chuck_35550

It's a bad idea to burn for only 15 minutes and then "blow" it out. The wax has a memory and by not burning long enough you might get a tunnel effect and pulling the burned wick out of one container and sticking it into a new container doesn't prove much of anything IMHO. Do you trim your wicks after blowing them out ( I blow mine out too cause I'm too lazy to dip the wick in the wax to put it out) ? Sooting is always a bi-product of combustion but heavy sooting might indicate that your wick is not burning the fuel efficiently due to heavy amounts of vanilla or cinnamon or that the wick is just wrong for that wax. There are a lot of good posts about 4630 to get more information. HTH Steve

Just let me know when you get to 14 national championships. LOL

I've never had dos from using Crisco but it doesn't make up a large amount in the recipe. Quiet Girl's recipe by all rights ought to turn into one big lump of dos but its a really excellent bar of soap, so go figure. You could use the butter Crisco with a sugar cookie or some other bakery fo and I bet it would be pretty nice. Steve

Not withstanding that these are hard economical times, getting name/product recognition often means selling at cost. Once you build a customer base then you have more power to charge a little more IMHO. It has taken me about three years for people to suddenly discover my cp soap and about 5 years to establish my candles as being worth the extra amount over a giant wally world candle. If you have a good product it will eventually pay you dividends. New songwriters and artists typically give away their first compositions to get their foot in the door. I think you have it about right IMHO. Steve

Just more hair splitting. The brief flare up of a wick is not going to speed up a full melt pool. A flare up might last 30 seconds or a minute max and then the extra wick is gone and begins sucking wax. A fast forming melt pool would be due to over wicking the container and even then its going to take some time for that to be achieved. My cow, it takes a few minutes for a full force heat gun to melt the top of a 3 to 4 inch container so how in the world does a lowly wick hasten fmp? More hooey. IMHO

The point of the story is how often we handle potentially dangereous substances or hot melted wax without thinking about what we are doing. I don't care how they are melting the wax, they are still applying heat to thourougly melt wax and the heat required is going to be hot not warm. Over time the heat build up is cumulative and so you ask customers to please not power burn their wax products for safety. Picking up molten wax is a bad idea period but plenty of people do that just like they unwittingly pick up the hot glass shade of a lantern or throw gas on a fire or any of the other hundreds of ways people disregard the danger of something hot. The only thing I can figure (Stella) is somehow you have overcome the natural laws of physics and are able to produce a candle than magically never gets hot..now that's hooey.

Wow, tough room. The list is officially closed, sorry Scented. Ahh heck, add a few more.

I sold a ton of cupcakes and cake slices during the holidays and for Mardi Gras but mostly the challenge and artistic expression was the motivator. You have to be very focused and have everything planned out before you begin the session and you have to think fast on your feet if something goes wrong but all in all its a lot of fun. Customers just kinda looked at me like, "What do I do with this?" and then it caught on. I present them in white window cupcake boxes and they make great teacher gifts or baby shower or whatever gifts. It is fairly costly to get all the molds and stuff but so much fun. HTH Steve

Looks like a little separation was going on in the first pic on the sides. It looks lye heavy to me and the mold encouraged acceleration (don't know if you insulated or not) but rbo, canola and castor are pretty high when added together plus sf at 8% but if your other batches have been ok then I imagine it was leaving out the palm. Sorry that happened to you. HTH Steve

Pouring Stasis 3022 70/30 soy/paraffin 1 oz fo to 15 oz wax Ah/Re: Lavender Apples & Oak-What a surprise! This was weak oob but in wax it was very strong and a well balanced fragrance. Two thumbs up. Lovely-Slightly perfumery as expected oob but in wax was more of a light herbal fragrance, might take a little more to give it enough oomph. One thumb up. Meditteranean Garden-Beautiful oob and even more so in wax. Fresh and clean with a nice citrus turn to it. Perfect for spring and summer. Two thumbs up. Sandy Rose-Pretty stout oob but fairly mild in wax. This one is a little old fashioned but its very subtle and not overpowering. One thumb up. White Tea-Slightly odd oob and even stranger in wax. I don't think this ones for me but someone else may like it ok. Something kinda off for my nose. Candle Cocoon: Herbal Rosemary-Hated it oob but in wax its very nice indeed. Just enough of the eucalyptus sinus smell that gets rounded out by the not overpowering rosemary. Two thumbs up. Creme Brulee Cafe-Wonderful oob but I'm afraid not stong enough at 50%, maybe 75% to 100% per ounce. Two thumbs up. Sea Shells-Not much oob but in wax it came alive as very fresh and clean. One thumb up. I'm saving Peony White Tea for some soap. This is one of the finest fragrances oob in the universe and I can't wait to soap it. Two hands up. HTH Steve

