Oh votive, my votive.

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.