Stella1952 Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 every candle ever made with container blended soy wax will, sooner or later, look like regugitated marshmallow?:laugh2::laugh2: You're killin' me , Natty!!but we don't really know that the market trends towards all-vegetable and all-soy will continue (or what part of the market is really obessed with that -- maybe mostly hobbyists and small producers?).But, Top - I don't really CARE about the market trends. Watching them hasn't exactly led us to a good place anyway. I like playing with the stuff. One CAN make a decent candle with some of the blends right outta the box. Some folks like to try to make BETTER than decent so they mess with the formula. What about that is any different from what chandlers have been doing historically? Or does EVERYFREAKIN'THING have to come out of ONE box these days? Does EVERYONE have to use the "cake mix" theory? The cakes made from my gramma's recipes sure do taste better than Betty Crocker's... Plenty of chandlers of yore based THEIR businesses on secret blends, so why shouldn't that be a reasonable goal today? There ARE people who WILL pay MORE for custom made stuff! Would suit me just FINE if veggie waxes are NEVER profitable for machine-poured candles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 I like playing with the stuff.We may not agree on what are suitable ingredients in the blend, but I like playing with it too. Much as I think Timothy Murphy could be formulating better stuff for a different employer, I'd take his job in a heartbeat. If I knew what my future interests would be I mighta gotten myself a chemistry degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8-GRAN-ONES Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 I agree with both of you...Why>>.Top...because I am having problems with my 100% Golden Brand soy growing too.Not all FO want to keep growing..but some of them do..and I agree..it is not fun to have made, tested and tested to get a nice looking candle and one that smells great...store it and go back in 3 wks or so and can't see the wicks...Stella..because I like the idea of soy too...why...I guess because It is supposed to be cleaner for our environment...and there are probably untruths to that too..So I am open to any information..I guess I am confused about what to do about this problem...Do I keep making soy candles and have to keep hitting the tops with the heat gun??? could it be my climate where I live??..Does very many of you ladies have this problem? Do you add additives to keep it from happening...Or are the ones having the problem doing something wrong, with the way we make our candles?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lsbennis Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 I have only had one soy candle spontanioulsy grow in the jar but I have since then decided to use a soy blend to avoid the issues from soy wax! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Do I keep making soy candles and have to keep hitting the tops with the heat gun??? could it be my climate where I live??..Does very many of you ladies have this problem? Do you add additives to keep it from happening...Or are the ones having the problem doing something wrong, with the way we make our candles??8Gran1s, while this is a problem many folks have had, I have only had two containers have the blooming cauliflower problem - both of the same FO sitting next to one another in a flat at a shop where my candles are sold. The rest of the candles in the flat had no problems. Because it didn't happen in my home, I don't know exactly what the circumstances were. Personally, I think that something warm was set on top of those candles or it was the FO. I am planning to repeat testing that particular FO to see if I can reproduce the problem (I hope not 'cause I REALLY liked that FO). What I do know is that it is a strange crystal pattern, as I could see the crystals when I looked closely and when I mooshed a piece of "cauliflower" between my fingers, it felt grainy. , There was no problem when I burned them and after burning, the tops did not do the cauliflowering thing again; however, I did not cover them and set them aside for a few weeks to see if the stuff would reform.I do add USA from JBN to the NatureWax C3 I use, which seems to make improvement in the smoothness of the wax and the tops. I also temper the wax before pouring.I don't know if folks are doing something "wrong" or if this is a characteristic more prevalent in certain brands of soy wax. Because we have little or no idea of what is actually added to our waxes before we buy them, it's tough to figure out solutions...Do you have problems with this a lot? If so, have you tried other brands of wax? Have you tried isolating whether it is the FO you are using by testing some unscented candles? As folks have pointed out in this thread, soy waxes can vary a lot between brands, and some, between batches. It makes it tough to diagnose problems when there are so many variables. To troubleshoot, back off the FO and dye and see if your problem(s) occur in a plain candle. If the problem doesn't happen with the plain wax, then start adding back things one at a time to see which additive you are using is the problem child. Please realize that just because something works great in other people's candle wax formulas doesn't necessarily mean it will work out for yours. You have to do a good bit of crash & bash testing to find out how to minimize issues with the wax you have chosen to use. If you do not like the wax you are using, sample another brand; but if you skip back and forth and don't test methodically and carefully, you'll never figure out what is giving you problems. Work on one thing at a time until you get that right, then go on to the next issue. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 I don't know if folks are doing something "wrong" or if this is a characteristic more prevalent in certain brands of soy wax. Because we have little or no idea of what is actually added to our waxes before we buy them, it's tough to figure out solutions...I'm guessing if you had a wax that didn't frost, it wouldn't expand either. It's all about changes in the crystalline structure, and apparently the type of crystallinity that tends to develop after the candle is made takes up additional volume.We get the expanding wax reports on a regular basis and they seem to cover all the aforementioned manufacturers' products. My longest storage test was over a year with EcoSoya CB-135. There was no cauliflower but each candle frosted over and the height of the wax increased by varying degrees (perhaps depending on the FO), causing 50% to 100% of each wick to disappear.The amount of long-term testing that would be involved in choosing wax, additives, fragrance, production technique and storage conditions to maximize stability is more than a little daunting and maybe futile. Plus you can only control conditions until the product leaves your hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8-GRAN-ONES Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Stella, I don't color my candles..I also don't add anything to the wax, other than the FO..I will pay more attention to the FO's that is causing this.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandlekrazy Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 8 Gran Ones,Have you noticed that 1 out of a batch will do this and not the rest in the batch? I've only had it happen to a few and it seems rather isolated. When it did happen, one candle will "bloom" while 9 others in the batch will be fine. I don't consider it a reason to quit using soy. If you sell a candle that does it, simple replace it for the person. If it's happening to all your candles or a good majority of them, then you might consider the USA as Stella mentioned, or trying a different soy wax, possibly a blended one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8-GRAN-ONES Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 You are right kandlekrazy..it does seem to be isolated and just certain FO's..I also think it might be the change of weather... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandlekrazy Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 You are right kandlekrazy..it does seem to be isolated and just certain FO's..I also think it might be the change of weather...Certain fo's yes, but then I might pour 10 plumeria and only 1 will do it out of the 10 in that batch??? Plumeria so far has been my biggest problem and I'm really thinking it might be the oil that might be cut. I've had about 6 in total and I'm going to go back to my notes and see which oils and wax they were made from...if I can match them up, it was before I started coding the candles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logcabinmomma Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 My only one that did it in bunches and bunches was a Cranberry Balsam (NG) in C-3 colored red with black in a 20 oz container. None of the other ones had problems. I did others the same scent and color that are fine (from the same batch even). Just one of those things...-Kristi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 It's the Evil Soy Cauliflower Troll who sneaks by and touches a few here and there with its nasty little fickle finger of bloom!!!:shocked2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandlekrazy Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 It's the Evil Soy Cauliflower Troll who sneaks by and touches a few here and there with its nasty little fickle finger of bloom!!!:shocked2:Will eating green m & m's or green jelly beans keep him away? I watch too much ER!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Is his cousin the Soy Frost Hobgoblin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meridith Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 I tend to only experience it in hot weather or during periods of temperatures really fluctuating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8-GRAN-ONES Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 I like frost and cauliflower..but just not on my candles.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logcabinmomma Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 I tend to only experience it in hot weather or during periods of temperatures really fluctuating.Except for the fact that these were all stored in my draft free, window free candle room in my basement where the temperature is pretty much always the same- never more than 3 degrees or so fluctuation. I'm going with the troll theory.-Kristi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.