Jeana Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 I ran into a website the other day that said they color their candles with natural colorants, such as alkanet, annato, beet, and so on. I was going to share it but I forgot to bookmark it and can't find it. I have used many of these to color soap, but I was wondering if anyone has tried this with candles. Most of the time the color is blended with oil or water when it is added to soap. I just can't see how these types of colors would mix with the wax. I may try some just for kicks. I have a thing of beet powder calling my name. If anyone else knows about this I would love to hear more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottopus Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Information from the old board:soy wax candles...all natural??? With regard to coloring... To the best of my knowledge, there are no commercially available natural coloring agents in the United States for candlemaking. Vegetable dyes are used overseas, particularly in the textile industry, but they are not available here. A couple of years ago, I steeped a pound each of soy container wax with 1). a bunch of used coffee grinds, and 2). the tops of carrots. The colors I got were BEAUTIFUL. The perfect tan, the gorgeous sage. The downside? It was incredibly time consuming and laborious. And naturally, the candles smelled of coffee and grass when I burned them. I did not add FO as I wanted to see what would happen. Given the relative strength of the aroma, I would bet that you'd have to overcompensate for it and add more FO than you normally would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeana Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 That is interesting. My main interest for this is to get some dark colors more compatible with the soy. Sometimes going really dark I can get frosting from the colors. Last night I tried to use some things like the beet powder. It mostly sank to the bottom. The color was really pretty. I wish there was a way to thoroughly breakdown the color in the wax. I also did a pearl blue mica. It did better but still had more color on the bottom. Actually the info you gave me has the website I was talking about in my original post. If anyone is interested here it is.http://www.portalmarket.com/torch.htmlThis looks so cool but I can't figure out how they do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinInOR Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Those look really nice! I've tried coloring with herbs before, but never had much luck. But I've got more hanging around now from my soaps, so maybe I'll need to give it a try.I'd expect with the powders you could cook it "infuse" it in your presto, but I'd strain it as much as possible so it would burn better. Hmm....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 I'm guessing the colors are achieved by steeping, and straining. Sounds like it could be messy at first, but i bet you could get a system down!Gretchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absyrtus Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Here's what I use... I've had good results. I talked to her on the phone, and although she refuses to tell me the name of her supplier, she did say that the dyes are all natural minerals, without any artifical carrier oils added. I got them figurign they were better than nothing.helps to put the link.... http://www.gellycandle.com/SoyWaxSuppliesDyes.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeana Posted September 21, 2005 Author Share Posted September 21, 2005 Here's what I use... I've had good results. I talked to her on the phone, and although she refuses to tell me the name of her supplier, she did say that the dyes are all natural minerals, without any artifical carrier oils added. I got them figurign they were better than nothing.helps to put the link.... http://www.gellycandle.com/SoyWaxSuppliesDyes.htm[/quoteThis is really interesting, thanks! Do they really get dark without frosting?Have you tried those natural scents? If so are they really strong? They look really tempting to try. I get so many people who want patchouli - very surprising for the area I live in - but the price on this site is really reasonable compared to straight eo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Here's what I use... I've had good results. I talked to her on the phone, and although she refuses to tell me the name of her supplier, she did say that the dyes are all natural minerals, without any artifical carrier oils added. I got them figurign they were better than nothing.She told you the liquid dyes are colored with "all natural minerals" and on the site she says the blocks are made from "all organic color pigments". I say she is either a bullsh*t artist or doesn't know what she's talking about. This is probably just powder dye dissolved in some kind of oil for the liquid and soy wax for the blocks.I'm not even saying those colorants aren't useful or desirable, since they might exclude solvent and stearic and people might like that, but I wouldn't give my business to someone who doesn't convincingly explain what they're selling or attempts to obfuscate or mislead. It's just annoying.Gosh, looks like she's repackaging someone's soy wax and selling it for over $90 a case! More evidence of the market she is after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absyrtus Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Haven't used any of her natural scents. I'm not sure what's up with the dyes. I will say that the yellow has a tendency to percipitate out... you have to shake the poo out of it every time before you use it... leading me to believe that something is different about these dyes than normal liquid dyes on the market.She does provide the MSDS's... I'm gonna look at these and see what I can find. Might lead me somewhere.Thanks,Nicholas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Haven't used any of her natural scents. I'm not sure what's up with the dyes. I will say that the yellow has a tendency to percipitate out... you have to shake the poo out of it every time before you use it... leading me to believe that something is different about these dyes than normal liquid dyes on the market.She does provide the MSDS's... I'm gonna look at these and see what I can find. Might lead me somewhere.Thanks,NicholasThank you for confirming my suspicion. This is just regular dye and she makes her own liquids (probably with Crisco base) and solid blocks (with soy wax). What confirmed it is that I know from experience the yellow dye powder is incredibly difficult to dissolve completely in oil or wax. Regular liquid dyes are made from these same substances, but in that case they are dissolved in solvent (the reason they smell bad). Anyway she is leaving out the solvent and the stearic but there's nothing natural about the color and she ought to make that clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absyrtus Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Total BS. The red dye is actually Sudan IV, a chemical that dosen't exist anywhere naturally.I wrote her a nasty letter....I really wish that my candles could be all natural, and I'd really like to use natural dyes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.