Hurricane problem

[victoriaj]

I have made photo hurricanes before and have come out brilliant. But now all of a sudden they have started to come out with a sort of smudge surface. I remelted it and tried three more times but everytime it comes out with small patches of smudges over the surface of the candle. I am using plain paraffin with translucent crystals added to raise the melt point since i cannot get hurricane wax in the U.K. I am pouring at 175 and sealing the photo with ice, then transfering to the water bath. Any ideas how to rectify this? Please

[sharyl55]

Do you have access to micro 180? If so add 1/2 oz per lb of wax. What temp is your water bath water. Believe it or not it does make a difference. I try to keep my water bath 80 to 90 degrees F. Don't know what that is C?

Don't know what else to tell you.

[victoriaj]

I havent really been keeping the water bath at any particular temperature, just whatever temp it comes out of the cold water tap at, so will try to get it at 80 to 90 degrees F. Thankyou

Not sure if we can get micro 180- think i have seen it referred to as micro hard and micro soft- would micro 180 be microhard? What does adding micro 180 do?

[sharyl55]

Here is the description from Candlewic

Mico 180

Micro 180 is used to increase the overall quality of paraffin waxes. Used at 5% in your votive and pillar waxes it will increase your candle's opacity, whiteness and help eliminate surface imperfections. Micro 180 used at higher percentages will help you achieve a clean smooth finish on your candle in addition to the prevention oil migration and reduced brittleness.

I use it to reduce brittleness.