Hello...first post here, and a question...

[BrySC]

Hey everyone. I enjoyed reading through pages and pages of the posts here. I learned a lot from the discussions. But I didn't see many discussions on color. I'm new to this, and I have no idea how to make the different colors. For example, I want to make a garnet color, but I don't know what colors combine to make garnet. Is there an easy way to tell what you need to put together to get certain colors? I thought I'd give it a shot so I used red and brown, but it came out kinda orangish. I searched on the net for information, but didn't find much.

So, how do y'all know which colors combine to make other colors?

Thanks so much!

[Kaybee23]

They do make a color wheel. Only thing is that some of the waxes are more opaque while some are more transulscent, so your colors may be a little off. What some people do is add your colors a little at a time, until you get what you think is close, then put it on a white paperplate or a little dixie cup and cool it. I usually do mine in the freezer. That will give you a good idea of what your color is going to be. Then you can add additional color as necessary. For the garnet color you are trying to get, I would try adding a little black to your red, that will deepen it. Really, alot of it for me is guessing, and trial and error. It took me forever to get a nice red in my soy.

p.s. Welcome to the board:D

[Janette]

I think you might have been on the right track with the red & brown combination. Perhaps you just didn't have the right brown. There are many, many browns. Try a brown that is less orange based. Some browns are pinkish at very dilluted levels, this tone may work better. You may find a tiny bit of blue is needed also. Hope this helps.

Cheers

Janette

[BrySC]

Thanks so much for the suggestions. So it really IS just trial and error? I expected to have to test a few things, but for some colors I wouldn't know where to begin. Do any of you use a color wheel? I've never even seen one, so don't know how it works. But if it's helpful, I'll definitely learn.

[Cetacea]

Thanks so much for the suggestions. So it really IS just trial and error? I expected to have to test a few things, but for some colors I wouldn't know where to begin. Do any of you use a color wheel? I've never even seen one, so don't know how it works. But if it's helpful, I'll definitely learn.

Wal-Mart carries them in the "artist" section for about $2.00 or so for the small ones, the large ones are $4 I think.

The easiest way to test for a color is to put a white peice of paper under a bit of wax paper (or if you are working on a white table, just put down the wax paper). Carefully place a few drops of your colored wax onto the wax paper and wait for it to cool. Its called a Drop Test. Keep in mind that depending on your wax (container or votive/pillar plus additives) the actual color of your candle may be a shade darker or lighter.

For Garnet you want to do a dark raspberry color, heavy on red, light on blue. Keep playing around with the ratio's doing a drop test after every addition. Start light and then go dark when you've got the color combo.

HTH.

[topofmurrayhill]

Here's a link you might find helpful, as far as it goes. http://www.gellycandle.com/ColorChart.html

You could possibly base your garnet on the burgundy formula.

There are a couple of ways you can go with color. Buy basic colors and learn how to mix them, or buy some handy pre-mixed colors. Personally I've done a combination of both and increased my aptitude with colors gradually. It's good to have a color wheel around whether you pick it up all the time or just occasionally.

[Connie]

Oh my that chart is great. Thanks.

[BrySC]

Wow, y'all sure are friendly and helpful. Now if I can only get y'all to do my taxes. I'm going to check out a color wheel soon.

[Dee]

Welcome.

If you look on the sidebar on this site, there are color mixing ideas and there is a color wheel. Hope this is helful.

www.cierracandles.com/

[Crafty1_AJ]

Yes, I did use a color wheel when I was starting out. I found it VERY helpful, and I could usually achieve whatever color I was going for by using it.

[Scented]

Well I assume you're going for a rich red? You can get a blood red with a drop of brown in the red. I wouldn't go more than that, but then I saw this:

While most people assume that all garnet stones are red, they can actually be any of the following: purple, red, orange, yellow, green, brown, black, or colorless.

And the pix I was looking at looked like red with a purplish tint to it, so you might try the amount of red you're comfy with and add a drop of purple.

Pix of garnet stone I was looking at is here: http://www.aboutgems.org/Garnet.php?keyword=garnet-color&engine=google&contextual=no

[KFTS]

be sure to keep good notes of how many drops of each color gives you what results. It really helps, so even if it wasn't the shade of blue you wanted for one particular candle, might work well on another.