Progress! No Sinkholes This Time! And a new source of jars!
Okay, thanks to some research and YouTube, I think I was finally able to make a candle that did not result in a sinkhole.
A changed a few things around:
Bought a digital thermometer that reports temperature quickly
Thanks to a tip from someone on a Facebook forum, I am putting candle jars over the heater for an hour or so before using them. This heats the jars up a bit; it gets chilly in the kitchen (where they are stored)
Pouring at a lower temperature
Turn the store on to medium heat, not high
Using the new digital thermometer, I heated the wax to about 185 degrees. Setting the burner to medium made the temperature go up more gradually rather than skyrocketing. This provided me with some control.
Once the temperature his 180-185, I added the dye and the fragrance (about 1oz, maybe a little more depending on how much wax I am melting.)
Then I took the boiler off the heat and stirred for a couple of minutes. After stirring, I let it cool for about 20-30 minutes until the temperature dropped to about 160 degrees.
Then I poured!
Very Vanilla
The candle has been drying for several hours now and, thus far, no sinkholes. I usually have sinkholes by now. So this is promising!
Jars!
One of the most expensive parts of candle making is the apothecary jar. Oh, the jars themselves are cheap; I’ve been getting them only for $1.25-$1.50 apiece when I buy a dozen at a time online. Sounds great! Unfortunately, while a dozen jars may cost just $14-$15, the shipping is another $20-$25! I looked all over for a local place that sells jars (in bulk) so that I wouldn’t have to pay shipping. No luck - argh!
My mother suggested the Dollar Store. I went into one and, nope, no jars. Boo!
Then, earlier this week, my wife ran with that and checked out the Dollar Store’s website. (Why didn’t I think of that?) They sell jars for $1.00 each- with lids! More importantly, shipping was only $8! So for under $20, I could get a dozen jars. The only problem is that they are marked as 20 oz jars, not the typical 16 oz… but I decided to give them a shot.
They arrived today. Can you tell a difference in size?
Dollar Store jar on left (slightly larger), typical 16 oz. jar on the right.
They look nearly identical in size, so maybe the product listing is inaccurate and it’s only 16 oz? Anyway, I made a candle with one of the jars today and it did take a little more wax than 16 oz, but not too much more. Long story short, I think these jars will work fine.
I could save even more money if I had them ship it to a local store directly for free. I would have done it this time but, oddly, the shipping time to my house was quicker than it was to the store, and I was eager to try them out! Next time, however, I’ll do “ship to store!”
So, yes, I’m pleased with this development.