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Starting Tarting! Ecosoya PB and Crystallizing Pillar Palm Wax


emahleem

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Ok, so even though I only started making candles a couple of weeks ago, I want to try some tarts. They are just so cute! So I am driving to Candlewic this afternoon to pick up a sample of Ecosoya PB (1lb) and Crystallizing Pillar Palm Wax (1lb).

I got a little heart candy mold from Michael's this morning, and yesterday picked up a plastic paint pallet from Walmart for under a dollar. I just couldn't contain myself and poured a small batch of tarts with my 464 just now! I know it is a container wax so it is soft and not meant for tarts, but I wanted to experiment and see what happens.

Here is a photo right after I poured.... I got a little too excited and overflowed the first mold but after that was smooth sailing!

Oh, and I used freshwater cucumber FO from candlewic... 3.75 oz wax, 0.25 oz FO

IBXI9l.jpg

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The 464 tarts popped out easily after sitting in the freezer for several hours while I went to Candlewic. They are ADORABLE, but I'm not sure if there is any HT. I put them in my warmer (a 25 watt bulb) and it is melting them but I can only smell it if I stick my nose RIGHT in it. Going to pour some with the real tart waxes tonight and see what happens... and maybe try a different FO. Cucumber isn't that strong to begin with.

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I figured that might be the problem... that they need to cure. Well that just means I'll pour some more tomorrow and then forget about them, and focus on my container candles again! Having two projects will be a good way to distract myself during cure time.

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Wow. Just poured a batch of Ecosoya PB tarts. After reading what others have done, I heated to 185 and stirred in FO (Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, yum) and poured at 155. The wax hardened on me before I had finished! It was a very small batch, only 3 oz total (2.8 wax, 0.2 FO) and I usually pour 464 higher than 155, so I'm not surprised that it hardened faster than I am used to. It also has a higher MP than 464.

Anyway I am super excited to see how they turn out.. I mixed a fair amount of orange dye in and they looked neon when I poured so I think the dried color should be nice.

Here they are in the process of drying...

OT2Kc.jpg

Now to let them harden, then pop 'em out and lock them away for a few days! Once I do that and have my molds empty again, I am going to pour a batch of palm pillar wax with the same FO.

Edit: Forgot that palm wax has to be poured at such a high temp (~200). On other threads the general consensus is that it would melt the plastic molds at that temp, and if poured cooler, you don't get the crystallizing effect. Someone suggested pouring into mini baking cups... I have a pack of them but they are just made out of paper... doesn't seem like a good idea. Or do they mean pouring right into a metal pan for mini cupcakes?

Edited by emahleem
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I called the Wilton company that makes those plastic heart molds (candy molds from Michael's) and the woman told me that she can't tell me what temperature they melt at because they don't test them for high temperatures, but I asked her what type of plastic they are made out of and she said they are polypropylene. I googled polypropylene melting point and according to Wikipedia, the melt point is between 266-340, depending on the specific type. Here is a quote from the wikipedia page:

The melting of polypropylene occurs as a range, so a melting point is determined by finding the highest temperature of a differential scanning calorimetry chart. Perfectly isotactic PP has a melting point of 171 °C (340 °F). Commercial isotactic PP has a melting point that ranges from 160 to 166 °C (320 to 331 °F), depending on atactic material and crystallinity. Syndiotactic PP with a crystallinity of 30% has a melting point of 130 °C (266 °F).[2]

I am going to go ahead and try my palm wax in the molds I have. I doubt it will melt them but I'm interested to see if the high temp will cause them to warp at all.

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I'll try tomorrow also & report back. If you don't have a good scale yet: KD-700 www.myweigh.com Also called Wills & Knotts maybe? I fried the other 2 with FO. This one has covers. Also bought 2 digital meat thermometers (recommended by Jonsie) from ebay. I'll find the name if you like. They're a wonderful thing! Broke 3 of the candy ones already! If you do a search for these type of items you'll get some good hits.

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Ok got some pics for ya! If this is getting annoying for everyone just let me know :P I'm having a great time and might be sharing TOO much since it's all so new and exciting.

So here are the two batches of tarts with the sweet cinnamon pumpkin FO...

EcoSoya PB:

XURoL.jpg

Crystallizing Palm Pillar Wax:

lWBJw.jpg

The palm came out way better than expected... I wasn't sure if it was going to crystallize at all but it totally did! The problem is the other side that was against the mold... On some, the "mold side" has a more subtle crystallization, like this one...

mAKXG.jpg

...But on others, it is almost completely smooth. ALL of the circle ones came out completely smooth on the mold side.

gjxbd.jpg

Is this due to it not being poured hot enough? Should I have heated the molds before pouring? Or is this something that will probably not be fixed unless I use metal molds?

Thanks guys!

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It's the liquid orange dye from Candlewic and I don't know exactly how much, but I used a skewer and dipped it into the dye so that about an inch and a half was covered and then stirred it all in. And that was only for a 3oz batch, so the concentration became very high very quickly! The wax looked neon orange when I poured it.

Edit: Oooh! I just noticed I've graduated from Wax Drip and I'm an Enigma now! Yay :yay:

Edited by emahleem
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Is this due to it not being poured hot enough?

Yes. And cooling too quickly. For best crystals, pour between 200°F and no lower than 185°F. Cool slowly and evenly. When palm wax doesn't crystallize, it is very shiny, hard, colors appear far more dark & vibrant, the surface tends to have minor fissures, jump lines are very apparent, may have splotchy crystals, may appear somewhat translucent, etc.

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Yes. And cooling too quickly.

Will it help to use metal molds that have been heated, and maybe let the whole thing cool and harden in a warmed oven? As in, warm the oven, put the molds in, and turn the oven off so that it slowly cools to room temperature. I'm really loving the look of those crystallized tarts and it would be cool to be able to get them working perfectly.

And thanks crazzie! I've been keeping notes like that but this was the first time I took a picture... you are right, it's a great way to keep track and be able to SEE the result along with the information. I'm going to keep doing this for everything I make.

Edited by emahleem
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  • 2 weeks later...
Ok, so even though I only started making candles a couple of weeks ago, I want to try some tarts. They are just so cute! So I am driving to Candlewic this afternoon to pick up a sample of Ecosoya PB (1lb) and Crystallizing Pillar Palm Wax (1lb).

I got a little heart candy mold from Michael's this morning, and yesterday picked up a plastic paint pallet from Walmart for under a dollar. I just couldn't contain myself and poured a small batch of tarts with my 464 just now! I know it is a container wax so it is soft and not meant for tarts, but I wanted to experiment and see what happens.

Here is a photo right after I poured.... I got a little too excited and overflowed the first mold but after that was smooth sailing!

Oh, and I used freshwater cucumber FO from candlewic... 3.75 oz wax, 0.25 oz FO

IBXI9l.jpg

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm just going to get into making tarts. when you make them this size with candy molds, how many do you melt at one time? I'm used to using the bigger ones..

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