Candle Making Tips

I started making candles using a kit and following basic instructions with the ingredients provided. Then I ventured out on my own to make candles from separately purchased ingredients and in the process discovered that there is a whole lot more art and science to making candles than melting wax and putting it into a container with a wick. In this post I share some of my learnings and candle making tips. For far more information than I will ever amass, you can refer to the Candle Making Tutorials on the Candle Creations website.

I had an empty candle jar that I had saved from a candle someone had given me previously and was ready to go with my new gadget ‘The Candle Maker’ that makes small batch candle making an absolute breeze. But how do I start?

1. How much wax do I need to fill my container?
   That is simple: fill the container with water to the level you want to fill it with wax, tip the water into a measuring jug and measure how much – this is the volume you will need.
   My candle jar has a volume of 250ml.
2. What wax should I use?
   I knew I wanted to make a soy candle so that removed the options of beeswax, gel wax and palm wax. But there are 13 different types of soy wax to choose from depending on whether you are making container candles, pillars, melts or tarts (I have no idea what a tart is!), for example container soy wax is designed to stick to the sides of your container whereas wax for pillar candles is designed to release from the mould. Thankfully there are good descriptions of the suitable uses for each type.
   Soy Wax GW464 is the type that I need for my container candle.
3. How much fragrance should I add?
   The amount of fragrance is usually around 6-10% of the total volume, depending on the fragrance oil, your personal preference and the likely setting for the candles. My friend Doreen got me into making candles when she made all the candles for the tables at her daughter’s wedding. For that setting there were going to be lots of candles burning all together so it could be too overpowering to have them all at 10% strength.
   So for my 250ml jar I will need 25ml of fragrance or essential oil. I used the Sandalwood and Musk fragrance that had come with my kit.
4. But my wax is in flakes, how do I know how much to use?
   I have a 250ml jar, less 25ml of fragrance so I will need 225ml of melted wax. According to Candle Creations’ nifty calculator for soy wax candles, if I multiply this by the magic number of 0.83 it gives me the weight in grams of wax flakes I will need: 225 x 0.83 = 187g.
5. What wick do I need to use in my container?
   Previously I had just attached one of the wicks I’d been given in the kit, making sure it was long enough for the height of the container. But I had purchased a sampler set of different wicks so it wasn’t so simple any more. Thankfully it came with a very enlightening guide: it is more important to measure the width of your container (at the widest point) than its height. Wicks are graded by the width of container. If you have a very wide container you can use a big thick wick or you can use 2 or 3 smaller wicks: divide the width by 2 (or 3) and use 2 wicks of the right size for a container of half the size.
   My jar is 80mm in diameter so I will need a CN18 wick.

Okay so I have:

• selected my jar
• selected my desired fragrance: Sandalwood and Musk
• got the right wax for making container candles: Soy Wax GW464
• measured the fill volume of my candle jar: 250ml
• calculated that for 10% fragrance load I will need: 250ml x 10% = 25ml fragrance
• calculated the amount of wax flakes I will need: 250ml – 25ml = 225ml x 0.83 = 187g wax flakes
• measured the width of my candle jar: 80mm
• selected the appropriate wick for that width: CN18 wick

Now it is relatively simple to make my candle using The Candle Maker that does everything for me – see my previous post for more information on this gadget and how it works (including getting the wax to exactly the right temperature for each stage without having to use a thermometer!).

But there are still lots more things I need to know about if I was going to get into candle making more seriously, for example, all fragrances affect the way a candle burns so you need to experiment with how much you put in; you may be able to load a candle with 10% of one fragrance but not another. And the longer you cure a candle, the better the burn and fragrance throw will be. Oh well – looks like I will have to keep making candles to satisfy my curiosity.