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Obsessing over wet spots..help


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I am determined to get a nice solid look to my jars can't seem to do it. I use J50 container wax, heres what I did yesterday...melted wax to about 160. added color and cooled down to 150 added FO..heated jars with heat gun to be warm to the touch and then poured slowly and steady into the jar, wicked it tapped it and put in jar box to cool. When they were cooled I saw the dreaded wet spots and used the heat gun to get rid of them, they were gone and lo and behold this morning they are back! what is going on? Please help this is driving me crazy! What am I doing wrong. Thanks....Dee

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I had some of the same problems for a while...I use J223. Went by the book on procedures but still had them. Zapped them and they were back the next morning...zapped them again and then back again. Zapped them till they all went away. Each time a few air bubbles floated to the top. I don't know what the problem is. At least your not alone.LOL Ginger

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This is the headache of most candle makers. If you look at big companies that have professional machines ..they have wet spots to. You can try pouring and storing them in warmer temps, but that will only help and dosent always eliminate the problem. Do a search for wet spots and see some other helpful ideas. But as far was i know wet spots are something that most times cannot be helped and will happen in different climates, etc. Its where the wax restricts from the jar. If thats the worst part of your candle , embrace it, dont obsess cause itll drive ya nuts!!LOL Besides there are worse things than that (like terrible frosting of my soy when I dont expect it) and I think most customers dont think twice about wet spots cause its just the nature of candles sometimes and there used to seeing it even with companies in stores:p Good Luck!

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I HATE them...but I'm thinking now its because the room I work in cooled off pretty good last night. Before I went to bed they were perfect, got up this morning and theere they were, but the room cooled off pretty much because it got really cool here last night. Wonder if they will go away some as they warm back up. I hope so!

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The problem is that you can't control them. Period. They pop up during temp changes, humidity changes and when the aliens strike. Although you can try to alleviate them by doing the things you're doing, you absolutely cannot control them or eliminate them. You'd be better off spending time trying to tame a feral bobcat.

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I have some J50 and didn't work with it for very long before giving up on it, mainly due to wicking issues. It does shrink when in cool climate and expand in warm. I have had the problem when adding J50 to soy too, but it goes the other way, where the jar has no wet spots but pulls all the way away from the jar.

What I have tried to do with both plain soy and parasoys (both Greenleaf and my own soy/J50 mix) is to preheat an oven to 150, turn off, pour candle, and place in the oven to cool very slowly. I do this mostly to get better setup and color smoothness, but it also has helped alot with adhesion. It may help if you try that with J50.

HTH! geek :cheesy2:

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It really helps alot if your jars are really clean. I use J223 and I always wash my jars really good. I dont even dry them, they go from wet straight to the oven and I let them dry that way while they're heating up. I have some containers I poured 2 weeks ago that only have one wet spot and its on the bottom. Clean jars is the key here! HTH!

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I have been making candles for a while and sometimes I will go through phases where I don't get them at all, and then sometimes I get several in a batch. I have gone through the ritual of cleaning and heating them, but it never proved to me that it helped one way or the other. So now, they just come out of the box, get a good wipe on the inside and they get wicked and are ready to go. I have attributed it to changes in the inside climate which is directly influenced by the outside climate. They really don't bother me anymore, I have gotten used to them. I think because the major candle manufacturers get them, that most people are used to them and know that they don't affect the burn anyhow. One less thing to stress over.

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Thank you all...I guess I'll just have to live with it! i don't want to change anything because they are burning good and have a good scent throw, so I;ll live with the wet spots, when they are real bad I'll take the heat gun to them, the little ones I wont worry about. :yay: Glad to know I don't have to worry about that anymore! Dee

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I am determined to get a nice solid look to my jars can't seem to do it. I use J50 container wax, heres what I did yesterday...melted wax to about 160. added color and cooled down to 150 added FO..heated jars with heat gun to be warm to the touch and then poured slowly and steady into the jar, wicked it tapped it and put in jar box to cool. When they were cooled I saw the dreaded wet spots and used the heat gun to get rid of them, they were gone and lo and behold this morning they are back! what is going on? Please help this is driving me crazy! What am I doing wrong. Thanks....Dee
The wet spots will be affected by your choice of container and pouring technique, but if this is a really important issue to you, you'll have to consider changing waxes. You could try testing some IGI 4627 Comfort Blend. Pour it 175-185, preferably into slightly warmed containers, and cool as slowly as possible. The adhesion will be much improved over what you're seeing.
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The wet spots will be affected by your choice of container and pouring technique, but if this is a really important issue to you, you'll have to consider changing waxes. You could try testing some IGI 4627 Comfort Blend. Pour it 175-185, preferably into slightly warmed containers, and cool as slowly as possible. The adhesion will be much improved over what you're seeing.

