My Hurricane Saga, any advice?

[Wick'n'Wax]

Well, where do I start lol.

Took delivery of my new hurricane shell and insert. Decided to do 4 orange slices per side, two up two down.

They all tumbled down and wouldn't stay put. So I melted some micro soft and glued them to the mould. Did 15, got to last 1 and ping they all fell off.

Getting pretty narked at this point. So decided to go and sit and think about it....... leaving the double burner/porringer on!! well the smell hit me first, then the smoke, oops!! no holes, managed to save it, although its a dirty grey colour now lol.

Had a brainwave decided to lie the mould on its side and glue 4 in place, let them set and then turn it and do another side. So I did....... slapping that micro soft on, like peanut butter on fresh bread. Determined they weren't going anywhere this time.

Then comes the overpour time........... Heated my wax to 195degrees, thinking yep, this will melt the wax glue enough.....

yep, you guessed it, all the orange slices came floating up to the surface. I'm shouting at the darn thing at this point, so much so that when I actually burnt my fingers lifting it, hubby never batted an eyelid.

It then took me two days!!! to get it out of the mould. Remembered some advice on here, stuck it in the freezer for 15-20mins and got hairdryer on corners for few mins.

Out it came............

and this is the result............. holes, glue showing..........

I would like to remelt it and try again, but not sure how it will react with the micro soft that will be in there. Anyone know?

btw, the 52oz was exact and 26oz came back out. Can that be used again either?

So......... after all that, why am I soooooooooo eager to try again lol, but with some advice first

oh and got plenty more orange slices today

[Scented]

Why can't you carefully carve away some of that wax covering your oranges? Or apply heat to melt it away?

[Wick'n'Wax]

ooh good thinking. Although can't salvage this one, as it has a nasty crack running nearly the length of one side from where I couldnt' get it out.

I could try and get most of the microsoft out of the mixture though that way

[marika]

If you're using fresh orange slices, the moisure will affect your wax...try dried fruits instead

Mari

[Scented]

Well since you can't salvage it, how about trying this idea for the next time ... don't insert your embeds till it has cooled a little. Maybe even to the point that a film starts to set up ...

OR

When you set them, immediately keep applying a cool, wet or just cool cloth to the outside, press the embeds into the side of the mold and work that way?

Cuz you don't wanna know how I embed stuff. You'd have chopsticks all over your mold and it would look like you were building something with tinker toys.

[Donita]

Repeating myself.....but they way I do it is to use chunks to hold the slices in place between the mold wall and the insert. Try that and see if it works for you. I use that technique for all kinds of inserted objects. Donita

[Wick'n'Wax]

they are dried orange slices.

thanks donita, thats what i'm going to try

wasn't sure if i could reuse this wax though as the micro soft might still be in it.

Going to try what scented suggested and melt the micro soft out from the outside first. Get as much out as poss, maybe lie it on a baking tray and do each side.

btw, its amazingly hard, that micro hard is great stuff. THanks for that tip too donita xx

gonna say up and buy all your cane and embed tutorials lmao

[Stella1952]

I keep a cool wet cloth nearby when I am doing 'canes to quickly "set" the wax in critical areas by pressing the cloth to the outside surface over the area I want to get hard quick! I don't use the waterbath 'cause I don't make mine with paraffin, but I think the same technique could be employed.

Good luck! Have fun playing with it - you'll get it dialed in soon!

[Wick'n'Wax]

todays a new day...........

today, is hurricane day. I must love a challenge

gonna re-use the wax and see what happens

[Donita]

That's the cool thing with hurricanes and most embedded objects. You just remelt and start over.....with the orange slices....the wax may take on a nice orange fragrance (smile)....when I remelt sea shells....well.....it doesn't smell very good.....like a dirty beach.....:rolleyes2 Donita

[Wick'n'Wax]

ooh I can relate to the seashells. I melted a bought candle down for the shells and it was the most revolting smelt. NEarly as bad as amaretto fo!!

Remade it, just checking on it now for thickness. Wedged all the slices in with chunks and slivers, they were fine until the wax went in and the chunks melted away. A couple of slices moved and bobbed up.

So........ I quickly grabbed some ice cubes, held them under with a spatula and iced them in place.

Looking okay so far.

I really need to sort my technique out. Whatever I'm using to hold the mould as it goes into the water bath gets drenched.