sarahmarah Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 So I’ve spent the last couple of months testing all sorts of different FO’s in GB 464. After researching and reading archives and opinions I haven’t found a clear answer. My question is: Do you deduct your FO% from your wax so that you pour an exact amount of product with no overage? ex: 16oz (wax) x 0.08 (FO%) = 1.28 16 - 1.28 = 14.72 14.72 wax 1.28 FO I’m curious what YOU do and what your opinions may be. I’ve been doing it this way with no real issues until recently when I purchased some Crafters Choice oils to test at 8% FL and there is definitely seepage. I heated 11.04 oz wax to 185, added 0.96 of Oatmeal Stout FO at 170 and poured at 145–divvied up between 4 9oz straight sided jars so that I could wick test. I’m thinking I’m just not doing this correctly if there is seepage.....should I lower the FL%, don’t subtract any wax, or both? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailC Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 Can't help you on the seepage, but I do my measuring the easy way. 8% of however many oz of wax I'm using. If I have leftover wax after pouring candles, I use it for melts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahmarah Posted December 31, 2019 Author Share Posted December 31, 2019 1 hour ago, GailC said: Can't help you on the seepage, but I do my measuring the easy way. 8% of however many oz of wax I'm using. If I have leftover wax after pouring candles, I use it for melts. Thank you— I’ve never thought of melts! I suppose I’ll have to get a tart melter thingie 😊 I’ve decided to just do it the other way and see how it goes. I’m trying to factor the extra in... we’ll see lol. I swear I could completely complicate a free meal 🤦🏻♀️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 I calculate similarly to Gailc above. When I started the rule of thumb was 1 oz of FO per lb of wax. That was considered 6%. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah S Posted December 31, 2019 Share Posted December 31, 2019 21 hours ago, sarahmarah said: So I’ve spent the last couple of months testing all sorts of different FO’s in GB 464. After researching and reading archives and opinions I haven’t found a clear answer. My question is: Do you deduct your FO% from your wax so that you pour an exact amount of product with no overage? ex: 16oz (wax) x 0.08 (FO%) = 1.28 16 - 1.28 = 14.72 14.72 wax 1.28 FO I’m curious what YOU do and what your opinions may be. I’ve been doing it this way with no real issues until recently when I purchased some Crafters Choice oils to test at 8% FL and there is definitely seepage. I heated 11.04 oz wax to 185, added 0.96 of Oatmeal Stout FO at 170 and poured at 145–divvied up between 4 9oz straight sided jars so that I could wick test. I’m thinking I’m just not doing this correctly if there is seepage.....should I lower the FL%, don’t subtract any wax, or both? Sarah, the fragrance load is calculated using the total weight of your wax, not the volume of the container. So your equation of 14.62 oz wax plus 1.28 oz fragrance oils is actually 8.8% (14.62 x .088 = 1.286) fragrance load. An 8% fragrance load in 16oz wax will yield you a total of 17.28oz, which as Gail pointed out overfills a 16oz container. Still, I don to think that 8.8% FO is too much for that wax, so I suspect your seepage issue is something else. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanfordP Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 I ran into some seepage issues earlier this winter. Evaluated all the elements and attributed it to fluctuations in temperature between pouring from melter to pouring pot. Best I could figure, the cooler Ambient temperature caused a quicker drop in wax temp, so I was mixing fragrance in at 165 instead of 180/185 per usual. Which then prevents the wax from properly binding to the fragrance. Boosted the melter temp to 190, and this solved my seepage issues. as to the FO calculations. I do both methods depending on the fragrance oil. Ultimately, I’d rather have a few ounces extra than half an ounce not enough. It’s been years since I’ve used 464, but even when I used 8-10% FO, never had seepage issues... though the wax has changed since then too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandleRush Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Yes, I agree. I also use between 8-9% with that wax and have had no issues.To me it looks like sweat maybe from temperature changes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahmarah Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 3 hours ago, Sarah S said: Sarah, the fragrance load is calculated using the total weight of your wax, not the volume of the container. So your equation of 14.62 oz wax plus 1.28 oz fragrance oils is actually 8.8% (14.62 x .088 = 1.286) fragrance load. An 8% fragrance load in 16oz wax will yield you a total of 17.28oz, which as Gail pointed out overfills a 16oz container. Still, I don to think that 8.8% FO is too much for that wax, so I suspect your seepage issue is something else. Thank you Sarah—Math isn’t my strong suit lol. I guess I’m a little confused—like If I was making just a single test candle and I knew my container fill line was 8 oz. I would figure it like this 8 x 0.08 = 0.64 8 — 0.64 = 7.36 So I would measure out on my scale 0.64oz FO and measure out 7.36oz of wax from my melter. Combined they would give me 8oz. Is that right? Since I measure out everything I thought I was doing it by weight—am I still of the mark? 😬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 To figure out how much to fill a container,put the empty container on your scale and hit tare (to zero the scale for the empty vessel). fill the container to your desired fill line with water. Weigh the container again, noting the weight of the water in the container. multiply the weight of the water by 0.9. That is approximately how much wax you will need (by weight) to fill the container. Your wax may vary a little bit. Some are just more dense than others. calculate your fragrance. typically I don’t end up with more than an extra tea light worth of wax this way. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyBee Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 I use GB 464 with 12% FO. By looking at your picture, it does not appears to be it's seepage. It appears to me that your candle is sweating, and sweating can be caused by 2 things. 1. Exposed to lights(LED lights are worse.): You can eliminate this by put lid right away after your wax hardens. I am not 100% on this, but I have feeling that this might be the reason for wet spots. 2. Hot temperature: I say GB 464 has sweating problem above 95F. I haven't figure out how to prevent this with this wax in hot temperature. 0.6oz of FO with 7.4oz of wax is 8.1% fragrance load. [0.6 divide by 7.4 = 8.1%] 1. Heat wax up to 185F, but never more than 185F. If you go over 185F, then it will scorch your wax. So, I usually try to heat the wax to 182 - 183F. 2. Add FO in between 175F to 180F. By looking at your picture, you have done really good job of mixing them well together. So, I guess it works at 170F, too. 3. Pour at around 135F (anywhere in between 130F to 140F is okay.) It will give you much better clean surface top. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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