Pillar question, kind of rustic

[aishajoy]

I bought some candles at a store going out of business so can't go back for more. I've been trying to figure out how to make them but can't seem to get it right. It was one color on the outside and a white center. The outside was maybe 1/4 inch- 1/2 inch thick, kind of like a hurricane shell. It was rustic in a sense, but not mottled like when you do a cold pour. It had all these grooves and dimples in it and when you burn it, the light shines through those crevices. They're simply beautiful! I wish I had taken a picture when I still had the candles.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about and how to make those? Sorry if I use the wrong terms--I'm a candle newbie.

A'isha

[AnjieBurdett]

Have you had a look in the gallery here to see if you can see the kind of thing you are trying to describe?

HTH. Anjie,x.

[aishajoy]

I haven't come across anything in the gallery here. I found lots of others that inspired me though. I did remember the name of the place that sells them, bullfrogcandles.com. I haven't figured out how to add a picture of it, but they have one at their website under pillars then textured and satin ribbon. I don't think the picture they have there really shows the texture, but hopefully it's enough. It was really cool in a dark room.

I really want to figure out how to make these. I'm open to suggestions of things I could try. I don't know much about the various additives that you can use and what their effect on the candles is, so maybe it's something I need to add??? I'm at a loss.

Thanks,

A'isha

[Bernadette]

I think I know what kind of candle she means, and I've never seen one like it in the gallery.

I bought a couple in a resort area in the mountains that sound similar. One has a green outer shell, off white center(major part of candle). The green shell has an indented pine tree. When lit, only the off white part burns, and although the candle is 7 - 8" tall, the off white glows thru the cutoff all the way to the bottom of the candle. The other is brown, with a cutout of a walking moose and a moon; again, with the off white center, and when lit, the moose and moon light up.

Both the green and brown part of these candles is only about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick, and when you look at them from the top, it looks just like a shell. What I did, was burn the candles just enough to insert tealights in plastic cups because even the tealights make the cutouts light up. I have no idea what kind of wax the off white part is, but when there's a flame, it lights up so bright you'd think that there was a light bulb in the candle. Really beautiful. But I know the green and brown wax is different because you can barely see the light in it, so the cutouts really show. I'd love to be able to figure out how they did it too.

[AnjieBurdett]

These?

https://www.bullfrogcandles.com/shop/display_product.phtml?cust_id=&user_num=&cust_status=guest&cat_id=125&sub_id=5&prod_id=32

Anjie,x.

[aishajoy]

Yes Angie, those are the ones. I didn't remember the rules regarding links, so didn't want to add it.

Bernadette, those do sound awesome. I'm sure it has something to do with making hurricane shells, but what kind of wax is the major question. With the ones you're talking about could they actually cut the design out of the shell? Or maybe there's some sort of insert that you put on the edges of the inside of the mold when you pour the wax and then when you remove them the design is there. I don't know, I've been racking my brain for weeks on this whole concept and am still quite confused. I think there must be a way for the texture in the ones in the link Angie posted to just "automatically" appear during the cooling process. I even tried to use a little heated hobby tool (like for woodburning and soldering) to draw the lines in, but then the wax just drips off and looks ugly. I think something like that would be too time consuming for that company to make a lot at once anyway, so isn't very feasible.

I think today's mission is to try different things until I get this darn thing right. It's become an obsession now.

Sorry, long winded.

A'isha

[Oh-MYo]

I am thinking the outside may be a seperate layer of wax that has been rolled on like a pie crust or jelly roll.

You could make your own layer of which ever color you like and put drops or smears of clear or white wax wherever you want them. A silicone baking try in a cookie sheet--maybe even on a breakfast grill to keep it the right temp as you are making your layer.

Then roll it on to the finished inner white pillar when it has cooled to the right consistency.

Great website with some awesome ideas!

[aishajoy]

Fabulous idea! I've never done the sheet of wax that you roll on but I saw it online somewhere. I'm melting wax now, so we'll see how it goes.

A'isha

[kalamazoo]

I have long admired these candles and go and drool over them sometimes. The top to bottom glow is fascinating and I particularly love their leaf cubes and wilderness collections. They say on their site that it has taken many years to develop the "secret candle glow" and I cannot begin to fathom how it is done. Good luck with the experimenting and you may discover that you develop something unique along the way.:smiley2:

[Oh-MYo]

Looking at some of the satin ribbon ones, on Zoom, it almost looks like a big square has been poured in many layers on an angle and then sliced:

https://www.bullfrogcandles.com/shop/display_product.phtml?cust_id=&user_num=&cust_status=guest&cat_id=133&sub_id=60&prod_id=531

in order to roll it on.

