Question about pouring temp when adding beeswax

[Heather]

Hi,

What temperature do you pour your wax at when adding beeswax? I am using LP 402 soy wax and cannot seem to get it right. I have been pouring around 100 degrees without beeswax and get lots of frosting and flakey tops. I poured one candle with beeswax added, but I poured higher than 100 and the wax had already started to set up in the pot. I had to reheat for a minute to blend it back together to be able to pour. Does anyone know anything about this wax? I can't find any info about it. I emailed the company I bought it from, but have not heard back from them yet. Thanks for any info.

[Kaybee23]

I don't pour any differently with the beeswax added to my soy. I add it in with the soy flakes and melt it together. Once melted, I put it in my pour pot and add my FO and make sure it is stirred well, and add dye and mix, and then let it sit. It sits until it starts getting cloudy and about the thickness of milk, at that point I stir it, to keep it from getting thick on the sides, then pour it in my jars. You really need to go by looks of the wax at this point, rather than temperature. When it gets to this stage, the temp. can be different each time. Hope this makes sense.

[rookie2004]

I've poured hot at 150 and the results were I got alot of tiny air bubbles on the sides of the jars. A real pain in the rear. Poured at about 100 or so the next time, slightly slushy on top and no air bubbles on the side, I did experience some with sinkholes. I hit'em with the heat gun for minute or two if that long, no more sinkholes. EASY. Tops were smooth after that and the candles looked great. I use 3% beeswax and plain 415, if that helps any.

John

[lvnmt]

I also pour mine between 110-125 depending on the look of the wax. Different oils can make it set up faster than you would think. I also use 3% BW and usually have great smooth tops with the occassional sink hole.

[Heather]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am going to keep testing this wax, but so far I do not like it. I made some great smelling tarts with the beeswax and they look good. I just can't seem to get the candle part right. Without the beeswax it has terrible frosting. I poured some a little higher than 100 and there was much frosting and the tops look terrible. Then I poured some around 100 and a little lower. The bottom half of the candle looks ok, but halfway up the frosting comes back. The one I poured with beeswax looks ok, but hardly has any scent throw and after I burned it, it had frosting and looked bad. I will try to post pictures later. Thanks for all your help.

Heather

[Kaybee23]

I don't think you ever mentioned which wax you were using. Beeswax will usually enhance your scent throw, depending on your wax. If it is Ecosoya, there have been many discussions regarding the throw of fragrance from this wax.

[Heather]

Hi,

I am using Aztec LP 402 soy wax. I am posting some pics of the candles I have made with this wax. The first is the pour around 100 without beeswax, the second is the higher pour without beeswax and the third is with the beeswax after burning. I coudln't get a good picture of the sides of the candles without the beeswax to show the frosting. Maybe with the tops I could use a heat gun to smooth, what do you think? I don't have a heat gun, but have seen where lots of people use them to smooth the tops of soy. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but any advice is appreciated.

[lvnmt]

Get an embossing gun. They are the best! Also, what % of BW are you using. Try cutting back a little bit, if you can. I have found that 3% is good enough for me. Sometimes my tops look like that, but after you heat them a bit, it looks great. What does the wax look like without the BW? Might just be a bad combo. Good luck.

[Heather]

Well, with this candle I used 1oz beeswax to 1lb soy wax. I made some tarts that came out great with 2oz beeswax to 1lb wax. The first 2 pictures are of the candles without beeswax. The candle with beeswax actually looked good until I burned it. It has no scent throw, I think that the scent I used, pink grapefruit just doesn't throw good in this wax. I am just getting really discouraged with this wax. Thanks for the advice.

[Kaybee23]

One ounce of beeswax per pound is a little much, if you are adding it to your soy to get 16 oz total, that is about 6% (my math sucks, but I think that is close). I would back down to 3-4% on the beeswax. Much more than 5% may also cause cracking in your wax after burning. Also, if you have been trying only grapefruit, that might be the problem. I have not had any luck with any grapefruit FO I have tried in soy, and I have tried about 5. It just doesn't throw well in soy. I would try some different FO's in it before giving up on it altogether.

[Heather]

Thanks Kerry. I will cut back on the beeswax and see if that helps. It's good to know that I am not the only one who has had trouble with the grapefruit. I thought maybe it was something I was doing wrong and I let this candle cure for 2 weeks. The two candles that I have poured without the beeswax are baby hugs and VS heavenly. At least I can smell them. I only poured them yesterday, so I am going to let them cure and then test. I will keep testing and post my results. I am buying a heat gun to see if that helps smooth the candle tops. Thanks for all your help.

[Kaybee23]

Your welcome You will love the heatgun, it comes in handy. I use it to melt the excess wax out of my pots when I am cleaning them too. Just be careful with them, they get hot enough to give you a good burn. Just ask me how I know, LOL! They will also crack your glass jars if you leave the heat on the tops too long ( I also know about that too, LOL!) I bet your other candles will smell wonderful, be sure and keep us posted.