sand in gel candles

[DanaK64]

I made a tester with sand in the bottom of it and made sure the wick tab was above the sand. Well somehow the candle caught on fire soon as it got low enough it got to the sand and it caught on fire! How did this happen? I see all the time where people make oceans and sea scapes with sand. What did I do wrong? Thank god I always test everything I make. It coudn't have had anything to do with scent because I made many candles with this scent and it didn't happen untill it reached the sand. You can see the sand started to burn. Please if anyone can tell me what they think happened please do.

TIA

Dana

[Bernadette]

Sand soaks up gel like crazy, and when the flame gets down there...:tiptoe:...well, you know the answer. Therefore, you must either crimp the wick with metal, or you can use clear glass beads. Glass beads must fit the wick super tight(really hard to thread on the wick too, I might add) and I always use more than one. You can't even notice that they're there if they are clear. HTH:tiptoe:

[DanaK64]

Thanks so much. Where do you get the glass beads?

Dana

[missymssy]

The only place I ever found the glass beads was Biomax, and they are a bit high, considering hat's all I'm ordering.

[Bernadette]

Well...here's the thing with glass beads...you can't adjust the hole size to fit your wick, and you want a tight fit or they're useless. So after you've done your wick testing, what I do is take sample pieces of the different size wicks I use for the different containers to the craft stores. They have glass beads(make sure they're not plastic!), so I test the fit. You can also try bead stores for jewelry making. I bought from a couple of candle suppliers way back when, but they didn't fit the wicks I used. I either couldn't get them on the wick(too small a hole) or they were so loose(hole too big) that they were useless. It's a pain to find them, but I like that you can't even tell they are there in the candle. It's much easier to find the crimps. Just go to the jewelry making section and buy the metal crimps. You'll have to clip off the "ring" part of it, put around your wick, and crimp it tightly. It will show. It will look like a long wick tab top. Some people don't mind it, and it is easier. :tiptoe:

[van_yulay]

I drill a sea shell send my wick through it. Knot wick under the shell. So it doesnt touch the sand.

[Bernadette]

I drill a sea shell send my wick through it. Knot wick under the shell. So it doesnt touch the sand.

Yes, that may work for seascape gel candles, but not all gel candles with sand are seascapes. For those you need a crimp or beads if you use a wick.:tiptoe:

[Twoscentsworth]

HELLO !!! Shells are also porous and will eventually soak up the gel as well and then you will get FIRE. You really must crimp your wick above anything remotely flammable. You can use jewelry crimps ... like the one on the right above the gold ones shown here:

http://www.michaels.com/Jewelry-Essentials-Findings-Crimps/bd0548,default,pd.html?cgid=products-beads-findings-crimps you can clip off the bit with the hole.

Please don't take chances ...

[missymssy]

lol-I just try to avoid it all by double-glassing all of them!

[Kawboy888]

Forget about the glass beads. Here is how to make a Seascape...

I prefer cotton core wicks, do not use zinc core for these.Also, Penreco's CHP (high density) is the ONLY gel that should be used for these.

*Using a round metal tab, fish your wick through the tab so that no wick is sticking out the bottom, now crimp the metal tab at the top where the wick comes out. Do not crimp so hard that the tab folds in half, you want the tab to remain flat on the bottom.

*Melt some chp, dip the tab in the melted gel then place in the bottom of your seascape glass, dead center in the middle. Push it down using a butter knife. Now pour enough gel into the bottom of the container so that you just barely cover the bottom of the container.

*Stretch a piece of scotch tape across the top of the container, almost right across the middle. Once the gel has solidified over the wick tab, and is cool, pull the wick up over the tape, and secure it with another piece of scotch tape. I have been using this trick for 15 years with all of my gel candles. Don't pull to hard or you will pull the tab off of the bottom, you just need the wick to be tight and straight and centered.

*Now you pour your sand. With the wick secure, centered and tight, pour the sand in.

- For a better look, do not have the sand be totally flat, use your butter knife to create low spots or a small hill in the back ground. It's all about texture and scenery.

*Next strategically place your seashells.

*Here's the tricky part.. CHP is vital for these because glass fish are heavy and you do not want to use fishing line through the loop to keep the fish upright while the gel hardens, that's just a hassle. The trick is to keep your gel at a temperature that you can work with in layers without having the layer lines show up on the glass. You also want to pour very very slowly so that you do not create too many bubbles. Too many bubbles looks horrible and makes it look like you have no clue what you're doing. These candles should have very few bubbles. Bubbles do nothing but make it hard to see what's inside the candle.

*I pour about half an inch of gel over the sand and let it start cooling. Once it is around 75% solidified i start putting my fish in. They should stand up in the gel by now. Once they are in, let the gel finish cooling.

*Heat your gel up a touch more and pour in just enough so that the top of the fish is almost completely covered, but not quite. Now is where you watch the candle. The new gel that you just poured will melt the top of the last layer and should get rid of the layer line on the glass. You are watching the candle to make sure that the glass fish does not tip over. If it starts leaning, use your trusty butter knife to carefully straighten the fish back up.

* Repeat the last step only fill up the rest of the container.

*If you want to make the very top half inch layer of your candle tinted with dye, you should know that after a few years that dye WILL spread throughout the entire candle.

* Once the candle is finished and completely cool, cut the scotch tape, now cut the wick half inch above the top of the gel.