cloudy colors

[Ingrid]

Well, I guess this candlemaking is just one experiment after another, I love doing it but I am having difficulty with sharpness in my colors. I am using J50 wax for containers and color blocks for color. I am finding the colors rather cloudy and not too sharp. Does anyone have any info on what I may be doing wrong? Would liquid color be any better than the color blocks? Help...

[Lolas Lights]

I use the J50 but use the liquid dyes and my colors are real clear I haven't used any of the color chips so I don't know if that could be the problem or not. I'm new at this myself.

[topofmurrayhill]

Ingrid, I don't use these waxes but I've often heard comments that the colors tend to be kind of pastel because of the creamy and opaque nature of the product. I don't think you're having an unusual experience or that it's due to the color blocks.

You could try increasing the amount of color, but I assume you tried this and didn't get what you were after. I also remember reading an interesting suggestion on the product data sheet of a soy wax container blend that has basically the same problem. They suggested adding just a little black to the color mix. If you have a black color block lying around it might be worth putting in a shaving along with a "deep shade" amount of color block. I've not been in a position to try this myself but it stuck in my mind and this seemed like a good time to pass the idea along.