Jump to content

Dirty Mottle


tlc

Recommended Posts

First of all I am posting here b/c these are not worthy of the Candle Gallery and I am hoping to learn a thing or two.

I poured these on Sunday and un-molded last night (Monday). This is what I did/used:

1274 Mottle Wax

Blue dye, red dye and black dye~ all liquid

Stearic

Cinnamon buns f/o (I know it doesn't go with the colors but I LOVE it :drool:)

3x6.5 mold

3x4.4 mold

Blue candle~ heat to 195*. Add 6 or 7 drops blue dye around 190*. Next 2 tbs plus 1.5 tps stearic then stirred lots. Added f/o 1.3 oz about 190* to 185* and stirred to 180* and poured into room temp mold.

Red candle~ heat wax to 195*. Add 8 drops red dye and 1 drop black around 190*, stir then added 2 tbs stearic and stir, stir. Added f/o (.9 oz) at 190* and stirred to 185* then poured.

I clean my molds with a heat gun or oven (whichever is handiest) then I wash them in dawn dish soap and dry.

I call these a dirty mottle due to this build up of gook. It's not f/o all together but like a sludge. I don't have the seepage like I did when I poured my very first mottles a couple of months ago. They do have this sludge type residue over the whole candle but is mainly concentrated at the top. I have to wash my hands after handling them. :shocked2: There are tiny pin holes on both candles, not tons of them but they are there none-the-less. You can see the pour marks on my second pour :embarasse

I'm also throwing in a pic of my pouring pot which shows the residue on the bottom. I have never seen this before and wondering if it's the stearic stuck to the bottom?? I've never used stearic before so I dunno.

101_0423.jpg

101_0429.jpg

101_0430.jpg

101_0433.jpg

101_0437.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ahhh welcome to the wonderful world of mottle!

I have done mottle candles for 20 years and what you have there is more scent than the wax could hold. :( Remember in most candles there is vybar or another binding agent. In a mottle, nothing.

The max load that I recommend with the 1274 is 6% sometimes less. Back down the fragrance amount and that will stop and not happen again unless the fo is super heavy. Also I use 3 tbsp per lb steric in a straight paraffin but don't add steric to 1274. It already has it :)

Simple solution, less fo and you will be golden :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, my green ones had that ugly slimy sludge too!! Too much FO - now I did add steric to it, and lowered the FO and everything worked great. But, Flicker's been doing it longer than me, so I would try her way first and see if you can do it without steric first. Don't give up - you'll get it, and be glad you did!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Pam. Now the mystery is solved. I was thinking I didn't stir the stearic enough so now I feel better about that. No stearic next time and less f/o. Keeping my toes crossed.....

Would/could that (too much f/o load) be the cause of the pin holes? The pin holes seem to be mostly in the top but a few scattered in the body too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...