Tester worked great....so why doesnt this one?

[KoalaGirl]

Hi Everyone, Ive searched the forum but cant find an answer {i'm sure there's one there but I must not be putting in the right seach words}.

After testing several combinations, I settled on:

Metro jar {straight sided, 2 1/2 inches wide}

CB 135

FO: Dragons Blood @ 6%

No dye

HTP 93 wick

The only additive I used was UV.

Cured for 6 days.

This combo burnt perfectly after I did the bottom half jar test. I did the full jar test and it burnt great....all the way down.

So, I made several {and sold some!} using the exact same combo, pour temp, FO add temp....everything, even the ambiant temp in the house was the same. After about 2 weeks, my daughter took one from the batch and it didnt burn very well so I took another one and burnt.....terrible! The melt pool only came to withing 1/2 inch of the sides and subsequent burns didnt improve the size of the MP. The flame is tiny and looks like it will go out.

The only thing that I did different, was trim the wick to 1/4 inch initially. Im *fairly sure* that I didnt trim my tester candle that short ( probably about 3/8th inch.

Thinking the short wick may have been the problem, I tipped out the melt pool and scooped all the wax from the sides and smoothed it down. I now had a decent sized wick. It worked better {gave me a full melt pool} but on subsequent burns {even without trimming the wick} it began to fizzle. It is now about 1/3 way down the jar and the wick is only just hanging in there! I expect it to die any minute.

The 'dud' candles probably cured for about 2 or 3 weeks whereby my tester candle had only cured 6 days. There has been NO major variations in ambiant temp.

I dont know the people who bought my candles so I dont know if I will get feedback but it freaks me out thinking that their candles with burn badly {or even not at all}.

Any idea why this would happen? Is it typical? I could understand it if the candle had cured for months, in extreme temperature variations but that wasnt the case.

The way it is performing now, I will have to wick up but what if the next candle decided to perform like my beautiful tester? Then it will be overwicked!

Any insights greatly appreciated

Sorry for the long saga but I want to get as much info across as possible.

[KoalaGirl]

Ok, I just did some 'sleuthing'. The tester jar was made on the 20th Feb. I was almost out of wax {I remember that much} so had to order some more which arrived on the 28th Feb. The 'new' batch of candles were made on 19th March so most likely they were made from the new batch of wax. Holy cr*p, could it be the wax? Even though its the 'same' wax, could different batches {from the same supplier} be so different in burn quality?? I dont have lot numbers to compare but I'll sure be keeping an eye on that from here on in!!!

I only have one other scent that has 'passed muster' that *could* have been tested in the original wax. I'll be burning one of those tonight!

Good Lordy is there ever an end to this hair pulling???

[ChrisR]

Yep it's your wax. Every new case of wax I get, testers are burned to see if I need to make any changes.

[Stella1952]

This combo burnt perfectly after I did the bottom half jar test. I did the full jar test and it burnt great....all the way down.

Candles burn from start to finish. Starting with half a candle seems like a big time waster to me. Did you do a power burn?

The 'new' batch of candles were made on 19th March so most likely they were made from the new batch of wax. Holy cr*p, could it be the wax?

I make a tester for every new case of wax. I never assume that the wax from new case will perform exactly the same (although, so far, they have). I do not retest every fragrance & container - just one is enough. I make sure that I test using a FO that I have already used successfully in the wax. I don't test using a new FO or new batch of FO - it has to be some I have in stock that I already have poured and found to be a good combo. As you are discovering, when we ask if someone used the EXACT SAME ingredients, we really do mean EXACT SAME - not a newly purchased batch of the same thing.

It sounds like you are buying less than case quantities. The experience you are having is one reason that's not such a hot idea - makes it hard to run down a problem when you do not know the manufacturing information from the case.

Testing is just a normal part of making candles. Knowing how to test efficiently and effectively is important or your results can be all over the place.

[KoalaGirl]

Thanks everyone for your reply's.

Yes I have only bought in lots of 10 kilo's. {about 25lb} because at this stage, I dont even know if my candles will be a big seller. The first 10 kilo's got gobbled up with testing {and a few sales} so I didnt want to buy a case just yet {I assume by a case you mean a 50lb box?}.

I find that doing the half jar test first helps in wick selection since the second half can often burn radically different than the first half. If it doesnt work the way I want in the second half, I dont bother pouring a full jar to test.

Can I assume that if the new batch is different to what Ive previously tested, ALL FO's that have previously been successful, will burn differently in it?

Dont worry, hell will freeze over before I DONT test every FO in every NEW batch of wax from now on.

Good news! I found a contact number for the lady who bought 3 of the dragons blood candles so I will contact her to tell her there *might* be a problem {not totally sure if her candles were made from the bad batch}. If there is, I will be able to replace them, once I get the new wicking sorted.

When the penny dropped that the wax was at fault, I did a search of the forum and found lots of info. Seems this is not uncommon :-(