#cashmerewoods #scentedcandle #joywax
March 26, 2015
(We are a tad behind in publishing this post)
Today we converted the soap kitchen into a candle kitchen and poured a batch of special order candles for Glen Ella Springs Inn. Glen Ella owners Luci and Ed Kivett currently carry a variety of our soaps in their gift area and decided to give candles a try.
We are hopeful that the following pictures will give you a general idea of what we do when we make a batch of candles. We're not actually sure that "batch" is the proper terminology, but since we tend to think in soaping terms, a "batch" of candles it is.
As we searched high and low for the best Cashmere Woods scent, we were amazed at how differently they all smelled. (You can read a little more about the FO in the blog entry "Accidental Obsession.") Of all the choices we presented, Luci decided on the FO we found at Candlewic who describes it as follows:
Top Note: Bergamot, lemon, orange flower
Mid Notes: Lily of the valley, jasmine
Bottom Notes: Sandalwood, patchouli, amber, vanilla bean, oakmoss, musk
It is a beautiful scent, and no wonder. With the variety of ingredients, how could it not smell great?
The color of the candles was to be khaki, but since no one makes that color we had to make our own. We knew the amount of wax would call for two melting pots so both had to have exactly the same amount of colorant. The only way to get it exact is to use liquid color and add it a drop at a time. We bought a Spectrum Brown liquid color from +Natures Garden made specifically for candles.
We love to shop thrift stores for our containers, and we always find great looking glassware. The ones we used for this batch have an etching that swirls around the glass.
We bought a new kind of wax for this batch, a slab of Joy Wax from +Natures Garden. It is their proprietary blend, and the reviews were excellent. We had our fingers crossed. We followed NG's advice and ordered our wicks from them. We find it interesting how the height/length of the wick depends on the diameter of the container. We are always learning new things!
I cut off what we needed for each pot. No, I didn't cut myself, and yes, I know I was stupid to cut towards my hand. I didn't realize I had done that until looking at the pictures.
We duplicated the amount of wax in each melting pot exactly. We will be adding color and fragrance to each pot and want the overall candles to look and smell exactly the same.
Both melting pots are sitting in "double boilers" slowly melting.
While the wax is melting I glued the wicks into the containers.
Once the wicks were glued down, we used strips of tape with small holes in the center to keep the wicks centered when we pour the hot wax into the containers.
We poured the proper amount of FO into two different bowls, one for each pot.
The wax in both pots melted, and now we add the color one drop at a time.
Alison had a great idea - put a drop of colored wax on glass so we can actually see what it will look like in the candle. You can see the progression of drops in the photograph above. Once we hit three drops of color we stopped. We think it's a perfect khaki color.
We let the hot wax cool down a little then poured in the Cashmere Woods FO.
We knew each candle should weigh 6 ounces, so the first pour was weighed exactly. This gave us a visual pour line for the rest of the candles.
Once the candles were poured, we left them to sit, undisturbed overnight, to "cure". We are very happy with the Joy Wax because it was touted as a one pour wax and is exactly that! Only one pour necessary. This wax didn't settle. YAY!!!
We had a bit of left over wax so we poured into a "test candle" which we will burn to see how the wax, color, wick and scent perform.
This is how the "test candle" looks. The burn pool is great (the melted wax while it burns), the wick is working great, and the smell.....oh boy, it is fantastic!
The finished Cashmere Woods candle
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