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My very first candle :)


Vio

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Well after doing roughly 1 day on and off of putting pen to paper to have a guide set up, I finally got to make my very first candle today! Since it was less than a pound of wax I had to use, it was pretty challenging. I got it figured out though, and wanted to see if I could do it on my own, and I'm pretty proud of it. :)

I poured it at 3:50 pm today, eastern time.

10 oz C-3, 3/4 T of USA, liquid dye, Cinnamon Styx FO at 6%

I tried the tempering thing as well.

I did a wickless and let it alone to somewhat set up, then my husband gave me a piece of rigid wire and I poked through and while coming out with the wire, the skin kind of lifted. Never doing any candles of any kind before, I thought the opaqueness meant it would be semi solid inside and it wasn't really. The wick was in the bottom though, so I wasn't afraid of it sliding. Stuck it in with no tab, and used a wick holder to hold it center and left to set up more.

At about 7 pm tonight, it seemed set up with the wick. I had a cave in slightly and where it caved, a circular crack. I took out my heat gun and lightly went over the top, staying a foot away till the top liquefied a bit. Had some bubbling from the gap in the crack, and took a toothpick and just popped and tapped container till no more bubbles. Left to set again and then took pictures.

I'd like to now introduce everyone to, my very first candle that I've ever made in my whole life! The top is a little non perfect because I had to hit it with the heat gun. LOL

Tomorrow I guess I can start testing wicking. I chose a premiere 770 for this one. :)

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Well my first is staying smooth on top where I corrected it with heat gun. No cottage cheese and no more sinking at this point. Sides are adhered well and no frost. *knock wood* OMG I'm so glad I took notes!! LOL :)

Even though I'm going to do a test burn tomorrow, and will know if wick is too big soon enough, will start on testing another scent to keep the ball rolling. I just had so much fun doing this!!

All the money I've spent on candles in my life, I don't know why I didn't try this sooner! :)

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Thank you. :)

It looks pretty, but I really want to see how it burns and it's killing me I can't test it this morning. I have to go do some shopping because we have snow coming in and it's supposed to be a lot. Want to pick up some food in case we're snowed in.

So, I guess it's more time for it to cure which is good anyway. I was just so anxious to light it. LOL I can wait though.

I put the cap on it last night at about 12:30 am and went to bed. Still no frost, and adhering to sides still as well. I opened the lid and you can smell it without your nose being right by it, so I'd say it has a cold throw.

I have this forum and it's members to thank a lot really for it even having no frost. So much information and it might be a bit scattered, but it's there.

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Thank you! :)

I came home from shopping and lifted the lid and very good cold throw to it. Nice cinnamon too. Bert's cinnamon styx. I can't wait to light it. I don't want to light it and walk away, and still busy, so will light it later on. I'm so afraid the wick might be too big and it might be too much flame, and don't want to chance walking away from it. LOL

My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I don't want to chance it. It's my first wick selection and wouldn't want anything bad to happen if I turned my back on it.

Still no frost and no shrinkage either. Clinging well to the jar. Looks the same as it did last night. :)

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Yea! I'm so excited for you! I'm starting along with you and I'm a candle pouring wick testing machine lol. I have made SO many already just trying to get the wick just right, etc. I so admire all the chandlers here, it is a LOT of work but I love love love it!

I too thank all of you for giving me such a good head start! :yay:

Dana

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Awesome job! I've been making candles since 1991, but I have never made a container candle, and never used soy wax. So you are ahead of me!

I should edit to say that I have never succesfully made a container candle. Many years ago I tried to refill an empty Yankee Candle apothecary jar. Bad idea, it smashed! Your first is waaaaaaaaaaay better than my first container!

I am very glad to hear that you are taking good notes. To me, it is one of the most important steps in making candles (well, anything really).

By this time next week I bet you'll have a dozen poured!

Congratulations!

PS thanks for the heads up on the upcoming snowstorm, I had no idea.

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Yay Dana!!! Have you taken pictures to show yet? Would love to see some of the ones you've done. I don't remember seeing them yet. I have a pad and pen all ready to start testing burn! :) LOL

Nah, I didn't take any pictures. Just plain ole 8oz jj......LOTS of notes and many wicks later, I'll be pouring more this weekend that I hope will be THE wick for this jar/wax/fo combo!

