Beginning candle making, please help!

[lagwagon777]

I am making a few candles with soy wax that my sister uses to make her own candles. A few questions....first, is soy wax a good wax to use to add fragrance oil to (I prefer a strong scent)? Second, is there anything I can add to the melted wax, color, and fragrance to increase the burn time? And finally, I have read some posts where they find 1oz of oil to 16oz of wax is sufficient, is that the quantity I want to start with? Thanks for you time and your help.

[pcbrook]

Soy wax is a good wax.  I personally don't use it but if that is what you want to use go for it.  There are some FOs that do not wax as well in soy as they do in other waxes so you just have to test them out.  

 

I have heard a little beeswax can slow burn time down in paraffin so it might work in soy.  And yes, the standard it 1 oz for pound of wax but again test, test, and then test.

[Siren12]

i use Golden Brand 444 soy wax, it is supposed to hold up to warm temperatures better than their 464 but i haven't used 464. I do 1oz per pound of wax in my soy candles and it usually works well for scent. which wick you go with will also affect burn time and hot throw. 

[Guest OldGlory]

I moved the thread to the Vegetable Wax category because you might get answers here that you wouldn't get in the general candlemaking category.

Which wax you use is simply a matter of preference. I use 464, built my business on soy wax, and have clients that still prefer it. Which is 'better' is really subjective and will depend on the other variables involved. I would suggest that you read all the threads in this category to further enrich your experience with soy wax.

For me, I use 464, 6% FO load, dyes, Premier wicks, and 7 oz of wax/fo will burn for 40-50 hours and throw well to the very bottom. That's long enough! However, not all fragrances work as well in soy as they work in paraffin, and vice versa.

You can add stuff, tweak your recipe, but can you say exactly what it is you are trying to accomplish? How long do you want your candle to last? How are you judging the throw of your candle?

Learning to make candles is going to be a slow and expensive process. If you can do it within 6 months and $1000, you are way ahead of most of us. Wicks will make you crazy. The journey, the process, is a very enriching experience and if you give yourself time you can learn to do it well.

[hallartistry]

Soy wax is great, but it can be finicky to work with. I personally love it. Depending on the soy wax you are using, you can use up to 12% fragrance load.  1oz per 16oz of soy wax is the general rule to start with. You'll want to test it out and try going up or down from there to find the amount that works best for you and that particular fragrance. Some fragrances throw excellent in soy and some don't.

I do have a list on my website (in my signature) of fragrances I've personally used that throw well in soy. The burn time of soy wax is usually twice as long as paraffin, so I'm not sure that there is anything to add to make it longer. That's really going to depend on getting the wicking down right so that it burns as long as possible while still melting all the way to the edge and getting a good melt pool.  You could try adding beeswax, but since I've never burned a beeswax candle, I don't know if it has any longer burn time than soy.

[Guest OldGlory]

10 hours ago, hallartistry said:

Soy wax is great, but it can be finicky to work with. I personally love it. Depending on the soy wax you are using, you can use up to 12% fragrance load.  1oz per 16oz of soy wax is the general rule to start with. You'll want to test it out and try going up or down from there to find the amount that works best for you and that particular fragrance. Some fragrances throw excellent in soy and some don't.

I do have a list on my website (in my signature) of fragrances I've personally used that throw well in soy. The burn time of soy wax is usually twice as long as paraffin, so I'm not sure that there is anything to add to make it longer. That's really going to depend on getting the wicking down right so that it burns as long as possible while still melting all the way to the edge and getting a good melt pool.  You could try adding beeswax, but since I've never burned a beeswax candle, I don't know if it has any longer burn time than soy.

My personal experience with soy and paraffin is that soy definitely does not burn twice as long as paraffin. I have tried many different paraffin waxes and used half a dozen or more different soy waxes. For me, there is not a lot of difference in the burn time.

Maybe some other candlemakers will chime in.

[Daisymay66]

On June 15, 2016 at 1:31 AM, hallartistry said:

Soy wax is great, but it can be finicky to work with. I personally love it. Depending on the soy wax you are using, you can use up to 12% fragrance load.  1oz per 16oz of soy wax is the general rule to start with. You'll want to test it out and try going up or down from there to find the amount that works best for you and that particular fragrance. Some fragrances throw excellent in soy and some don't.

I do have a list on my website (in my signature) of fragrances I've personally used that throw well in soy. The burn time of soy wax is usually twice as long as paraffin, so I'm not sure that there is anything to add to make it longer. That's really going to depend on getting the wicking down right so that it burns as long as possible while still melting all the way to the edge and getting a good melt pool.  You could try adding beeswax, but since I've never burned a beeswax candle, I don't know if it has any longer burn time than soy.

 

You started a website and began selling a month after receiving your candle kit? Wow!!