Jump to content

Check these candles out!


Recommended Posts

I bet you could find something at a hardware store. Maybe some kind of PV (?) pipe something or other that was just a tad larger in diameter than the interior of your mold? It seems I read a thread about someone getting something like that to make lids for her/his containers & then decorating the top. In this case you'd have to cut out a hole or something so you could pour the wax into your mold. You'd probably have to experiment w/ materials to come up w/ something that worked for the different height of the layers. Just a seed of an idea ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It wasn't too hard. I will try to explain.

Gather your tools

1. Get a piece of 3" PVC pipe from Lowe's and cut it in half length wise (the piece was about 5" long.

2. A cake pan (8 X 8 square)

2. Mold release

3. Butter knife

4. A Wick that is appropriate for a 3" paraffin pillar

5. Scent and color

6. Wax. I used straight paraffin with vybar. The wax needs to be pliable.

7. Aluminum foil

For the purpose of this explanation we will call the layers "red" and "white".

1. Melt your wax. Measure out your wax and color and scent it. Line the cake pan with foil and spray the foil with mold release. 14 ounces of wax-by volume-will give you about a 1/2 layer in the cake pan.

2. Pour the red wax into the cake pan ane leave it there for a few minutes until it gets firm to the touch and is no longer "mushy". When you can run a knife through it and no liquid appears, you are ready for the next step.

3. Pick up the foil and remove the wax layer from the pan. and set it on a flat surface. Cut the wax in half (it will be 8" X 4"), peel the foil off the back of the wax and line each PVC mold (that you have sprayed with mold release) with the wax. The wax layer should come part way up the sides of the mold. Trim off the excess.

Melt and color the wax for the white layer, wait for it to cool as you did with the red wax, cut it and lay it on top of the red layer. Press it a little to make sure that it adheres to the red layer.

Make another red layer and proceed as before until you are about 1/2 from the top of the mold.

The last layer will be poured. Put the molds on a protected surface (the wax will run out in this step) and pour the last layer on the top of all the layers. let this set up.

You will need to heat the surface of the "half-candles" with a heat gun until they are glossy and starting to get liquid and quickly put the two halves together (Yes, they WILL stick) and put a strong rubber band around the mold to hold it together while the candle sets up.

I wicked the candles by drilling them with a drill press and inserting the wick. You could also lay the wick in the softened wax before you put the two halves together.

Trim and level the bottom of the candle. I over dipped the ones that I made.

I also trimmed the top.

These aren't really as hard as they seem. Once you get a rhythm going, they actually go pretty fast. I made several of these as favors for a class reunion and it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

This is my first post---sorry it is so long.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the board Charlotte! I was thinking of using a PVC cap that I had purchased for centering wicks and just turning the mold on its side. I just purchased a 5 foot piece of PVC pipe for another project so maybe I will give it a try your way. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's the way Yankee makes a pillar!

Do you know for a fact that Yankee makes their pillars that way? I tend to doubt it but I don't know one way or the other. Illuminations.com obviously doesn't because you can see exactly what standard molds they use for their various candles, and I always put them in the same general category as Yankee. Similar price points too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the old board there was a thread on a TV special or something showing Yankee actually making candles and it was the extrusion process - Well - I didn't see the show, just read about it here but that's what those here who saw it were saying anyway lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, how disappointing. It's not that I had SUCH high expectations, but I would have hoped a company that started in someone's basement would maintain a certain candlemaking integrity and not stoop to candle churn-out machines to manufacture their pillars. There are other larger producers who can still show photos of roomfulls of candles cooling in aluminum molds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow....I sure don't need to pull any more hair out....nice looking candle, but I'll let others do it (for now anyway)....I saw a video at Yankee Candle Shop where the wax is extruded from a pipe and whacked off......when you have to make a gazillion candles, you have to take a short cut somewhere...guess it is in quality. I was at Taget the other day and started to go down the candle isle and had to turn away....all of that cheap fo made me feel sick to my stomach and it wasn't just being a snob. It was really terrible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had that experience today. Went over to Bed Bath and Beyond to get another cookie sheet for cooling molds on, so while I was there I wandered over to the Yankee candles. If I had done this earlier I never would have doubted that the pillars are extruded. What a cheapo product. A lot of the other stuff didn't look much better, Yankee and otherwise.

I have to say though, in terms of the bigger producers, Illuminations.com makes a pretty good candle. I used to lump them in the same category as Yankee but they are clearly head and shoulders above. They're sold online and at their own Illuminations retail stores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...