grama Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 I just had a thought about fingernails - reckon when you poke your relief holes in pillar - then you fill them up with hotter wax when you top off. Couldthe fingernails be where the hotter wax is hitting the cold wax:undecided . I use IGI 4625 and pour at about 185 then top a little hotter. Just a thought - opinions?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 I was thinking that cooling very slowly might cause fingernailing when using 4625 with a lot of fragrance. Someone recently got them making a very large 4625 pillar and topping off multiple times while the candle was still warm. It probably took forever to cool down.If you want to test that, make sure the candle doesn't cool off unusually slow and wait until it's cold before doing the repour. At that point the temp of the repour probably won't matter much, but it's really not necessary to do it any hotter than 185. You could even do it cooler and it will work fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grama Posted March 26, 2007 Author Share Posted March 26, 2007 Thanks Top - I was making Cranberry and used 1 oz pp and Vanilla with 1 oz all so. When I made the 2nd ones I only use .75 pp on the cranberry - it is very strong and thick, in fact both very strong and thick. So far so good but it took about 2 days for the fingernails to show up. Made a pillar in English Tea Rose and it did fine - no fingernails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 I haven't got much to go on and probably don't have time to test it, but putting some clues together my theory is that fingernailing is what happens when the wax wants to mottle but can't do it in the usual way. It's a kind of mottling in the sense that the wax crystals are splitting, but instead of all the little branches they come apart in flat sheets.I think polyethylene in the candle is one of those situation where it can happen. It's in Universal Additive, which is made by IGI, and probably in IGI 4625. Things that would make fingernailing more prone to happen would be using too little UA (if you start off with plain paraffin and add your own additive), cooling the wax slowly, using a lot of fragrance oil, and using certain fragrance oils in particular.What you say about the cranberry and vanilla makes sense. Those are the sorts of oils that make mottling wax go bonkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breanna Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Hi, I use IGI-4625 and have NEVER had fingernailing UNTIL I bought Gemlite FO. Then I got them,,,So I decided to test this,,EVERYTIME I use the Gemlite FO my pillars fingernail,,,this FO does NOT blend well in ANY wax or at any temp,,its the same everytime. HTHWent back to my best FOs and I have had not one Fingernail so I believe it is also the FO not mixing well. JMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grama Posted March 26, 2007 Author Share Posted March 26, 2007 I agree LadyBre -The fo was Lonestar and I know the cranberry does not mix, even at .75oz pp you can still see some in the bottom of pour pot no matter how much stiring you do. The vanilla seems to mix good, was trying to remember, and it does seem like the other times I have had this happen all the fo has been from Lonestar - you may be on something there! I started out with Lonestar and certain scents I have stayed with them because they were so good and I have never found anything wrong with their fo's but 4625 and LS may just not mix good!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breanna Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I agree LadyBre -The fo was Lonestar and I know the cranberry does not mix, even at .75oz pp you can still see some in the bottom of pour pot no matter how much stiring you do. The vanilla seems to mix good, was trying to remember, and it does seem like the other times I have had this happen all the fo has been from Lonestar - you may be on something there! I started out with Lonestar and certain scents I have stayed with them because they were so good and I have never found anything wrong with their fo's but 4625 and LS may just not mix good!!! I have gone back to Just Scent, Peaks and Bittercreek. After my experiance with fingernailing I dont mind the shipping cost,,LOL,,,I have not used Lonestar and thanks for the heads up on them,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grama Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 This is to correct my post about maybe it was the Lonestar fo - well the one i poured using WSP had started fingernailing. I shrink wrapped her and got er in the mail as soon as I could before I saw more!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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