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GLOW Night-Lites, Halloween Skeletons
& More
By
Patti Smith
Gel Candle Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply
www.biomax1.com
ALL
PICTURES AND REFERENCES ARE TO "NON-EDIBLE"
NOT-FOOD ITEMS
September
2003
Once again
we wonder where the Summer went???... but cooler temperatures
are sure welcomed here in the Midwest!
Our first
Feature this month is our GLOW Night-Lites… complete
with
a 'light
bulb' container**- & powered without batteries!..
just the free Daylight.
**(Bulb container in
our Night-Lite Specialty Candle Kit)
During our recent tour in Chicago, the AQUA GLOW was
one of our most popular products... since it can be
used in mp soap base AND gel.
NOTE: IMPORTANT!...the
glow powder is a 'pigment' vs. a 'dye'. This means instead
of being soluble like a dye... the tiny particles actually
'suspend' in the medium, creating the color and effect.
The powder does not mix well in a very HOT SUBSTANCES..
therefore, before adding to gel or soap... you MUST
allow them to slightly cool ... and then you will have
a nice blending.
Allow the gel to cool
to about 170 degrees and thick (mp soap too).. then
just whip the powder into the gel/soap. Allow to cool
and you have your concentrated GLOW GEL/soap ready to
cut pieces to embed into your gel/soap applications.
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Now back to our Glow Night-Lites…. these are very
popular with the kids as well as for Halloween decorations.
Without a wick, you can embed all kinds of toys for
a variety of fun applications. We poured the glow gel
into the light bulb container and allowed to set. Then
we placed pieces of the glow gel in the bottom of the
small glass flowerpot. Next we added some of our blue
and teal illuminary Moonstones to reflect off the Glow
Gel. We filled the rest of the glassware with clear
gel scented with Blue Lagoon FO.
When the gel was almost completely set, we embedded
the tip of light bulb container in the top of the gel
to stand upright.
We finished the look
by gluing our glow-in-the-dark lizards, bugs (which
come included with the Aqua Glow) and bats. Now just
sit in daylight-- or florescent lighting during the
day-- and it will glow all night!!
HALLOWEEN SKELETON CANDLE….
this is a fun candle to make. We have a new white wax
skeleton face, to go with our longtime popular 'alien
head'.
We embedded some some black micro-dot glitters in the
bottom and interior of the glassware on chunks of un-melted
gel. Great way to suspend glitter shapes! Then we poured
the rest of the candle with clear gel scented with Candy
Korn FO and allowed it to cool until THICK to embed
the wax skeleton face.. up close to the surface of the
glass wall.
Next we used our Embedding Tool to place shapes from
our 'Halloween Glitter Pak' including fall leaves, pumpkins
and bats. Since the skeleton has 'open' eye sockets..
we placed two of the foil leaves behind the eye sockets
to make them appear "illuminated". This candle
could also use chunks of the GLOW GEL for that eerie
added feature. The bat shapes add the finished touch!
You can also embed the alien head on the other side
of the candle for a 2-in-1 look. And we have the two
available in one silicone mold for those of you wanting
to pour your own aliens and skeletons.
Here are some other ideas for you too. The glass Jack
O Lantern are very popular!!
Another feature for this month… due to the popularity
received in Chicago….is our soap and/or wax rose
made from a leaf, 6 petals and center 'bud'. Use either
soap base or melted wax to easily hold the pieces together.
Similar to our wax ICE FLOWER from last month... you
can position this beautiful flower in glassware (thread
wick in center bud, and cover with cooled, semi-thick
gel to fill in the nooks and crannies. Scented with
ever popular Rose FO, of course.
Our final feature for
September is another version of the ever-popular 5"
mini PIE CANDLE. After requests from customers, we created
our pinched TOP CRUST design… and took it one step
further. If you are pouring your own crusts from molds,
we have several dies included with our mold so that
you can de-mold the crust while still slightly warm
and use the dies to cut different designs from the center
of the solid top crusts -once again getting more than
one use from one mold… which we love to do for
our budgets!!
The picture here shows the mini butterfly with wax cherries
showing through. This is a very simple mold to pour
(if you want to pour your own)... and just fill the
tin with red gel and add the top crust while still warm.
Finish with a couple cherries, or fruit of your choice,
to appear through the opening. You can drizzle more
gel on the top of the crust for that authentic syrup
look.
