mixing gel and paraffin?

[Wick'n'Wax]

Leading on from my frosting / icing thread, I need to ask a question.

If you mix gel and paraffin together

1) should I melt the gel and paraffin seperately and then mix together

2) does the fo have to be gel safe as its only perhaps 1oz of gel to 1oz of paraffin?

thanks

[DebbieTX]

If you are going to do just 1 oz of each wax, then leave it unscented. If you insist on scenting it, I would use a gel safe FO. I had to test my FO's for polarity before using gel. A lot of candle suppliers dont test for it or say that you need to test on your own. I remember that the flashpoint on the FO had to be high. BCN has a Gel Aroma line that is safe. But, if you are only going to do a few, just leave it unscented. The FO from your cupcake should be fine and will still smell through the icing. But, as always, make one for yourself and test it to be safe.

As far as your other post about melting them together. Yes, just weigh one ounce of gel and one ounce of paraffin out. I cant help you on the double boiler thing because I've never made candles that way. I started out with a Presto Pot, which does not have a direct heat flame. With gel, you have to turn your temp up a little bit to get it to melt. It will probably just take your double boiler longer to melt the gel. I would not recommend direct heat because you cant control the temp.

You can PM me if you have questions.

[Wick'n'Wax]

thanks debbie.

Well thats the best looking icing I've made. Very thick and white.

I melted 2oz of gel first in my jug but directly on the burner, then added 2oz of paraffin and put the jug into a double boiler saucepan.

Poured it into a bowl (for ease) left it a min and off I went. You don't really need to leave this too long, as it sets up very quickly and you could end up with gloopy lumps on the cupcakes.

Had to remelt as was doing 6 cupcakes and by the time I'd put the hundreds and thousands on each one, it hadn't thickened up too much.

Will definately do it this way in future.

Wonder if theres a gel safe 'frosted cupcake' type fo? I didn't use any FO just in case.

Will post piccie when they've set and I've wicked them