Archive through September 07, 2002
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TV ClubHouse: Archive: Arts and Crafts (ARCHIVES): Archive through September 07, 2002

Twiggyish

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:04 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
This is for the crafty and those who want to be crafty folks.

Countrymeadow

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:11 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Hi.....oh my goodness. Are we gonna have a candle making class along with the HG's?? LOL

I'm emailing Lurknomore right now and i'll check back in a little bit.

Moondance

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:13 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Country... cute pix in your profile!

Twiggyish

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:16 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I know when we made them, we melted the wax in the microwave the first time and it was a disaster..LOL Then, we melted the wax in a pot on the stove. ****note don't use a good pan***

Countrymeadow

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:18 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Moon thanks. She's my lil baby girl. I named her Emmie Lou Kitty ( daughter of Satan ). She was into everything when she was a baby. She's 2 yrs old now and still very small. Sweet as she can be. I have 2 others and they're all friends. I truly lucked out.

Countrymeadow

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:22 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wax in a microwave? ACK ACK ACK!! LOL. I have a large heavy pot with a thermostat that I melt my wax in but if you're an amateur you can probably do what the HG's are doing tonight and use a double boiler. But..once you've put dye and scent into a pan, it's almost impossible to clean it. So...if you plan on making a pine scented green candle for Christmas, plan on using that pan only for that. I make over 60 scents on my website and have seperate pouring pots for each scent/color of candle that I make.

Car54

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:26 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Countrymeadow, you are in Antioch...I used to live in Nashville, our office was in Antioch!!! Small world...lots of Tn people on the board.

Gail

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:27 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I have a ton of materials to make candles but haven't had time to get started. Too busy soaping and the weather has just been so hot I didn't feel like making candles. I am hoping soon that we will get some cooler weather so I can start though. I want to make some votives, tealights and some small pillars.

With summer and all the heat, I haven't lit a single candle for nearly 3 months. I miss that. All winter long, I used to get up really early on weekend mornings and light up 30 - 40 candles and enjoy the peacefulness of it.

My arts and crafts right now is cold process soaping. I got my first paying order today. It's from someone I can't refuse (a very good friend) who wants to give them away as Christmas presents. She's not going to let me get away with giving them to her so I guess I am technically in business.

Twiggyish

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
How do you cold press it? We look for Christmas crafts every year.

Moondance

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:31 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Emmie Lou Kitty is a cutie! I have 10 and they all get along too!

I make candles all the time... I haven't made gel ones yet though... I am sure Country can be more help though:)

Countrymeadow

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:31 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Car 54 yes i'm in Antioch. Actually i'm a stone's throw away from Nashville. I love it here :) I'm a transplanted northerner <hanging head>

Gail, I probably haven't burned a candle in my house in 2 years. With 3 cats I won't take the chance. Because I make so many, the scent in my home is always wonderful. My neighbors love it when I make my Hot Apple Pie and the Blueberry Muffin candles. It's amazing how the manufacturers can make these scents seem so real.

Gail

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:38 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Twiggyish - do you mean cold process it? It's were you heat up the fats and oils to melt them and cool them down to 110 - 115 degrees and mix lye and water and let it cool to about 105 and then mix together (lot more complicated then it sounds here) and pour into molds and let cure for 4 - 8 weeks depending on your climate.

Hot process is similar except instead of pouring into molds, you cook on the stove until it is cured (the lye has saponified with the oil and no longer burns) and then you can pour into molds. It is technically soap but does better curing for a week to get rid of excess moisture to make a harder bar.

Then there is a combination of the two - make like cold process, pour into molds then "bake" in the oven for 2 hours at 190. It is technically soap the next day too. I have tried this method with some success. Sometimes it is terrific, sometimes it seems like it makes the soap a bit oily and greasy.

Gail

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:43 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Countrymeadow - my neighbors love coming into my house!! I have at least 100 different fragrances and the house really smells nice. I have a couple of favorite bars of soap on my desk at work too.

Where do you get your fragrances? I usually go to Brambleberry and Sweetscents. I love Oregontrails but they are sooooo sloooowww in shipping that I don't go to them unless I am really dying for something from them that I can't get elsewhere.

Countrymeadow

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:45 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Gail have you ever tried Bitter Creek candle supply in Wisconsin? They are HUGE and they ship within 1-2 days.

Gail

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:55 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yes, I bought some things from them too - lots of my candle stuff came from them. I also bought some stuff from Wholesale Candle and Soap supplies.

I bought a my beeswax and parafin (and some beeswax sheets) from Glorybee.com up in Oregon. Great prices and service. I buy my soaping oils in 5 gallon buckets from them.

Twiggyish

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:58 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Gail, lye is good for your skin. I love lye soap for that reason. It makes your skin feel so nice.

Moondance

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:58 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I like this too!

http://www.candlecauldron.com/

Hillbilly

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 05:59 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Hope ya don't mind me listenin in...I don't got no crafts but this is interesting. Is the lye dangerous to work with?

Hillbilly

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 06:04 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
OMG...I killed the thread! MEDIC...MEDIC...we need CPR quick!

Gail

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 06:05 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yes Hillbilly - very dangerous. But if you follow the safety rules it minimizes the danger. I always wear rubber gloves and goggles when I am measuring it and adding it to water. The very first batch of soap I made, I invited my neighbors over to help. We made sure we followed the instructions very carefully.

Even if I am very careful, I find I still get an occasional granual of lye on my arm - it gets inside the rubber gloves. That's why I bought a huge box of the disposable ones to use. That seems to be helping.

That lye and water combination get up to temps of about 180 degrees in about a minute or two. When I am soaping, I either put my dogs in their area and put up the gate or I put them outside.

Twiggyish

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 06:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I don't think so Hillbilly..LOL!!

My grandma used to make lye soap, too.

Gail, it doesn't sound like a good craft do with a child.
When we made soap, we just heated it up and poured into molds. It came in blocks from the craft store. (We added colr and scents)

Wargod

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 06:10 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Ok, I got a question. Hubby said I can't make candles, since I do resin and ceramics painting...sigh. But, I buy candles, and the last few dozen I've bought are in glass cups. They burn about 2/3 of the way down, then the wick burns out. Any suggesstions on how I can combine the wax to make a new candle, or how to replace a wick, or something? BTW, all the candles are the same scent...I love the apple cinnamon ones!

Gail

Friday, September 06, 2002 - 06:14 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Twiggyish - that kind of soap you are talking about is Melt and Pour. They come in clear or opaque. There are some pretty nice ones at some of the soaping sites. I bought some to make with my neighbor's daughter. I don't really like the texture of them but I like what you can do with them in terms of creativity.

Lurknomore

Saturday, September 07, 2002 - 07:40 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Ok finally found my way over here. Actually I briefly made it last night but got lost again. I swear if I don't leave a trail of popcorn (aka bookmark LoL) every time I leave the BB forum or live feeds I just get totally lost.

Country thanks so much for the links. I read them both. Has anyone here actually made gel candles, preferably adding glitter. This is my new crafting venture of choice. I'm still a wee bit confused how to properly add the glitter and if I want to go for more or less bubbles for maximum twinkle. Thanks :)

Lurknomore

Saturday, September 07, 2002 - 07:41 am EditMoveDeleteIP
PS...after some of your posts I'm thinking of swinging over to Michael's later and using an extra 40% off coupon I have that ends today on one of their candle pouring/melting pots. Was gonna pick up a cheap pot in a surplus store, but it's sounding like this might be handly and important.