So we hope you enjoy
these designs and find ways to work them into your candle
ideas for the Fall. And don't forget… WILL BE CHRISTMAS
before we know it!!!
Happy Fall!
September
2001
Designed By Patti Smith www.biomax1.com
Fall is here bringing a sweet crispness to the air.
Won't be long, as the days grow shorter and the evenings
more chilly, that our kitchens will smell of spices,
and hearts will be Merry. We are finding an increasing
enthusiasm toward the decorative dessert candles selling
as fast as we can make them.
Local restaurants are a wonderful market for your dessert
gel candles. The best way they have to sell their dessert
menu is to capture the eye of customers. Don't miss
the sales you can make with your local restaurant managers.
With all the wax fruits, ice creams, cakes, cinnabuns,
brownies, cookies and candies using the candle gel for
icings and syrups, you can duplicate just about ANY
decadent dessert featured.
This month we tease you with our Southern Pecan Pie
Candle made in a 5" pie tin. Remember that these candles
need to burn on a fire-safe tile or other heat-resistant
surface because the bottom metal aluminum could become
hot after many hours of burning. Many customers will
never burn these candles and keep them for decorative
purposes, but we must always instruct our customers
with the knowledge we have gained about the products
we manufacture.
Our second feature this month is our Pineapple Upside
Down Cake, which makes use of a dual wax base that we
will explain later.
The pies are simple and fun to make and super popular
right now. We used a 60's series wick in our 5-inch
pie. Some people prefer to use three 50s wicks. It depends
on the amount of light you want and the speed desired
to burn the candle down. We 'seated' the wick on the
bottom of the aluminum pie pan by dipping the wick into
the melted gel and using our BET tool to tightly seat
the wick against the pan. The gel is strong enough to
hold the metal tab in place and the surrounding solidified
gel will hold it in place.
The zinc-core wick will stand upright and erect, and
you can snip off the extra height just above the top
of the pie tin so that the wick does not become unwieldy
as you work around it. Next we scented our gel, which
was moderate-to-heavy dyed using our maple sugar liquid
dye.
We poured this 'dark' gel just about an inch because
we didn't want the metallic bottom of the pan to shine
thru our pie. You can also sprinkle a few stearic flakes
if you want a look that is a little more opaque.
Remember YOU are the artist; it is YOUR design. We used
our Southern Pecan Pie fragrance for the authentic wonderful
holiday scent.
Next we added a few un-melted chunks of gel around the
wick because this will speed up your candle-making.
less gel to melt and you are cooling down the hot liquid
gel faster and speeding up the 'set' to your candle.
Remember you are adding wax pieces of pecan halves and
chips to the top of your pie, and you don't want the
molten gel to melt them.
Next we continue to pour more liquid gel, colored to
the degree we want our final pie top. The liquid colors
are wonderful 'SHADING' colors. use a little you get
pastels... the more you add, the deeper, more vibrant
the color.
Maple sugar dye will produce a champagne color in the
beginning going to a tea or cola color and all the way
to a deep, rich chocolate or coffee color depending
on volume of dye used. That is why we love the liquid
colors, even though they can be very messy to use.
When the gel is almost to the top rim of the tin and
is a cooler temperature, you are ready to 'install'
the round crust. Just lay it in place on the tin rim.
The wax crust by itself will look very naked and so
we always 'slurp' the gel onto the crust to get that
authentic, baked look .just like from our ovens.
Once the pie has cooled sufficiently and you can 'stir'
the wick and see thickness in the gel, it is time to
add your pecan halves, pieces and chips. Because you
used chunks of un-melted gel underneath, the nuts should
not sink, but make sure you have enough 'set' to the
gel before doing this.
If the nuts start to sink, it is easy to pull them out,
pull off the gel and re-add them a few minutes later.
we pour just a bit of cool gel over top of the pecans
to get the glazed nice look and 'full pie' appearance.
Place your pie on a glass plate to add to the beauty.
and you will surely have the attention of your guests
and customers. Our SECOND feature this month is another
mouth-watering goodie: Pineapple-upside-down cake. Many
people use all types of baking molds and tarts these
days. People love shapes. So why not buy one wax 'cake'
and get lots of uses from it?
So we used the strawberry shortcake piece. Use it right
side up; add wax strawberries, red gel, whipped white
paraffin for whipping cream, and you have wonderful
strawberry shortcake. However we wanted more of a fall
dessert this month.
