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Thanks JBN. I'll give it a go soon. Steve

I used it last year and still have a hunk of it left. It is not a low sweat soap but it has good clairty for imbeds. The soap will shrink pretty fast if not packaged in an air tight bag and colors tended to turn dark in it. HTH Steve

Has anybody tried the new pumpkin pie from cs? The reviewers say they cans smell crust and whipped cream.

I don't know about everybody else but there are a ton of samples in my shop. I usually order a dozen or so from a supplier then do the oob thing and test the ones that crank my tractor. I'll make up two 8 oz candles and test one of them. If it works ok, then I'll put it out there for customers to pull off the lid and sniff (I don't have a physical shop) and get their reactions. If I like it and the customers like it, then it gets added and something that's not selling gets removed until a later time with maybe a re-name or a better season for that fo. I feel sorry for my samples that have been waiting for over a year to be discovered but that's life. It's those $1.00 sample sales that cause the problem, yes-no? HTH Steve

It might be cheaper to place a post it note on your bed side table "did you blow out the candles?" than buying a fake candle. IMHO Steve

Ok and finally, buy a pre-blended wax and then you won't have to worry about using vybar or any other additive. There are a number of great pre-blended waxes that are available and will be just as cheap in the long run and won't require you to be ocd about making your candles. Candle making should be fun and eventually easy. HTH Steve

Stearic acid (also called stearin or, to keep it simple, octadecanoic acid) is one of the saturated fatty acids present in animal (and vegetal) fats and oils. Where candlemaking is concerned, the terms stearine and stearic acid are interchangeable and indicate the same product. Chemically speaking, stearic acid is a component of stearine. In the Nineteenth century, a chemist named Michel Eugène Chevreul discovered that animal tallow (in this time still used to make candles) wasn't a single substance but a coumpound of two fatty acids, stearic acid oleic acid, combined with glycerin to form a neutral, non flammable substance. By removing glycerin from the tallow compound, Chrµevreul invented a new substance named stearin (from the Greek "stear", which means tallow).

Vybar™ is a polymer. A polymer is a high molecular weight organic compound, natural or synthetic, whose structure can be represented by a repeated small unit, the monomer (eg, polyethylene, rubber, cellulose). Synthetic polymers are formed by addition or condensation polymerization of monomers. In candlemaking, Vybar™ is mainly used to "bind" fragrance oil and paraffin. To add scent to a candle (this is explained in details in the article about Candle scents), you add a certain amount of fragrance oil (FO) to the wax. Paraffin, due to its chemical composition, only allows for a limited amount of additional oil. The classic proportion of FO is 1 oz (28,35 grams) per pound (453 grams) of paraffin but, as 1 oz is considered by the industry as "double-scented", the actual "basic" proportion is 1/2 oz per pound. When you visit the website of a candle vendor and they describe their creations as being "double-scented" or "triple-scented", what they actually mean is their wax contains respectively 1 oz and 1 1/2 oz per pound of paraffin. To bind such a quantity of fragrance oil to the paraffin, it is necessary to add a binding agent. This is where Vybar™ plays an important part. But caution is required: too much of this additive and the scented oil will become binded so tightly to the paraffin that the scent will be neutralised, literally imprisoned into the wax (which is not what you are looking for). If you have trouble achieving a strongly scented candle, try and decrease the proportion of Vybar™. 1% is a good starting point. To find the ideal proportion, a little trial and error is unavoidable!

The reasoning for accuracy is not only cost but your candle configuration. If the wax and wick burn most efficiently and fragrance the best at 6% load; then you change the configuration when you pour too much or too little and some waxes are not forgiving. Most of us try to stay at 6% and buy oils that will throw (even though they may cost more) and have fewer problems like mushrooms or sooting. Yes, some oils are heavier and may contain lots of vanilla or other ingredients that will require you to adjust your wick accordingly. If I am pouring 16 oz of wax I remove one ounce of wax and add 1 ounce of fo to have a 6% ratio. Simply multiply whatever load you plan to use times 16 and subtract that amount for your fo amount. Easy peasy. HTH Steve

Wonder who has a pumpkin pie fo that you can actually smell the crust, spices and pumpkin in a balanced way? TIA Steve

Wilton has a good web site and they provide for molds for most places like wally world. http://www.wilton.com/ Just type in silicone molds in search and you get a lot of stuff. Unfortunately, they have discontinued some really neat molds. HTH Steve

A lady survivor asked for fragrance free soap to combat skin problems from chemo. I have a formula in "Soap and Other Obsessions" but it seems awfully soft (45% oo, 25% castor and the rest in palm I think). The cleansing was about an 8 and the combined sudsing was 71 and I wondered if 1. There's a better recipe and 2. What about using dyes? Anyone got advice? TIA Steve

I have a pyrex shot glass that holds 2 oz of fo and keep it warmed in my toaster oven (just in cased there are any crystals and to keep the temp from fluctuating in the wax) and that works just great, unless I look over and see it sitting there after having poured the candles, lol. I weigh just like everyone else does on the scale. Accuracy with fo is a must IMHO. HTH Steve

Oh boy, something new to play with! Thanks for the info and yes I remember that thread (lol), what a disaster. I'll let you know how it goes with my testing results. Thanks, Steve

LOL, so true. You have to laugh at yourself sometimes. One lost batch out of a bunch aint too shabby. Steve

I love cocoa butter but man is it getting too expensive.

That's the beauty of re-labeling. What was Fall-Thanksgiving-Christmas-Winter-Spring-Summer; variations on a theme. Coming up with new names and descriptions is tricky though.

My best advice would be to mix 85% 6006 with 15% soy and pour into room temp jars and don't cover. I like cds for wicking. This is a good formula and you could throw some coconut oil in there but it didn't do anything for the candle in my testing. I eventually stayed with my old wax (Clarus/TCS 70/30) because of costs and if it ain't broke why fix it? HTH Steve

For real? I've got a case of 3020 that has been lurking around my shop for a couple of years (mice love to eat wax). So if I add 8 to 10% coconut oil it will make that 3033? Tell me more! Steve

I've been using that wax for about 4 years or so. I don't add anything to it and get a great mp using cd wicks. That wax is 70% soy and 30% paraffin and probably has coconut in the blend as well. I wouldn't think a zinc could handle the soy but different things work for different folks. I use a cd 18 in a large diameter jar but am currently using a cd16 in a differently configured container. It gives me about a 1/2 inch mp and throws great at 6% fo load. The 3020 is 70% paraffin and 30% soy and that would work for a zinc IMHO it is Clarus' version of 6006. HTH Steve

I took a heat gun to the stuff and of course the goat milk started curdling in the batter and it looked like my sb was a goner. The sb finally pulled out with a massive tug and I whipped on the stuff until it crashed in the garbage. I soap gm below 100 degrees and never insulate it so it was simply a matter of incredible acceleration. The bad part was I had my pops all ready to do a column swirl. Oh well. Steve

You could order it on line from Wally World to your store for no shipping. I always pick up a couple of containers whenever I shop there. HTH Steve

I had the same experience with another sockmonkey fo and its the only batch of soap ever lost. It was goat milk and the minute the fo hit the batter it went instantly rock solid. I'm to afraid to try any of the other oils I ordered from her. What's the deal? Steve

Go look at Bath and Body or other candles and see what colors they are using if you are unsure what you want. I always look at the competition to see what is selling and how they are packaging products. HTH Steve

Welcome Jason, glad to see more guys coming into the candle making business. Steve