Having some trouble...

Here’s a post I just wrote on candle making support forum on Facebook:

Hello! I’m new to this forum, thank you for accepting my invite. I found this forum through Standley Handcrafted on YouTube.

I’m a beginner to this hobby, so hoping I can get some tips from others here. Please bear with me, this may be a long post.

I’ll be blunt: I’m not particularly good at making candles (yet). I’m struggling with some techniques, which I think is contributing to flaws with my [jarred] candles.

First, I’m using IGI 6046 coconut paraffin wax.

I’m heating it to “about” 175-180 degrees. I say “about” because it’s not exact, more on that in a moment.

I then add my dye/fragrance and stir for a few minutes. In the meantime, I take the double boiler off the heat and wait for the wax to cool to about 140 degrees. Then I pour.

The result:

• Candles sometimes have sinkholes (which I was told to expect with 6046.) Sometimes they don’t.

• Sometimes the wax doesn’t stick to the jar; if you shake the jar after it dries, you can feel the candle shake. Other times, it sticks to the glass just fine.

• Sometimes the wick snuffs itself out after about 30 minutes (I’m using CD-12 wicks.) Some candles work great.

The inconsistency is driving me crazy.

I think I know a couple of the issues, but I’m not sure how to address them.

1) How do you get the wax to exactly 175-180? I heat up the wax.. it gets to 180, then continues to skyrocket to a much higher temperature. So I have to turn the heat down to get it to 180, but then it plummets to 160, so I have to turn the heat back up. There has to be a better way. (This is why I don’t cook, btw.)

2) My kitchen is chilly, and so are my jars. I hear that is a problem, so I tried heating them with a heat gun, but they cool off too quickly. So I put them in the oven at the lowest setting, and they heat up great - but then they’re too hot to handle. If I use a potholder, they slip. (Have I mentioned I can’t cook?) Again, there must be a better way.

I watch techniques on YouTube and it makes it seem so easy, yet they never seem to come out good. The picture always looks better!

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can improve my technique, I’d love to hear them!

Thank you!