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Soy Candle Making Tips And
Tricks |
Making soy candles is fun, easy and quite profitable. Here are a few tips
and tricks we've picked up along the way...
1) How To Speed Up The Cooling Process
Once you've heated your wax and its completely melted, it can take quite a while
to cool down to a temperature suitable for pouring. We solved this by taking a
large bowl and filling it with cold water. We then put the bottom of our melting
pot into the cold water to help the wax cool quicker. It helps to stir the wax
continuously when you do this.
Note: be careful not to cool the wax too much as it may begin to harden in the
melting container.
2) Getting A Smooth Surface On Your Candles
To get nice smooth surface on the top of your candles, you need to pour at a
fairly low temperature. The way we determine when to pour the wax is by how
milky the wax looks. As the wax cools, it develops a light skin and begins to
turn milky (clouds up a bit). As you stir the wax in the melting container,
you'll definitely begin to notice the difference. That's the ideal time to begin
pouring the wax into your container.
3) How To Clean Drips Or Spills From Your Container
We noticed that as we poured, we would drip or even spill wax on the inside or
outside of the container. To clean up these little spills we used a damp paper
towel. The towel must be wet or the wax just smears.
4) How To Dissolve Your Wax And Color Chips Faster
Sometimes it can take a while to dissolve your wax and color chips. Stirring
helps. Use your stirring stick to keep the wax in motion and to break up any
chunking that occurs. The wax will dissolve faster.
5) How To Prevent Wax Chunking In Your Melting Pot
To prevent your wax from chunking in the melting pot, put a scoop or two into
your melting pot to start. Once that's melted, stir in the rest of your wax a
little at a time. Let each new amount melt completely before adding more.
6) How To Get Your Color Chips To Melt Faster
Putting your color chips in the bottom of the melting pot - before adding any
wax - will help them to melt faster.
7) Plugging Container Holes
If you're using unusual containers that have extra holes (such as a small
watering can) you can use modeling clay to plug up the extra holes so the wax
won't leak out.
8) Creating New Scents
Scents are very expensive. To save money on scents and to create new scents
using the few you have, mix them in equal proportions. Use a measuring spoon or
device and keep track of how many parts of each scent you mix together. Try the
new scent out on friends and family before adding it to your candles.
9) Creating Custom Colors
To create custom colors, mix your colors but record the amount you use. When
experimenting with color, we cut each color chip into either thirds or halves
and keep the amount of wax we use at a constant. We experiment until we find a
color we like. Drip a little of the melted wax onto a white artists board or
piece of paper and let it dry. Once dried, write your custom formula next to it
so you can reproduce the color any time you like. To darken a color, add its
compliment on the color wheel (get a color chart at any art supply store). To
lighten a color, add more wax. If adding wax doesn't do it, remove some of the
melted wax before adding new wax.
10) One Ounce Of Fragrance Will Scent 16 Ounces of Soy Wax
Candles
To scent a 3 oz candle you would use 3/16 of an ounce of fragrance. Or to scent
a 10 ounce candle you would use 10/16 (5/8) of an ounce of fragrance.
11) Don’t throw away any melted, or melted and hardened soy wax.
You can re-melt any soy wax you have - either in your microwave, or your double
boiler container.
You can even add scent, create your own unique scent combination or modify the
color of these reused bits of wax.
TIP: if the wax is already colored, use it to make multi-color candles or tea
lights. |
