Another votive testing question....

[SonShine]

Hi everyone...another noob question, thanks so much for being pateint with me...

When testing votives, I put one in the bathroom, shut door, and then another in my bedroom, and a third in another room, shut door. Is this the way to do it?

I am using this way because I want to see what the scent throw will be like with the wick I am testing. Is this the way it should be done?

Ughhh....votives are driving me nutso....I've spent soooo much time on these suckers and sometimes they make me want to bang my head up against a wall. How much scent throw does a normal votive throw off? I can't seem to get the scent throw in my large family room (20 X 22 room), and I figured thats probably normal. Am I wrong?

OH, one more thing...on most of my votives I do a full day burn and they last at least 14-16 hours. Is this the right amount of time for a 2 oz votive? (yesterday I started one at 7:30am and almost done at 11:00pm....lol...is this dangerous?)

Please go easy on me, and thanks so much for any suggestions that will help me on my votive quest.

Suzy

[jillgunter]

You are doing marathon burns. Which isnt a bad idea, but not good to leave it in a room unattended. I would pick a room where you can keep a eye on it. Mostly I would burn it for 2 to 3 hours at a time and blow it out. And then wait a few hours at least for it to harden back. Votives arent gonna put off a huge scent throw, they dont get a very large melt pool.

[SonShine]

JILL!!

Thanks so much for responding...I was going to email you and see how things are going with the 6006 wax for you. I couldn't find the last email addy for you though, since I've spent the last three weeks with this dreaded flu...grrr! (the thought didn't occur to me to look on this site....sheesh!)

So do you think I should do one at a time then when I do the testing?

Like I said, thank you so much for your help!

Suzy

[Scented]

I would go one at a time, because otherwise you aren't judging the scent throw from one.

If you aren't scent testing, but trying for burn time, wick three or four in labeled glasses, light 'em and watch what they do. Some with burn faster than others, some might smoke, some might burn better etc.

[sugarysweet95]

If you don't expect a votive to give as much of a hot throw, what do you expect it to give? What level of hot throw would make you decide whether you had enough FO??I'm trying to work out how much FO to use to get a good scent throw, but without using so much FO that it mkes the candle too expensive (like for me 1oz / pound would be far too much price wise)

[Scented]

If you don't expect a votive to give as much of a hot throw, what do you expect it to give? What level of hot throw would make you decide whether you had enough FO??I'm trying to work out how much FO to use to get a good scent throw, but without using so much FO that it mkes the candle too expensive (like for me 1oz / pound would be far too much price wise)

Typically start at 1 oz per pound of wax and operate up or down. If that's too much for you price-wise, then making candles probably isn't for you. Very, very, very few FOs are great at .5 oz. There are some, but you will be way limited in the scents at that rate. Seriously.

If you figure that 1 oz pp will generated 8 votives, the cost isn't that bad ... unless you're buying in terms of 1 oz samples, then you might rethink how to lower costs without ripping off noses. Just my 2 cents.

[sugarysweet95]

What sort of candles is the 1 oz per pound ratio for? I make mainly decorative pillars, so for them to make the whole house smell when they're not even burning isn't the way to go. I'm wandering what people have found customers want for pillars. I can understand people making container candles / tea lights and votives to be very strongly scented, people generally buy these too burn, but my sort of candle's like i said are more decorative sort, the sort you wanted (hopefully!!!!) want to burn straight away. It's not i'm trying to cut corners, it's more that i want to get the balance right between the right level of scent and the right price. Basically it's the buyers price of the candle that will go up with the extra scent, so i want to get it right, so what have people, who make similar candles found the customers wanted?

[SonShine]

Thanks for the input Scented....

I was also wondering how much to expect out of a votive. I had bought some last fall, along with two 24oz jars. Today the votives sit in my sunroom in a cute bowl as decoration, with no scent to them. The jars I left unlidded and to my dismay they have no scent either. I guess I didn't realize that I needed to leave them lidded when not lit.

I had burned a Lavendar votive in my bedroom last week and it smelled up the whole house, even as small as my house is. lol The others aren't doing even that close. I'm stumped on scent throw, but didn't want to expect too much, too.

Thanks,

Suzy

[Scented]

Depends on what you mean by decorative. I use 1 oz ppo and I do pillars, not plain, solid colored pillars. My peeps want the candle to smell and not just at first lighting but till the candle's death. Typically I use 1 oz pp, sometimes it goes up, but never higher than 1.5 oz. And there are very few scents that cut the mustard at .5 oz pp but I have some.

[sugarysweet95]

Well i make mainly colourful chunky candles and colourful layers. Most people i know i've sold them too have but them on display. I can understand people wanting to smell them, but how much do people find they want the smell to spread, when lit and not lit. I bought a candle once and it smelt the entire room which was nice at first, but it lasted so long i got really sick of the smell, so i suppose if customers are say going to have them mainly on display, how much do you think they'd want to smell them? Just wandering what people have found customers are after?

[jillgunter]

Most people buy candles for the smell. I dont really care when I have bought pillars in the past if I am using them for display. But I still expect to smell something. You will have to see how much FO your wax holds. Alot of pillar/votive waxes hold 6%( 1 oz FO per Pound Wax). Good luck on your testing.