Questions for candlemaking with limited resources

[lakim40]

Hello!

Just started experimenting with candle making. Live in a developing country (former Soviet country) with little access to all the materials available in the US. A few questions:

1. Is it possible to make your own cotton core wicks? if so, how?

2. We melted some available long thin candles and poured them into a container. The candles were white but looked clear instead of opaque after they were set. How can we change this? I think it will be fine if we add color?

3. Does anyone know how/if we can manufacture our own wax? I ordered a soykit from the States and had great success, but we can't order from the States all the time like that!

There is potentially a really big market here for decorative candles! Anyone interested in "adopting" us?

[SatinDucky]

Welcome to CT

I honestly don't believe you can make your own cotton core wicks. Nor can wax be handmade, unless you could possibly become a beekeeper and strain/refine your own beeswax. I really don't know anything about beeswax, so I don't know how hard or complicated that would be. As for soy or paraffin, you're pretty much out of luck.

The tapers you melted down may have just had the white just on the outside layer. Inexpensive tapers here are often done that way. They're made out of uncolored wax, then over dipped in a different color.

You should be able to color it ok. But you do have to use an oil based candle color. If you just want to experiment with the wax you poured in the jar, you could try adding some crayon shavings to the melted wax. You would need to use quality crayons or at least ones that have ... (grrrr... what's the word I'm looking for) high concentration of pigment in them. Basically the ones that don't look like just barely tinted wax when you color on paper. You'll want to use very little though, because the pigment can clog the wick. If your trying to wick that jar, you might try using the taper wicks that came out of the candle. Depending on the size, double wicking may work. It's really hard to guess not knowing the sizes or content. Mind you, the suggestions are very general, and intended for you own use experimentation, just to give you something to play around with what you have on hand.

If you want to make quality candles that burn properly, you will need to buy quality supplies. I don't know much about overseas, but is there any other country closer than the US that you could possibly order supplies from? I wish I could help you, but I really don't know how :undecided

[Amberlei]

Here are directions for making your own candle wicks from cotton string. http://www.endtimesreport.com/making_candles.html I haven't tried this but just might.

Still researching how to make your own candle wax.

[Cetacea]

Since you are in Eastern Europe it might be easier to order supplies from the UK rather than the US.

If you run a search on google for UK candle supplies there are lots of sites and shipping might be cheaper from England than from say Pennsylvannia...LOL.

As for making your own wax, unless you filter beeswax, you are out of luck without manufacturing equipment. Soy wax is refined soy bean oil usually mixed with cottonseed oil. Paraffin wax is refined from crude oil. You can get bayberry wax, just boil the berries of the bayberry shrub, the wax will appear as a thin layer on top of the boiling water. Palm wax is also refined from palm oil from the inner pulp of the plant.

My suggestion would be to search for candle supplies close to you as shipping would be cheaper and you won't have to exchange currency.

If you are dead set on getting supplies from the US, here is a link for suppliers by state. I would suggest a state on the Eastern seaboard as opposed to one in the middle of the US.

http://www.candleandsoapstuff.com/Suppliers_by_State.html

[lakim40]

Thanks to all of you for your help! We were actually able to find beeswax (!) and we've been experimenting with melting beeswax and the candles we have here together, plus coloring with crayons. They look pretty nice, but we'll see how they burn.

[sudsnwicks]

Welcome to the board! :wave:Here in US we often take it for granted because supplies are so readily available. If we can't find it in a store in town we can order it online from one of the numerous suppliers. But I know in many other countries, especially those where doing crafts isn't popular, it may be difficult of even impossible to find every ingredient, especially specialized items like vybar (wax and wick are easier). Good luck to you in candle making and in finding all the supplies you need!

[KristinesShower]

As far as coloring with crayons, your wicks will get clogged and they will go out every time. Ask me how I know lol

You would be better off coloring with a liquid colorant or color blocks instead.