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I'm just having way too much fun with this votive wax. I finally got through what I have left (my initial order was only 10 lbs). Friday night, I made some yummy new scents. The first I made was green tea, which I colored a light yellow-green. The oil put some reddish swirls in the wax, which I thought was strange, until I looked at a store-bought green tea candle I had (which was even a paraffin wax, as opposed to my soy), and even it had that reddish tinge to it. So I think it has something to do with the green tea oil. Anyway, it smells divine, or at least *I* think so. My candlemaking apprentice, my 16-year-old cousin Kathryn, didn't like it, but she admittedly doesn't like green tea at all.
Kathryn was a big help, even though she really didn't do anything complicated. She stirred in dyes, kept track of temperature, held wicks when I was pouring, etc. I might have to enlist her help more often.
After the green tea, I went on to a scent called southern sunshine. It's described as honeysuckle and citrus, but at first whiff, it's almost piney. It reminds me of these toilet paper rolls with air freshener beads in the middle of them that we used to have in the bathroom when I was a kid. It's not a bad scent at all, but not one of my favorites. This one is DEFINITELY a good deodorizer, though.
Next was pumpkin nog. YUM! I love anything pumpkin, and this one is spicy and creamy and delish. I expect this one to be a big seller in the fall.
After that, I tried out my boysenberry clove oil. This one is unusual, and I like it a lot. The balance of the sweet of the berry and the spice of the clove is lovely. It almost takes on a sweet pipe tobacco or berry snuff smell. No wonder why my brother loves this one.
Finally, I polished off the rest of the wax with a bit of a hot apple strudel oil. Another yummy one, and yet another I expect to be a big seller in the fall.
I've ordered some more daisy lids and jelly jars, so I plan to crank out some smelly jellies this week.
I got my new votive wax today! And thus, I've been playing with it all night. In addition, I got several new FOs, and have been toying with some of those as well as some of the FOs that I've been sitting on for awhile.
Tonight's production included bluebonnet; they smell AMAZING...I could step out into the field and it wouldn't smell as good...and there's bluebonnets everywhere this time of year! Next up was a Lolita Lempicka dupe. Smells just as good as the real thing. It's one of my favorite perfumes, and this dupe was dead on. In fact, three of the fragrances I poured tonight were favorite perfume dupes. I poured some Love Spell and Pink Sugar. Both smell yummy. I also had basil sage mint. This one is super strong, and obviously a very "green" smell. Like that one a lot too. I'm trying to resist the urge to pour something else after I pop the Love Spell and Pink Sugar ones out of the molds. I do have a half ounce of a Satsuma dupe FO that needs to be used... ;) At this rate, I'll stop sleeping and be pouring candles 24/7!
So, I'm experimenting with the enigma that is votive making. For such simple candle making, I have hit some bumps across the way.
I do have some great wax. Enchanted Lites' votive blend is AWESOME. Now I just have to find a distributor near me so that buying a 50# box of it won't kill me. My first votives used dixie cups as molds, since I didn't have votive cups yet. Aside from being very large, they turned out great. I had some wicking issues, though. I used clothespins to hold the wicks up, but then I overpoured and the clothespins stuck to the tops of a few of the candles. d'oh!
I ordered some metal votive molds (the standard), and after having to send 10 of the dozen I ordered back because they were HOPELESSLY STUCK TOGETHER, I got the replacements and went to work. I hadn't got any new wax in, so I melted down the dixie cup votives and went to re-pouring.
The first batch, the bubble gum, turned out beautifully. However, I got a few rust spots on the candles from the molds that I had to buff off. I hadn't heard of this happening before, and it irks me. I guess I'll have to dish out for some plastic votive molds instead. I also had a better time with wick placement, as I had gotten some of those votive wicks with the really large tabs.
The second batch I did, with the sambuca-licorice FO, I've affectionately called "candlemeisters" (due to their scarily similar fragrance to Jagermeister...just melting these back down made me feel drunk! ;) ). I added some more dye to them, to make them more of the sickening black-green color that is distinctive of the drink, and went to pouring. I got pits at the wicks that I didn't get with the bubblegum ones, so I did a re-pour then hit the tops with a heat gun. I also have two that refuse to release from the mold. I've stuck them in the freezer, rolled them on the counter, slapped them on the bottom, EVERYTHING. They won't budge.
Now, I wait for a couple of days of curing. Then I'll burn one of each and see how they do. In the meantime, I'll try to wrangle the other two out of the molds.
Hello! I'm Lee, from Scent-imental Street candles. This is my site blog, to document chandling experiments, announce sales and specials, and to just vent.
The store isn't up yet...I'm actually just putting things together. Slowly but surely!
