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Candle Making Wax - A Beginners Guide

If you’re going to make candles, obviously you’re going to need wax. But that isn’t as simple as many beginners think – there are a lot of choices to choose from.  This article is a short list of the different types of candle making wax on the market.

Paraffin Candle Wax

Paraffin is the workhorse of waxes. Most commercially made candles are made from paraffin wax.

Paraffin is a residual of the process of refining crude oil.

Different grades of paraffin candle wax are available. Most suppliers indicate which is their “general purpose” candle wax and that’s usually a good one for beginners to start with. The wax is widely available, relatively inexpensive, very stiff at room temperature, holds dyes and fragrant oils well and burns relatively cleanly.

Soy Candle Wax

Soy candle wax is a recent invention. Researchers developed it by hydrogenating (adding hydrogen molecules to) soybean oil. With the addition of hydrogen, it becomes solid and suitable for making candles. However, unless the candle maker uses additives, most soy candle wax is too soft to use reliably to make taper candles or pillar candles.

Soy candle wax really shines when it comes to making container candles. It has a long burn time, burns cleanly and does well with added fragrance and color.

Beeswax

Beeswax is a great, albeit expensive, candle making wax. The wax comes from bee hives. Bees make the wax to form honeycombs to store honey. Beekeepers can harvest both the wax and the honey.

Beeswax produces very little soot and burns smoothly and evenly. It is a firmer wax than soy candle wax so you can use it for tapers. You can add scent to beeswax, but I prefer not to – it has a very subtle scent of its own.

Unfortunately, beeswax costs more than other waxes. It has always been a premium wax. In the past, only the wealthy could afford beeswax. It’s less costly these days, but it’s still somewhat of a splurge.

Where to Learn More

These waxes are the ones most candle makers use most of the time. You’d do just fine if these were the only ones you knew about.

However it’s well worth at least becoming aware of some of the other choices available. One place to start is the page: Candle Making Wax. You’ll discover some interesting waxes I haven’t mentioned here, as well as some more details about paraffin and soy wax.

Of course wax alone does not a candle make. You can learn what equipment and supplies you’ll need at: Candle Making Equipment

I want to recommend an excellent site for you to find out everything you need to know to produce candles every bit as beautiful as those you buy: The Candle Making Connection. I’ve learned the hard way that you can save a lot of time and frustration if you visit sites like that and get some insider tips and advice before you start experimenting on your own.

Making candles is a wonderful hobby and I hope this article helps you get started with.

Making Your Own Candles…From The Comfort Of Your Kitchen!

Candle making has developed in different ways and at different times in various countries down the ages. The Egyptians made candles from beeswax in the early 3000 BC. The Chinese were also known to have started making candles during the Qin Dynasty, between 221 and 206 BC. Candles has remained a favorite source of light and heat for generations, lighting up family homes with its soft warm glow at night.

Candle making has grown in popularity from the early ages till the present time. The candle making craft is now enjoyed by people of different origins, ages and backgrounds as a hobby and a lucrative way of making a living. Candle making continue to grow in popularity for different reasons. Some of these reasons can be attributed to a lot of people’s love for its warm soft glow, the ease at which it can be made by anyone and the readily available and inexpensive materials with which its made. Candle making is a much loved craft people enjoy with friends and family members. A lot of people partake in candle making as a hobby and make candles for friends and family as gifts. There is also a growing army of people who consider candle making their business and make all types of candles to sell for financial gains. There is a growing number of people who now treat candle making as a business venture through which they can earn their daily bread.

It can be very rewarding to make candles either to sell, give away as gifts or for personal use. You can easily find all the materials and tools you will need to make all types of candles, like wax, wicks and molds in your local craft stores and also on the world wide web. Other materials like color, wick and fragrance can also be easily obtained in craft or hobbyist stores and online.

To make candles, you will first need to prepare the wax you intend to use. Put you solid wax in a double boiler to begin the melting process. The double boiler is simply one large pot filled with water and placed on a cooker or stove, inside of which you will place another smaller pot that contains the solid wax. You will place this device on a stove fire to start melting the wax. This way of melting wax was brought into being because exposing wax to direct heat can make it burn and turn yellow, therefore using the double boiler to melt it makes the task easier and safer.

