Making candle moulds

[plain_hunt]

J cloths from supermarkets. Cheap.

But don’t buy the blue ones, the die leaks into the wax. I’ve always found the yellow ones to be the best.....

 

[Moobee]

But don’t buy the blue ones, the die leaks into the wax. I’ve always found the yellow ones to be the best.....

Proper J Cloths don’t leak dye. I use them for my wax and it’s a lovely colour.

 

[plain_hunt]

Proper J Cloths don’t leak dye. I use them for my wax and it’s a lovely colour.

I’ve probably used the cheap ones.... and they definitely leak!

 

[elainemary]

But don’t buy the blue ones, the die leaks into the wax. I’ve always found the yellow ones to be the best.....

Not found this, but will stick to Tesco own brand as they don’t leak

 

[Curly green finger's]

Used j cloth from aldi.
End results.

 

[pargyle]

Used j cloth from aldi.
End results. View attachment 30295
View attachment 30297

Still looks pretty grim ... I reckon it needs another couple of goes through ... perhaps use a better filtering medium ... or two or three layers of J Cloth ? I use flannellette sheet which is about the best material I have found for filtering wax.

 

[Wilco]

@Curly green finger's (but posted here in case useful to anyone else). I purchased some RTV silicone (sets at room temperature).

Silicone comes in different softnesses. The scale used is called the Shore scale and for this we're talking about Shore A (there are other letters). I used a rating of 15. I wouldn't go any higher, suspect 10 or below is what the Abelo ones use. Also check tensile strength of it (so it doesn't fall apart at demoulding). Finally you need to choose youre setting/cure time, I didn't go for an ultra fast one.

I tried two objects. One, my primary aim, a pine cone (open), the other one of my childrens' toy animals using the residue mixture.

I used old jars as the casting container (something the object fits in without too much dead space around the edges). The object was fixed to the bottom of the jar using hot glue, the correct way up.

Having thoroughly mixed the two compounds I poured the silicone carefully over each object and succussed the jars to bring bubbles to the surface as I don't have a vacuum chamber. You can pop these with hot air but blowing seems to work too.

Once cured I broke the jars with a hammer and cleaned off the shards. I then demoulded.

Plastic toy worked very well and demoulded easily.

Pine cone not so much. It was a pain to get out so whilst my mix supposedly didn't require demoulding compound, I will look into this in future. Dipping the cone in beeswax pre-casting might be effective but I need to try this.

I will try again over the next few weeks and let you know how I get on. If successful I can potentially offer custom moulds if anyone has something in mind.

Photos attached.

 

[Curly green finger's]

@Curly green finger's (but posted here in case useful to anyone else). I purchased some RTV silicone (sets at room temperature).

Silicone comes in different softnesses. The scale used is called the Shore scale and for this we're talking about Shore A (there are other letters). I used a rating of 15. I wouldn't go any higher, suspect 10 or below is what the Abelo ones use. Also check tensile strength of it (so it doesn't fall apart at demoulding). Finally you need to choose youre setting/cure time, I didn't go for an ultra fast one.

I tried two objects. One, my primary aim, a pine cone (open), the other one of my childrens' toy animals using the residue mixture.

I used old jars as the casting container (something the object fits in without too much dead space around the edges). The object was fixed to the bottom of the jar using hot glue, the correct way up.

Having thoroughly mixed the two compounds I poured the silicone carefully over each object and succussed the jars to bring bubbles to the surface as I don't have a vacuum chamber. You can pop these with hot air but blowing seems to work too.

Once cured I broke the jars with a hammer and cleaned off the shards. I then demoulded.

Plastic toy worked very well and demoulded easily.

Pine cone not so much. It was a pain to get out so whilst my mix supposedly didn't require demoulding compound, I will look into this in future. Dipping the cone in beeswax pre-casting might be effective but I need to try this.

I will try again over the next few weeks and let you know how I get on. If successful I can potentially offer custom moulds if anyone has something in mind.

Photos attached.

They look really good mate and I might have a few ideas How much was your cost for the silicone?

 

[Wilco]

They look really good mate and I might have a few ideas How much was your cost for the silicone?

The cheapest I could find for the mechanical qualities I wanted came to just over £70 for 5kg. I didn't weigh before curing so it may have weighed more but post curing the two together come to just shy of 300g, so estimate that this cost me £5 to make those two. I suspect I could have used less silicone too, with thinner walls, but this was an improvised first attempt.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Do let us know how you get on. You might have a decent ready market here.

 

[Wilco]

Rabbit mould works but pine cone needs work- walls too thick and centre of candle too thin making demoulding hard and the candle weak.

 

[E&MBees]

Rabbit mould works but pine cone needs work- walls too thick and centre of candle too thin making demoulding hard and the candle weak.

Very nice. Just right for Easter.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Rabbit mould works but pine cone needs work- walls too thick and centre of candle too thin making demoulding hard and the candle weak.

What would a closed cone look like? Not as attractive I guess?

 

[Garry R]

Get your silicone from DWR Plasticsabout £110 including carriage for 10kg. Works well - search online for them if my link doesn't work


DWR plastics Ltd - DWR plastics

 

[Wilco]

Get your silicone from DWR Plasticsabout £110 including carriage for 10kg. Works well - search online for them if my link doesn't work


DWR plastics Ltd - DWR plastics

Coming up as £135 including delivery and VAT for me?

 

[Wilco]

What would a closed cone look like? Not as attractive I guess?

I'm waiting until I find a long one for that. Personally I'm not as keen on the closed ones but will be easier to demould.

 

[Jimmy]

I just melt over water and pour. Just made 30 Christmas trees
I use abelos silicone moulds

Assuming you don't have 30 individual moulds, are you melting the wax in batches?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Assuming you don't have 30 individual moulds, are you melting the wax in batches?

Yes

 

[roche]

It's a hill not a mountain

When the candle is burning it will be a volcano...

 

[Jimmy]

Yes

I thought the preparation prior to and cleaning up after extracting honey was a faff but then after having a go at candle making I now realise it's a doddle.