Newbie to candle Making

[Fiery_WA]

Thank you Stella, PMS'ing here atm, so I am a little touchy:tiptoe:. Please don't get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for all help and advice, but in my defense I am a "Newb" to candles, so a lot of what you said

"When I referred to a palm wax "blend," you have to understand that there are substances added and manufacturing differences in various palm wax formulas; otherwise we wouldn't have so many choices of pattern, texture and other key, repeatable properties. There ARE certain similarities, like the hardness of palm wax (needle penetration test). The polymorphic nature of palm wax allows it to make huge, showy crystals and patterns all the way to an almost clear, smooth, translucent state whose surface tends to fracture easily, simply by varying the pour temp of the same wax! It has an extremely narrow range of time and temperature between the solid and liquid states - it never really softens in the manner that paraffin and soy do. These are IMPORTANT PROPERTIES of palm wax that affect how it behaves when it is burned in a candle."

When testing candles, you do not cut the side to relight it, I don't cut the side to relight I cut the entire unburnt rim off, when I go shopping later this week, I will be buying a BBQ lighter, the reason I have been cutting them back is because atm all I use is a cigarette lighter.

"Keep burning your pillars all the way to the bitter end without messing with them and see what they do. You may be surprised..." The reading I have done says that Palm Wax has a memory, and the initial burn should equal the diameter of the candle per hour, as my Pillar is 3" in diameter, I thought I was doing the right thing with three 3 hour burns.

The following pics are from a continual burn (Yes I know I am nawti, I went to bed and left it lit)

However only one small blowout, no thick edges as per the previous burns, overall I would say I am happy :yay: with how this one ended up burning. It is the same candle as the first ones posted.

A lot of it flew straight over this redhead's head. Given time ( I have been making my own candles now for 4 months, and only 1 month with the Palm Wax) I am hoping I will become as knowledgeable about Palm Wax as you are Stella , and I mean that sincerely.

Susan

Edited April 16, 2011 by Fiery_WA

[Stella1952]

Hey Susan. I read you are considering switching to container candles, so I don't know how much more pillar work you are doing, but I wanted to clear up a couple of misunderstandings.

I thought I was doing the right thing with three 3 hour burns.

That is correct. When I said "burn it to the bitter end" I meant in 3 hour test sessions. Many newbs testing all kinds of candles do not test all the way to the end because they *think* something is not working right and abandon the test. This is very foolish in most cases. While a "power burn" such as you described above IS a valid form of testing, I recommend waiting until you have successfully completed the 3 hour incremental tests all the way to the end of the candle. A powerburn is used to reveal the need to tweak certain aspects of the burn and educate yourself as to what your candle will do if a customer ignores nearly all normal candle burning instructions. Mixing a powerburn with 3 hour test burns is a complete waste of time. It's fun to burn candles, but the results and data you were seeking are pretty worthless now. Testing is a methodical process. Go forth and sin no more.

I don't cut the side to relight I cut the entire unburnt rim off

As I mentioned before, you do not trim the candle itself at all for any reason while testing. Cutting off the shell changes the entire burn of the candle. You will never know if that shell would have melted away on its own had you left it alone... This also skewed your testing data, so it's pretty useless to continue that test now.

the reason I have been cutting them back is because atm all I use is a cigarette lighter.

As I mentioned, there are plenty of ways to light a wick deep in the candle: a long match or bamboo skewer; a match held in a pair of tweezers or forceps; light the end of a piece of uncooked spaghetti, etc. but DON'T cut the sides off the candle, for pete's sake!

Just a FYI - test burning a palm pillar in that size pillar stand is asking for trouble. Palm wax becomes very runny when liquid and will easily fill a normal pillar stand if it blows out. It can even pile up on one side and just drip right over the edge. I suggest burning palm pillars in a shallow glass bowl or in a glass hurricane with a little water or sand in the bottom. I still don't wanna talk much about the overwicked heart pillar I tested that blew out the side, dripped out of the saucer, onto the shelf, down the screen of the TV, down the front of the TV stand and drawers onto the carpet where it made a lovely red mountain. :rolleyes2

Yes I know I am nawti, I went to bed and left it lit

Sweetie, at the risk of being blunt - that's not naughty - that's foolish. Having lost a home to fire (not from candles), I PROMISE you, it's no fun and I strongly recommend people avoid the experience. I won't say I have never fallen asleep with a candle lit (see heart pillar story above which occurred while I fell asleep watching a movie), but I have learned to place the candles in a very safe setting should I need to burn one overnight. In truth, there IS no safe setting for a candle burning unattended, especially while people are sleeping in another room.

overall I would say I am happy :yay: with how this one ended up burning

If you're happy, I'm happy. All in all, it's not a terrible burn... it looks to me like the candle was wicked between the "leaving a shell" stlye and the "complete consumption" style. The good thing is you can melt down the remaining shell and make some votives or a smaller pillar.