wicks

[radellaf]

I believe if you review the contents of the board, you will find a lot of sharing going on.

I know, I was just picking on the ... exchange of attitude.

I think that if you are going to participate in a hobby, any hobby, it is good to educate yourself by getting your hands dirty. You can't just go the easy way because you won't understand why things happen.

True, fully true... but, it's easy to get discouraged and drop it if your first efforts don't work out. It seemed disingenuous to say that you have to spend (hundreds of bucks, implied) in testing to get some decent candles out of your starter kit. You don't.

All the guy needed, and granted he asked in a petulant tone that probably turned some people off, was a few basic starter combos, or just some reassurance. Like, yeah there are 20 kinds of wick out there. But, what kind of wax are you using? OK, here's one good kind of wick, or two, and try three sizes. That's a little less daunting.

If this is the case, you're not really trying to become a chandler, you just want to work on a production line.

I get your point but... maybe he just wants to make a few dozen candles and have fun with it. That's the impression I got, or, maybe just what I hope was the case.

I like experimenting and learning and all that, and maybe I'll get to the point where I feel I could say I'm "a chandler". Perhaps, even, I'll find a few recipes that are repeatable enough that I can feel comfortable selling them to recoup a small portion of what I've spent. Maybe. In the meantime, though, I've blown $600 or so on supplies and had a hell of a good time. I'm sure at least, over the next couple of years, I'll at least break even versus what buying the candles commercially would have cost.

Plus, I can have really nice blueberry scented yellow candles in just the size I want. Cool.

Straight blueberry is hard to find retail. I've only seen the occasional one, and always a container. (FWIW, I think Yankee's blueberry smells too harsh, sharp, or tart. Not to mention being a right rip-off price-wise. I had a nice CCC blueberry container, can't find em any more tho.)

I even made a few unintentional sales to friends. My 2 3/4" egg shaped beeswax (2/0 sq braid) with a little bit of cinnamon FO or patchouli EO just went over so well... they're probably not perfectly wicked, but good enough.

[AntoniasCreations]

I even made a few unintentional sales to friends. My 2 3/4" egg shaped beeswax (2/0 sq braid) with a little bit of cinnamon FO or patchouli EO just went over so well... they're probably not perfectly wicked, but good enough.

:shocked2:

Wow I hope those candles dont burn down your friends house. And just in case they do, I hope you have some really good insurance.

:tiptoe:

[Stella1952]

Talk about the pot calling the kettle...

What's with the secretive attitude? Are you in competition with your fellow candle makers?

Many folks here pay their mortgages with their sales, so YES, they are in competition, but they are still here volunteering their time and expertise to assist people who never plan to do anything more than make a few candles for grins. That the pros take time to answer questions at all is a gift to all of us!!

Candlemaking IS a trade of many secrets. Many are kept from us by suppliers and manufacturers. We learn our own little tricks along the way. While I have found this to be a very sharing website, no one is expected to give up their trade secrets because of altruism!!! :rolleyes2

Why should the community as a whole do redundant testing when some members have enough experience to avoid that kind of waste?

There are so many variables that there honestly is no such thing as "redundant testing." Even if everyone used the exact same ingredients in the exact same proportions, the results would not all be the same because different people are making, melting, stirring, weighing, measuring, living in different climate zones, pouring at different atmospheric pressures, temperatures, equipment variences, batch sizes, etc.

Each person must test their own.

There's just no way around it. I can post my gramma's recipe for homemade divinity candy, but that doesn't mean that YOU will be able to make an equivalent product to hers... Some people cannot bake a cake successfully using a mix from a box with instructions in 3 languages!!!

If it's only a business to you, fine, but this is a _hobby_ to many of us and the right attitude is to want to _share_ info.

ONLY a BUSINESS? ONLY something I have paid thousands of hard-earned dollars and hours of my time into?! How cavalier!! :rolleyes2

The RIGHT attitude is to want to learn to make the best products that one can, regardless of whether it's for hobby or business. The WRONG attitude is to expect people who have done their own homework (and then some...) and paid for their education at the School of Hard Knocks to simply provide others with answers. Why should anyone spoon-feed info into someone else's brain when what they need is right at their fingertips using the search tool (spoon) to locate the material and shovel it into one's memory? Participation IS required to become proficient at ANYTHING!!

That said, it's true, there are too many combos to be really sure about wicks. But, if you stick to a popular wax, known type and size, set amount of a known popular FO and not too much of a good dye... then _many_ different wicks will work and someone somewhere, here or a store, will help you out.

You're VERY new, aren't you? :rolleyes2

You will quickly find how many different opinions one can draw with a single question!!! My best advice is to read, read, read and use the search tools available here. Then do your own testing to put your knowledge into practice.

Before anyone who is new here gets on their high horse about how folks here are unhelpful, they need to R E A D and see how MUCH information has been willingly and REDUNDANTLY shared here by so many individuals over a period of YEARS... People here care about their craft. If ya want information on how to make crappy candles, I'm sure someone at WalMart could assist...:rolleyes2