Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Ive been seeing a lot of candles that are advertised as soy + beeswax candles and Id like to give it a try. Is anyone familiar what a good ratio is  -

do you use unscented or natural beeswax and any suggestions on which wick series to try out. Thank you in advance :) 

Edited by Moonstar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Moonstar said:

Im assuming the beeswax is for better HT and shorter cure time ??? IDK 

I don't know about a better HT, as it would definitely make the blend harder than just a straight soy. 

 

TT seems to be our resident beeswax expert. She may be able to chime in a bit later... 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very early on in my soy days I tried be with 464. It did not seem to do much of anything to improve throw or appearance. 

 

The beeswax will raise the melt point, and make burning the soy a little more challenging. The current C3 I have is hard enough to burn ? So I have not tried be with it. 

 

The candle you see advertised... are they pushed as beeswax candle in containers? If so they are using soy as many have tried with coconut and paraffin to make the beeswax burn easier. 

 

Yellow beeswax will be less consistent to work to work with as it can vary widely from batch to batch. White, refined is what I stock to blend with yellow to make the yellow easier to burn.

 

i found square braid the best for pure beeswax. Some friends swear ECO wicks work for them in beeswax, but I could not get the same results in my wax.

 

if I were trying, I would do a line blend. 

The first candle is pure soy. The last candle is pure beeswax.

the ones in between are blends in a range.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't experimented with this much.  But, just as a note ... you need to be sure your soy wax is compatible.  I had this tucked away in my folder (for instance with GW waxes):

GW415 - Blends with other waxes, such as paraffin or beeswax  // GW464 - Does not mix well with beeswax, but mixes with paraffin. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Moonstar said:

Ive been seeing a lot of candles that are advertised as soy + beeswax candles and Id like to give it a try. Is anyone familiar what a good ratio is  -

do you use unscented or natural beeswax and any suggestions on which wick series to try out. Thank you in advance :) 

 You know Moonstar, I have been pondering that also.  Like Birdcharm said I have read that on quite a few sites too that beeswax doesn't blend with 464 like we use...

 

Trappeur

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, birdcharm said:

I haven't experimented with this much.  But, just as a note ... you need to be sure your soy wax is compatible.  I had this tucked away in my folder (for instance with GW waxes):

GW415 - Blends with other waxes, such as paraffin or beeswax  // GW464 - Does not mix well with beeswax, but mixes with paraffin. 

 

Good advise - thank you :) 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Very early on in my soy days I tried be with 464. It did not seem to do much of anything to improve throw or appearance. 

 

The beeswax will raise the melt point, and make burning the soy a little more challenging. The current C3 I have is hard enough to burn ? So I have not tried be with it. 

 

The candle you see advertised... are they pushed as beeswax candle in containers? If so they are using soy as many have tried with coconut and paraffin to make the beeswax burn easier. 

 

Yellow beeswax will be less consistent to work to work with as it can vary widely from batch to batch. White, refined is what I stock to blend with yellow to make the yellow easier to burn.

 

i found square braid the best for pure beeswax. Some friends swear ECO wicks work for them in beeswax, but I could not get the same results in my wax.

 

if I were trying, I would do a line blend. 

The first candle is pure soy. The last candle is pure beeswax.

the ones in between are blends in a range.

 

 

Im glad you chimed in, I know your very knowledgeable with beeswax candles. No, the candles weren't pushed as beeswax, as far as I know, just soy + beeswax.

This sounds like I might be opening a can of worms. I think I better not play around with this idea. Thank you everyone, great advise from all of you :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Moonstar, I recently decided to make a wax test blend with beeswax for the heck of it. I tried 10% parasoy (IGI6006A), 45% white/pale yellow (sun bleached) natural beeswax and 45% Container Maker (as sold in Australia by one supplier) - might be very similar or the same as universal soy additive in the United States. I used an 8 ounce metal tin with a CDN12 wick as well as 6% fragrance oil load and the candle burned very well with good hot scent throw but did produce a little bit of soot once the wick became long and the flame was disturbed. I must admit that I let the candle set for 24 hours before burning but being winter here, the room temp dropped to 12 deg C (53.6 deg F) over night so the wax really solidified well. As you can see from the photos, the wick was way too small and that was the full melt pool diameter after a 6 hour power burn session. The melt pool ended up reaching a diameter of 55mm (2.16 inches). My guess is that a CDN18 or 20 might be a closer match for an 8 ounce tin. I did notice that after the initial pour and examining the top the next day, major pull away / shrinking had occurred. I ended up remelting the top and the top set very close to perfect, a minor swirl developed around the wick but I think that might have been from the melted wick wax coating, not quite sure. I ended up pouring the candle at 60 deg C (140 deg F) and adding the fragrance oil at 80 deg C (176 deg F) and I must warn you, cleaning out the pouring jug was difficult, beeswax certainly doesn’t wash out like soy wax. Hope this helps.

