Double checking to make sure my measurements are right ??!!!

[willow candle]

Double checking to make sure I am understanding this right...

Ok I am making 2 (4oz) tins... I have weighted them and the liquid weight that will fit into the tins is 3.2 (each one) So a total of 6.4 oz

Now I want to make my candles 7% load, Using 2 different waxes one at 80% and one at 20%, I am adding 3% BW... Ok this is what I came up with

4.61 oz of 1st wax (80%)

1.15 oz 2nd wax (20%)

.44 oz FO (7%)

.2 oz BW (3%

___________

6.4 oz total weight

IS THIS RIGHT

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR HELP.....

[candlemandave]

First, if you go to the basic instructions section of this site, they have calculators that may help you.

Also, if you have microsoft excel, I can create a file for you that you can easily use. It is what I use and I have it set up to where all I have to do is type in the numbers and it instantly figures out everything.

VERY IMPORTANT

Water and wax are different chemically which means in this case they will weigh differently. even two different waxes can weigh differently, so don't base your measurements by water.

Image this...you start with a lb of candle wax (ie all your stuff blended) which is 16oz's and you pour into a container. If you weigh whatever you have left in the pouring pot and subtract this from 16, then you know approximately what your container held.

So...I started with 16oz's and poured my candle.

I am left with 6 oz's in my pot. Then, I know my

container weighed about 10oz's.

16oz (what I began with)

- 6oz (what is left in the pot)

____________

10oz what my jar holds

Now, you can take the same size jar you poured into, in this example the jar that held 10oz's and figure what your wax to water ratio is...bare with me

If you pour 9oz of water in your jar, then you know that for this blend, 9oz of water is equal to 10oz of your wax blend. I would give you the more detailed math formula to get it more accurate, but this is a good place to start..

finally, don't go by what the jars say they hold, because it is not accurate to the candle weight. I knew a guy that sold "32" oz candles and the only reason he said so is that they were made in jars that said 32oz capacity. The wax content was only 26oz and he was forced to alter his marketing.

[topofmurrayhill]

4.61 oz of 1st wax (80%)

1.15 oz 2nd wax (20%)

.44 oz FO (7%)

.2 oz BW (3%

___________

6.4 oz total weight

The amounts came out right, but I think you would want to express it a little differently, especially for the benefit of people reading this. In percentage formulas, the percentages always add up to 100%, which in this case they don't. The problem is just in the way you wrote it. Here's what you are really doing.

Candle Mixture:

90% wax = 6.4 x .90 = 5.76 oz

7% fragrance = 6.4 x .07 = 0.45 oz

3% beeswax = 6.4 x .03 = 0.19 oz

(total = 6.4 oz = 100%)

Wax Mixture:

80% wax A = .80 x 5.76 = 4.61 oz

20% wax B = .20 x 5.76 = 1.15 oz

(total = 5.76 = 100%)

The numbers in boldface are the ones to weigh out for your candle. The numbers in blue show how we handled the 80/20 wax blend.

Dave had some concerns about how you came up with the 6.4 oz net weight for the candles. If you can't weigh a finished candle, you can weigh the container with and without water. The water weight won't be the same as the candle mixture because it has a different density, but for soy candles you can multiply it by 0.9 to get a reasonable approximation. So if your water weighed 3.2 oz on the scale, the net weight of the candle will be more like 2.9 oz.