Yours is lovely :)

Dana

ps I'd be happier not using jj. I chose them b/c they were recommended as beginner shape/size, and they were cheap. But.....I am not a jj fan lol. So they burn good and smell delicious but I don't like to look at them (pout)

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Thank you so much for the encouraging, kind words! :)

I'm going on my 3rd hour of testing and so far things are going good. The jar isn't getting hot, or even that warm. Melt pool isn't touching wall yet, at 2 hours now.

I think I had the wick trimmed just a little too long in the first burn hour and when I took my picture at one hour and then blew it out to get wick picture, there was a large mushroom. I took our my ruler, which I should have done before lighting it, and measured and I had more like a half inch of wick instead of a 1/4 inch.

The hot throw is great for 6%. The scent is filling the room.

It's burning pretty slowly. I think this candle could last quite a few days. LOL

I know I'm still not to the point where I'll know if anything's wrong though, so just keeping fingers crossed that I get a nice melt pool going out to the edges tonight. At end of this hour will weigh to figure out how I'm doing.

Since I trimmed the wick to 1/4 after realizing it was too long, barely any mushroom at all when I did my 2 hr flame and wick picts.

I'm as giddy as a kid who's just discovered candy right now! LOL :)

Will post pictures when I get testing done, or if I think I need some advice because something isn't going right. Just sitting with my candle for now, watching it burn and enjoying the scent.

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Nah, I didn't take any pictures. Just plain ole 8oz jj......LOTS of notes and many wicks later, I'll be pouring more this weekend that I hope will be THE wick for this jar/wax/fo combo!

Yours is lovely :)

Dana

ps I'd be happier not using jj. I chose them b/c they were recommended as beginner shape/size, and they were cheap. But.....I am not a jj fan lol. So they burn good and smell delicious but I don't like to look at them (pout)

Good luck on the new batch and thank you!

I chose the 12 oz Madison because they're a straight sided jar and I just felt it might be best to get used to wicking in something straight. I have a collection of mason jars just around the house, large and small. I'm going to experiment with them after I get the Madison fo's tested. I have like 11 fo's to test in this jar alone. I guess as I get used to it, I could test a few at a time. I just really don't want to confuse myself, so keeping it extremely simple.

I bought a pretty big selection of wicks and have samples too and more coming, so I'm ready to test any empties I have laying around when I get these done.

I'll be happy at this point to get the cinnamon tested in this jar, so I can possibly give them to neighbors for Christmas. I'm nervous though, with no insurance. At this point, I don't even feel comfortable giving out to a tester without insurance. Just too much to chance. Fire bad. LOL

20 minutes into 3rd hour and now melt pool is about 1/2 inch from the jar. Flame staying nicely as it was when I corrected the wick length. No mushroom that I can see through flame so far. Jar slightly warm to the touch.

*Praying this isn't going to tunnel*

Dana it's good you're doing JJ's though. The more you learn the better I'd think. If it's challenging, then you'll have one jar under the belt! :)

What a nice scent this is. I'm really liking this cinnamon. :)

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I don't know that I got this one right though. It looks pretty, but I really have no idea if it's burning as it's supposed to. End of 6 hour burn test. The walls of the jar where the top was, are still a bit thick with wax. Some points, it's translucent and looks like it's sliding a bit. At 6 hours though, of only extinguishing to take some picts and do some weighing, then lighting right back up, still no full melt pool.

Am going to post pictures tomorrow, along with some notes on weight. Would really love to know if this thing is burning too fast possibly. My last three hours checks, it seems I have about 15 grams melted per hour.

Now, I'm just going to go to bed and continue the tests tomorrow. Maybe will start another jar in a different fragrance, to give it time to cure before I can test that. Also would love to just take a stab at guessing a mason jar and seeing how it does.

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OK here's the pictures from last night. Any comments or input appreciated and I can take criticism well, as well. :)

This was the first 6 hours per instructions on 3 inch diameter. Anywhere you see an extinguished wick picture, is the end of an hour.

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