[Scented]

How about trying an easier method, because rolling out and putting into the candle is a pita and usually leaves a seam.

Fill your candle mold with a higher melt point wax (no doubt colored), let it set up about 1/16th to 1/8th of the way, cut through the skin that forms on the bottom, pour out the wax, refill with white.

The consistency of those candles makes me think it's a machine process, but you can come close to imitation with some experimentation.

You could wait for the shell formed by the colored wax to harden enough to remove it and cut away the top, return it to the mold and fill with a lower mp wax as well.

[gerrie]

I have long admired these candles and go and drool over them sometimes. The top to bottom glow is fascinating and I particularly love their leaf cubes and wilderness collections. They say on their site that it has taken many years to develop the "secret candle glow" and I cannot begin to fathom how it is done. Good luck with the experimenting and you may discover that you develop something unique along the way.:smiley2:

Remember the Luma Lite Wax (think that's what it's called) that WSP came out with about 5-6 years ago, it was supposed to allow the entire candle to glow. Still have a 5 or 10 lb bag of it sitting down stairs that I never did anything with . Wasted money cause they don't even make it anymore, so I can't sell it on the classifieds and I don't want to spend time messing with it if I can't buy it again

[aishajoy]

Well, I think I came up with something, but I need to figure out what kind of wax to use. I tried it just with regular wax. You all mentioning pouring it out to roll around a pillar candle. So I put aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. Then I used little pieces of rolled up aluminum foil and taped that to the aluminum. Then, one more sheet of aluminum foil on top of that and pushed it down to get the ridges all in shape. I also folded up the edges so wax wouldn't drip all over. Then I poured about 1/4 inch of wax in that and it definitely has the right texture. I could probably play around with wire or drips of soldering wire instead of rolled aluminum. Also I'd like to figure out a way to do that in teh mold so i don't have to roll the wax around a candle. I'll still play around with that idea.

For now this works, but I need more info on wax. What kind of wax is normally used for hurricane shells? Somewhere I saw an additive listed that can raise the melt point even more, but I don't remember what it is. I'll search around and see if I can find that out.

Thanks everyone for so many ideas. I'm really glad I found this forum. I have so much to learn.

A'isha

[WaxMunky]

Hi,

This is just an idea I've had,I'll probably try this one out myself.

I went to there web site,beautiful candles there,and did some research on my own.Here's the idea...

Make your pillar white,Ivory.some light colors.That's now your core candle.

After it's been completed,leveled off and such keep the wick a little longer then you normally would.Something to hold on to while your working,without touching or smudging the core candle.

When it's ready have some flat as thin as possible "Polymer Clay".your color choice.You could then cut out different shapes,Starts,Hearts,Moons,Animals.Then take the sheet of flattened Clay and carefully wrap it around your pillar.Trim the edges,smooth the clay seam with your fingers.Trim the wick to the correct size.And your done..

That may not be the exact look that your wanting it's just an idea.

I do know that Polymer comes several colors and forms.They have special tools you can buy for sculpting.

Seems to me that's the less messy way to get that beautiful windowed look.I mentioned the Polymer because of it's being more flexible to work with then a separate waxed outer shell that might not stick to the cored candle,it will probably be too brittle and fall off,The Clay sticks,and stays that way.

Here's an addy for the clay,it's the best one I have found yet.

http://www.polymerclaysuperstore.com

Good luck to you on your quest.Be cool!

Munky.

[aishajoy]

Hmm, I hadn't thought of using polymer clay. That would be like making your own candle containers. You could really get some awesome designs doing that.

BTW, my experiment that I thought was going to work didn't work at all. :undecided I guess I'll move on from that idea and quit being obsessed. I would like to try making some hurricane candles though because I love that concept of leaves and other natural elements in the outside.

Another day, another candle (or more!)

A'isha

[Bernadette]

OH MY GOSH!!! I just went to that Bullfrog candles, and looked at the wilderness collection...that's my moose candle on the left(walking moose with the moon in the sky) although I didn't see the single pine tree on there. Anyway, now I know where they came from! And I can tell you that the outer brown color there is no more than 1/8" thick and is on every side except the top. The moose and moon are cut out real crisp, almost like with a cookie cutter. That particular candle, at least the one I bought, only has one wick, and I only burned it enough to have a circle a bit bigger than a tealight. I put gel tealights in plastic cups in the hole, and the whole candle lights up. I knew we were talking about similar things.