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Liquid Dyes VS Dye Chips


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So, I just bought my first liquid dye, because I needed to get it local for a mold I want to do. I have no idea how much of this compared to my old school dye chips I need to use? The bottle says "will color 4 lbs of wax". Hmm...I thought it was merely drops to color the wax...if I pour 1/4 of this into 1 lb...who knows what I'll get! I'm looking for a vibrant yellow...how much should I start with in this case?? I got this stuff at Michael's. 

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Ok, here goes:  melt you wax in your pour pot, add one drop of liquid dye and dip a little out and put in some sort of container (I use tart molds for this) let it cool and then decide if the color is what you are going for,,,,,,,,if not, add one or two more drops of the dye and again pull some out to cool for testing.......keep doing this until you get the color you are looking for....like if you started with one pound of wax and ended up with say, 4 drops of the dye to achieve the color you want then you have a starting point.  It's all trial and error.......

 

Sometimes when I'm going for a light color, I will use a toothpick....dip in dye, swish around in wax and go from there. (like sometimes a full drop can become more darker that I want.  Especially if I'm making an orange color....a little yellow with a little red.......too much red and you end up with a red candle instead of orange)  This is just something that you have to play around with to get the hang of it........yeah, I know....not what you wanted to hear but as usual, everything is trial and error.......but keep in mind that liquid dyes can go dark in a hurry so go lightly in the beginning.

If you really screw up on the color, you can always send to me .........lol

Edited by Pam W
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Yes, it is trial and error, but you will get the hang of it.  When you dip a little of the wax out to put in a container to see what color it is, what I do is drop it on a little white saucer so I can get an accurate color of what it  is.  Just keep notes and make sure you stir the dye real good into the wax....easy peasy....

 

Trappeur

 

Trappeur.

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Not all liquid dyes are created equal. Add a drop to your weighed, melted wax. Store well. Pull a drop out to color test. Add more if needed until you get the right shade. 

 

I use a piece of freezer paper to drop colored wax on. The wax will cool pretty quickly, and I write the proportions on it. Then the paper can go into a file for future reference.

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Well, I did use the liquid dye I got at Michael's....took a heck of a lot of dye to get the color I wanted, but it turned out great. I guess the next time I get a liquid dye, I really need to get the stuff from an online candle supply. If I had only used a few drops, I wouldn't have gotten much color out of it. Took about 1/4 of the entire bottle to get the yellow I wanted. I am happy that the color I did get was perfect, but this would cost a fortune to use all the time, for sure! I'm working to figure out how to actually use acrylic paint on these, then I'll post them when I figure this part out, LOL! The candles I made look awesome, but they need...eyeballs!

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3 hours ago, Hopie said:

Well, I did use the liquid dye I got at Michael's....took a heck of a lot of dye to get the color I wanted, but it turned out great. I guess the next time I get a liquid dye, I really need to get the stuff from an online candle supply. 

Yes. Usually liquids are stronger than the dye chips except at Michael's or Hobby Lobby or JoAnn type places. 

Edited by Scented
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4 hours ago, Hopie said:

Well, I did use the liquid dye I got at Michael's....took a heck of a lot of dye to get the color I wanted, but it turned out great. I guess the next time I get a liquid dye, I really need to get the stuff from an online candle supply. If I had only used a few drops, I wouldn't have gotten much color out of it. Took about 1/4 of the entire bottle to get the yellow I wanted. I am happy that the color I did get was perfect, but this would cost a fortune to use all the time, for sure! I'm working to figure out how to actually use acrylic paint on these, then I'll post them when I figure this part out, LOL! The candles I made look awesome, but they need...eyeballs!

 

Once you get a stronger liquid dye you can make up very small batches of wax with just a smidgen of the dye (start with dipping the end of a toothpick into the dye and adding it to a very small amount of wax and repeat until you get the color you want) - You can then paint with this wax until it solidifies, then remelt it or make another tiny batch

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I did try to create the smiley face by mixing black dye into wax, then pouring it into the indentations in the mold I'm working with. Well...duh, that was an experiment gone wrong! *shudder*  I "painted" the smile and eyeballs, then was going to pour the rest of the mold after it dried...but...the "smile" I painted FELL right out of the mold, LOL! Sooo..I then poured a bit of the yellow wax over it...and..the black BLED all into the yellow die! Ugggh! Sooo, I gouged his eyes out and broke up the yellow wax and just had to repour the whole dang thing! Ah, live and ya' learn with wax! I will post it in the candle gallery when he had eyeballs and a smile, lol. He looks just like this: :)

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