chuck_35550

Walker County. About 45 minutes from B'ham. At least we can remember each other's name...lol.

Those wicks are not my favorites. They are better used with mostly vegetable based waxes IMHO and not paraffin. But somebody will say they love eco wicks and they work great in 6006. I'd try a zinc or a cd for that wax JMO. Steve

Ok. This is really weird. I live in Alabama and use Alabaster for some supplies but the really weird thing is how we sign our posts. Check it out. Steve

You need 76 degree coconut oil and not the 92 degree. Go to your local grocery store and ask the manager if he would be willing to stock some for you or give you a grocery supply that might be willing to sell you some out of the supply store.

Dolomite is the type of mineral used in the making of kiln fired clay which is usually imported from China. I have been tempted to use those containers but not sure of their ability to withstand high temps. Be on the look out for cracks and test for how hot the container gets in the last half of the burn.

I've seen the same thing Stella. Vineyard Muscadine is an fo that is so heavy that it takes a great deal of attention to keep it in solution. I don't use that fo anymore because of its poor formulation (collects on the bottom and the top of the candle). It's really hard to give advice without knowing your procedure. If you are working in a warm environment and pouring your wax into a metal or glass pour pot and then adding color and fo (stirring about 2 minutes for color and 2 minutes for fo) your wax temp has dropped at least 5 to 10 degrees. I use an oven digital thermometer in my pour pot and by the time I have taken a warmed jar out of the toaster oven and wicked it and poured the wax, my temp has fallen. I put my pour pot back on the warmer and get my next jar ready, stir a couple of times and pour. Understanding that this is how I have developed my procedure over the years. I imagine that's not how anyone else does it but that's what works for me.

Good point Stella. Temp is a really important element that I forget often.

I got a batch of those too from JBN. They were really skinny and I was skeptical that they were the right size but they burn just fine. You can really see a lot of difference in the size of the wicks (no outer coating). Steve

I'm always amazed at the different results people get from test burns. Some state that they can get a votive to fragrance an entire house and others are able to fragrance the house and down the street. Votive and small diameter candles should fragrance small to medium sized rooms (depending on the type of fo) and larger diameter candles should be able to fragrance several rooms or more (due to larger melt pool). Concentrating a fragrance in a closed room is not realistic for most customer demands. A really great candle (as defined by most customers) is: cheap, pretty, stays lit, lasts a long time and has to be put out because its so strong. Not asking for much, huh? I would open the doors and see how that goes IMHO. Steve

I understand your reluctance to spend money (picked a bad hobby on that count) but what happens if you get your wax and wick down and then are disappointed by the poor cold/hot throw? Buy a sampler of 1 or 2 oz fos and begin testing the full formula of wax, wick, jar and fo. Personally, I would go with a really simple jar, such as an 8 oz jelly for starters. You can pick them up for nearly nothing and re-use them in your testing process. I would throw out test wax rather than melt it. The structure of the wax has been changed and your results are not going to be dependable. Pick a formula and work it until you know all there is to know about it. Pre-blended parasoy is really your best bet IMHO. Later on you can always play with your own personal blend. Steve

I don't necessarily stir all my fos between each pour. There are some really heavy ones that require constant attention due to their formulation. The whole idea is only a theory that you can easily put to the test. I can tell you that its not uncommon for my last poured candle to suffer more strange effects than any of the others. I keep my pour pot on a warmer to maintain temp and that may have some effect on the structure of the wax and fo; although I kinda doubt it. We just don't have any control over the many variables of our raw materials. Formulations change almost daily (it seems) and you never know if a wax or fo is going to behave like it usually does. Good luck. Steve

Your best bet would be to join or create a co-op of other people in your area who can help defray the shipping costs. There should be plenty of people in your area who use wax in their crafts. Another idea would be to piggy back your wax on someone else's shipment.

Alabaster is out of stock.

If your throw is awesome then coconut isn't necessary. Shrooms are just the nature of the beast known as vanilla. I just don't know any wick that doesn't get overwhelmed by fo formulations that have high concentrations of vanilla. Your customers could care less about shrooms. They just know it smells really good.

