Friday, December 28, 2007

A Guide to Making a Scented Candle

Scented candles are a million dollar market, and so you can make a quite lucrative business for yourself if you take the time to learn how to make candles and it is actually quite easy to do. A scented candle is a candle made with fragrant oils mixed into the wax, and which is used to release a pleasant and often relaxing aroma when lit.

Scented candles make for a nice touch all around the home, and can create an ambiance and sense of wellbeing and healthfulness. There are so many different options that you have when it comes to making a scented candle, namely the size and scent of the candle, and it makes for a great gift.

Scented candles come in many varieties but most are either tea candles or jar candles. A few of the most popular scents are apple pie, bayberry, cinnamon spice, ocean mist, vanilla, coconut, chocolate, and caramel, but the options are almost limitless.

Getting Started

If you are interested in making a scented candle, the first thing you are going to have to do is gather the necessary materials. You will need some wax firstly, and you will also need a pouring pot. You want to have a wax and candy thermometer ready, and candle wicking. You now want to choose a mold to shape the candle which you can find at any basic hobby store. Finally you will need the actual scent for the candle, and the scent comes in different forms including liquid scent and solid scent.

The next step involved in making a scented candle is to choose your design. If you are a beginner to the craft then the best idea is to select a design that has already been created whereas if you know a bit more about what you doing you can even create your very own design.

Candles can be in just about any shape and size you desire, from ball candles to long and skinny tapers. Now you want to find a heat source to use for making your candle, and remember that this heat source is almost definitely going to end up with wax on it so you want to use one that is going to be easy to clean.

Melt the appropriate amount of wax, then place the wax in the pouring pot, clip the thermometer on the side to keep track of the temperature, color the wax by adding the color to the liquid wax and stirring, and finally the most fun part of all – add the scent. You should have decided on a scent beforehand but you can really use whatever you like. Remember that if you are adding a liquid scent you want to add about one ounce for a strong scent and less for a more subtle aroma.

Making a scented candle above all else can be a lot of fun, and it is important that you make sure that you enjoy yourself in the process.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Finding a Candle Making Painting and Supplies Company

If you are interested in the hobby of candle making then you are going to want to learn about where you can go for your candle making painting and other supplies. Although there are literally thousands of different candle making supply stores available around the world, there are a few that are really going to be worth your while in terms of quality and value.

Candle making can also be very lucrative if you find candle making painting and supplies stores that offer their products for affordable prices so that you do not have to pay out a lot for your supplies and therefore can make more back in profit.

Your Options

When it comes to candle making painting and supply companies there are a few in particular that are especially worthwhile. One is the Peak Candle Company, which offers a variety of products including fragrance oils, candle molds, candle dyes, waxes, wicks, containers, candle making accessories, additives, candle making starter kits, soap molds, and more.

Their selection of fragrance oils includes but is certainly not limited to: almond pastries, Amish harvest, apple blossom, apple jack and peel, Asian sandalwood, baby powder, banana nut bread, bayberry, Bartlett pear, sage and lemongrass, spring rain, stargazer lily, storm watch, strawberries and cream, strawberry kiwi, sugar cookie, sugar plum, sunflower, and sweet pea.

Another ideal option for candle making painting and supplies is the Wholesale Supplies Plus Company, which not only offer some of the highest quality candle making painting and other supplies around the world but because they purchase their products wholesale they are able to save money this way and can then pass those savings onto you.

Highlights to their line include melt and pour glycerin soap base, fixed oils, butters, colors, molds, fragrance and essential oils, and more. A few of the other candle making supplies they offer are metal tins, candle additives, candle dyes, fragrance oils, glass jars, packaging, potpourri, warning labels, wax, and wicks and tabs.

These are both great companies that you are going to want to seriously consider whenever you are looking for any type of candle making supplies, and they are definitely companies that you can attain a long term and serious relationship with. Just make sure that you set out a budget for yourself beforehand so that stick to purchasing only what you need to and not end up going overboard and spending more than you need.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Choosing the Right Candle Making Material

There are many different types of candle making material to choose from, and the only real way to determine which particular candle making material is going to work best for you is to determine what type of candles you are planning on making, how many, and so on. Each batch of candles is going to be different and so you may have to use a different material each time.

