Help Donita!!!!!

[tonyalkay]

I just dipped my pressed flower orb and on the back side and sides where there are no flowers I have air bubbles. Do you know what causes the air bubbles between the layers?

[Donita]

Tell me what you did. What kind of wax....exactly... and what temperature. We can fix this. Donita

[tonyalkay]

Using the 5055 from Candlewic. I did the paintbrush thing on the flowers and the smoothed it with the hot knife (by the way, i think I have mastered that part now, i was proud of myself) then I overdipped it at 200 degrees, stuck it in the waterbath, let cool, and dipped one more time.

5055 is the only wax I have to do the overdips with.

[Donita]

I don't like the 5055 for overdiping. But you can use it. The problem is having the wax adhere...like when doing tapers...you have to do them at a very low temp so it sticks...but when overdipping it has to be hot so it is transparent. This is where you get into trouble. Trying to get hot wax to stick to a cold candle is a problem too. Recently I have gone back to my old way of doing it. I was using the 4045H and having your problem. I am now using 4045EP, could do it with any other wax too, and adding 2 tsp of white beeswax pp of wax. The wax is still clear and I am only dipping once. No more waterbaths. That cools the wax and the next time you dip...it doesn't want to adhere. So....you probably don't have white beeswax on hand right now, but one never knows....I would just dip the candle once. Hold it in for about 10 seconds....then take it out. Carefully press the flowers against the candle. You will get some finger prints but that is better than having bubbles in your overdip.....the 4045EP with the beeswax is shiny too. Donita

[tonyalkay]

Okay I will try dipping once and letting it cool on its own. I do not have any white beeswax but if I cannot get it down with the 5055. The next time I order I will get some of the 4045 EP wax from candlewic and get some beeswax. My coworkers want some of these. So gotta get them down. Thanks. I will post the one I just did on the gallery. The flower part turned out beautifully but the rest had the air pockets/bubbles in between the layers. thank you.

[Donita]

Just thinking....did you overdip right after you heated the flowers on the candle. This could account for the wax sticking there and not on the back side. Where you just placed the flowers the wax would still be warm. Donita

[tonyalkay]

Yep, that is what I did. I am going to try warming it under a lamp before I dip like you said in the other post. But I did dip right after I smoothed the flowers with the hot knife. I did peel off the layers and salvaged this one. I will try again and let you know how it turns out.