Votives & Palm Wax

[grama]

I will post this because I did a search and couldn't find anything on it. Making votives with palm wax has really been an experience for me! Containers and pillars were no where near this problem. I found after trying it different ways, and yes, you can remelt palm wax and it works fine. I found you have to pour the wax all the way to the very edge of the votive cup. Poked couple holes for air, I also found it was better to top the votive while it was still warm. Be sure the wax stays very hot while you are topping or you will lose your crystal effect. Some may have a different way of doing this but this is what has worked for me.

I tried waiting till they cooled and then do repour but by that time they had loosened from votive cup and pour just went into the mold and looked real ugly. Tried heat gun but that didn't work. But in doing all this I discovered you had to pour all the way to edge. Unlike paraffin I don't pour all the way to edge of cup until the repour.

Hope this makes sense and will help someone.

[patka]

Hi Grama, thanks for posting that information. I am working on palm votives too. I use starburst/feathering wax from candlescience. What wax have you been using, and may I ask what wicks have you found that work for you in the votives? I tried CSN 7 and they seemed a bit too much, the glass was a little hot. Now I am testing CSN 5, it seems to work better, but I am not sure yet.

By the way, I see you are also in Georgia, me too, in Gwinnett

[grama]

Hi Patka - we are getting quite a few of us Southerners from GA. Great place:) These I just made were from the starburst, would rather have had feather but was out of it and CS is also out of it so I had to use the starburst. The feather just seems easier to work with to me. I used the csn 9 wick, the 7 just didn't produce much of a flame. Of course I was pouring heavy scents. Jakelax said that she had found that the 9 was also better. Running out of the csn 9 though and am trying the cd8 now. Tried cd7 but there again the flame was to small, and this was after about 2 burns at several hour intervals. I think Stella used the cdn wicks with hers. I have also seen where others have used different ones.

I think I prefer to stick with the csn wicks though but got to order more. Good luck with your palm. It really makes a beautiful candle. What I posted about my votives was what I found out worked for me. They start to cool so fast and then pull away from the mold and then when you top them it runs into the mold and makes a pretty candle ugly. That is why the pouring all the way out to edge of lip on mold, some even overflowed a little but it is going to shrink a small amount so it worked out good.

There is a lot of good information on palm posted, but I never could find anything about votives though. Glad I could help you with it.

[patka]

I used the csn 9 wick, the 7 just didn't produce much of a flame. Of course I was pouring heavy scents. J

Hi Grama, I don't use fragrance at all, and if I put anything, it is just a few drops of essential oil. I also use natural annatto color for different shades of yellow to light orange or leave the votives uncolored, so that is probably why a smaller wick may work for me better. I think I need to decide between CSN 5 or 7.

I will try to do what you recommended next time I pour votives, to fill them the top. I also usually do the repour when my votives/pillars are still a bit warm, but I've had it happen also that the wax ran down the sides of the mold, especially on pillars and they looked awful. Thanks for sharing your experience.