Made my very first batches of scent brittle!

[justajesuschick]

For a non-crafty person, this is a big deal!

I am a waxaholic. I cannot burn candles so I melt. A friend who is crafty (she makes her own yarn before she knits with it for the love of goodness!) was appalled that I never made any or myself in addition to all I buy.

At her coaxing I explored something simple and found a tutorial for wax brittle on RE's site (a place that I had never been). I tried it with some stuff I bought at craft stores and it was not so great.

I took the plunge and placed a small order with RE of things recommended in the tutorial. I have made 3 batches now. Mine is highly scented but naked (dye free). I did not feel that I could trust myself (non-crafty and non-coordinated) with dye.

I have tried some from my first batch and it was nice. My second two batches I made yesterday so will wait a bit to try.

I used Ky 133 Versatile Paraffin Wax Blend that comes like sand. I melted in a double boiler. I added much more scent than suggested because I like wax strong. This is not good enough to sell, nor would I want to. I work outside the home FT. I just make this for me to supplement what I buy elsewhere. Well, if it is good enough, that is the plan!

I have a couple of scent questions that I will ask later.

I appreciate any advice, tips or warnings you could offer!

[blacktieaffair]

Adding FOs can be easy or tricky, depending on the wax, or the fragrance itself. You stated that you added "much more scent than suggested". Did you add more than was suggested in the video, or more than was suggested for that particular wax?

Waxes can only hold so much FO before they start acting wonky (even in melts ). Think of it like wet sand at the beach. You can add water to sand, a good amount, and be able to strongly build a sand castle, but if you add too much water, you're going to have a bunch of weak sand that falls over because there is too much liquid in it.

I know you aren't making candles, and it's more prone to when you have that flame right there at it, but I've heard numerous candlers talk about adding too much FO and it not mixing ( binding ) enough with the wax, and the top of the candle have FO pooled up in it, and it actually catch on fire.

I've never had that happen with melts, but the wax I use, have a fragrance top load of 9% . Other waxes have larger loads, some waxes have smaller loads.

Sometimes, other than safety, incorporation factors, you can actually put TOO much scent into an application, and not get the result you want as far as hot throw goes. (how well it scents while it's warmed up) .

I ( along with a lot of people Ive heard from ) have fragrances that we HAVE to put more than 1 oz per pound in the wax and there are some FOs that if you put too much FO in the wax, you won't get much of a smell at all.

I know you said you were only doing this for yourself, but I just wanted to let you know a few things that MIGHT POSSIBLY happen if you overload the wax with more FO than is recommended for that wax.

[justajesuschick]

Thank you for taking time to respond and your frankness! I appreciate it.

This has to rank up there with the top 5 newbie/rookie (and at close to 50, I like being a rookie!) errors I would guess.

Here is how I think as an amateur-If 1 ounce was good, 2 ounces will be BETTER! Guess my thinking is false. haha!

The wax I used indicated 10% so I figured for 16 ounces of wax I could use 1.6 ounces of FO. So...of course (you girls have had to have heard this a thousand times), I used 2 ounces. It smells GREAT! Guess that I will throttle it back some with my next batches based on your expertise and experience. Clearly, in this arena I have none.

I found that with the tarts I was buying that I preferred paraffin over soy. Call me odd but the soy had a oil smell that I could always smell. I do not get that with paraffin for some reason. perhaps my nose.

So, when I saw the little library tutorial on RE I thought perhaps I could do this (well, and after my friend's insistence). I figured that even a rookie should be able to melt a wax that is like sand, pour in fragrance and dump it onto a cookie sheet.

I know that I should let it rest/cure for a few days but I am eager to try it.

Again, I appreciate you taking time to respond since again, you have likely answered similar posts over and over.

Now I have a couple of FO questions so I will go ask those!

Edited June 10, 2012 by justajesuschick

[blacktieaffair]

I am not familiar with the wax you use. For my melts I use a paraffin , IGI 4794 (it's a votive wax but for quite a few of us it works wonders for melts )....... and while I have bumped it up to 1.5 oz for a pound ( for my personal use on a scent that just wasn't naturally strong .. some are just lighter than others ... ) I have never put nor have I ever heard of putting 2 oz for a pound of wax. Im not saying someone hasn't ever done it, Im just saying I've never heard of it

[justajesuschick]

Is it a slab wax that you cut or grate?

Well now you can say, "Once, this crazy chick came here and she actually used 2 whole ounces of FO"...

I have learned a lot already!

Thanks!!

[blacktieaffair]

My wax is a slab... I love beating the livin hello out of it and taking out anger LOL

[justajesuschick]

My wax is a slab... I love beating the livin hello out of it and taking out anger LOL

Now that is funny!

[ksranch]

I found that with the tarts I was buying that I preferred paraffin over soy. I know that I should let it rest/cure for a few days but I am eager to try it.

You do not cure pariffin like you do soy - so don't worry about waiting with your melts so long as you are using pariffin.

[justajesuschick]

I decided to try out all 3 of my brittles last night. VERY nice. I did have some oil on the Birthday Cake pieces. User error using too much oil and not blending at high enough temp as you indicate. Still smelled divine and since that is what I am after I am happy!

Thank you!