How to Make Scented Candles Successfully
If you are serious about learning how to make scented candles, you will not only need to learn the basics of general candle making, but you will also need to learn a thing or two about oils and fragrances such as which ones work best with different waxes and then of course where they can be purchased. Most online and local craft stores will carry the basic candle making supplies, and if you cannot find the exact scent you are looking for, you can always customize by mixing your own. You can purchase fragrances and perfumes in oil, water, and alcohol base but for candle making you should always use oil based fragrances. Since candles are made up of wax containing mostly mineral oil, this works well with oil fragrances as apposed to water based fragrances which will cause problems with your candles performance and leave you with liquid at the top of your candle.
There is not a lot of difference in creating a scented candle verses a non-scented candle, but there is some. There are several types of wax available. The first key to understand how to make a scented candle is to know the waxes. Paraffin is the most popular and readily available wax in the candle making market. Natural waxes such as soy wax and beeswax are more expensive but over the last few years have made a significant presence in the world of candle making and buying. Consumers are becoming more eco friendly and prefer to buy products that are all natural and leave less of a carbon footprint on the environment. Gel candles are made up of oil, just as wax candles are, but also include a resin material. If you chose to make a gel scented candle be sure to follow the directions for producing a high density candle. In a nut shell, high density gel wax holds fragrance well, where low density candles does not.
This is a brief explanation of how to make scented candles.
Once you have decided on a fragrance type and determined the scent in which you are going to go for you want to mix your fragrance oil to the wax. The best time to do this is immediately after removing the wax from the double boiler, or whatever heating source you are using. Slowly mix in the fragrance with your melted wax (1 ounce of fragrance per 1 pound of wax is the general rule of thumb but this will vary based on the type and density of the wax you choose to use). This is one place where more is not necessarily better. The most common mistake made when first learning how to make scented candles is over-scenting. Sure, this may not sound too terrible, and it wouldn’t be if the only problem was that the candle’s scent throw would be exceptionally strong, but that’s not what we’re concerned with here. The biggest problem with over-scenting is that it will adversely affect the candle’s burning performance. This is important, because a poorly performing candle can be a dangerous candle.
The biggest trick to learning how to make scented candles is to take it slow and be sure to test and document your results. By working in smaller batches, slightly varying your fragrance oil/wax proportions between each of them, and then testing and documenting those results you will find that you can quickly fine tune your exact recipe. And once you’ve got it nailed, simply rinse and repeat!
This article was written by Sarah Johnstan who is a passionate candle making enthusiast. To learn more tips about how to make scented candles and even take her FREE email Mini Course on How To Successfully Make Candles you can visit her website at http://candle-making-at-home.com
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