As someone who owned and operated my own soy candle business, making my own container candles for 8 years, I've learned some tips and tricks on how to make a great quality soy candle that I'd like to pass on to others who are interested in making their own soy candles.
Supplies Needed
- heat resistant jar
- wicks
- wick tabs or silicone glue
- soy wax
- candle dye (optional)
- candle fragrance oil
- melting pot and pouring pot
- thermometer
Start with a heat resistant jar that won't shatter until the heat of an open flame. Canning jars work great or other jars designed for candles. Make sure they are clean and dry. Begin to melt your soy wax at about 200 degrees, I used a presto pot and that worked excellent for melting wax.
Wicks
Before I made candles, I believe you could use just any kind of wick in any kind of jar. Believe it or not, your wick selection is one of the most important components to a quality candle and getting it right is trickier than first glance.
When I talk about wick sizes, I'm referring to the diameter of the wick itself. For ease of use, get a wick that has already been tabbed and primed, and one that only needs to be attached to the jar bottom either with wick tabs, double sided tape or silicone glue found in most hardware stores.
The majority of candle problems result directly from a candle not having the correct sized wick. At first, you'll need to get several wick sizes, and by trial and error (and test burning), find the correct combination. If when you burn the candle and the wick drowns out in the wax, that wick is too small for the jar and you need to go up a size or two. If the flame burns too high and hot and creates a full melt pool too fast, then you need to decrease your wick size.
Ideally, you want your wick to create a melt pool of an inch of diameter of your jar per hour. For instance, if the circumference of your jar is 3 inches, it should take your candle 3 hours to reach full melt pool that is completely liquid from edge to edge of the jar, or very close to that. You'll only get it right by pouring several candles with different sized wicks and doing those test burns to find it.
Getting proper wick size is also a candle safety issue, so this is the most critical aspect of candle making. Adding to the complication is when you do find the correct wick size for the fragrance oil you are using; you may find that another fragrance oil may require a different sized wick. The same applies if you change brands of soy wax. For simplicity sake, once you get your first candle burning correctly, use that recipe as a start of your next scent. In most cases, it will work, but be prepared to do more testing as it doesn't always. You may have to "wick up or down" on your second fragrance oil.
Once your wax is melted and about 190 degrees, pour the amount of liquid wax you think you'll need into a metal pour pot. One easy way to estimate this amount is, while wax is melting, to take a jar the same size you intend to use and fill it with water. Then pour that water back out into measuring cups to get an idea of how much liquid you'll need to fill your jar.
When you purchase your wax, make sure it is for container candles and not tapers or molded candles. Even though they make soy wax for those applications, it is a different kind of wax with different properties and will not work correctly in jar candles.
Adding Dye
Your metal pouring pots have measuring lines that indicate pound increments in liquid form. If you choose to use dye, this is the time to add it. Follow the manufacturer's directions as to the amount of dye to be added per pound. If you're using chips, be sure to give a few minutes time for them to melt. Brilliant colors are very difficult to get in soy wax because in hardened stage, soy wax is white and not clear, thus reducing most dyes to various shades of pastels.
Brilliant colors can be achieved, but you'll need to use dye powders or liquids to get them and the most intense colors tend to have a frosting appearance, otherwise known as "bloom." This is a trait of soy wax itself, so you can either learn to live with the frosting appearance coming up sometimes, or drive yourself nuts trying to create a candle devoid of it. Frosting or bloom does not affect the way the candle performs in any way; it's only a cosmetic thing. For me, I just accepted it as a property of soy wax and enjoyed the unique look each candle comes out with. Of course, you can also choose to make your candle with no dye and it'll come out a creamy white. Too much dye can also cause a wick to clog – drowning it out, so be careful not to use too much, experiment.
Scented Fragrance Oils
Scented fragrance oils make or break your candle. Get good quality oil. The usual amount of oil generally is 1 ounce to 1 pound of liquid wax; however you can go to a maximum of 1 1/2 ounces of oil to 1 pound of wax. Resist the temptation to add any more than that as it will NOT make a stronger scented candle. Wax can only physically hold so much oil (you can check with the soy wax manufacturer to find out what that maximum amount is for that brand) and if you exceed it you'll run into a fire safety hazard. I found, for some reason, that usually going from 1 ounce to 1 1/2 ounces per pound did not increase the candle scent strength.
Pour the scented oil into the liquid wax and stir constantly for 3 minutes to make sure the oil and the wax binds together. If you find oil separating from your completed candle, this could be the culprit – not stirring enough.
Many soy wax companies recommend letting the wax then cool until it's in a slushy type stage before pouring into the jar. With the wax I used, I didn't do this. I simply poured into the jars at this stage.
I found using a metal hair clip worked great for securing the wick over the top of the jar while it cooled. You can easily use a dowel if you choose or a clothespin. Let the candle cool. If you get sink holes when candle with completely cooled, use a heat gun (sort of like a blow dryer) that can be found in craft stores, to reheat the top and it fills the sink holes.
Trim your wick to about 1/4 inch. Seal up the jar and let it cure for about 2 weeks. You can use it immediately, but the scent wouldn't be near as strong and developed as when you let it cure.
It is not that difficult to make a great quality soy candle. It takes practice like anything else, patience and testing to get the wax, jar, scent, dye and wick combination just right. Purchase high quality supplies. Once you master it however, your quality can be much better than many candles you purchase in stores.
Valerie Garner - Hi, I'm Valerie a midlife lady who loves to learn new things, photography, reading, writing, and drinking coffee with friends. I've ...
