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Soy wax candle making problems


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Hello everyone,

I'm trying to make a soy wax candle but having some beginners difficulties which I hope you can help me with. 

I will mention that I don't know the exact type of wax I am using only that it is imported from France and it is 100% soy wax.

 

I made an attempt with some essential oil that I bought which I thought was good quality but even smelling the bottle was very unpleasant for me. But still, I made this attempt making it 7% fragrance load and the smell was so intense. The burning test was a huge failure. I tried a wooden wick, an eco 12 wick and an eco 10 wick, all of them made a tunnel after burning for an hour and the worst part was what happened after I turned it off-  it created this weird looking bubbles (photo attached).  Are you familiar with it? Do you think it happened because of a poor quality essential oil?

quantity: 1.5 pound wax which made  3 candles, 1.7 oz oil (7% fragrance load)

melting point : 176F

pouring oil at: 122F

jar: 11oz, 3.3 inch diameter 

 

The next attempt was without any oils, using a wooden wick. I just melted the wax waited for it to cool and poured it. after an hour of sitting it started to crack completely, after about 2 hours the entire wax cracked and look really bad. (photo attached- ignore the red bits, I lit it with another coloured candle). but still I waited for 24 hours and tried to lit it, by the 4th attempt it finally cached fire, burned for 5 minutes, started developing a tunnel and turned it self off. 

quantity: 0.5 pound wax which made  1 candle, no fragrance added.

melting point : 149F

pouring oil at: 122F

jar: 11oz, 3.3 inch diameter 

 

Another thing I will mention is that I live in a very hot country, the room was very warm for the second attempt, unfortunately I can't remember if the air conditioning was on when I made the first attempt. 

 

I bought some pure high quality essential oils, in a very small amount just to try again. but if you have any insights on what went so incredibly wrong with all 4 candles or any suggestions on what to do differently. I would love to hear.

 

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Thank you!

Dina

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Without knowing the exact soy product we’re shooting into the dark. But... let’s assume it is a true “naked” soy with no additives for this thread just so we can start a discussion. We can always tweak as we learn more about the wax.

 

naked soy wax, like GB 415 and American Soy/enchanted Lites  Midwest Soy contain no soy additives.  Most soy waxes on the market contain additives to combat the irregularities that plague soy waxes.  They can be soy based additives, so the wax can be claimed as “pure soy”.

 

What temp did you heat the wax to, and what temp was it when you poured the jar? Soy waxes (all waxes really) have a sweet spot temp range for a successful candle.)

 

it looks like the wax in that jar was poured possibly too hot, causing irregular shrinkage as it cooled. It could have cooled too fast or too slowly, without knowing more it is difficult to tell. The internal cracking visible through the glass is not one I usually see. Internal air pockets (cavities) explain the bubbling in the melt pool and the disappearance of the liquid wax after extinguishing. To fix this candle, i’d Poke quite a few holes around the wick and either pour more wax into the voids, or heat gun to melt the wax at the top into the voids.  Those internal cavities can take quite a bit to fill, so pouring might be the solution here. Chances are, if this wax has no additives you will begin to see frosting (graininess) on the outside as the temps change within the candle and in your living space. 

 

Wooden wicks come in many different materials, thicknesses and chemical treatments. It is helpful to know the manufacturer, thickness, witch, etc as not all work in every wax.  Wood wicks are the most challenging of all wicks to learn and master. Wicks from the same packet may perform very differently in the same wax just because of moisture content, growing conditions of the tree, etc.. I always treat my wooden wicks with hot wax to minimize variances as much as humanly possible. All I do is soak the wicks in the hot wax of the melter until all of the little fizzy bubbles stop. That lets me know the air is mostly out of the veins within the wick so wax can move through.

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