Resources

When it comes to actually finding candle making material, there are quite a few different companies out there that offer what you need. If you are looking for the most high quality and affordable candle making material however then there are a few of these companies in particular that you are going to want to check out.

The CandleWic Company for one, offers candle making material and other candle making supplies, and in particular this includes waxes, additives, wicks, scents, colors, molds, glassware, equipment, melt and pour bases, essential oils, natural additives, sop dyes, and more.

The Stacks of Wax Company is another that offers candle making material and related supplies, and their most popular products are paraffin wax which is the most commonly used wax in candle making, stearin which is a hard flaky white substance that is added to paraffin to make the candle burn better, hardener which is a synthetic wax that has a melting point of about 90 degrees, and plasticizer which is also a synthetic material that has a high melting point.

Remember that in making a candle, one type or combination of natural and synthetic materials can be used but usually paraffin wax is used because it is cheaper. It should really never be used alone however because its scent will end up mingling with the scent of the essential oils. You need to consider this and other important factors when choosing which candle making material to purchase and use, so that you can produce the best and most durable candles you can.

The candle making hobby is one that is quickly becoming incredibly popular and this is largely in part due to the simplicity of the activity itself. Anyone of any skill and experience level can participate in candle making and have success while enjoying themselves at the same time. It can also be a very lucrative professional area of expertise, especially if you choose cost-effective candle making material companies and save yourself as much money as possible on supplies.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Great Candle Making Ideas and Tips

When it comes to candle making, there are so many different and wonderful ideas and techniques that you can use that there is really no way it could ever get boring. This is perhaps one of the best features of the hobby of all, but before you begin any candle making you should be aware of the safety issues that are involved. Whether you are an adult or child you want to make sure that you take all of the necessary safety precautions so that you can enjoy yourself as much as possible here and prevent incident.

Safety First

When it comes to safety and candle making, the most important thing of all is to be prepared. Remember to never pour water on a candle wax fire because rather than putting it out this will only cause it to spread, similar to a grease fire. As well, if you are using your stove at home to make the candles, you should be sure to give it a good cleaning before you make your candles because if you do end up having a wax fire the last thing you need is any grease or other debris catching fire as well and aggravating the situation.

You should always wear protective clothing when making candles, and this includes oven gloves, a heavy apron, long pants, long sleeved shirt, shoes and socks.

The Basics

The activity of candle making is really quite simple there are just a few basics that you will need to be aware of. All you really need to do is melt the wax of your choice, making sure to use a thermometer the entire time so you can keep track of the temperature of the wax. You are going to want to weigh your wax before putting it in the meter and when you do this you will break up the wax with a hammer and then put the chunks onto the scale until you reach the appropriate amount.

Now for candle making all you have to do is wait until the wax has melted, then pour the wax into the mold that you have chosen, leaving the wick sticking out the top of course, and then just allow it to cool. The best idea is to leave it for a day or so, and this way you can be fully assured that the wax is going to be completely cooled before you try moving it.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

About Soy Wax For Candle Making

If you would like to use soy wax for candle making, you will soon find that it provides a lot of pleasure and it is a good ingredient that will be sure to teach you something new each time you use it. Of course, along the way you will learn of things that can be done better, some that are shortcuts while others are things are those that you should not do, and there is plenty more to soy wax for candle making which can vary including the temperature requirements as too different soy wax manufacturers, and you should also understand that not all soy wax that you will use is the same.

Keep Your Electronics Out Of The Way

Before you indulge in using soy wax for candle making, you must ensure that you remove all of your electronic equipment from the site where you are going to do the candle making since any kind of wax including soy wax is really quite dangerous for your expensive equipment and must not be found anywhere in the vicinity of your equipment.

Having ensured that you are not going to damage your expensive equipment while using soy wax for candle making, you will next need to decide on how much soy wax to use, which obviously depends on how many candles you wish to make. In any case, one pound of soy wax would melt and give you sixteen ounces of liquid wax; so, you can decide on the number of candles you wish to make from a pound of soy wax which in turn depends on the size of your jars.

Next, you need to calibrate the jar by pouring water into it and jotting down the ounces held which is useful in deciding how much soy wax for candle making you will need. Following this, you should start melting the wax and that too at the recommended temperature, and then let it cool to a specified temperature after which you can add any fragrance that you wish to have.