beeswax candle 1.jpg

beeswax candle 2.jpg

beeswax candle 3.jpg

beeswax candle 4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

Good morning,

Good question...I'm looking for answers to this question as well.😄  I've been experimenting with different types of soy wax with beeswax.  The last two batches of soy I bought i couldn't even tell you what variety they were.  So that will be of no help to you.  The current soy type I bought was the C-3 version and the beeswax is the all natural yellow scented version.  I'm trying to create the most natural product as possible.  I use a 0.3 crackling booster wood wick in my glass vessels.  I really haven't added loads of beeswax because it is so costly in Canada and I'm experimenting.  I've read too that beeswax doesn't hold a scent well and I want to produce a good smelling candle.  I add minimal beeswax like 10 % ratio.  What I have discovered is that I like the look of the finished product.  I have no sink hole/frosting issues, pours beautifully and adds a smooth finish top. Just using the soy wax only, I get all kinds of crappy finished products.  They look like crap even after taking a heat gun to them.  The beeswax adds a natural yellow hue to the candle because I don't like adding colour to my candles.  As for scent throw, I get a very nice cold throw but as for hot throw....not so great.  Now, just so you are aware I have just started making candles and am in no way an expert at this process.  I'm still not 100% when I should be adding my fragrance load in.  I heat my wax to about 200 degrees F and try to add  fragrance at about 185 degrees F.  I use 1 oz. of fragrance oil for my 11 oz. soy/beeswax blend. i pour at about 130 degrees F.   I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but at least you know what not to do...lol!  Hope this helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In relation to my experimentation with beeswax some years ago, I found that adding beeswax to soy wax did not improve the hot scent throw, the more beeswax I used, the more cracking I saw, beeswax did shrink quite a bit over time and the way beeswax burns can vary quite a lot because it is a natural product that is created with a lot of uncontrollable variables. In the end I gave up and now I use a coconut paraffin blend wax. My guess is that some manufacturers may use a parasoy wax and add some beeswax to it and call it a beeswax candle because the beeswax scented candles I have burnt have always cooled to perfectly smooth tops, had a good hot scent throw and suffered from very little shrinkage which is what I have found with every parasoy wax blend candle I have made or purchased and burnt. What I would do is set up two types of candles, one made using natural waxes and one with made with coconut paraffin wax to get a candle that really works and helps you understand that wick size is really important and use the coconut paraffin wax to start getting some sales or you name out there while you progress and master that natural wax candles.

I use the following to make scented candles that actually work: IGI-6046A coconut paraffin wax, 5% to 13% fragrance oil depending on the quality and strength of the oil (I make my candles in Australia so the oils do vary quite a bit). The wicks I use are all CDN wicks and for a 65mm / 2.5” aluminium sample tin candle, I use either a CDN4 or CDN5 depending on the heat the wax and fragrance oil combination needs but usually it’s a CDN5 wick with a fragrance load around 10% - 13%. For a 70mm / 2.7” glass container, I use either a CDN4 or CDN5 depending on the heat the wax and fragrance oil combination needs but usually it’s 55% of the wax/fragrance oil combinations that work best with a CDN4 wick and a fragrance load of 9% - 10%. For an 86mm / 3.3” glass container, I use either 2 X CDN4 or 2 X CDN5 wicks depending on the heat the wax and fragrance oil combination needs but usually it’s 50% of the wax / fragrance oil combinations that work best with 2 X CDN5 wicks.

My method, I heat the wax up to around 80 – 82 Deg C / 176 – 180 Deg F and add the fragrance oil in at around 80 – 82 Deg C / 176 – 180 Deg F, I find that the burn off theory of adding fragrance oil to wax at 80 Deg C that some subscribe to doesn’t affect the over all throw at all, stir the wax and fragrance oil for 20 to 30 seconds or until no streaks are visible and the wax and oil are clear all the way through and pour between 74 – 78 Deg C / 165.2 – 172.4 Deg F. I mix my wax and oil in a plastic container that is microwave safe and fits in to a microwave so that I can quickly heat up the mixture using the microwave oven if it becomes to cool, just remember to use short bursts as it can quickly over heat the wax. I use a hot melt glue to bond the wick tab to the container and it tends to remelt around 80 Deg C so I generally pour below 80 Deg C/176 Deg F. This wax will usually develop a sink hole but a quick remelt of the top of the candle to allow the liquified wax to fill the void will clear it up perfectly and if you get the heat and motion right with the heat gun, your tops will look perfect every time. I have found that some fragrance oils just don’t work with this wax very well so testing is a must but the majority of the oils I purchase work brilliantly but the biggest lesson I learnt, the wick size can have a major impact on the hot scent throw so fragrance and wick testing is a must and I usually decide mid way through the 3rd – 4 hour test burn on the hot scent throw strength if I continue testing or disregard the fragrance oil or change the wick size. I also suggest that you do some heavy research on paraffin wax if you think that it’s toxic, if you look hard enough, you will find research that suggests that it’s not the case and beeswax may not be that great even tough it’s a natural product but keep this in mind, not every natural product is good for humans.

For those who aren’t aware on how to make quick test candles, make up your oil and wax mixture and pour it in to the container you are going to use for your final product without a wick. Once the wax sets, get hold of a bamboo or metal skewer and push it down the center of your candle and fit your wick in to the hole created by the skewer. If the container and wax volume is sufficient in height, the wick should remain stable for a few burns and if the hot scent throw is less than desirable, remove the wick and fit a different size wick in to see if it needs more or less heat but be aware that to much heat can also cause a weak hot scent throw.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...