chuck_35550

I didn't care for Darwin's or Kat's recipes. I remember Grumpy Girl, she had a really stong brand there for a while and was speaking and demonstrating her techniques to different soap meetings. I thought her product logo and her soap swirling were really inventive. I am still amazed at how well the Quiet Girl's recipe performs in the shower. I've found that with the right fo you can get lots of time to swirl but if you get one that accelerates; you better move fast. I love most of Bunny's stuff and would love to include some of her stuff but I'm too ambitious as it is with the addition of bombs and bath salts. I have an open house the 16th of this month, so its non-stop work for the rest of the season. Steve

Yup, that honey has to be really well melted before adding to the base. I do the same thing and stir the dickens out of it. clay can do the same thing if you don't sb the hound out of it. I line my molds with the small bubble wrap (I'm sure everybody does) and the overall effect is a great seller but it is so labor intensive. I'd like to hear someone else give a shout out for an easier method. Steve

I use about a teaspoon of Aveda collodial oatmeat pp and have kind of backed off clay for some reason. I like the slip but the texture can get so dense if there's too much. I've even backed off the td and the silk fibers. Quiet Girl's recipe continues to be my favorite and it just doesn't need anything else for my tastes. My other formulas are an all veggie and a tallow heavy one that seem to please customers and all my soaps are 100% goat milk for liquid. I gelled a few on a couple of batches and went back to no gel. Honey is a real booger for me to incorporate and I'm always scared the soap is gonna be sticky but that's just where my soaping head is at lately.

Yes! Candles in my house sit on ceramic tiles and are never placed near flammable materials. Don't you read the warning label on your candles? I once bought a candle made like a piece of pie in a ceramic looking holder. It turned out the holder was not ceramic but carboard made to look like a plate. My wife came home to a house full of black smoke, the fire alarm blaring and me on the computer in a back room, oblivious to all of it. I was angry with mfg of the candle for not warning me about the holder and angry with myself for not respecting an open flame in my home. HTH Steve

Think of your candle as a pillar in a jar. You have hang up or a protective barrier of wax for about 1/2the burn and then on the remainder of the burn the hang up melts and keeps the bottom burn from getting too hot. Customers often want a candle to burn totally clean from top to bottom and sometimes complain there was a half-inch of wax left in the bottom. I explain the safety mechanism of the wick and why its good to have that protective wax in the bottom and they are ok with a little left over. I know there are chandlers who deliver a squeaky clean burn from top to bottom without the jar over heating but you need to understand that the average consumer lights a candle and forgets it until the end of the day. I don't give a rip how you have it wicked; that jar is going to get over heated and better be on some kind of protective insulated plate to prevent a fire. A thin shell of hang up (not tunneling) is not going to reduce how well your candle fragrances a given area. It may not be pretty but its safe.

Oh, I have boxes of partial candles shoved under the work bench in the shop. Someday I'll get around to putting them in the oven or melting with a heat gun. The heat gun is pretty fast but you have to wear heavy gloves to keep from getting burnt. I just don't have time to deal with it.

Don't know but can't sell it (Natures Garden).

I have the VBN from Tennessee Candle Supply, very yummy.

Paraffin was my first love and it was pretty cheap. The oil prices started driving up the price and soy was really cheap. People started using soy and some began tagging it as all natural and organic with no soot. Blending covered a lot of bases for my tastes. Parasoy wasn't as expensive and seemed easier to handle with the fos that were formulated mostly for paraffin. It didn't color as well as paraffin but who needs color? Now, all the waxes are expensive with shipping driving the bottom line up even worse. One of the hazards with soy in any form is that its quality and price is determined by whether the soy bean harvest is good or bad. I wish the price would come down on coconut wax and some of the other botanical waxes.

It's the wax. If the wax is so finnicky that you have to hold your mouth to the left to get it to perform; switch wax. I know there are people who use 415 and swear by its qualities but it never performed for me without a whole lot of hoop jumping; switched wax. I started with J-50 and moved up to J-223 with zinc wicks and poured all kinds of fos in all kinds of jars and never had a problem with anything but the tops. Heat it, color it, fragrance it, pour it, and sell it. Customers who liked strong bakery choke off your air scents buy a candle with a strong cold and hot throw and customers who like complex, subtle fragrances buy a candle with a soft cold and hot throw. Fragarane oils are either stong or light by design with a particular medium(s) in mind. I buy fos for soy wax that will work in bath and body applications in one ounce testers. Pour em up and test. No time for needle in hay stack companies. If I choose 12 fragrances and only one or two performs? Move on. If my wax got to where it wouldn't perform no matter what company, wick, container or other factor works? Time to change da wax. Either your wax will or it won't and you should be able to figure that out pretty quick. HTH Steve

I have a large cardboard packing box with a leveled wood bottom (use a level to make sure) and then cover with a doubled heavy bed spread. Spacing the jars is critical (about an inch apart) and then leave covered over night. I have used the method of placing back in the box with the boxes inside the large cardboard box but make sure they are resting in their cartons straight up and not at an angle or you get uneven tops. You can make a warming box with insulated foam and liquid nails, as well as a form fitting top (use duct tape to strengthen seams)for cheap from a hardware store. I have specifications somewhere but maybe its still in the archives. HTH Steve

You aren't talking about their Versatile Parrafin Wax Blend? It has a restock date of September.

Wholesale Supplies Plus bathbomb lakes are fantastic. Steve

That's it CB. Well worth the money IMHO. Steve

Nope. I use the tart/votive and its not close to 6006. Have you called AH/RE?