One of the more valuable lessons I learned from top when he used to grace the board was to leave my wick a little long. Testing a candle the way a customer buys it enables you to guage how the thing will operate under normal conditions. Yes, the flame is a little large at first and then settles into the expected burning pattern. I use to sell my candles with really short wicks and leaving them longer proved to be good advice. I would never do the pig tail thing with a bead or whatever because it just adds expense and its too dangerous IMHO. Steve

Aw come on Scented. Lol. At least give some aid to the addicted.

Yeah but <edited> off a pound bottle is a big savings and this is always where I buy before testing and live to regret it. If I could stock for spring and summer for $200.00 and not have to worry until fall/holidays that would be great. KWIM? Steve

They're showing maple butter, I like your selections too. I haven't had a perfect record with cw. I couldn't sell Henry Bendel ppm or the butter cookie but did well with most others. Thanks? For more foe to the list, loo. Steve

Here's my Candlewic list: cotton blossom Fresh cut roses magnolia blossom Mango papaya Oatmeal milk and honey Peonies in springtime pina colada pineapple mango snickerdoodle splash of rain Summer fresh Vanilla spice Voo doo love Wild honeysuckle Which ones are best?

I use calendula and chamomile for a soothing effect on irritated skin. I can't really quantify that scientifically but I believe it survives the lye monster and brings nice qualities to the soap. It does provide slight color but not a strong fragrance because the infused oil is a small amount I add at trace. HTH Steve

What's the deal with Community Candle Supply Jane? I occasionally look in there but haven't heard anybody talking about whether they have their act together yet. Steve

You don't have to use a sb but I just don't have the patience to stand and stir. It only takes a couple of bumps with the sb and you're there and then you can play with swirls and other stuff. If its a really soft recipe you have to stand forever and ever stirring and you start thinking of other stuff you need to do and how you wish your're partner would come down to the lab and take over, lol. My dw doesn't even darken the door, so I know that won't happen, lol.

I agree. Placing the warning on the bottom seems pointless, other than to cover up the wick assembly but then having a warning labe on top seems ugly too. As far as people having common sense? When I was a young man and prone to drinking too much; I once lit a cigarette by picking up the glass shade of a kerosene lamp. Thank God we had an aloe vera plant in the house and I stuck my hand in the freezer for an hour and there wasn't too much damage to my hand but in retrospect it was like, "Dude?" What were you thinking? Customers don't see candles as a fire hazard and I'm not sure we want them to be overly focused on that fact cause sales are hard enough these days. Maybe if they aren't hot to the touch people would be more prone to pick em up and slosh em around? By the way...I am not an addict (except to food). Steve

Beautimus as usual and the glitter is a nice touch. Steve

Thinking the same thing Candybee.

Does anyone find that silk causes some acceleration?

I have the wally world Hamilton Beach with whisk and its tops. Good price too. Steve

I have the root beer, princess pink, violet, indigo, strawberry and lemon lime, 1/2 tsp pp is pretty intense and no they do not bleed but they will morph some with certain fos. Don't care much for the lemon lime but they are all easy to incorporate into the batter and haven't had a problem with colored suds. HTH Steve

I often use a 100% gm recipe in my acrylic log mold and always try to soap as cool as possible. The non-gelled milk soap is creamy and may initially have an ammonia type after fragrance but that disappears and I usually cut my bars the next day with no problem. I use a 38% water content with milk recipes and find that gives me more time to play with the batter. I never cover the mold and check to make sure that the most gel might be around the corners but overall the rest of the soap does not gel. I can't remember the last time I did cpop but used to do that all the time for soaps that had intense color swirls. It's always a matter of personal preference. HTH Steve