After melting the wax, you will then hold the wick in place while pouring in the wax into the mold you have chosen to use. Allow the hot wax to cool and set for up to six hours before attempting to remove it from the molds. Although cooling it rapidly in the freezer will greatly reduce your waiting time before removing your finished candle from the mold, it may adversely affect the quality of your finished product. You will find it a lot easier to remove your candle from the mold if you first coat the inside of the mold with oil or non-stick cooking spray first before you pour the wax in.

With the variety of different materials available today from craft stores and other suppliers, there is almost no end to the different types of candles you can make in the comfort of your own home. You can even make your own molds using various materials, including latex, which will enable you to make your  very own unique candles. Indeed, your candle making options can only be limited by the power of your own imagination because whatever type of candle you can imagine, you can easily create.

Many entrepreneurs have discovered the potentials of the candle trade as a lucrative business in many parts of the world today. Making candles to sell to other people can quite easily make you more than enough money to live on comfortably. Many have discovered the money making potentials of the candle trade  in many parts of the world as in most communities of the world, people require the use of candles for various reasons in their daily lives. Many candle lovers have been able to turn their love of candle making crafts into a great way to make a comfortable living. It is much cheaper and cost effective to purchase your supplies in bulk at discounted prices if you intend to turn your hobby into a cash machine. Also try as much as possible to package your finished products attractively, making them even more unique.

Candle Making Wax…Basic Characteristics

Candle making has grown tremendously in the past few decades and this exponential growth has led to the further improvement in quality, availability and sheer diversity of wax, which as we all know, is one of the main ingredients of candle making. From the dawn of time, candles have been made from a variety of waxy materials and today, wax is derived from two major sources - natural sources like vegetable, insects and animals, and artificially manufactured materials like paraffin and gel.

Paraffin wax is one of the most abundant wax used to make candles today. It is manufactured or refined from petroluem. The vast majority of candles made today are made with paraffin wax because it is cheap and available everywhere. In various parts of the world, plant materials like soybeans and palm oil are extensively used also to make candle wax. Natural candle wax are refined from such vegetable materials like soybeans which is extensively produced in the United States. Soy wax is rapidly growing in popularity as it is a renewable resource, readily available, inexpensive and also eco-friendly.

Palm wax is another natural wax used in making candles which is also rapidly growing in popularity among candle lovers. Palm wax is a natural and renewable resource which is refined or extracted from palm trees. Unfortunately, due to the growing popularity of palm wax and palm oil, some of these countries are busy clearing out enormous stretches of rainforest and replacing matured trees with palm plantations.

This unfortunate destruction of virgin woodlands has contributed significantly to the global warming phenomenon affecting every part of planet earth today. Tens of thousands of endangered animal species has also been displaced by this wanton destruction of their natural habitats. Damaging our ecosystem in this irresponsible way is such a massive price to pay for the growing popularity of palm produce.

Candles have been made in many parts of the world from animal materials down the ages. The Egyptians have been known to make candles from beeswax as early as 3000 BC, while the Chinese made theirs from the fat of whales between 221 and 206 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Candles made from natural beeswax is available in different colors and it is quite popular among candle makers. Although more expensive than paraffin wax or palm wax, candle entrepreneurs are drawn to beeswax because of its natural fragrance and its burning quality.

A new kind of material people are using to make candles now is Gel. Gel candles are clear and have a rubbery texture but it works much the same way as candles made from any other kind of wax. Gel wax comes in three different flavors – low, medium and high densities. The type of candle you want to make and the amount of scent you want to add will dictate the gel density you need to use. Low density gel works best for candles that contain 0-3% scent, and it is poured at low temperatures. Medium density gel is probably the most popular gel for making gel candles and it is best with candles that contain 3-5% of fragrance. High density gel wax requires to be poured at much higher temperatures than the other two and is better for candles that contain a heavier percentage of fragrance.

Candle makers now-a-days are spoilt for choice considering the bewildering array of wax available on the market for the candle making craft. You can pick and choose the type of wax that works best for you and the type of candle you are planning to make. A complete understanding of the characteristics and quality of the different types of wax will allow every budding candle entrepreneur to use each one to its fullest potential in crafting the candle of their dreams.