Disasters in Candle Making

[donniej]

I had really high hopes for stearic acid in my cold process soap making. I ordered 50 pounds but quickly found that it didn't work with my recipes. So what do I do with it? Yesterday I decided to try making some candles out of it.

I took a jar and filled it with the SA (stearic acid) and put it in the microwave. Despite its low melting temp, it didn't budge. I knew I just needed a little liquid to start it melting so I dumped most of it out with just a little in the bottom. Even after several minutes it did not melt in my high power microwave. SA is melts at somewhere around 150*F, well below the boiling point of water... so I put some water in the jar so the hot water could help start melting the wax flakes. After about 1 minute the contents of the jar exploded in a single blast, throwing molten SA all over the microwave.

Getting it out of the microwave was like chipping stone. After a few minutes I put the microwave on high and got it hot enough to wipe the SA off.

I later refilled the jar, put the heat on high and let it run for a long time. It eventually melted, I dropped in a wick and let it cool. I repeated the process with some yellow beeswax I had and it was much quicker to melt. I was hoping for a honey scent from the beeswax candle (as the wax definitely smells of it) but there's not much scent when its burning.

 

[IanT]

you can use it for lotions too!!

wow that sounds like a crazy experience lol

do you have a dbl boiler? or a pot thatll fit in a bigger one? i use a huge pyrex bowl, put a wooden spoon through handle so it doesnt fall into the pot, the pour spout supports it on one side and the spoon-truss on the other works like a charm.... the micro scares me lol