I need help!

[parker24]

Okay, I am still fairly new to this hobby..I have used gw 415, 444 and 464 wax. My house is like an ice box and I am experiencing unevened tops and cracks and what i believe is frosting < with the white >?? As far as my F.O.'s go, I've purchased majority of them on Ebay and I just recently purchased some from the Bitter Creek South website. I've used the suggested amounts between 3/4 oz to 1 oz per pound. It looks like some "wet spots" are present, and I was wondering what causes them to appear and how do i go about making candles without them? I have been mainly using HTP 105 wicks, and I've been getting consistent burn pools, and not melting my wax to quick. I'm just wondering if some of you can help me with knowning what temp my kitchen needs to be when I'm making candles, what fragrance oils are good to work with in soy, maybe some tips on how to prevent wet spots, white areas, evened tops, and how to prevent cracks?? I heat my wax to 185 degrees, add dye and fragrance, stir for at least 3 minutes, cool to 95 - 100 degrees < for 415 type > stir once more and pour when the wax is cloudy and like a slush look. Any kind of advise would help me out alot!! I appreciate it! :smiley2:

Melissa

[laurenscandlebakery]

I am very new to candle making, as well. That being said, I still feel like I might have a few suggestions for you.

*If your house is cold, you should try heating your containers up before pouring the wax into them. Pouring hot wax into a cold container can cause breakage or jump lines. Put your containers on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven on the lowest temp (somewhere around 150-170 degrees). Do this as you are melting your wax and they can stay in the oven until you are ready to pour the wax into them.

* I found this website that has been a great reference for me. http://www.candlecauldron.com/troubleshooting.html You basically scroll down the list, look for the issue you've been having and it will tell you what caused this issue and how to fix it.

[laurenscandlebakery]

Also, under the "Vegetable Wax Candle Making" category, there is a sticky'd thread called "FO for Soy" and it gives a big list of the fragrance oils that work best in Soy from all of the different major wholesalers.

[chuck_35550]

Start with a plain jelly jar (not a wide mouth) and settle on the wax that has given you the best results (so far). Pure soy may be cheaper but a parasoy will leave more hair on your head. Paraffin gives you vivid colors, soots black and is somewhat easier to learn; whereas soy is cheaper, colors in pastels, and works well with essential oils. Customers in my area are not into the soy/paraffin issues; they just want a candle that does what it's supposed to do. Find your nearest supplier and order a kit with the wax you are interested in learning. The kit will allow you to learn without spending a ton of money or wandering around from wax to wax and wick to wick. The information on the board is invaluable but it is not meant to take away the hands on learning experience that we all have gone through. Keep it simple and stick to a few fragrances and get that down first. Stay away from high priced Hobby Lobby and look for 1-2 oz fragrance oil specials ($1.00 apiece) and use slabs or small amounts of wax for the time being. Walmart will have a cheap postal scale, buy a digital oven thermometer with the probe on a silver line and use an old glass coffee pot for melting and pouring. Please get a fire extinguisher just in case of fire and be careful with hot wax around kids and pets. Enjoy yourself and read different forums for additional information. Nothing will feel as good as your first successful candle and then you are hooked. HTH

Steve