Newbie here looking for..

[Kodaandyukkon]

anyone who might be intrested in talking about candles or if anyone here might be a hairdresser.. I do both of these trades.. hope everyone has a great and blessed day... Amy

 

[NostalgicGranny]

Candles - no. But I make melt and pour soap. I understand we can use the same type of molds, and occasionally the same fragrances.

I was reading an old cookbook the other day that said to reduce smoking from candle wicks to soak the wick in vinegar the night before you make your candles. Of course that was for the old tallow candles. LOL Have you ever tried it???

As for hair, I'm hopeless when it comes to that sort of thing. Me and my blow drier and curling iron are arch enemies.

 

[Talrayn]

I've used a latex mold from a casting of a small sculpture I made to make a couple shaped candles. Though it has been some years since I tried that.

 

[NostalgicGranny]

I got a couple latex animal molds at a rummage sale. My granddaughters and I tried making a cow out of one of the molds. It was really difficult. We had to duct tape it to a box to hold it in place until the soap set. Duct tape residue on the mold. Not really a lot of fun. Now those new flexible baking molds are fun. We have tried heart shaped ones and the rose shape ones. Even just using a solid color the roses are beautiful. I bet those would make great candles too.

 

[Talrayn]

There is a way to stabilize a latex mold with a multiple piece plaster casting. (It's done with silicone molds often as well). It can be a difficult thing to first do, but makes the casting of the main material into the negative afterwards a lot easier and it keeps more shape. Also that way there is no duct taping, I've had to do that before and yes it is annoying, but at least when I made my own molds I could make the excess around the base as wide as I needed to hold better. Though with the latex I was using it was not worth going that far with the plaster over casting of the negative, due to the heat of the wax stressing it over time it made having to create a new negative from my sculpt occur quite quickly. I've never cast soaps before but those might not have such a damaging effect.
I'm not sure I'm familiar with the flexible baking molds you mentioned. But I would not mind knowing more.

 

[NostalgicGranny]

Ahh I knew ther should have been something more to it, as it just didn't make sense that it should be 'taped' to a box.

I't's pretty much a fairly new fad in baking to have heat resistant flexible pans. Most of the discount superstores like walmart and stuff carry them. And of course there are those specialty cooking supply stores in some malls. That's where you would find the more unusual ones. I went to a specialty store a while back and they had one that looked like a mini castle. That would probably make an awesome candle for a little girls birthday party.

 

[NostalgicGranny]

You made your own molds too?
Lasat year I made a half hearted attempt at making molds from flowers, but it didn't go so well. One of these days I will do it again.

What did you use to make your molds with?

 

[Talrayn]

I might look into those flexible baking sheets, they might be useful for a few different things I do sometimes. Thanks.
The only time I ever did cast candles at all was when I wanted shaped ones so I always made my own molds for that. I just used liquid latex, there are probably better things out there since the heat from the wax would eventually cause damage to the mold. I usually kept my original sculpt so I would just make a new mold if I wanted more so it never really bothered me.
How did you try to make a mold from flowers? Were you trying to cast real flowers? I don't think I could figure out how to do that unless I pre-sculpted the flower myself or found something similar.

 

[NostalgicGranny]

Casting flowers, especially roses was real popular with the soap making crowd. So I thought since the silicon molds were so expensive I would try making my own. The mix I got at the craft store was a lot of mess. Sometimes it set up to fast. Even though it said it wouldn't, some of it stuck to the petals and ruined the flowers. I did get a couple of guest soap size molds that turned out fairly well, but they were to fragile for any long term use.

 

[Talrayn]

That's rather interesting I had no idea that was possible with a real flower. When I'm casting a mold for almost anything I tend to use a release on the object being cast, maybe if you sprayed the flowers with something before, the petals would not stick.
Not all craft stores will tell you (because they don't usually carry a huge variety) but there are a lot of different kinds of silicone and some have different part mixing amounts and some set faster then others. Another thing a lot of places don't tell you is depending on the temperature or humidity in your home that also can effect liquid rubbers sometimes during the setting process.

 

[NostalgicGranny]

That's rather interesting I had no idea that was possible with a real flower. When I'm casting a mold for almost anything I tend to use a release on the object being cast, maybe if you sprayed the flowers with something before, the petals would not stick.
Not all craft stores will tell you (because they don't usually carry a huge variety) but there are a lot of different kinds of silicone and some have different part mixing amounts and some set faster then others. Another thing a lot of places don't tell you is depending on the temperature or humidity in your home that also can effect liquid rubbers sometimes during the setting process.

Could I spray it with Pam or would I need something special?
It was confusing. They had a few that looked like it would work, I had no idea which one to pick. They sell it online too, but you have to buy huge quantities. Considering it was an experiment for me, it just didn't make sense to buy that much of it.

 

[Talrayn]

I personally would not recommend using Pam. Years ago had someone from a craft store recommend that when I was asking for a mold release for plaster, (they did not carry a mold release of any kind and he also did not seem to know what I was even talking about and only suggested that after I explained what it does). It afterwards occurred to me that Pam being a cooking spray is also an edible product. I don't really know it's ingredients, but since it is a food product and must be left out in a very warm and moist place for quite a while as things dry, the idea of that did not seem to be to great to me so I never tried Pam.
Have you ever looked in a phone book to see if you have a sculpture supply place anywhere near you? The one I know does carry stuff in bulk but has almost everything in smaller kit versions as well. (Though that one is pretty far from where the little flag in your posts says you are). If you ever want to try it again and don't know what to get, places like that can often tell you what the best kinds of stuff to get would be for what you are wanting to do.

 

[NostalgicGranny]

Pam is actually a vitamin. I think it's lecithin.

We live to far out in the boonies to have a sculpture supply store. But I bet Dallas does and that is relatively close.