help with embeds?

[dick]

I'm having trouble with wax embeds. I'm using med density gel and glass containers like the "glade" candles you see in the grocery stores. clear glass and they hold about 7oz of wax. I have "fruit" like embeds I bought online from a regular candle supply store.

I wicked the jars and filled them about 1/3 to 1/2 with the embeds (orange slices). didn't heat the jars. poured the gel at 190-195 and the embeds melted way too much junk into the gel. Next try I poured at 180-182 and the gel was too thick. It left a lot of air pockets and bubbles. Tried again at 185-187 and got melted embeds AND air pockets/bubbles... Tried pouring first and adding embeds but they just layed on the top, and still melted a little.

I know this can be done. I've seen nice candles with good clean embeds.

What am I doing wrong? Wrong wax? wrong temp? bad embeds?

Help!

Dick

[donna4909]

When I make gel candles, I use a little pointy stick to push the embeds down into the wax. I pour, let it cool a bit, then push the embeds down into the gel.

[Trae]

What I do is pour the gel when it's cooled to the consistency of pancake syrup (on my presto pot, the thermostat is set between 200-225). I wait until I can put my finger into the gel without burning myself and then push the embeds in with the eraser end of a pencil. If you still have too many bubbles when you're done, just put the candle in a sunny window for a few hours and it will clear up. HTH!

Trae

[Vicky_CO]

I have done and do the poke for some embeds but here is another way. Pour some gel in to you container gently swirl it around the glass then press your embeds in to the sides keep repeating the process untill full. It really doesn't take long once you get some practice in and it looks clean and almost bubble less.

[jazzbo848]

did the supplier mention the melt point of the embeds?

when i do preserve candle, i do the swirling technique. i use high melt point embed wax for my embeds and rarely have a melting problem.

cheryl