Burn time!

Time to check and see how well the candles I made on Saturday burn!  I've decided to burn this first one 36 hours after I made them, I'll burn the 2nd one tomorrow.

I decided to follow the process I will be following when I get my own supplies to test, it'll give me the chance to see how things will go when I really do have combinations to test.  I'll be testing this candle at 2hr intervals, weighing each time to see if I can calculate how long a candle of this size should burn.  I'm sure if I googled it I could find out but would rather have my own process set out.  

Here we are at 10AM-12PM:

I trimmed the wick down to a usable size initially, then lit it.  It seemed to have a good sized and very steady flame right from the beginning, nice and yellow.

Melted a really smooth and round melt pool and gave off a pretty good scent.

 However towards the end of the burn the melt pool reached the edge of the candle and started running down the edge, and it sort of all went downhill from there.  Now the wax has melted in such a way it's started to fill the holder. And for some reason become rather multi-colored?  Maybe I should try and find a votive holder that's more of a snug fit?

Here we are at 1230PM-230PM:

I've weighed in and have lost 7g in weight on the votive thus far.  You can see how much of the container the wax has filled now, really not sure what I expected but not sure this was it.  Anyway, I trimmed the wick at this point, but may have trimmed a bit too much as the flame initially was quite small.

After the melt pool started running down the sides again, the flame increased in size again to it's former size, once again steady and yellow.

So far it has not tunnelled down. This last image shows just how creative it's getting at filling the container.

Here we are at 325PM-525PM:

I've weighed in again and have lost a little less than last time at 6g.  I trimmed just a tiny bit of the wick this time and it seemed to light much better this time round. It's got a lovely melt pool and is giving off a subtle but pleasant scent.

The candle seems to have settled down  now into a nice steady burn.  Very even melt pool across the candle to just short of the edges.

Here we are at 600-800

I've weighed in and have only lost 3g of weight, not bad at all. This will be my last burn of the day, if this one doesn't finish it, I'll have to start up again tomorrow.

Edited to add:  So yes the candle still has a lot of life left in it so am burning it for a few hours this evening as well.  Final conclusion being that I need to find some good votive holders that are more snug fitting, these may give me better melting results.

My first candles!

This weekend I'd finally gotten my hands on the thermometer I'd been waiting for.  It was the last thing I was waiting for, so I was VERY excited to get started on my first candles.

I pretty much followed the instructions I was given with the kit, melting the wax to about 153F, then adding my color, which in this case was red.  I mixed this in thoroughly, then removed my wax from the heat.  After stirring and cooling a bit I then added my scent, apple.  Stirring this thoroughly for about 2 minutes, I poured my wax straight into my prepared & heated votive molds.

After waiting for about 2 hours, I then reheated my leftover wax to a bit higher than 153F and then did my second pour of the wax.

After waiting another few hours and feeling my candles were cool to the touch, I then removed them from the molds, and hurray they look great!  The bottoms were a bit rough where I'd removed the wick pins, but placing the candle bottoms on a hot tray soon smoothed those out.  I then put in the wicks, heating the sustainers a bit over a flame, then pushing them with a pencil nice and firm against the bottom of my candle, melting it to the bottom of the candle.

And that's it, my very first candles! They look pretty good for a first attempt and I'm very pleased with how they smell.  Only downside being that I really meant these candles to turn out red, when in fact they ended up pink. I'll have to use more color next time!

My beginnings

For some time now, I've been looking for a way to be a stay at home mom/wife and still be able to make some money without having to go out and get a traditional job.  I've gone through a few things already, my most expensive attempt being photography. Now although I enjoy photography still, I'll never be talented enough to make good money out of it.  So after doing lots of searching for something hand-crafted that I could make, I'd finally settled on Soy wax candles.

I've been doing lots of reading and trying to track down a good set to start with, when finally I stumbled on a small starter kit on Ebay that seemed just the sort of thing I was looking for.  A couple of votive molds, some Soy wax, wicks, and some colors & scent of my choice.  I'd also joined a forum called Craftsforum.co.uk which has a really great group in the candlemaking section. They've been nothing but helpful and welcoming.  I really look forward to getting to know more people and get some really great advice as I progress through this new challenge.

I've gotten my kit, and my thermometer, done tons of reading, it's now time to melt!