I Finally Used Votive Wick Pins...

[Asher]

....and they seemed to come out relatively fine, except that the bottom of the candles are a bit uneven in places. I ordered the wick pins from Peaks and they cover about 98% of the mold bottom, which means the wax seeps into the space left by the 2%. It's like I need a tiny sander to smooth out the resulting bumps.

Also, I get some air bubbles near the base of the wick pin. I couldn't actually see them, but the surface markings were dead giveaways that bubbles had been in the area. Could I remedy this by simply moving the wick pin around after pouring?

I have no problem getting the wick to stay in the candle after removing it from the mold, since the wick tab (or whatever you call that metal contraption at the base of the wick) is high enough that it can be pressed into the wax securely.

I just need advice on leveling the bottom (or avoiding the need to level it in the first place). I removed one from its mold this morning and set it on the counter, and the darn thing was rocking back and forth a bit since it was so uneven.

[wvcandleguy]

I have found that the little tab that is left from the wick pin will break off very cleanly after it has sat for a day..... once it has broken off, mine sit level. HTH

[SteveinPA]

I tilt the wick pin to the side after pouring to "burp" out the air bubble. The ring left over on the bottom usually breaks off easily, but if it doesn't, I trim it off with a sharp knife. Hope this helps.

[SatinDucky]

I just use a little paring knife and scrape it off. The texture and air on the base can be prevented by warming the wick pin. I set the pins in the molds before I zap them, heats everything at once.

[SteveinPA]

I should have clarified about the "burping". My wick pins have a convex base and they trap air under them.

The base is shaped somewhat like this- ^ Hey, I tried! LOL

[Jcandleattic]

yep, what the others said. The ring on mine easily breaks off. But since votives are meant to be burned in a tight fitting votive holder anyway, I really don't concern myself with getting my votives perfectly level. By breaking off the ring though they do sit flat and don't wobble around..

[Asher]

Thank you for your replies. I'm just glad to know that the wax "ring" is normal. I also use pins with a convex base. At first, I wondered if wax would actually get caught beneath the base, but to my surprise this didn't happen. It just settled into that tiny sliver of space between base and the mold wall. I guess it wouldn't matter if wax got beneath the base since it would just be punched out when the pin came loose. I'll definitely tip them or move them around after the pour to "burp" them :smiley2:

P.S. I also had ordered some liquid dye from Peaks. Having never used liquid dye before I was quite amazed at how concentrated that stuff is. I used 5 drops in a pound and came out with the darkest candles I've ever made.

[topofmurrayhill]

Personally I've not found that burping the pins accomplishes anything except to waste a few drops of wax and make it harder to clean up.

From your description of unevenness and bubbles, it sounds like the wax is congealing too quickly at the base of the mold. You can overcome that by pouring hotter, maybe 5 degrees or so. Your Yaley wax (aka XG467, LOL) has a MP of 148 so you don't want to pour that too cool.

I haven't had a problem with the base coming out even or the votives sitting straight. Maybe the hotter pour will fix that. I suppose if I sold votives I would level them down to the wick tab but normally I don't bother.

[Scented]

Burping the votives didn't overly help here, except to cause more air lol.

I just make 'em, pop the pins and slide the wick in. They sit level, unless you're getting trapped air in there.

[SteveinPA]

Personally I've not found that burping the pins accomplishes anything except to waste a few drops of wax and make it harder to clean up.

A year or so ago, someone recommended that I do this. I was having problems with air bubbles rising to the surface as the votive started to set up. The bubbles were coming from under the wick pin. Some didn't make it to the top- I could see the marks on the surface of the finished votive and they weren't pinholes. Pouring hotter or cooler and heating the molds didn't help. I was trying to help based on my experience with what Asher was describing.

[Asher]

Thanks again for your replies. Obviously, different things will work for each of us, so I appreciate all of the input. I haven't really had problems with air bubbles rising to the surface, but I do notice they will form around the base of the wick pin. I tried 'burping' one last night and the base was already stuck to the bottom of the mold. I had just poured it and the wax congealed within seconds...and this was 200 degree wax! I'll bet my hardware was cold for it to do that so quickly. However, because it congealed so quickly it sealed off the underside of the wick pin base so that air was permanently trapped during setting.

Honestly, I've done 3 batches with the pins and I can live with doing some extra maintenance on the votives. What I've been doing is just placing the votive on a flat surface, pushing down on the top of it, and then running it along said flat surface. It lightly grinds down the candle and seems to be pretty effective at making it level.

