jfear Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 (edited) Hello Everyone! Making black wax has been an ongoing struggle for me; I just can't seem to get it right. For years I've been "settling" with gray wax but I need black! Here are my problems: Black liquid dye: It has a very potent magic marker odor even after the wax has been blended. If I use any more than 5 drops per pound my wax stinks. It completely alters my FO. But using less to obviate the odor creates gray wax, not black. Black dye chips: I thought this would be the solution since they are virtually odorless however, they don't blend well with the wax. No matter how long I mix even on a higher heat the particles just sink to the bottom. And I'm still left with, yep, gray wax. I was at Target the other day and I saw this line of candles for men; they struck me because they were in matte black danube jars and when I opened them, behold, gorgeous jet black wax with jet black wicks! Ugh, how do they do this?!! I've been struggling with creating black wax for far too long and I need help! The struggle is real. ? Edited December 8, 2016 by jfear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Does the smell come with all of your dyes? I use liquid from peak (and another I need to get to the shop to remember). I don't notice a smell in my waxes. The dyes have worked for me in soy and beeswax (pillars and tapers). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Are you using straight paraffin, or a container blend? I've never been able to get black in my container blend, only in my pillars. The only time I got black in my containers is when I mixed my straight paraffin with my container blend, however, I couldn't get the wicking right, so I gave up on black... I use Peak dyes as well, and initially they do have that "dye" smell, but completely dissipate after setting up, and have no effect on my fragrances... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfear Posted December 8, 2016 Author Share Posted December 8, 2016 1 hour ago, TallTayl said: Does the smell come with all of your dyes? I use liquid from peak (and another I need to get to the shop to remember). I don't notice a smell in my waxes. The dyes have worked for me in soy and beeswax (pillars and tapers). I use the liquid from Peak. It's weird because I once managed to make a successful batch without the smell but it seems so hit or miss for me. I may try another supplier and see if it makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfear Posted December 8, 2016 Author Share Posted December 8, 2016 39 minutes ago, Jcandleattic said: Are you using straight paraffin, or a container blend? I've never been able to get black in my container blend, only in my pillars. The only time I got black in my containers is when I mixed my straight paraffin with my container blend, however, I couldn't get the wicking right, so I gave up on black... I use Peak dyes as well, and initially they do have that "dye" smell, but completely dissipate after setting up, and have no effect on my fragrances... I'm using my wax tart blend 80/20-4786/4625. I'm going to try straight 4625 and see if I can make black successfully. I'm wondering if my 4786 just doesn't like black dye! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 This may sound strange at first but have you ever tried mixing purple dye chips with your liquid black dye to get black? I know I can get a deep purple with dye chips in my container palm then add a few drops of liquid black dye to make it a deeper darker purple. I have not tried it for straight black but it seems to me if you can start off with a dark color you might be able to turn that into a nice black. Worth a try I think. My apologies in advance if this doesn't work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 45 minutes ago, Candybee said: This may sound strange at first but have you ever tried mixing purple dye chips with your liquid black dye to get black? I know I can get a deep purple with dye chips in my container palm then add a few drops of liquid black dye to make it a deeper darker purple. I have not tried it for straight black but it seems to me if you can start off with a dark color you might be able to turn that into a nice black. Worth a try I think. My apologies in advance if this doesn't work. OHHH, I actually have done that before, and it does work... It's been a long time since I've done it though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 (edited) My other thought would be to find a wax or wax blend with as little opaqueness to it as you can find. Seems to me the more opaque it is the harder to dye it black. You would need to find the MSDS ? sheets on the wax to find the correct analysis on the wax. I know some paraffins are clearer or more opaque than others. Not sure if soy waxes have the same values. Definitely sure that palm waxes due. For example glass glow palm colors so easily I have to cut my dye chips into quarter pieces while with crystal palm I have to use at least twice the amount of dye before I can get the same deep color as the glass glow. Edited December 8, 2016 by Candybee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfear Posted December 8, 2016 Author Share Posted December 8, 2016 1 hour ago, Candybee said: This may sound strange at first but have you ever tried mixing purple dye chips with your liquid black dye to get black? I know I can get a deep purple with dye chips in my container palm then add a few drops of liquid black dye to make it a deeper darker purple. I have not tried it for straight black but it seems to me if you can start off with a dark color you might be able to turn that into a nice black. Worth a try I think. My apologies in advance if this doesn't work. Thank you and yes, I actually have tried this but with blue. It worked somewhat but I was still left with some chip residue. I ordered hunter green chips a few days ago and I'm going to give it a try since it's darker. Now I'll have to try purple as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 IGI1343 is a translucent paraffin wax for pillars/votives. Maybe try a sample of this. CS carries it and has some of the technical info sheets on it. I forget the website that shows you how to read the technical data... maybe that's the NCA site. Anyway, you want to get some translucent wax in you mix I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfear Posted December 8, 2016 Author Share Posted December 8, 2016 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Candybee said: IGI1343 is a translucent paraffin wax for pillars/votives. Maybe try a sample of this. CS carries it and has some of the technical info sheets on it. I forget the website that shows you how to read the technical data... maybe that's the NCA site. Anyway, you want to get some translucent wax in you mix I would think. I actually have some 1343 in the basement I'm going to try; the opacity thing makes sense because my 4786 is about as opaque as you can get. I'll let you know how it turns out! Edited December 8, 2016 by jfear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 1 minute ago, jfear said: Thank you and yes, I actually have tried this but with blue. It worked somewhat but I was still left with some chip residue. I ordered hunter green chips a few days ago and I'm going to give it a try since it's darker. Now I'll have to try purple as well! The trick with dye chips is to heat your wax higher than 185. I would go with 190 - 195 F. For example when I make my palm candles I heat to 200F + because the wax requires that and the dye chips just melt away in that heat. But I have also done as low as 195 and had the same success melting the dye chips. I believe your paraffin waxes can tolerate a heating point of 195 just to mix in the dye. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfear Posted December 8, 2016 Author Share Posted December 8, 2016 1 minute ago, Candybee said: The trick with dye chips is to heat your wax higher than 185. I would go with 190 - 195 F. For example when I make my palm candles I heat to 200F + because the wax requires that and the dye chips just melt away in that heat. But I have also done as low as 195 and had the same success melting the dye chips. I believe your paraffin waxes can tolerate a heating point of 195 just to mix in the dye. Excellent, I will try this. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Another suggestion re the dye chips, you can cut them in halves or quarters before you toss in the wax pot to melt them. They will melt twice as fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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