I bought my wife a bunch of stuff to put together a "candle making kit" for Christmas. I figured in short time we'd be having fun making candles (and eventually saving me money) instead of buying the expensive candles in the stores. After all, how hard can it be to melt wax and pour it in a jar? Well, many hours later we are still trying to get a single candle that looks good. She likes container candles. I called Yankee Candle and asked them what they used for wax. They said it was food quality paraffin wax. So as part of her kit I picked up a slab of paraffin spotted mottling wax (AB-145) and one of regular paraffin (#140) wax. I don't think it is possible to pour a candle with that stuff (145) and have the wax stay stuck to the glass. It shrinks so much that once it is fully cooled it rattles and you can spin it inside the jar. It looks beautiful while it is still warm and stuck to the jar wall. But once it cools off it looks dull whn pulled away from the jar. We have now been reading and getting more info on candle making and there is a lot more to it than I first imagined. This forum seems to have a lot of info so we'll be busy reading before trying to make any more candles. I wish the person at the candle supply store would have told me more about what I needed to make the candles. She made it sound like you just heat wax and pour and you have wonderful candles when it cools off... I'm guessing we need to put some additives in the paraffin mottling wax (AB-145 wax) to use it in clear containers. Never thought we'd need chemistry to make some candles! But we are having fun trying to make the candles.
