chuck_35550

Here's the formulation: Coconut Oil-20% Olive oil-15% Tallow-40% Palm OIl-20% Castor-5% Super Fat at 5%, 2:1 ration on water and .05% pp on fo Hardness-52 Cleansing-17 Conditioning-45 Bubbly-21 Creamy-39 INS-160 The Palmitic and Stearic number are high but the Lauric and Myristic are reasonable IMHO while the Oleic balances well with the other numbers. I wash my hair and body with this soap and everything squeaks but so far I haven't one patch of dry skin or itch. I soap up my pouf and have enough bubbles and soap to wash my body and then some. Sorry if I'm bragging but its cause I love tallow soaps. Steve

I didn't like eco because they burn ugly and stumpy. How many Yankme candles have you burned that achieved a full melt pool and didn't tunnel or drown out? But still you keep digging at the wax and trying to get it to behave and then go out and buy another one. This wax has hang up on the majority of fos I have tested. There are a few that seem to burn more efficiently but repeat customers aren't interested in the appearance of the candle, they want it to stink up the whole house for a long time. You have great ht when other people are moaning they can't get a candle to throw hot or cold. Pretend you are a customer and light the candle and go about your business. Forget it. When the candle starts to fragrance your area, go look at it and judge for yourself.Votivo is one of the best and most expensive candles on the market and it doesn't get a full melt pool but it sure will stink up your house and the entire block. Maybe you should consider melts. Steve

M&P here in the humid South is a real pita. I have to use a low-moisture formula and try to stay away from cheap versions that are full of junk. Really good m&p does a good job for hand soap but I don't care for it as a full body soap. Imbeds in cp is my favorite way to use m&p. HTH Steve

Sugar Cookie Royale hands down. Mulled Cider from Community Candle or Cider Barrel from AHRE. JS used to carry Fresh Macintosh which was spot on but gone now. Most cookie scents just don't evoke the crunch for me and they don't do all that well; even SCR is more of an intense vanilla than a cookie IMHO and if you mix it with Vanilla Voodoo it blows the doors off the house. I like AHRE's Apple Butter Clove (I think that's its name) but not sure of a plain clove that does the trick. I like to mix AHRE's Peppermint Patty with Blue Skies for a Chocolate Amber and a small amount with SCR is close to a chocolate chip cookie but you have to hold back on the Peppermint Patty. I don't smell the mint so much but the chocolate is very milk chocolatey IMHO. HTH Steve

Soaped the tallow formulation at a higher temp and got identical results. But the soap is so good, I intend to stay with that formulation but use it for solid color or high vanilla content fos. This last batch is butt ugly but a great bar of soap. So far all the Lush types from Fragrance Buddy are super. Steve

My wife and I tested the bath bombs last night (seperately)and it wasn't good. The mica did leave a faint ring around the tub, and something in the mix didn't agree with my wife's skin. She said the fragrance was overwhelming and overall it was not an experience she would pay for. I didn't find the fragrance strong enough, hated the small jojoba beads and a 3 oz bomb doesn't add that much to a tub full of water. So its back to the drawing board and test a different formulation. I am pumped that the bombs basically worked, just not to the level of my expectations. Steve

Oooh I wish I had read this before using them. I happen to have three bags of the old Pops mica and used the Green Apple Pop in my bombs. The recipe called for 1/8th tsp and the color is very uniform and a light green that goes well with the fragrance of Lemon Sorbet and bits of organic avocado in an olive, Sweet Almond and Apricot Kernel mixture (no water). The bombs are really sticky but they are solid as a rock and not crumbly. Steve

I made my first batch last night using a recipe from the Curious Soapmaker "Avobath" Lush on her blog. She has a video that shows it spinning, floating and fizzing. I did not make the round bombs but placed my solution in a 6 cup silicone muffin pan and used a pusher out of an icing gun to pack it down. The bombs look great but they are really sticky. Being my first time, I don't know if its because of the Alabama humidity or what. All I know is that they held together extremely well and hopefully, will do what they are supposed to do. HTH Steve

Nobody really knows for sure, but supposedly 6006 is 65% paraffin and 35% soy. Adding 15% soy makes a 50/50 ration and (for me) improves adhesion and reduces sooting. It certainly makes for a creamy candle but you have to pay close attention (in my experience) with what percentage of fo you use. It can be a little picky if you add too much or not enough when it comes to performance. Adding soy used to be a cheaper alternative but now all waxes are pretty much expensive. Use what you have on hand and test. If you don't like the results, try 415 or stay with the 3022. HTH Steve

I haven't tried Cinnamon Broom from Fragrance Buddy but some posters are saying it smells just like those pine cones or brooms they sell in the fall. That would be a great fragrance but otherwise I can't give straight cinnamon away in my neck of the woods.