Stir the mixture quite a few times and especially take care to stir it well prior to pouring the candles which should be done as the wax begins to cool to the suggested temperature for pouring, or when it begins to change in consistency. After that, you may want to layer and even marble your candles; though, remember to wait for a quarter of an hour before starting on the next layer. And, to make your soy wax candles more appealing, you can choose to label or add ribbons, stickers and even charms to the containers, which will add some excitement to the finished product that you have just made with the help of soy wax for candle making.

There no doubts that soy wax is different and thus you need to check the recommended temperatures for different soy wax for candle making, and so follow the recommendations of the
manufacturer before starting your candle making while using soy wax.

Using The Right Candle Making Instructions

There are a few elements that are a part of most candle making instructions and these components include preparing the candle material so that it will be in a usually liquid state for embedding the wick and then waiting for the liquid to set so that the candle can be handled. It is possible to find a variety of candle making instructions for any type of technique or type of supplies that are used for different candle making projects.

Simple To Complex Candle Making Projects

Depending on what sort of recipe you will be using or the technique involved in your project, your instructions could become much more complex than that. For instance, if you wanted to make a dipped candle, you would suspend the wick, then dip the wick in a liquid wax, take it out, and let it harden and then repeat the process until your candle is the width that you require and that is suitable for the wick that you are dipping.

Another type of candle making instruction that you can use in your projects are the molded candles. For this type of candle, you will pour the liquid candle wax into a mold in which your wick has been centered and when the mold is filled with liquid wax then you can cut your wick to the right length. You can use candle molds that will give you a two dimensional candle such as a sphere or you can use a simpler mold that offers a design on or a form to a candle that you can lift out of the mold.

You can also find candle making instructions that will teach you how to make candles using wax beads, which can be placed into a pretty glass container for a more subtle candle effect. This form of wax is one of the easiest to use because you do not need to melt it since it is usable in its present bead size form. All you have to do is spoon the wax beads into a suitable glass vase in which a proper wick has been centered and the bead wax candle is ready to use.

Variety Of Techniques Used In Candle Making

You can find candle making instructions for practically any type of candle project. With the right wax, mold, color, scent, decorations and other embellishments, you can recreate your favorite candle and design your own personalized candle. Of course, you also need the right equipment and supplies, so when you find the right instructions for your desired candle, read the instructions thoroughly so that you will have your equipment and supplies ready to do the job right.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Candle Making Essential Oil: Adding Just A Few Drops Can Do A World Of Good For You

There is a lot of gratification that you can get from making candles and everything that you do including from preparing the mold to priming wicks, to the melting of wax and filling of molds can be a very smooth experience provided it is done in the proper manner. All that is required is to master the basics of candle making and from then on it is an adventure that allows you to experiment with color, form as well as scent.

More Than Pleasant Scents

Yes, candle making essential oil help in enhancing the homemade candles and are ideally suited to scent your candles though they have uses beyond those of simple pleasurable aromas. Actually, once essential oils that are extracted from different types of vegetation are used, they provide you with many of the benefits associated with different plants and, so candle making essential oil can help in providing more than a nice smell; they can even create physical changes in people that are exposed to these pleasant aromas.

In fact, you can use candle making essential oil that will help provide relief from pain, bring about a reduction in stress and help energize the being while also doing other beneficial things such as improving digestion and many other positive effects as well. So, adding candle making essential oil to your candles will provide you with natural and also rewarding benefits and the whole process is very simple to boot.

You need not do more than simply add a few drops of candle making essential oil to the candle and ensure that the candle is not already scented which would dilute the essential oil’s aroma. If you wish, you can even pierce an unscented candle and use a thick needle or even an ice pick for the purpose, and by holding the candle in an upright position you need to then remove the loose wax from the hole and then add candle making essential oil into the holes, and a few drops will do.

Using candle making essential oil on unscented candles allows you to experiment with different scents though you can also use just the scent that you desire and thus create your own favorite scented candles. Usually, all that is required is just to add a few drops of candle making essential oil and then you can sit back and light the candle which will then help to not only light up the room, but give a boost to your spirits as well.