Top's right. I tested 4627 extensively last year and rarely, if ever, got wetspots with this wax. It also has the absolute best scent throw of any paraffin wax I've tried and colors very nicely. Like everything else though, it does have it's downfalls, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to test it out and see if you like it.

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If you want to get over your obsession with wet spots, just head to a Yankee Candle store. I was in one today. WOW!! I have NICE candles compared to theirs!! Huge wet spots on every candle, and also lots of air bubbles on the candle tops, the dye wasn't mixed in well on most, etc. Basically, very ugly candles, I was shocked!! The wet spots will show up even later on when you have made the perfect candle, then two weeks later....wet spots. so basically my advice is get over it, you really can't fix it.

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Should we look at Yankee and get over soot and poor throw as well? When someone asks how to minimize wet spots, there are ways to answer that. We always get a torrent of replies saying it's a pointless question and forget about it, but personally I don't agree. "Embrace your wet spots" is a CT mantra that's been way overdone.

Wax blends and glass aren't a happy marriage. It's important to understand that wet spots can't be completely eliminated. However, adhesion will vary with wax and container and pouring technique, so it's a quality issue that's worth discussing like any other.

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Comfort blend has less (if any) wet spots because it is a very soft wax. Any wax that is softer should give you fewer wet spots. Also, a single pour wax will adhere better than those that require the 2nd pour - less shrinkage. If you are blending your own you could research adding some hotglue to your wax, this will aid in the adhesion to the wall of the jar.

Don't slam me people... I said RESEARCH!

Dat

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I have been using J50 for almost 5 years not and there is nothing you can do about the wet spots. I used to get so upset about them, until I made myself go to an upscale store and look at their candles.:shocked2: OMG they looked horrible compared to mine. Holes near the wick major wet spots dips. I continued to look everytime I went somewhere and they had candles. I think everyone has them, it is just something you have to live with.

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Comfort blend has less (if any) wet spots because it is a very soft wax. Any wax that is softer should give you fewer wet spots. Also, a single pour wax will adhere better than those that require the 2nd pour - less shrinkage. If you are blending your own you could research adding some hotglue to your wax, this will aid in the adhesion to the wall of the jar.

Don't slam me people... I said RESEARCH!

Dat

These days you don't have to use hot melt glue sticks. The useful ingredient in that stuff is EVA copolymer. Now you can buy it in pure form as Elvax 210 or Poly AC-400. The latter is sold by Genwax. You usually have to go to larger distributors to get the Elvax because it's more commonly used by candle companies than hobbyists. Arnie at Candlechem might be able to offer smaller quantities.
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Comfort blend has less (if any) wet spots because it is a very soft wax. Any wax that is softer should give you fewer wet spots. Also, a single pour wax will adhere better than those that require the 2nd pour - less shrinkage. If you are blending your own you could research adding some hotglue to your wax, this will aid in the adhesion to the wall of the jar.

Don't slam me people... I said RESEARCH!

Dat

Nah, both CB and HB develops wetspots too... sometimes it just takes longer to show up.

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I adore wet spots. I love, love, love wet spots. I wake up in the middle of the night, jump out of bed, run to the garage hoping I will have even more wet spots in the candles I poured that day. Then I dream of my lovely wet spots. They add so much character to the jar.

Don't sweat it.:yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay:

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I adore wet spots. I love, love, love wet spots. I wake up in the middle of the night, jump out of bed, run to the garage hoping I will have even more wet spots in the candles I poured that day. Then I dream of my lovely wet spots. They add so much character to the jar.

Don't sweat it!

LMFAO!!!! NO KIDDING!

With everything else that goes into making a fantastic candle, why worry about wet spots? Customer's don't notice it anyway, what they do notice is scent throw, burn quality...etc.

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I have been making and selling candles for awhile now and never had anyone complain about wet spots. I do everything I can to try and minimize them and that is all I can do.

I did just switch to a Para-soy blend and get wet spots on maybe one out of every 5 candles I make.

Don't worry about it.

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