3M Tekk Paint Project Respirator, Medium, P95 by 3M Price: $34.85 Price: $25.19 Free Shipping for Prime Members You Save: $9.66 (28%) In Stock. • Low maintenance • Bayonet style cartridges for comfort • Adjustable straps • Cartridges and pre-filters can be replaced • Assembly consists of 1 each 3M half face piece, 1 pair of 3M organic vapor cartridge, 2 pairs of 3M particulate filter, and 1 pair of 3M filter retainer This thing straps onto your head like a Chinese puzzle but it really works. I tried to post a pic but wasn't able to get it posted for some reason. HTH Steve

I turn on my window fan but wish there was an air purifier in the room. I don't always wear my ventilator (double organic filters)but with my asthma I should. I've had a couple of lung infections from over doses of fo and a couple of lung fulls of lye water and it makes you take things a little more seriously concerning your lungs. These fumes are very concentrated and sometimes I can even faintly pick them up with the respirator on my face. It really helps keep candle nose down too; so there's a couple of good reasons to protect yourself. Steve

That's the very reason I like soy added to 6006. I can't stand when a candle separates from the jar wall and rattles. The wet spots do return upon burning and that's why I decided to stay with 3022 from Clarus, but even that wax has appearance issues. It does not totally separate and depending on the type of fo doesn't always develop wet spots. The problem in a nutshell is "shrinkage". The hot wax cools too quickly and begins to shrink away from the jar wall because the candle cools from the outside. Insulating the candle in a warm environment helps to gain a more uniform cooling and reduce shrinkage. There was a good thread on here once, about how to build a foam warming box; I'll see if I still have it somewhere and post. HTH Steve

I hate to sound like a broken record but 85% 6006 and 15% of any soy is a great formula IMHO. Poured at about 185 degrees into room temp jars with a 6 or 7% fo load is a pretty good formulation, as far as jar wall adhesion and ct/ht. I was recently in Henderson, Tennessee and had a chance to look at what the shops were carrying. Mostly French triple milled soap (Provence) and very high end candles. Aside from the slick packaging, the purity of the fragrance was amazing. The fragrance on the cold throw is simple and recognizable; its not until you light the candle that the other notes begin to add complexity and depth to the overall effect desired by the perfumist. I can only imagine that a quality fragrance oil will only get better with age, as in deepen but not necessarily strengthen. I have candles that are quite old and there is not much difference in the cold throw but the burn is amazing. You could always use the old trick of placing a little fragrance oil on top of the candle for a strong first impression but its the burn that brings a customer back. I normally use one ounce of fragrance oil in 15 oz of wax and get a great result on most tested oils. HTH Steve

I'm a little puzzled over why you would fix something that isn't broken. Lots of chandlers would love to say their candles throw awesome. The 4625 is a paraffin pillar/votive blend with a 6% fo load. The usual recommendation is to up the soy not the paraffin but who knows what might work. I used to use LX wicks and have a drawer full of them but prefer cd or cdn wicking with just about everything. I fell out of love with LX because its so limp in hot wax. I mean, yeah the wick gets clipped but cds are easier to wick and the burn is nice and clean. If you want to extend burn time, then I would recommend a zinc. Zincs are the coolest burning wicks and thus you wouldn't burn quite as quickly as you would with a hotter wick like the cd. Frankly, I'd stay with what works and save yourself some time and money. Steve

There aren't that many fos that won't throw. I meant that if a formulation was intended to be soft or subtle; adding more fo isn't going to change it into a nose burner. My nose doesn't care for the style of fragrances from several suppliers who are wildly popular on the forum. I like Natures Garden, AH/RE Kentucky line, Fragrance Buddy and a few others. HTH Steve

I add a little of my parasoy to smooth it out and to soften just a little.

Combustion will always result in some residue, no matter what combination you use. If you are using a bakery fo with high vanilla or vanillin (4% or higher) then you are going to get soot. Excessive soot would be the result of inefficient consumption of wax, either the jar is over wicked or you are using the wrong type of wick for that combination of wax and fo. Double wicking is one way to make the burn more efficient. Say the candle will handle an 18cd wick but it smokes like crazy. You wick with two 8cd wicks and get less residue and you find that the ht has improved, well then you choose the best combination. You pour another fragrance and find that one wick handles it just fine and there is no need to double wick. You also have to consider whether the smaller wicks distribute heat more efficiently and keep the jar cooler. Easy huh? HTH Steve

I have been using 3022 for the past six years and it throws the next day on most fos. Your procedure is just fine and most fos can be used at 6% with optimal results. That being said, light fos will always be light IMHO, no matter how long you cure them. My best advice would be to give the candle to someone for testing. Sometimes you get candle nose and you really can't judge the strength of ht. I've never had a dye interfere with throw, unless it is clogging your wick (small weak flame, excessive sooting). I don't think its a wax problem but an fo problem. Premium fragrance oil (usually expensive) is not a guarantee you will get a high end type throw. I get wonderful results from medium priced oils like Natures Garden and others; high end candles like Votivo use in house perfumers and top of the line ingredients. Us little guys have to buy testers and search for the right combinaton that produces reasonable results. HTH Steve

No. Most suppliers will offer you a bakers dozen of one ounce bottles for testing purposes. Generally, you pay $2.00 up for a tester plus shipping charges, which makes it expensive (everybody rides the 99 cent sales train) but cheaper in the long run. DO NOT DEPEND ON REVIEWS OR RECOMMENDATIONS! Opinions are like rear ends, everybody has one and they are all biased by personal preferences. If I tell you this is a good fo and you're customers are going to make it "fly off the shelves" that's evidence for trying a sample. These days, I only buy skin safe fragrances and they have to perform reasonably well in both wax and bath and body products. I make two candles (8 oz) from a one ounce tester. One for me to test and one for another tester. Two thumbs up and I get a pound. I have about 40 or so little bottles patiently waiting their turn, depending on need. HTH Steve