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Candle making lingo?


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Hi,

I just joined your great forum. I came to this site yesterday smack dab in the middle of my first candle making. Thank goodness it was here. I had the wax melted and ready to poor and I couldnt keep the wick fastened to the container. The glue gun worked great. First of all, I made my first two container candles and two molded candles. I used a container wax I located at a candle place in town. (I dont know what it is made out of). I added 1.5 fragrance. I then used a combination of 3/4 parafin and 1/4 beeswax and 1 oz of fragrance on the molded candles. The molded ones are burning okay. My problem is the container ones arent burning well. I used prewaxed wicks ex large 22.8 cm and the flame is so little. It is not melting the whole surface. I can see from what people have written that there is a lot of experimenting going on, but it is hard for me to understand the lingo. I can make soap like you wouldnt believe, but this is my first attempt at candlemaking. (I love challenges!!) Is it the wick, the amount of fragrance or the wax? thanks (I used a 22 oz container, I think)

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I just wanted to say hello and welcome. Also, if you have questions, feel free to pm me. I felt lost at first too. I am by NO means an expert, but you WILL find some experts on here. Check out the section at the top of the forums, that has candle making questions in it. I can't remember the name offhand. It is an AMAZING forum.

Without knowing what wax it is, I don't know how to help you.

Also, what fragrance is it?

And for the wicking, I am not familiar with that kind, so you may have to have someone else help you there. You will get it figured out though. You have come to a great place.

ETA: It's just called, Candlemaking

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It sounds to me like your wick is way too small. Depending on what type of container you are using will determine what size wick. There are several places that will suggest the wick size to use. What type of wick did you try? As for the Lingo, it takes awhile, but if you have questions that is what this board is about. We all learn something new fromt his board... there are a bunch of very cool people that post here... HTH:cheesy2:

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Welcome to the board :)

There are so many different kinds of candle wax. Then in each of those caretgories, there are different blends, different melt points, different suppliers using different additives. Your best bet for wax is deciding what kinds of candles you want to make then order a test slab of different kinds that fit your needs... and get it from someplace local or as close as possible to save on shipping costs.

As for your two sets of candles... you didn't use the same wax for both containers and pillars did you? As a general rule 1.5 oz FO pp is rather high for most general applications. Knowing what kind of wax you have and the load % would help greatly. Any time you buy wax, there are 3 things you must know about it... FO load %(how much FO is will bind with), the melt point, and which, if any, additives it has.

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Hello and welcome to the board. Here is a link for suppliers by state. Check it out! I've had good deals with Spirit crafts and Genwax. Just scroll down for California

http://www.candleandsoapstuff.com/Suppliers_by_State.html

Here is a link for a basic explination of wick (taken from another post) I don't believe that wick should be labeled S,M,L & XL it just doesn't work that way. this will explain why

http://www.moonglowcandles.net/projects/i-aboutwicks.htm

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I haven't done much w/containers but you mentioned using some beeswax - it will always require a larger wick whether in a container or pillar. For more info on BW you can get a lot of info by searching for 'beeswax" or "BW"..HTH

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