That looks nice. Steric acid makes candles harder and more opaque. The coating resists vegetable based acids that tend to clog and break down other types of wicks. I can interchange cdn or cd without a whole lot of noticeable difference but I like the stiffness of some cdn coatings and it seems to burn a little hotter in my application. My candles are not that pretty and perfect as the picture but some do give me that clean appearance; it depends on the fo but heres my take. That's a tall flame from a tall wick and the melt pool is a tad deep for my taste. I would guess if you touched the glass its gonna be pretty hot, which means half-way down its gonna be really hot. You could try LX wicks but you should be able to get what you want with almost any wick. If the flame is small and weak, then wick up and if the flame is too tall, then wick down. Rip that wick out and throw in a larger wick until you get what you want and the glass is not too hot and the thing doesn't look like a fire hazard. The only other suggestion I could make would be to buy a bit of petrolatum and add a small amount to see if that helps. Otherwise go to another wax and start over. HTH Steve

Personally, I like sea salt but what you have on hand (55 lbs ?) is what you need to use up. Remember to add your salt at the right time, so that its suspended in your emulsion and not sinking to the bottom. You can take whatever Babs says to the bank if she says that works. Pine tar is a whole nother ball game and you better be ready to slap that in the mold fast and you need to be sure about using the correct percentages and the best (expensive) pine tar. I wouldn't use it in a salt bar formulation. I use the oil-salt ratio but that's just me. I use a slab with dividers and put it in the oven for a complete gel. HTH Steve

Sure. I'd like to see a Yankme without a tunnel. You hit the nail on the head. I like a little wiggle room throughout the burn. I strive for the best results but there are limits to what you can reasonably expect from any set of variables. You just don't expect a simple candle to have so many variables. Steve

CDN wicks were invented in Germany for use in steric acid candles. They are the same size as corresponding CD wicks but they are soaked in a different finishing solution that helps to neutralize the acidic properties of natural candles. You may find that a CDN will burn out an inch further then its regular CD counter part. For instance, the CD18 will burn out to about 3" in EL soy container with Vanilla Voodoo but a CDN18 will burn 4" in diameter in the EL soy container!!!! Due to increased efficiency in burning CDN wicks may burn cleaner in natural waxes. I use 7% fo load on average but sometimes 6% is sufficient. If you are talking complete wall to wall liquid mp with no hang up, then that's middle of the jar. For me, a full mp would have some hang up and might not be fully liquefied. So I guess that's somewhat misleading. Not all fos achieve and adequate mp and those are rejected from my line up. You will have to find fos that will give you an adequate burn and have an adequate ct/ht as well. I've been at this for a long time and its hunt and peck until you get lucky. Are your candles throwing a good ht? Regardless of mp? HTH Steve

You'll know if the lye doesn't heat up your soap solution. It should be fine.

Just poured Supernova from FB with an all vegetable formulation and a four color swirl. I took one of those heavy duty ribbed plastic straws that go in drinking cups and ran my wire hanger through it. The ribs make all these cool little patterns in the soap. Hope to cut it today. Behaved beautifully. Soaped at 87 degrees with full gm and had lots of time. Leaf lard comes from around the kidney and internal organ area of the hog and is renowned for making pie crusts and cooking. Its too bad that somebody doesn't mfg a non-hydrogenized lard but I understand the need for something to stay on the shelf for all eternity before it spoils. I'll look into the local scene but so far nobody seems interested. Steve

Got my money back. I think it went through Paypal. Its been some time ago when all this happened, and even then people warned me about this company.

It does if you are in a pumpkin frame of mind, lol. Maybe if you mixed a little pumpkin in there you could have pumpkin-pineapple brulee...hmmmm that might be pretty good. The mix I meant to mention was Gingered Pumpkin from Southwest and Creme Brulee but they no longer carry the Gingered Pumpkin.

My very best pumpkin is a blend of 50% Pineapple from AH/RE (KY) and 50% Creme Brulee from Southwest Candle Supply, Southwest carries a good version of Pumpkin Souffle and Bitter Creek North has a Perfect Pumpkin (WYW) that is very yummy as well. A lot of pumpkin fos have disappeared but there are some good ones still out there. HTH Steve

Yes. It was the same issue of wooden frames not available because they didn't have scrap wood for the carpenter to make them or some such idiocy. It was real frustrating getting them to respond but finally got things straight. Just keep trying until you get a response. Good luck. Steve

Thanks for the info.

Yes, Fragrance Buddy. Your soap sounds really nice, I'll have to give that a try. I read that beef tallow is very healthy for human skin and have always loved the qualities it gives soap. I would love to get my hands on some leaf lard but its too expensive and rare to come by. Steve

I had the same experience and would never consider doing business with them in the future.

Hey Brad, sorry for that misinformation concerning the wax. I knew we had discussed another wax that had coconut oil and thought you had mentioned the 3022 contained it as well. I use a 16 oz and a 12 oz salsa jar, which are washed and dried and heated before pouring. My mix is usually 6% to 8% fo load, depending on the type or strength and then the jars are placed in a cooling box and left overnight. Usually I would get great adhesion on almost all the jars but now only a few manage to adhere to the jar wall. The ct/ht is great for most fos and with all things said and done and nearly every wax tested; this is the best wax for me. Again, sorry for the misinformation and thanks for clearing that issue up. I'm hoping to re-start my business this fall and continue using Clarus wax. Steve

I use the 3022 and have about the same problem. I find that the cd or cdn 18 wick work best on light fragrances and the 20 works on the heavy bakery fragrances. I'm thinking that Clarus has added more coconut oil to the present formulation for improved throw but it has really changed the adhesion qualities of the wax. You could add a little soy to the mix and see if that helps with the mp using an 18 cd or cdn. Clarus has changed their formulation and it is not the wax it used to be IMHO. HTH Steve