Long term frosting

[nobcanldle]

I thought I had this soy thing down!! Nice smooth tops, good scent throw, and no frosting (so I thought). So I started selling my candles. I have some that have been sitting in my house for a month and when I opened up the tin, there it was a white ring around the edge of my wax. AAHH!!! I use cb135, no additives, 6-7% fragrance, no dye. The stuff looks like old chocolate now.

How do you stop this?? I have read this forum and others and don't know what to do to give the candles shelf life. I am not willing to add paraffin so that one is out. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Holly]

Go colorless and add glitter on top! You will not notice the frost as much.

[TxSioux]

Let us know when you solve this riddle! <grin> Soy is a fickle beast & a once perfect soy candle is always subject to changing weather conditions over time. Wait till you've had them around even longer. Soy will 'grow' (or swell) over time. Those once perfectly cut wicks will get covered w/ wax & you'll be lucky to light them. I gave up & went w/ a parasoy blend.

Susan.

[topofmurrayhill]

It will vary with the wax/additive/fragrance combination, but generally speaking that's totally normal.

The long-term tests I did actually were with CB-135, using maybe like a dozen different fragrance oils. They started off pristine but all of them frosted over with time. In fact it didn't take too long because they went through some temperature changes not so long after they were made. The swelling was a lot more gradual and varied with the fragrance, but most of them did it and some swallowed their wicks entirely.

Your comparison to chocolate is appropriate. That and a lot of other products that are mostly made of hard saturated fat will morph over time.

[Stella1952]

Try tempering your wax and/or adding USA.

[JennB]

Try keeping your storage room at a consistent temperature. I really think temp changes can affect frosting.

[GourmetSoy]

And if all else fails, ZAP em with a heat gun and the frosting will go bye bye!

[Stella1952]

And if all else fails, ZAP em with a heat gun and the frosting will go bye bye!

No disrespect, but I disagree. Heat gunning is strictly a cosmetic quick-fix, IMHO. This might help for the moment or a few days, but it doesn't ensure long-term resistance to frosting; the high temps created by the heat gun can actually encourage more frosting over time. I have found that heat guns create as many problems as they solve and don't use mine very often on soy-based waxes. I save the heat gun for very minor, superficial imperfections.

[GourmetSoy]

I guess our soy waxes must be different then, I see no increase in frosting after I use a heat gun on them. There are very few that I have to zap and they're usually reds or dark browns when it does happen. Could also have to do with different weather conditions. I've found that soy will never look absolutely perfect all the time and my customers don't expect it to either. I stopped worrying a long time ago!