Hi All! Been Reading for awhile... help needed.

[candledog]

Hello to all of you master soy makers out there!

This is my first post although I have been fully educating myself here for about 4 months, and have been testing and retesting and retesting...( you all know how it goes....) for about 8. I have spent countless hundreds of dollars on waxes and wicks and fragrances.... and I think I have it narrowed down and would like some EXPERT opinons. I am a cold process soapmaker by trade, so I really like the fact that natures garden lists the scents that you can use in both... saves time and money to dual purpose scents.... anyway.

I am pouring into 16oz. round masons and using the eco 12 or 14 wicks (papercore) and I am thinking of trying natures garden pure wax again & scents, the first time I tried their wax I used the zinc wicks they recommended and I got all of this terrible smoke and fuel smell, (even with the non citris type scents) however, recently I stuck an eco into one of my bum test candles and lit it and it smelled SO GOOD! I have also tried the htp series wicks, they seemed to burn uneven for me, and have tried kypure soy and cargill naturewax c3 (of which I cannot get a really good fill your house scent with). So, I'm would be very thankful and interested in your possible predictions for my next line of testing as follows:

naturesgarden pure soy

natures garden scents (mulled cider, christmas splendor, bluberry muffin)

Eco wicks 12 or 14

16oz. mason round

pouring cool at 110.

thanks so much!

[candledog]

oh, I forgot to ask if there is any difference in your opinion between natures garden pure soy and ky pure soy, thanks again.

[geekrunner]

Your groveling has not gone unnoticed

It looks like you are gearing up for Christmas/Thanksgiving holiday scents. I don't know much about the other waxes, although I believe that the KY Pure soy is Golden Brand's 415 which is a very good all-purpose soy, but for best results needs to be poured no hotter than 105-110, and works really well with 2-3% beeswax.

I predict your candles will smell great! I"m not familiar with the ECO wicking, so I can't really say how those sizes will work in that jar.

You are alot farther along than most noobs, you are to be highly commended! Let us know how they turn out.

geek

[candledog]

I will test my next batch with the pure soy formulation that I have and adding beeswax, (My dad & Grandpa- 86, bless his heart!) have a local apiary so I have tons of beeswax at my disposal that I usually use for lotions & lip balms, it will be interesting to see if the beeswax changes the scent throw, as, if you get pure beeswax it does have a very sweet scent, as oppossed to the stuff you buy, I'm not sure why, the store stuff must somehow be cleaned or something....

But I'm so greatfull for this forum and all of the expert advice, any of you want to start cold processing soap, let me know!

[Henryk]

NG said to use zincs with the 100% soy wax? Is that on their website somewhere? I wouldn't think to use zinc with a 100% soy wax.

[Sharon in KY]

(My dad & Grandpa- 86, bless his heart!) have a local apiary so I have tons of beeswax at my disposal , the store stuff must somehow be cleaned or something....

But I'm so greatfull for this forum and all of the expert advice, any of you want to start cold processing soap, let me know!

I haven't used NG's wax so can't say but you might have got a better throw because the candle had been made for awhile. Some find they throw better after curing for a week or more. Don't use the Eco wicks either. sorry but

I just asked about the bees wax in soy. Let me know if there is a difference in throw. May have to PM you to find out how to get the bees wax ready to use in candles.

Love home made soap but have only made Microwave and CPHP. Always in a hurry. Have all the ingredients and as soon as I get some time I plan on making some salt soap and CP. First I need to organize all my supplies so I can find everything. I like using rice brand oil, much cheaper than olive. Good luck.

[candledog]

Still waiting on official testing from adding the beeswax or not, so I will update you when I get to that 24 hrs & counting....... But, don't go with all of that melting with water nonsense to clean your beeswax, as personally adding water to ANYTHING that I will be using for candles really freaks me out. To clean my grandpas for use in bath , body & now soy all you have to do is heat it up until melted and take a disposable (you will have to chuck it after you use it up...) flour sack towel and bind it around a bowl or water you plan on storing your beeswax in. (I use stainless so its easy to melt the edges and pop out.) Pour the melted wax through the flour sack towel and presto, clean beeswax with no misc... bee parts or junk. (yes, unfortunatly you do get bee tragedy in your wax blocks... ) anyway, hope that helps.

[ChrisR]

I've cleaned beeswax with water and pantyhose (which is finer mesh than your towel) several times and have NEVER had water in my beeswax!!

[Henryk]

Another insider trick is to use those huge coffee filters from restaurant supply houses.

candledog, can you remember which wax from NG you tested re the fuel smell? Was it their all soy product or was it their joy wax? (This was in regard to your post above with zincs/fuel smell).

[candledog]

The fuel smell was with the pure wax, I also noticed that it really turned colors, the scent seeped out of it lots more than with the ky pure soy or other brands, really strange, got a big yellow spot on the tops where as with the same conditions in other unblended soys I didn't. I don't think it was the wax that smelled like fuel though, I think it was the wicking was wrong, I will never go back to zinc wicks again, works for some, just not for me.