I wanted to point out something quite odd about the different batches that I have made:

Batch 1 - I used 1oz/lb of Peak's Blueberry Muffin, 5 drops of Peak's Country Blue dye, 2 heaping tbsp of stearic acid, and 2 level tbsp of snowflake oil. Not only did the mottling effect disappoint me, but the candles had that annoying "fuel" smell everyone keeps talking about.

Batch 2 - I used 0.5oz/lb of Peak's Sugar Plum Berries (which smells more like peach to me), 1 drop of Peak's Country Blue dye, 1 heaping tbsp of stearic acid and NO snowflake oil. With half of the scent and no snowflake oil I got great mottling and the scent seemed to be stronger. There was no fuel smell that I could tell.

Can anyone tell me why all that oil in Batch 1 produced scattered mottling, while Batch 2 with so much less oil produced a nice even mottling that covered the entire candle? I did cut the stearic acid in half on the second one.

[Scented]

If you've got a heat gun you can use it on the base of the votive molds to melt the wax if it does what you're doing. It'll also cause the air bubbles to come out. Things should be fine after that.

[SatinDucky]

I don't know if this would have any bearing on the mottle or not, but it might. I noticed with the three sets of mottle balls I just made, the very first set, the green ones, had very little mottle. Both of the next two turned out great. I mixed this up in one of my normal pour pots. I do zap them and wipe out well, but I'm wondering if that trace amount of preblend wax left in there was enough to lessen the mottle. The next two batches were done in the same pot, so there wouldn't be any trace of the preblends additives left after making the pot mottled. Now, was that confusing or what :rolleyes2

[Asher]

I actually did three batches, but the third one used no liquid dye (instead, I used a huge chunk from a red dye block).

Here is a photo of some batch representatives....the first candle is from the first batch, etc.

Again, these are from the first three batches of wick pin candles. I must agree that wick pins do simplify the process quite a bit. Nice to see the wicks in the center for once.

[topofmurrayhill]

Can anyone tell me why all that oil in Batch 1 produced scattered mottling, while Batch 2 with so much less oil produced a nice even mottling that covered the entire candle? I did cut the stearic acid in half on the second one.

Different mottling agents vary wildly in their effect on wax and how much they cause it to mottle. Even in the mottle pattern they produce. Stearic acid gradually supresses mottling as you increase the amount, though in very small quantities it can have the opposite effect.

[Asher]

Well, Batch 1 did have double the stearic acid as the others, so perhaps that suppressed the 2 tbsp of snowflake oil (BAD STEARIC ACID ). Of course, the others had no snowflake oil at all.

In the past I have tended to notice more mottling when I used less dye, so perhaps darker colors somehow are not conducive to mottling.

Goodness...so many variables and so many outcomes. But this is the fun of it. I wonder what affect egg would have on the wax surface. It's oil-based, isn't it?

[topofmurrayhill]

Well, Batch 1 did have double the stearic acid as the others, so perhaps that suppressed the 2 tbsp of snowflake oil (BAD STEARIC ACID ). Of course, the others had no snowflake oil at all.

In the past I have tended to notice more mottling when I used less dye, so perhaps darker colors somehow are not conducive to mottling.

Goodness...so many variables and so many outcomes. But this is the fun of it. I wonder what affect egg would have on the wax surface. It's oil-based, isn't it?

When I get bored I use kerosene as a mottling agent. "Fire throw" is another variable to consider in my book. You have to be careful with the pour temp with that stuff to avoid what I call "premature ignition".

I suspected your high MP wax was causing problems at the bottom of the mold. The base of the wick pin is a whole lot more metal to absorb the heat of the wax. If you're already pouring at 200 then I think you'll want to resort to the heat gun trick. Don't make the molds scorching hot -- just warm them up good to make sure all the wax is liquid in the mold before the whole shebang starts to set up. I think you'll find the bottoms really can be neat and even using the wick pins.

[Asher]

Honestly, though, I'm probably making a bigger deal out of the uneven bottoms than it really is. I tend to be way too much of a perfectionist. Below is a good shot of the same blueberry votive as was shown above. You probably don't see any problems with the bottom:

Besides, as someone said earlier, it will sit in a holder anyway, so the bottom won't be so important. I can get them looking decent and standing upright, so what more do I need? It's just so much easier than trying to manually set the doggone wick in place :smiley2:

[Scented]

'fraid you're not going to get the flat, flat bottoms without using a machine, trimming that small ledge or breaking it off.

[Asher]

I actually like the concave (or convex, whichever it is) bottom. It was just the edges that were giving me issues. Also, I got perfectly flat votive bottoms when I manually set the wicks, but I'd rather have wicks that are actually centered

Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to go ahead and order the wick pins. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to start on my egg nog candle.