Chandler Guild - Candlemaking Best Practices

Scent throw

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 01:43:30 -0400

I am very new in the soy candle business and have been experimenting with different scents and wicks. I poured a 9 oz candle into a jar that was widest at 3.25. The scent was very strong prior to burning the candle. I used a #14 wick in the jar and the melt pool was to the sides in about 4 hours. When it burns though, there is no scent. If it's not burning and I smell the candle it is strong. Would the wrong wick still affect the scent throw if it is burning correctly?

Suppliers

Sat, 29 May 2004 11:42:26 -0400

I wish to share some information regarding supplies that I use or have used.

Here are capsule reviews of our experiences and ratings for Candlewic, Bitter Creek, King House Candle Supply, Ewe R Wooly, Intercontinental Fragrances, Paramold, and Wicks Unlimited. Counterpoints and amplification are welcome.

Yankee Doodle Came To Town

Sun, 23 May 2004 11:49:14 -0400

After years of hearing from many of my colleagues that they had received cease and desist letters from Yankee Candle's lawyers, I felt rather discounted by the candle giant for omitting me. But today, that all changed.

Powdered dye

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:56:19 -0400

Does anyone have any tips on getting powdered dye to completely dissolve in the soy wax? Have always used liquid dyes in the past. Found there to be more color options with the powders, however, am having trouble getting it to dissolve. Any suggestions?

Blue Ridge Mercantile

Pillars

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:55:54 -0400

Does anyone out there have good experience making pillars? Having some problems with their burn. Have been trying to use the votive wax without much luck. Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

Blue Ridge Mercantile

using stearic acid

Thu, 12 Feb 2004 14:50:38 -0500

hello everyone. i'm very new to this and have started a little tiny business out of my kitchen :) i'm doing container candles w/essential oils. my question is...when adding stearic acid(hoping that this will make the cracking go away), how do you figure out the percentage to use? i've read that 3-5% is suggested...if i'm using 2 cups (16 oz) of phytowax to make an 8 oz. container candle, then i should use .8 oz of stearic, right? how the heck does that translate to something i can measure if i don't have a scale...i know there's probably a table somewhere that converts this but it eludes me.

Cracks in Phytowax container wax

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 10:36:34 -0500

I have been using Phytowax container with no additives. (other than fragrance and liq dye) Making many samples, trying different fragrances and all of them look great, burn great, and making great progress. And then....when the orders start rolling in and the products need to be finished quickly.....they are all showing up with cracks! I have tried different boxes (lots) warming up jars (even warmer) pouring at all different temp and still getting cracks! The cracks are appearing along the side of the containers and across the top of the finished product! I began using veg stearic about 3-5% (still playing with the %) and seems to be alittle better.

A Pillar Process Observation

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 08:09:25 -0500

On 10/21/2003 Soyawax Mike responded to Northwoods Candle's question about making pillars with news that he..
"has a new and very easy to use process for all Chandlers to make pillars. I'm in the final testing week. Details will be announced on this website in one week."

Now on 12/25/2003 Soyawax responds to a query about the pillar recipe with...

Votives sticking in molds

Fri, 17 Oct 2003 14:41:18 -0400

Okay gang.. basic question here (probably). I'm experiencing votives sticking in my metal votive molds. I'm using P/V1, dye and fragrance. Doesn't apply to any particular dye/fragrance combination, and on any given pour, not all votives are affected. When I do get them out there is a patch of wax usually stuck to the side, not necessarily all the way around the mold, and a resulting missing patch in the votive (real ugly.. have to touch up with heat gun).

Candle Coloring Tip

Thu, 16 Oct 2003 08:26:31 -0400

One of the toughest things to do in lighter colored candles is get a uniform look from batch to batch when using a very small amount of dye. Colors such as Ivory which for my application requires a tiny amount of dye so small I had no way of getting exactly the same amount in every batch.
My solution for ivory was to melt two dye blocks of brown into 2 lbs of wax. I then poured this mixture into tart molds.

Burn Time

Mon, 13 Oct 2003 23:32:03 -0400

I am using 9 oz hexagon jars with 100% soy wax. I am telling my customers the jar will burn from 70-90 hours. When I have test burned them, I get tired and bored after 70 hours and stop keeping track of how much longer my candles will burn. Is this long burn time consistent with your experience?

Wick sizes for best burn quality and burn time

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 11:58:10 -0400

We have questions about wick sizes too... This is an issue that we have struggled with from day one. We seem to use smaller wick sizes for our containers than a lot of other manufacturers. Read this Experience Report to learn more...

What wicks to use?

Thu, 18 Sep 2003 11:52:49 -0400

In reading about the wax melting to the sides of the jars, I had noticed no one mentioned the type or size wick that you are using. Carol mentioned using two wicks, Gwen mentioned her wick and as I recall from her lovely candles at the Congress she only had one wick.

What size wick are you all using and is this with C-1 or C-2?

Have you found you need different size wicks depending on the Fragrance and the Dye?

Question about how much the wax should burn

Tue, 16 Sep 2003 19:39:55 -0400

I have a question. I have heard that the wax should burn all the way out to the glass container. And I have all also heard there should be a 1/4 inch left around the large (28 oz) containers, which is the right answer?
Please help me figure out if my candle is burning right or not.

Therapeutic Essential Oil Candles

Thu, 28 Aug 2003 23:21:32 -0400

Chandler Friends,

Before I attended the Guild I was not sure about Essential oils in candles. Only because whenever you apply heat to EO's they lose therapeutic value. I am a certified aromatherapy educator and I go to homes and hold EO presentations. I would like to incorporate my candles with EO's in to my presentations, but I am not sure how. I was taught two different ways at the guild to make EO candles. One way was to add the EO just like we would fragrance. The other way is to add a few drops of the EO to the melt pool of a natural candle. Can anyone share some EO tips with me? Am I expecting to much therapeutic value out of a candle with EO's? Any techniques would be greatly appreciated.