Air Bubbles appear after Candles sit around.

[JAVAEBOY]

Ok, I hope this isn't something I should know. I haven't been doing this very long, but I am having a problem with bubbles appearing in my gel candles days after they are made. Most of them aren't a problem, but the ones that are appearing in my beer candles are really getting pretty bad.

Now, I'm not talking about the normal bubbles that appear from pouring too fast or too cold. Those I WANT in my beer candles, I'm talking about large air gaps that appear days later. Here is my process. Tell me if I am doing something wrong. First, I set my tab and wick, with a centering device. I then pour my gold colored gel to about 3 inches from the top. I usually let those candles sit for a number of days. Then, I melt my paraffin and stearnin mixture that I use for my foamy top and pour it into the next 2 inches or so of the glass. They look just fine for awhile, but then it seems like I get some small and sometimes LARGE air gap (bubbles) in the gold gel. It just takes away from the looks of the candle when I take them to a show.

It also seems like when I make even a solid gel candle, like a burgundy wine glass, I eventually get small bubbles that appear on the outermost portion of the gel within the glass. For these and any other candles that I don't want any bubbles in, I usually place them in a 250 degree oven for about an hour to remove the bubbles. I leave them in the closed oven to cool down over night.

It's a little hard to see in the picture I attached, but in the RED circles are some of the small bubbles that appeared on the sides of my glass.

Any suggestions to what I may doing wrong?

Thank you in advance. SteveG

[Vicky_CO]

I do have a question are you warming you glass before you pour your gel? If not try that I usually hit my glass with a heat gun for a few before I pour.

[JAVAEBOY]

Vicky,

I kind of knew you would be the first one to post. No I haven't tried that. I can see where that might/would help the single pour candles like the wine glasses, but I'm not too sure how that would effect/affect the double pour candles like the beer glasses. Maybe I am better off pouring the foam layer as soon as I think the gel has cooled just enough to handle the heat of the second pour. I am fairly sure you have experience making beer candles. When/how did you handle the pouring of the foam layer?

I'll try that next time I make some. I figured keeping them in the 250 degree oven for over an hour, and letting them cool in there over night, would solve ALL the bubble problems. I had a show this past weekend, and before I brought any of my martini or wine glasses, they ALL made another trip through the oven for bubble removal. That was a real pain with trying to keep the wicks from falling in, and having to do that to over 60 candles.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Steve

[jenscandles]

I let the beer sit overnight (or all day if I do them in the morning) then add the foam. But my foam is whipped then plopped on top. It's too cool to pour.

I found that I do get large air bubbles over time in certain containers that I double glass. Just depends on the shape.

[JAVAEBOY]

Jen, If you don't mind me asking, what do you do to "whip" the foam and,What are you using to actually make the foam. As I said above, I mix paraffin and stearnin to get a whiter foam, but I have been pouring it fairly hot. I tried whipping it with a cooking whisk, but I guess I didn't do it long enough or while it was too hot. Thank you for your suggestion.

[jenscandles]

I use the IGI 1343 - just a straight paraffin. It's a pillar wax but it works well for me. I know other people mix gel with theirs; I've not tried that yet.

Anyway I pour wax into a glass measuring cup and scent it using gel safe FO at gel safe ratios. I let it cool until there's a shell formed on top, then i use a fork to push the cooled wax into the warm and mix it up a bit. Then it's still too wet for me so I let it sit a bit longer, then continue whipping it with the fork. Sit/whip, sit/whip until it's the consistency you want. It needs to still be warm or it'll be stuck in the measuring cup. Then I just spoon it out with the fork and cover the top of the beer. Use the fork to push it down into the edges so it appears level with the gel.

I like using the glass measuring cup so I can see how the wax looks from across the room. Also if I get distracted and let it cool too long I can put it in the oven and warm it back up just a little.

I've attatched a pic - the foam was too high over the glass but it's the best one to show the texture.

[Vicky_CO]

I am like Jen I whip my wax for the foam on beer candles look much more realistic.

Here a little trick if you want as bubbless as possible mix your gel and FO then let it totally cool reheat then pour in to a warm container that will get rid of a lot of bubbles it not always possible to do that. Do not stir a lot when you are reheating that just adds in more bubbles. This doesn't always work but most of the time it does.

Part of what cause bubbles is our mixing in FO we stir and stir and no matter how slow you stir you are going to be incorprating air in to the gel. That air has to go some where.

[JAVAEBOY]

Thank you. I will have to try that those tips with my next batch of beer candles. My problem, was I was getting ready for a my first big show, and was bringing a bunch of Beer candles (45 to be exact) for the biggest festival we have here in Rochester, NY and didn't know how much time to let the foam cool down before trying to whip it.

The show went pretty well, I guess. I brought 350 candles, not knowing what to expect, since it was my real first big show. The crowd over two days was estimated at about 250,000 people. I sold a little over 100 candles. My martini glasses sold the best, but my various double glassed stuff sold the most in sheer quantity. With preshow excitement from people who had seen the beer candles, I really thought I would sell more than 11 of them. I also had an intoxicated person, fall into the corner of my booth (so I saw on the news that night) after it was all closed up after the first day, I didn't realize it was my booth on the news until I opened the booth Sunday morning to find 14 broken candles on the ground. Two of which were my beer candles. Next time, I'll be better prepared.

Thank you again.

Steve