It's possible that your second candle had a greater concentration of fo than the first. Fo tends to settle to the bottom unless you continue to stir. More fo is probably clogging your wicking and producing a weaker flame. Stirring keeps your wax and fo more evenly incorporated. I try to stir my wax after each pour (unless I get in a hurry or I'm being lazy). Your candle should burn the wax at an even, slow rate and produce throw without overheating the container. Those elements tend to produce shallow melt pools with a small per cent of hang up that is eventually fixed by the last half of the candles burn.

If I'm weighing fo. I put my shot glass on the scale and hit the tare button. Now I pour until I reach the desired amount. The actual amount may exceed the markings on the shot glass by a small margin. If I put 8 ounces of anything on the scale, whether in solid or liquid form, it still is 8 ounces BUT it may displace more area when poured. Again, this is marginal not some whopping difference in amounts. I normally get down to the last drop out of the pour pot and have poured the amount needed in the container. If you are over loading your wax/fo per-centage or you aren't stirring your wax long enough; you probably have seepage. Shake your fo bottle and warm it up before using. If you are going by the marking on the measuring cup then sure its going to be different from actually weighing it. 8 oz of water is 8 oz of water. those markings on your measuring cup are just general guide lines. You know, your jar is a 12 oz jar but it won't hold 12 oz of wax? More like 8 or 9 oz, because the wax displaces more area in liquid form than in solid form.

Drill holes in those large popsicle sticks and use a clip to secure and straighten. Cheap and lasts forever.

I had this problem with a new formulation on vineyard muscadine. I had to shake the stuff up and hold my lip just right to keep it from forming this gross orange stuff on the surface and on the bottom. It just didn't want to mix with the wax and was not seepage.

I could see filling it with decorative gravels or glass beads around a glass votive holder? You could do a container candle if you didn't intend for the melt pool to be totally across the diameter of the container. Its kind of frustrating that there isn't a descriptive purpose on this item. I have to agree that most ceramic doesn't hold up well to high temps.

Most of the time you probably have a degree of vanilla in a cinnamon fo. because its most commonly used in bakery scents. The answer for me is "yes".

Avocado Oil For soap making, we recommend avocado oil. Avocado Oil is rich in Vitamin A, B1, B2, D, and E as well as amino acids, sterols, pantothenic acid, lecithin, and other essential fatty acids. Avocado Oil is great for those with skin ailments such as eczema, psoriasis, and other skin problems. Avocado oil is a relatively thick and rich oil that may be diluted with other carrier oils to improve its consistency. Avocado oil is for people with sensitive or problem skin as well as other irritations that require vitamin rich oil. Even though the Avocado is officially a vegetable oil, it is really a fruit because it has a stone. It can yield as much as 30% oil. Avocado oil penetrates into the deep skin tissue, nourishing, enriching and revitalizing the skin. Since avocado oil easily absorbs into deep tissue with its wonderful emollient properties, it is ideal for mature skins as well as helping to relieve the dryness and itching of psoriasis, eczema and other skin ailments.The crude Avocado oil is green in color as it still contains chlorophyll thus it is classified as a mono-unsaturated oil. Throughout history avocado oil has been renowned to have healing and regenerating properties. It is very useful when treating sun, climate or chemical damaged skin that is dehydrated and undernourished. It is reported to help regenerate and rejuvenate the skin as well as soften the skin tissue. Avocado oil is well known as a nutrient for penetrating dry skin and resolving other skin problems. Since avocado Oil has a high percentage of unsaponifiables, it an excellent oil to use in soap making. That one is from Columbus Foods. I use it all the time and love it in my soap. I would be happy to give you a couple of really good recipes at a later date. HTH Steve

Put it in the bedroom and keep the door open. See if you can detect fragrance down the hall or in other parts of the house. Mostly, you want to notate how well your candle burns. You already know it will fragrance but how deep is your melt pool, does it smoke or soot, how high is the flame, ect.

It makes me wonder if there is some delay due to a formulation change? There was some discussion of adding more coconut oil to the wax.

Well what size candle are we talking about? But most of the time a fragrance is affected by the drafts in your home. I can burn a candle in the kitchen and the fragrance gets taken onto the sun porch by a window over the sink. If you had candle nose, you wouldn't have smelled anything in either room. HTH. Steve

I use the 70/30 (Clarus) and was my understanding that production of the wax was to resume January 28th, 2010. Use Greenleaf in search to gather more info. HTH. Steve