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 (edited) Have you tried pouring at a hotter temperature? If you haven't already done so, I would try pouring between 160 - 175 degrees. Edited October 3, 2019 by Wax Addict 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 Thanks for the suggestion--I was thinking the same thing. I used to pour that hot and then to prevent sinkholes I started pouring cooler. Now I don't have sinkholes but I have wet spots. I love this craft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wax Addict Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 6 minutes ago, lightmyfire said: Now I don't have sinkholes but I have wet spots. I love this craft It's so simple, what's not to love! HAHA! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightLight Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 (edited) Modify your wax to make it slightly softer and you won’t have to to worry about wet spots. Some of these blends are more prone to shrinking. 6006 is one of the culprits and it can vary batch to batch. You can use Wraps whatever but the shrinking will still happen when the jars vary in temp. You can change the wax to make it a softer container, or change waxes. Or create your own container blend, which is what I have done and they pour perfect top, perfect adhesion, stay adhered during burn and after. Not easy took a year of fooling around but this is the solution. Figure out which waxes give you the best adhesion consistently, figure which additives give you the best adhesion consistently, and then have fun wicking😂. You can try pouring hotter and cooler and see if you get better adhesion as well, but then you will have to test if the temp drop as we are getting into fall cooler weather if you don’t get pull away for example leaving candle out in cool area overnight. if you like you wax as is then change the container to solid one, or put wrap around label. Simple solution without testing! Edited October 3, 2019 by NightLight 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshine Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 If everything else about your candle is good I wouldn’t worry about wet spots....I used to be the same way but no matter the technique they always come back in temp changes at some point unless your using a wax that really really sticks with excellent adhesion I don’t look at that picture and think anything of the aesthetics - I think they look great 🤷♀️ have you seen most all commercial jars out there- they are full of wet spots - the ones that are ugly to me are clear jars with colored wax the only other suggestion I have that I haven’t seen is to make sure you clean your jars really good with alcohol - that helped some for me but I’m so over that now - I finally found a wax combo that works in all aspects for me so a few wet spots I don’t even look at it 😂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 21 hours ago, Wax Addict said: Have you tried pouring at a hotter temperature? If you haven't already done so, I would try pouring between 160 - 175 degrees. After taking a deep breath and walking away from my studio for a few hours yesterday, I decided to try this. I poured at 170 and poured with the jars in the box they were shipped in with the dividers. Can you even believe it? It worked. No lines. Really pretty candles. Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions and for listening and actually caring! The wet spots might come back which means I better get them delivered to my customers before that happens. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wax Addict Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 That's awesome! I find that the cooler and or slower you pour IGI-6006 below 160 degrees the thicker the lines become. And as you mentioned, the hotter you pour, the bigger the sinkhole. Your wet lines looked thin, so you were close. Now wet circle spots, that's just part of the wax when changing room temperatures as I'm sure you're very familiar with. I'm glad to hear you got it worked out. On to the next issue! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 Honestly, I don't even know why candlemakers even worry about wet spots - I mean I know there are perfectionists out there, but in all the years I've been making/selling candles it's been my experience that the consumer doesn't even notice the spots 99.999% of the time, and if they do, they literally just do not care. What customers care about is scent first, burn second and that's basically about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightmyfire Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 17 hours ago, Jcandleattic said: Honestly, I don't even know why candlemakers even worry about wet spots - I mean I know there are perfectionists out there, but in all the years I've been making/selling candles it's been my experience that the consumer doesn't even notice the spots 99.999% of the time, and if they do, they literally just do not care. What customers care about is scent first, burn second and that's basically about it. The reason these wet spots bother me SO much is because they just started showing up recently even though I'm using the same technique in the same studio. It's extremely frustrating to try to fix something when you have no idea what's causing it. I thought I had this remedied by pouring in the box with the dividers but that lasted for one batch. If I had these silly things from the start then it would just be what it is. I really hate that they have also started showing up in the clear glass jar candles--that really looks horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfroberts Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 There really is no sure-fire way to eliminate them in 6006. Unfortunately, it's a battle you can't win. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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