So. we flipped the shortcake piece over and threaded
the wick thru the whole in the center.
Next we took our pineapple chunks and very easily cut
them into smaller pieces, using a sharp paring knife,
to create 'crushed' pineapple.
We arranged the pieces over the wax cake.
Next we had golden gel scented with our Pineapple Upside
Down Cake fragrance, which is a yummy you will love.
We allowed the gel to get cool because we want it to
cover the pineapple and barely dribble over the edge
of the dessert... a little onto the plate just like
our REAL 'calorie-filled' edible dessert would do.
Remember authenticity is what will sell your candles.
We put several heaping tablespoons of the golden gel
all over the pineapple pieces.
We cut a couple cherries in half. remember we want to
stretch our wax pieces to make as many candles as possible
to keep raw costs down, yet still create a beautiful
piece of artwork.
We added the cherries and poured just a bit more gel
to add the 'glaze' over the cherries. Make sure it isn't
HOT gel.
We selected a beautiful red floral foil to line our
glass dessert plate. This really makes the presentation
festive. customers love the glitz of the holidays, and
something as easy as this can be just the added touch
to make your candles unique and sought after.
There you have it. we tried to describe many details
for you, but you can easily create both these candles
in less than 30 minutes.
So Enjoy. have fun.. and we will see you next month
with more unique and creative ways to keep your candle
making spirits soaring high!
Snuggle and keep warm.with the light from your handcrafted
candles. made with love and fingers.
September 2000
Designed By Patti Smith www.biomax1.com
GLOW GOBLINS ..GLOOOOOOWWW!!!
It is hard to believe Summer has once again come and
gone. and the little feet of our children will be off
to school again. So what next?. but the Ghosts, Goblins
and Halloween decorations for the parties, of course.
Perfect time to stock up on GLOWbase gel and create
those glow-in-the dark party centerpieces using NEON
Green Alien Heads.
Also perfect time to make great use of the black dyed
gel along with orange (peach) colors..
This month we feature two ghostly 'Halloween' type candles.
using additional decorations to compliment the outside
of the glassware.. adding novelty and interest while
making the candles irresistible to both young and old
alike.
Our first Halloween Masterpiece features Glowbase chunks
in the bottom of the glassware. simply pour clear liquid
gel over top, and then embed some chunks of neon yellow
to give that special spooky, eerie feeling.
Wait AT LEAST 15 minutes to allow the candle
to set, then embed the neon green wax alien head, pushing
his face close to the glass surface to see all his features.
We have topped our candle with a glow-in-the- dark giant
grasshopper.. which you can sit beside the candle when
you light it.
Another option is to leave the candle wickless. making
the perfect fun-time gift for the kid's room scented
with the new Candy Corn FO.
Our second candle. in line with traditional Halloween..
has black chunks of gel in the bottom (or you could
use black sand). allow to slightly set .. then toss
in several clear chunks and over pour with orange (heavy
peach) gel.
We then took a letteropener or similar object, and slightly
swirled to bring some of the black gel up into the orange
color. We then took just a few halloween pumpkin foils
and pushed them far from the wick to the glass-side
for a good visual. Lastly, we used clear silicone in
a tube to attach some wicked black and orange spiders.
these are the kids' rings easily found in party stores,
and we cut off the round portion..
So there we have it.. two super cool decorating ideas!
Don't forget our wax olives make great MONSTER EYES
too!!
Enjoy!
Patti
and the Crew at
www.biomax1.com
Wick
Reminders
We recommend that you
use only ZINC core wicks--you need the added heat from
the metal core for sufficient temperature to burn the
gel well... a 50s series for up to 3" opening and
60s series for 3.5 and higher, when you don't go to
three 50s.
The biggest mistake we
encounter: you should trim the wick to 1/4" for
the initial burn, say first half hour. This is the time
that the wick actually 'seats' itself into the candle.
After that, to avoid smoking, trim the wick back to
just a bare 'nub' meaning 1/16th of an inch. When a
seated gel candle wick smokes.. 95% of the time, it
is because it has too much length. People are used to
the height of a wick in paraffin candles which is too
much for gel candles. When you extinguish.. teach customers
to do a little wick maintenance.. use toothpick to remove
any wick droppings. Keep the wick at
the nub height to avoid excessive mushrooming.
This should help you
immensely.
Beginning
& Advanced Videos by Patti HERE
More
Info about the Book & Video Set HERE
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