It will just take a few minutes for the candle to skin over and begin to harden. After it's been hardening for several minutes, get out your handy heat gun and give the mold a brief bit of extra heat. Heat the side of the mold while rotating it around - about ten seconds is enough. This helps "finish" the outside of the candle - especially if you've poured at a cool temperature. It's not as necessary if you've poured at a higher temperature...and obviously you can't do it if you're not using metal molds!

