What causes this? Soot on wax.

Can someone help me with this problem. It looks like soot on the wax. This is the only FO that I've tried so far that does this.

This is 70/30 415/4627 blend with 8% FO Pink Sugar. Eco 6 wick. CD 10 does the same thing. It's in an 8 oz. sq mason jar.

I sure would appreciate it if someone could advise me what I'm doing wrong! TIA :smiley2:

You'll have to experiment a bit. It might be vanilla crud from the FO, or the candle might just be a little sooty. Sometimes this happens more towards the bottom when there's less oxygen.

You could try less fragrance oil (I'm not sure you need 8% for Pink Sugar). You could try a smaller wick. I haven't verified this for certain, but people have suggested that ECO has more of a tendency to do that, so you could try HTP or CD for this fragrance.

Thanks Top,

When I tried the CD 10 I got pretty large mushrooms. So I went to the ECO 6, which doesn't mushroom much. However the CD 10 does the same thing.

I have a few HTP 83's laying around; I will try that. It seems that the soot is developing in the wax right at the wick. The jars themselves have none or very little soot on a white paper towel when I wiped the inside to check.

This is frustrating!

If you're getting it with both ECO and CD, I doubt HTP is the answer. Why don't you make one with 6% fragrance and see what the difference is. If it's only this fragrance oil and you don't think it's burning too fast, that seems like the thing to try.

I will do that! Hopefully that's the answer.

I was wondering if you ever figured this problem out yet???.....

I have been having this same exact problem. My jars are clean, its just on the top of the wax (lookes like someone took a black marker and were drawing lines on it) .... and for me it looks like the wick is somehow "peeling" at the bottom where it comes out of the wax...I dont know how else to describe it. :rolleyes2

and the weird thing is we are using different wax. I use C3 wax and CD wicks (i tried ECO but i had similar problems with them)...for me I have ruled out dye and scent now i am testing just plain wax and I have an order of CD wicks coming in a few days from a different supplier just to check them out too.

Jenn

I use c-3 and no dye in my candles. For the 8oz mason I use 1 htp 105 wick and I never get soot in my candles...I never could master the cd's as they have always sooted on me.

Trappeur

I was wondering if you ever figured this problem out yet???.....

I have been having this same exact problem. My jars are clean, its just on the top of the wax (lookes like someone took a black marker and were drawing lines on it) .... and for me it looks like the wick is somehow "peeling" at the bottom where it comes out of the wax...I dont know how else to describe it. :rolleyes2

and the weird thing is we are using different wax. I use C3 wax and CD wicks (i tried ECO but i had similar problems with them)...for me I have ruled out dye and scent now i am testing just plain wax and I have an order of CD wicks coming in a few days from a different supplier just to check them out too.

Jenn

No, I still working on it. I'm wondering if it isn't partly the jar. I poured some more testers, an 8 oz. JJ, and a 12 oz. status. Am letting them cure for 3 + weeks to see if that isn't the problem. So far in the 8 oz. sq. mason I have tried the cd 10 & 12, Eco 6 & 8. I also found that CS Med. fig does it too. Although I colored that a darker purple, so it's not as obvious.

I sure would appreciate anyone one advising us on this who has experienced this problem and found a solution.

Did you ever try reducing the fragrance amount?

i have found that this will happen every once in a while..

i finally summed it up to..it must be the chemical reaction when certain

fo's, wicks, and wax..are put together..because this does not happen very often...

just like another thing i have knowticed..there are some candles when you burn..the wax does not hardly change colors..

then there will be one..that gets a dirty looking color....and there is no soot on it..it just happens...

so i figured..there are chemicals in the fo..so they must react differently to your combo of wax and wicks..????

and it could be just like top said..maybe not use so much fo..i had never thought of that..

I have about 1/2 doz FO that does this. All of them have vanillan in them or a heavy spice. BUT not all my vanillan ones do this. I tried different wicks, wax and jars and could never get it to stop.

Did you ever try reducing the fragrance amount?

Yes Top, I did drop it down to 6%, I could try 5%, but don't see much sense in going lower. It was still doing it at 6%.

Well, for me anyways it is NOT the amount of FO. I have tried 1oz - 1 1/2oz and everything in between. and it is still happening with all amounts.

I have used the 8oz mason jars and the square 8oz mason and never had the sooting. Sometimes I get a bigger mushroom-but you can just knock those off-and it is normally when people burn longer times-and should knock some of the mushroom off anyways. I use GW444 and papercore wicks and do not get that look no matter what fo's I use. My colors stay for the most part unless I have a really dark color-then sometimes (but rarely) I get the frosted look in spots. I also don't have my candles hang around a long time-so I have never really cured any for more than a few days-and that is just because they are waiting to be shipped.

I hope you figure this out with what you are using.

Yes Top, I did drop it down to 6%, I could try 5%, but don't see much sense in going lower. It was still doing it at 6%.

There might be some sense in it. If I were in your shoes, I'd try one at 3%.

You have already confirmed that the problem doesn't depend on the wick. You know that it is connected with specific FOs. Thus it's reasonable to ask "Does the amount of FO make a difference?"

The reason I suggest cutting it in half is because that will definitely answer the above question. It's better to get the answer and then edge it back up than to waste time edging it down in baby steps.

You might be surprised how much less compatible some of these vanilla FOs can be with the wax. We had someone here who was using 6% vanilla FO and getting a column of soot from the flame every time she lit the candle. And she was using a wax with good fragrance retention.

Or you might try the same FO from a couple of different suppliers to see if there's a difference among them.

UPDATE: I poured a jar (8oz. sq. mason) with 70% 415 and 30% 4794 (a votive paraffin wax) and it's over half way burnt and is not showing the same soot as with the 30% 4627 I used prior. I also poured the a status jar and have burnt that completely and it didn't do it with the 415/4627 soy/para blend. So, its the problem is between the jar and the wax.