Preventing water damage

[Chantelle79]

Hi there, 

I went to my first market stall today and it stated raining.

All my soy wax product got water spots on their tops. I dried them with a paper towel and reheated the tops about 1/8 inch and they started cracking due to the temperature.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this in the future? 

[TallTayl]

Preventing the crack or the rain spatter?
 

for rain: Rain at outdoor events is a total pain.  Aside from changing displays to allow them inside further, clear shower curtains help. Lay over product, and/or in the doorway to provide some Of the spray.

 

often I would keep most of the fresh stock inside leaving sniffers for people.  In this time of viral concerns, that’s probably a good move for nice days also.

 

for the crack, perhaps allow the product to dry longer without heat, and more gently heat when ready. Or if possible do an overpour if the damage is only visual.

[Kerven]

Did the water land on the tops or did surface droplets develop while sheltered and dry? Was there a sharp change in temperature (a front moving in, maybe)?

[CaptnKush]

Yes, you can prevent this in the future by putting lids on your jars, and not letting the rain splash on them😀 I would just not do the show, unless you had to pay a lot to get into it and no refund. They also sell sides you can attach to your canopy to fix this as well.

Edited March 14, 2020 by CaptnKush

[Chantelle79]

Thanks for your help.

We went out and bought sides immediately. 

We thought we were smart by packing the heat gun for onsite repairs but was hoping there was something like.... I don't know..... put some veggie oil or something that repels water into the wax or a quick shot of hair spray  or something

[Laura C]

18 minutes ago, Chantelle79 said:

I don't know..... put some veggie oil or something that repels water into the wax or a quick shot of hair spray  or something

 

Whoa, my immediate reaction is No and No. Unless there's something I'm not aware of. 😖 Wax by it's very nature repels water and both vegetable oil and hair spray are flammable. Doing that would make your candles very dangerous and unusable. You need to keep candles out of the rain in some form or fashion, period. Sorry to hear the weather turned bad on you.

 

You also need to make sure all the surface moisture on the wax is completely gone before you re-melt the tops again otherwise you risk getting small water bubbles trapped in your wax which would not be good.