J50

[snow]

I have searched this and asked this....but I am about to go nuts here! I haven't changed anything except room location. I use J50 in 8 oz jars and I'm getting horrible results lately. Lots of wet spots, big round spots where the wax is not adhereing to the jar, looks like. If I heat gun them seems like a lot of tiny little air bubbles are coming up from the bottom, I can get them all to go away, but then they come back. No matter what I do it doesn't help. I tried pouring at different temps, heating jars and not heating jars, even tried a new batch of wax. Some of the candles even get a bit of that frosting look. What happened? I always would get a few wet spots, but this is awful looking and I don't know what else to try. My jars are straight sided and I even tried jars from different cases. FO are the ones I always used, wicks..same. Someone at my candle supplier told me to add a bit of soy, I tried that...didn't do a thing. I'm at the end of my rope with this. Please, please....any suggestions? Help me, thanks Dee

[mystical_angel1219]

What type of dye are you using, and how much?

In the new location, is the room cooler?

J50 can be almost as fussy as soy in that aspect. They need to cool in a warm room slowly or you will have a disaster on your hands as far as appearance. Let them get a skin on the top and put them back in the cases to finish cooling. Blast them with a heatgun if the wicks shift, for smoother tops and less work later on. The jars must be super clean and not be touching each other. Throw them in the dishwasher the day before you pour, it makes a world of difference with this wax, IMO.

Good luck- and do share you're results.

[fredron]

Does your J50 crackle when it melts? I've gotten some lately that sounds like cooking French fries when it melts, but I've not noticed any more or less wet spots. I associate that crackling sound with some candles that smoked when I tested them, though.

Do you add Crisco to the pour pot? I use 1oz/lb. (1oz Crisco to 15oz of J-50). The Crisco helps with the wet spots.

I tried adding soy to the J-50, and all I had was smoke, cracks, and sink holes. Even I thought my candles sucked. Anyway I'm back to the J-50 and Crisco.

Fredron

[country creek]

For Starters , If your wax is crackling it sounds like you have water in your wax which if that is the case crisco is not going to help you solve that problem. Second, you should not have to add anything to the J50, especially Crisco because that just helps to soften a hard wax and it smokes a great deal. IMO.

[snow]

I'm hearing some new ideas here with this J50. The room I moved to may be a bit cooler and it did seem like they were drying a little faster. I don't have any crackleing tho. Just ugly results lately. I did have some dye crystals I used also. I tried washing the jars, I dont have a dish washer, but I'm going to try washing them really good in hot soapy water and letting them sit over night, and try to get them to cool slower. I heard on here about putting them in a box or cooler to cool them slower. Would it work if you poured, and grouped them together, without touching each other, and put like a box over them upside down? They still burn great and smell great, they just look like hell! I'll let you know if this washing and cooling slower helps, geez...I hope so! Thanks so much, Dee

[fredron]

Not to sound like a wise guy, but there isn't any water anywhere near our J50. I just get that sound periodically in some batches. When I hear that sound, I do more testing, and sure enough, they smoke. I don't think something is mixed properly when it's manufactured.

As far as the Crisco, when we started with J50, Natures Garden recommended it. I assumed they knew what they were talking about, so we used it. Our candles don't smoke, with or without it, but the wet spots are fewer with the Crisco.

Different strokes for different folks.

Fredron

[country creek]

I guess it is different for all suppliers as to what they recommend with their J50. When I hear the wax is crackling it always seems to be that they have gotten water in it somehow. I am glad that is not the case.

As for the crisco, I added that to a bad batch per one of the well known and loved suppliers to soften up the hard wax and it just smoked terrible. So I guess different strokes. Good luck!

[snow]

I washed all my jars really good yesterday, now I'm going to try a few candles. I only make a few at a time, so now I need a slow cooling process. I'm thinking of setting them kinda close together, but not touching, and covering them up with a box, do you think that will slow the cooling process? Or should I put them in a warm oven? We need something like can coolies that work like jar warmers.... Oh well I hope this batch comes out better than they have been doing. I got a new FO to try...Peaks Pear Spice. Wish me luck! Dee

[Crafty1_AJ]

Agree with previous poster about letting candles cool slowly and making sure they don't change temps radically.