Candle Making Tips (Video)
Candle Making Tips for Making Great Candles on the Cheap
How To Make Soy Candles
Soy candles are natural and burn cleaner then paraffin candle wax. The popularity of them is growing. Although soy wax is a little bit more expensive then paraffin wax, people who have used and made soy candles are quickly becoming addicted to them.
Making Your Own Gel Candles
Gel candles are growing in popularity. They work the same as regular wax candles in the respect that they will burn in the same way that wax candles burn but they are made a little differently.
Candle Making Molds
The different types of candle making molds that are available to buy to make candles at home are almost as endless and the amount of different candles out there. It is realistic to think that with such a popular hobby like candle making and the popularity of people buying candles for their homes, there would be a lot of different types of candle making molds available on the market.
A candle mold is a container that the wax is poured into while it cools. The wax will hold the shape of the mold when it has cooled completely. Candle molds are made out of a variety of materials, sizes, shapes, and styles. They also offer a variety of different uses. Aluminum molds are a very popular type of mold candle makers use. They are durable and heat resistant. Plus, they leave a smooth finish without leaving any seams in the finished candle.
This gives the candles the appearance of being professionally made. These types of metal molds are widely used in making votive and pillar candles. They are also inexpensive when compared to rubber molds. A plus about aluminum molds is that they are easy to clean. All you need to do is to put them on a baking sheet in your oven. By placing them upside down and heating them to about 150 degrees the leftover wax will milt and run out of the mold onto the cookie sheet. Just remember to line your cookie sheet. The down side to aluminum molds is that they are not flexible so there are very little choices when it comes to varying the shapes or textures of the candles and that they require a releasing agent to get the candle out of the mold.
On the other hand, rubber molds like polyurethane, silicone, or latex molds are very flexible. Polyurethane molds are flexible but they do not stretch well. They are usually a little bit cheaper then silicone molds. Unfortunately, they have a strong odor that may be able to be passed along in your candle and they will need a releasing agent to get the candle out of it. Often times pillar and taper candles are made from these types of molds.
Silicone molds are another type of rubber mold. They are the most expensive molds because of their outstanding qualities. They leave no parting lines, they are flexible but also stretchable to a point so getting the candles out of the molds is easier and requires no releasing agent. Although latex molds used to be used very often, with the advances in other types of rubber molds they are loosing their luster. But, it is very easy to make your own molds at home by using liquid latex and painting it onto a structure at home. This process requires a lot of coats of latex but, the options of different types of unique molds are endless.
Plastic candle molds are the cheapest but they are not always the best. They have a shorter lifespan then the rest because they are more brittle. On the plus side, plastic molds are easy to clean. All you need to use is some warm water and a little soap. Just make sure that the mold is completely dry before you use it again or you will get water bubbles in your candles. They are good molds for beginners but if you were to take your candle making hobby into the next level and turn it into a business you are probably going to have to invest in different types of molds.
How To Make Scented Candles
Scented candles add a certain amount of elegance to a room. The candlelight from any candle gives the room a romantic feeling. However, when a fragrance is added to the room through a scented candle, the elegance of the room grows.
You can use fragrance oil that is available at most craft stores or online for your scented candles. It is better to use oil rather then a water-bases or alcohol-based perfume in wax because most waxes are close to oil in their chemical composition. Water and oil do not mix. So, by using water-based perfumes, the liquid will simply float to the bottom of your melted wax.
The wonderful thing about scented candles is that the fragrance is noticed even when the candle is not lit. They make wonderful gifts and are appreciated even more when they are handmade. The process of making scented candles is the same as making regular candles. You will need to consider which kind of wax you are going to use. There are several kinds of wax that are available today. There are natural waxes like soy, palm, or beeswax. There is also paraffin wax which is your basic wax that most candles are made of and there are also gel candles. Both of these types of wax can be used to make scented candles also. Although, with gel candles, you have to consider how much fragrance you are planning to use before you choose your wax. Gel wax with a lesser density can not hold as much fragrance as gel wax with a higher density.
In order to make any type of candle, you have to first melt the wax before you can pour it into your candle mold. You have to use a double boiler to melt the wax. Place a smaller pot that has the wax in it into a larger pot that is filled with water. Be careful not to put the temperature of the stovetop too high because wax can burn. You can use a thermometer and heat the wax to be around 170-180 degrees. Add the wick to the mold. After the wax is melted, you can remove it from the heat source. It is now time to add the fragrance oil. You can add one ounce of fragrance oil to one pound of wax. This will give you a 6% fragrance concentration. Make sure that you do not add too much fragrance. Although it may seem like the more fragrance the better, this is not always the case. Certain problems can arise from using too much fragrance. One thing that could happen is that the candle will not burn properly because of the higher concentration of liquid. You might end up with pools of liquid in the candle. You can always experiment with you candle making. You can keep records of how much fragrance you use to how much wax and find you own scented candle recipe.
Using things like scents and colors gives you much more variety of the things that you can create in your candle making. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to give a loved one a gift of a candle with the essence of relaxation and a calming sent to go along with it? Now that you understand a little bit more about how to make scented candles, you can do it.
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Candle Molds
Make Your Own Gel Candles
Wax For Candle Making
Today, with the growing popularity of candle making, candle making wax has made strides to become better, more available, and with more diversity then before. People are constantly looking for the new thing and since wax is the main component in candle making, the changes have been there.
Most of the wax used in candles today is refined from petroleum like paraffin wax. This is the type of wax that is in most candles. Paraffin wax is readily available and inexpensive. Other types of waxes are natural and refined from vegetable or plant materials like soy, palm, or bayberry.
A natural wax growing in popularity is soy based wax. It is processed by hydrogenating soybeans which makes them suitable for candles. Soy wax is a renewable resource that is eco-friendly. The best part about soy wax is that the majority of soybeans are grown in the United States primarily in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.
Palm wax is also natural and a renewable resource. Unfortunately with the growing popularity of palm wax, countries like Indonesia and Malaysia were clearing our vast areas of rainforest in order to plant palm plantations. This is devastating to ecosystems and compromises the populations of endangered animals like orangutans, rhinoceroses and the Sumatran tiger. Thankfully, the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) stepped in and founded RSPO. This organization was founded to develop and define the best practices for sustainable palm cultivation. They also help member organizations to implement and verify the procedures. So when you are shopping for palm wax make sure that they are obtaining wax in an eco-friendly way.
Some candles are made from animal based materials like beeswax. Candles made from beeswax, palm, and bayberry were offered by companies in the past. Recently there has been a new and growing interest in making candles out of these natural products. One of the more popular natural waxes is beeswax. It is available in yellow or white. Although the cost of beeswax can be expensive, candle makers are drawn to its pleasant fragrance, the burning characteristics it contains, and the hardiness of the product.
Gel candles are also a new kind of way to make candles. It is a clear, rubbery texture but works the same as wax. Gel wax is available in three different densities. The density of the gel that the candle requires depends upon the type of candle you are planning to make and how much fragrance you are planning to use. Low density gel wax is best for candles with a 0-3% fragrance load. Also, the low density can be poured at a lower temperature. The medium density gel wax works well with candles that have a 3-5% fragrance load. It is probably the most popular gel wax to work with. High density gel wax is better for candle with a heavier fragrance load.
With so many different kinds of wax available, candle maker are able to pick the type that works best for them. When a candle maker is able to understand each kind of wax, they are able to fully experience every inch of the candle making market and get double, triple or even quadruple the fulfillment.
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Scented Candles
Gel Candles
