patka Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I have just tried the BC mold for the first time with Starburst palm wax. I poured the votives at 190 degrees, let them cool slowly and did a repour. Waited till they cooled and tried to take them out. They were totally stuck to the mold. I think the wax has affinity to the material the mold is made of, I think it is rubber or rubber with silicone. I managed to push them out by turning the mold upside down, but the mold remained very dusty from where the palm wax was stuck in the mold, I hope this statement makes sense. There was nearly no pattern on the votives, I wonder if it was because of them being stuck and lot of the pattern was left as the dusty part that stayed in the mold. I was not very happy with the result. I wanted to see what others may have experienced using palm wax with this mold. Is there any way to make the mold work to get the full starburst pattern and to get the votives to release from the mold easier without using any additives? The votives felt as if they were really glued to the mold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Were the candles still warm when you removed them? Sometimes things come out of the mold cleaner when still slightly warm; other times they need to be completely stone cold to contract from the sides of the mold. Placing them in a refrigerator for a few moments before demolding can help them to release more easily; conversely, running hot water over the mold (upside down of course) will also help release stubborn candles. Did you use any mold release? I like silicon spray (spray then wipe carefully so none pools in crevices) for the molds that we use. Pam should work well also, but neither of those releases are safe for use with all mold materials, so it's best to check with the manufacturer of yours to learn exactly what the mold is made from (don't just accept the term "rubber" because silicon, urethane and latex are all used for moldmaking and are loosely referred to by moldmakers as "rubber" but are very different products with different properties). Different "rubbers" require different release agents. Silicon and Pam are the closest to universal release agents, but will also ruin some materials, so check first.Silicone should be able to handle the heat needed for palm wax, but I doubt latex will. Ask the manufacturer what the maximum temperature is for the material used for your mold. We use plastic molds for some of our stuff and the heat of pouring palm kills them after a number of uses, no matter HOW much release is used!About the pattern... palm likes to be poured really hot and cool slowly for the best crystal pattern development. Votives lose heat quickly 'cause they are little. I doubt you can prewarm your mold, so you may need to pour hotter and then put the mold on a rack in a thick cardboard box or styrofoam cooler to cool slowly! I have seen some candles leave some of their patterns on the interior of the mold, but the pattern is throughout the candle, not just on the surface. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patka Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 Hi Stella, I wrote more details on the thread that someone posted soon after this thread, about the bcn mold. I returned it today. I believe that Pam could help but that was just not what I had expected having to do to work with this mold. This was described as an easy release mold :smiley2:. I suspect the mold is not as heat resistant as silicone, my whole apartment smelled like burned tires when I put the mold into a 200 F oven. You should have seen the votives when I got them out they were beat up. I tried twice and the second time I actually left them for hours in warm oven to make sure to cool slowly. I did not mean to criticize this mold. It looks like it would work fantastic with soy, I am sure they would slide right out, but I don't work with soy any more. Also, if someone pours their palm wax a bit cooler, maybe it is ok, or maybe I just got a mold that had some flaw, this was the second batch they got and they were out of the mold for a while. Next time I order supplies, I am planning to order aluminum cups. Thanks so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Molds are not all created equal. It's imperative to match the medium with the mold material. In this case, the material could not stand up to the high temps needed for palm wax. I would not have thought to put a flexible mold in the oven because I would have worried about fumes released when heating rubber or plastic materials. One simply pours hot and insulates the mold. This method works well for the semi-rigid plastic molds we use. It might not work as well for rigid materials like polycarbonate or flexible materials such as latex, urethane or many silicon rubbers. Knowing the properties of a mold and the requirements of the medium chosen can prevent disappointment. Suppliers should have this pertinent customer information in the descriptions of their products (ie. for use with the following materials within the following temperature ranges. Molds can or can not be preheated, Release agents recommended and not recommended, etc.), but most do not, so it becomes incumbent upon us to ask a lot of questions before purchasing molds. I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Many folks just do not realize there is a great deal of difference in mold materials and the range of uses for which they are most suitable. Metal molds should work quite well for you with palm wax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patka Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 Thanks Stella, I just spoke with BCN earlier today and they confirmed the mold was made from rubber, but said it should take up to 220 degrees temperature well. He said that pretty much all wax would stick to the mold to some degree and all the votives would have to be peeled. But while parafin on soy would still look nice, the palm wax would not crystallize, or at least not as it would in aluminum. That's fine with me, I just wish I had gotten this information earlier when I called them before I got the mold to see if it would work with palm. Whomever I spoke with was not as clear about this. There are some folks on this forum who said they used the mold with palm and it was ok, but after my experience, I can't see that you could get the same beautiful crystals as from the regular molds. I would recommend metal molds over this mold. Just my experience though.... :smiley2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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