My first candle

[jackie]

It's not a work of art like you guys do but everybody gotta start somewhere. I poured the second layer a little too early, you can see a little color bleed where they meet. I used 4625 and Cool Citrus Basil. In a day or two I'll see if it burns.

Question: I was in my unfinished basement where the temp is 60 degrees and the wax cooled off real fast--by the time I got my color right I had to reheat. I'm using a Presto Pot to heat and 4 cup glass meas cups as pour pots. I heated the Presto at 200 degrees--is it still safe to go to 250 (presto and candle)?

[ladysj]

Nice job on your first candle. I love Cool Citrus Basil

[Toni S.]

That's a fantastic job for your first candle. Keep up the good work!

[miniiB]

great first candle.. congrats !!

[grama]

Very nice pillar. I pour my 4625 at 180-185 and don't heat much over that. I use the pouring pots though to pour from.

Edited November 7, 2009 by grama

[Dustpuuppy]

Heating the wax in the Presto to 250 is pushing things a bit.

The candle looks great.

I'm in the minority but I never thought a little bleed was a bad thing. Makes it look like a natural progression than like you stacked them together.

Also, there's not that much bleed there, anyway. I've seen some from much more experienced people with much more bleed.

[joanncat18]

I add my dye in the presto, but am considering waiting till the wax is in the pour pot so i can better see the color. I guess until i have my color formulas down pat. Could you use a candle warmer plate to put your pour pot on to keep it warm while you mix the color?

[FarmerJill]

Jackie, the thing about those glass measuring cups is if you don't preheat them, they can quickly and drastically drop the temperature of your wax, especially in your cold basement. Warming up your pour pot ahead of time will help.

Congratulations on your first!

[RichardLOZ]

Very nice first candle. I shudder to remember what our first ones were like

Cheers

Richard

[jackie]

Thanks for the kind words and advice. Like preheating the glass--why didn't I think of that. I love the scent. My basement's never smelt better.

I haven't seen candle warmers around here but I do have an old electric griddle. I was thinking maybe I could sit the glass on that but I'm not sure what temperature to put the griddle on (don't want to break the glass even though it's sturdy stuff-- I remember dropping a similar on on my ceramic kitchen tile and it did not even crack).

Edited November 8, 2009 by jackie

[chopsgirl]

i've found (by accident) that an old coffee pot works wonders. I can keep the pour pot hot for a while just by resting it there. (just don't forget it...that bites :-)

[barbaranj]

I have a single electric burner and use an old sauce pan (pot) with a little water in it to act as a double boiler. I keep my pour pot in the heated water, add the wax from the presto pot, then add my dye and fragrance oil. You can put your big glass measuring cup in it as well to keep it heated.

[joanncat18]

Yeah I would be real careful with a griddle...don't want your temps getting too high. You can order a combo warmer with the plate and a removeable ceramic bowl at many of the online candle supply companies...they are designed to melt wax, so they would be safer I would think. Keep your thermometer in it to make sure it doesn't get too hot...wax heats up fast and can be very dangerous. Picture grease fire.

[Dustpuuppy]

I have a single electric burner and use an old sauce pan (pot) with a little water in it to act as a double boiler. I keep my pour pot in the heated water, add the wax from the presto pot, then add my dye and fragrance oil. You can put your big glass measuring cup in it as well to keep it heated.

That's what I always did, too. Except for the fact that I always just hung the measuring cup in the presto pot. Just hook the handle over the side. The handle always stayed cool enough to handle, so it wasn't a problem.

Might want to be careful til you know for sure. Your wax may be hotter or your meas. cup might have slightly different glass in it.

[jackie]

Thanks for the ideas. I have a cheap small pot (that I used as a dbl boiler top pot to melt wax when I tried making cheese). That should work fine. I have an old coffeemaker too (I never throw anything away anymore).