[Nfb-krafters-korner] Candles

[Blindhands at aol.com]

I did not make soap from scratch.  I used the melt and pour  soap.  
 
Now as far as candles go I used jars and pottery, sugar bowls, pitchers,  
coffee cups, wine glasses and ceramic stuff. That was my uniqueness.  I  
poured candle wax into a lot of different unusual type of things.  I even  
poured into sugar bowls and salt and pepper shakers.  My sales approach was  once 
you burned your candle you could wash out the pottery and use it.   Glear 
glass jars left me with trying to figure out how to color the wax.   You have 
that one correct.  If I did it pink, then they wanted it  yellow.  So with 
the pottery all the wax I kept white.  
 
I used a one pour wax which heats up to 130 F degrees which is nothing like 
 the jell wax that is something like 220 F degrees.  Now I used cotter pins 
 to hold my wicks in place.  Well I would take a bit of wax which is like  
butter and put it on the metal disc on the end of the wich and feel with my  
hands and fingers the center of the bottom of the jar or container and 
stick it  in place.  my hubby would  take the wick and cotter pin[one of my  
candle suppliers told me about this one and sold the long cotter pins]  and  
would put the cotter pin and tape the cotter pin with masking tape across the  
top of the opening.  The pouring pots have a  pouring spout and    handle 
and I would use a frying pan with water in it like a double boiler.   I would 
stir it with a wooden spoon until you felt that the wax was  melted.  When 
I poured the wax into the container I would hold my finger  down into the 
container and pour slowly.  The one pour wax is not that hot  to pour and as 
soon as I felt the wax hit my finger, I would pull it out and  instantly the 
wax hardened and cooled on my finger.  I did not get burned  and you did not 
pour again.
 
The hotter waxes cool unevenly and when it set it would leave a depression  
in the center of the candle so you had to repour to even it out.  With the  
one pour wax, you did not have to heat it up as high and it set up 
perfectly  level .  I would Leave the containers until the next day to be sure  
everthing was set and I would move them as the wicks where masking taped in  
place and help in place with the cotter pins.
 
I had to purchase a talking food scale to weigh my wax and know how much  
fragrance oil to pour into the melted wax.  I did not make pounds.  I  did 
one container at a time.  The more I did the more I had a better idea  of how 
much wax was needed for each container and I would weigh it out and  measure 
the gragrance oil so all my candles had the same proportion of wax to  
scent in it.
 
I had gotten a cheaper food scale, but it did not last long and I wanted a  
more precise tool so I think I paid something like $150 for my scale.  I  
could weigh in grams and my teenage kids would kid me that Mom was the drug  
dealer.
 
Joyce  Kane
_www.KraftersKorner.org_ (http://www.krafterskorner.org/) 
Blindhands at AOL.com   

 
In a message dated 1/4/2014 6:16:43 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
shelbiah1 at gmail.com writes:

I have  not tried soap making for the same reason. I am nervous about the
lye. I  also like my candles to be in jars. Also a bit worried about pouring
hot  thick liquids, especially if there is something across the top of  the
container such as a pencil to hold a wick up. I am sure that there is  a
method to do this I just can't think of it.  
Shelbi


-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-krafters-korner  [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
On
Behalf Of David  F
Sent: January 4, 2014 5:59 PM
To: 'List for blind crafters and  artists'
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Candles

Oh, candles. Do you  use soy wax or natural wax such as from candelaria nuts
or the paraffin  which I heard is dangerous.  I have heard of people doing
candle  carving or sculpting.  But not for me.  I just wanted to  use
interesting found objects, old jars, etc. to hold them.

I  emailed for a time with Delores Boone who wrote a book about soap than
BARD  did.  But the lye scared me.  It gets very hot.   


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