Making your own wax blend

[audreyb0t]

Hey there candle comrades

 

I am very curious and tempted to enter the world of creating your own wax blend, but I do have some questions before I get into the whole thing.

 

It sounds like this has been the answer to people experiencing issues from batch to batch of their original, pre-blended wax of inconsistencies, but does blending your own wax avoid this problem? For example, if you are still purchasing from a manufacturer or supplier, could that wax in question not also experience inconsistences from batch to batch?

 

If I do choose to experiment and create my own best fit wax blend, what specific waxes (ex. 464, pure beeswax, etc) or guidelines do you suggest I start with? I can't imagine that i can simply slap any two waxes together and call it a day, and surely there are some waxes that take to blending much better than others.

 

I hope my questions and reasoning made sense. Thanks in advance!

[TallTayl]

This is a humongous technical topic. You can technically make a candle fuel out of anything that will burn.  It won’t necessarily burn well or safely, but it can be done.

 

the biggest variable of wax formulations is the raw materials themselves.  We’ve seen such wild ranges of “acceptable” in individual components that the combined waxes made by the big guys are entirely different despite being the same “recipe”. Of course they need to work with market availability and reformulate readily when ingredients become scarce or too costly. 

 

I encourage everyone with the patience and means to experiment. Decide the type of candle (container, pillar, taper, etc) and how you need them to perform, then work from there.  What type of environment do you need them to withstand (outdoor craft shows in the summer, shipping in various climates, etc). Take excellent notes.

i study patents for technical leads. Once you learn to read the patents you have a good starting point to see if the formulation is as good as they claim, or also a bit of crap with a pretty paper.

[Laura C]

On 8/9/2023 at 10:03 PM, TallTayl said:

I encourage everyone with the patience and means to experiment. Decide the type of candle (container, pillar, taper, etc) and how you need them to perform, then work from there.  What type of environment do you need them to withstand (outdoor craft shows in the summer, shipping in various climates, etc). Take excellent notes.

 

Yes, that is excellent advice. Audrey, you won't ever regret taking detailed notes. Quality candle making is time consuming and sometimes frustrating, especially when having to deal with difficult waxes or fragrance oils. It's what you make it, I try to make it fun and like a science experiment. Good luck, have fun testing.

[audreyb0t]

Oh

 

I am more on the newer side of this compared to people who have been working with waxes for 20+ years yes, but I'm more of an intermediate study (3+ years) and I do take more notes than I can really keep track of but also yes it is excellent advice to anyone wanting to expand their borders I agree. This is just a disclaimer to set aside the pre notion that I'm a pyromanic that wants to set a record of setting as many homes on fire as possible 😎

 

This post was really more about theory than anything else - and the candle mother (TallTayl) seemed to address some of the issue at hand: in order to "remove" the inconsistencies found in batch to batch of your chosen (singular) wax formulation like 464, 6006, EC-26, etc. you need to actually understand and read the patents involved in individual selected waxes in order to ensure a custom made waxes consistency, I think. Maybe I interpreted her words incorrectly, maybe I didn't explain myself very well.

 

In any case, if I want to be more descriptive of my issue, I am trying to move away from relying on one wax. I work with container candles. I want to minimize the ninja sinkholes and sweating that soy seems to like doing so much while having an attractive looking wax with good glass adhesion. I do have 'backup' waxes that I use but I'm playing with the idea of creating an original blend made by myself and wanted some tips to head in a more informed direction. For example, after scouring this dinosaurish, yet well loved, site for blend recommendations, 464 was recommended if you wanted to add soy to your custom blend because it supposedly 'plays well' with other waxes. Hopefully this clarifies my post a bit.

 

I do appreciate this site and have found quite a few gold nuggets over the years by many of the users here! It's been a godsend when starting candle making from scratch.

 

[NightLight]

464 doesn’t always play well with other waxes. Best is naked soy like 415 which is additive free IMHO.

Blending can take a long time to get what you want, and there are a million waxes and additives to achieve candle nirvana

Ask me how I know

[TallTayl]

I wanted to stay away from polymorphic waxes, like soy, in my custom blend.  For container candles, you have so many options.  I even tested out hydrogenation powders like what are used in the food and beauty industry.  I would come close to something I liked, that would ultimately fail some crucial step.  It is fun though.

 

I discovered additives and proportion starting points  while reading patents.  One patent for sunflower margarine was a big jumping off point for ingredients to form a gel when burning versus a swampy pool.  
 

Most common candle waxes seem to be hydrogenated vegetable oils. I don’t have access to a hydrogenation, so I took a different path.