New to this all and need help :)

[drcobane]

Hi

First off let me start with saying WOW. I am a long time candle user and new to the idea of making my own stuff. So I will try to be as clear as I can be but I am so new to this.

I am interested in making candles because one I love candles over the last year spent close to 300 buying them and figured since I buy only hand made that it has to be cheaper to make them myself. With that said what is the best way to get started? What is the best medium for a new candle maker? What tools are the ones I need off the bat and then in order of preference which ones I should upgrade too later? Right now most the candles I have are Parafin based with a few Soy ones.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Sean

Novice Candle tech in training

Expert Computer tech

[Sara]

...and figured since I buy only hand made that it has to be cheaper to make them myself.

Oh, Sean, how wrong you are.

First off, welcome. Second, have to break it to you that it is MUCH more expensive to make a good candle than buy one. If you've found a handmade candle that you like - stock up!! Many of us have spent thousands of dollars in supplies getting our formula right and perfecting our candles. So I wouldn't get into this to save money.

Not to dissuade you But if you'd like to make candles, a starter pack is a good route to go on. What did you have in mind? Containers or pillars?

Follow this link to Starter Packs.

[cindylou]

First you need to decide what type of candles you want to make...pillars, containers, etc. I would stick with one type till you get it down. Peaks sells starter kits you may want to check out. www.peakcandle.com

[Vicky_CO]

First thing first if you are getting in to this with the main reason that you think it is cheaper to make them then buying them you are in for a very large surprize. Candlemaking is one of the most expensive hobbies I have ever done. $300 is just a drop in the bucket to what most of us spend on this hobby in a year.

Now after that if you are still interest I suggesyt a good candle kit to start with Peak candle supplies www.peakcandle.com has some very good starter kits and some wonderful books that will get you started.

[gloworm]

Definitely not cheap to get into candle making. LOL. Thousands spent in last few months. Fragrances are addicting!!

[drcobane]

Thank you both.

I typically candle wise like the standard shapes Square 3x3 and 2x9 round pilars. I dont know enough about the waxes to say which I like better to me they both burn and lately my candle maker I buy from her scents have been weakening/

I seen peaks website that is how I got a link to here.

I mean if this was a computer I could do it in my sleep and one hand tied behind my back. So peaks starter kits are good start then?

I figure between experimenting and perfecting I figure I would be spending between shipping and such about 3000 to make a few stellar candles and lots of experiments

Let me rephrase cheaper no but better and more timely I consider waiting a week for someone to ship what was awesome but now is shwaggy not good.

Oils I know about that I have in spades I got about 5k in bottle ranging from 12 ounce upto 32 ounce. of the scents I like all less then a month old.

[gottabt]

Oh my - cheaper it is not - just ask my credit card. It is great for airline miles but not much else. I agree with everyone else - get a started kit but beware - this is a passion and it will get you

[Bev]

I figure between experimenting and perfecting I figure I would be spending between shipping and such about 3000 to make a few stellar candles and lots of experiments

EASILY! I've already spent enough to have taken a European vacation!

[von691]

They definitely aint cheaper. You will find that you get addicted fast. Try Peaks sample packs. As for not throwing well you may be getting candle nose with the scents that you are getting from her. Try some new ones.

You have alot of testing to get the right wicks and wax, and scent. Good Luck!

[drcobane]

Thank you all!

Wow, I feel like when I was learningg to build my own pc's.

I have about 5k in perfume quality cold pressed oils in scents I like. In your collective experiences is there any problem with EO of the cold pressed variety and candle making? Also is there a newbie wax? I think I am going to go with the pilar kit from peaks because I do like pillars.

Now with soap and perfume making only certian dyes and colorings can be used is that the same case with candles?

[Ashlie K]

The starter kit would be the best bet since it comes with everything you need.

I agree with EVERYONE when they say "THIS IS NOT A CHEAP HOBBY"

In order to make this you have to get this, that, and the other. LOL

[Donita]

Welcome to the board. We here are a little crazy. Making candles on the scale that we do is because we love to do it. I still (after more than 10 years) still get excited to get up in the morning and run over to the studio to unmold a new candle and see what it looks like. This eventually will save you money, but when you buy ready made candles you have a lot to choose from. When you make your own, it will take a really long time to learn how to make them all. Buy a Peaks starter kit. Follow the directions to the letter and you should have good results. Write down what you did. Date it....I promise you that it will come in handy...I look at my old 3 x 5 cards and laugh.....I have changed my formulas sooooooooooooo many times.....it is an ongoing experiment....oh, and BTW....did anyone tell you that weather makes a difference????? I still love to play with wax....it is a fun medium and if your candle doesn't look the way you want it....remelt and start over......if they are just for you right now you will love anything that your two little hands created. I do. As far as the cost.....I have given a lot of money to Barnes and Noble......I have so many candle, soap and how to paint books that I could open a used book store. Those books aren't cheap. I taught candlemaking in my store. I had the entire basement for a work studio space. My daughter helped me and we had so much fun. My first customer was 6 years old......Her mother came with her and signed a permission slip....then she came back again with her father and they bought a kit from me and she made Christmas presents for all of their relatives. I still have that signed slip on my refrigerator in the studio. So.....if she could learn to do it....so can you.....her candles were actually very nice....they were chunkies. I did that on purpose because I let the kids pour very cool and place cut out embeds of their choice with whatever color chunks they wanted. That is a good place to start. With chunks. The molds don't leak because the wax is so cool by the time it hits the wick hole. Being that we poured them cool.....it was only about 20 minutes in a water bath and they were ready to unmold and be on their way. If you don't want to spend a lot of money on books....do what I do....sit on the floor at Barnes and Noble and read....I kick off my high heels and make myself comfy and meet all kinds of nice people. Good luck..... Donita

[Henryk]

Sean,

EOs, whether distilled, expressed, or extracted, IMHO, are a waste in candles simply because of their expense. That's not to say that they are not used, but you aren't going to get the throw (hot or cold) that you will get with synthetic oils (some synthetics actually have EOs in them, but you get a better throw with them because the synthetics act as "carriers" for the EO). There was also something I read about burning EOs releases "Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons", then there's the concerns about pregnancy, and other conditions.

Hopefully the archive of the old board will come up soon - there were a few long discussions about this there.

EDIT: Wanted to add, since candles aren't applied in any way to skin like bath/body products, you don't have to worry about skin and body safe requirements. Naturally you can't use anything water-based. Just use candle-specific dyes, and since you are using paraffin you won't have a couple of the other concerns like you have with soy or gel candles, so your choice really comes down to preference and what works for you.

[drcobane]

Donita

great advice. Thank you i read one of your other posts and that is what happened to the last 5 candles I bought and why I am getting into it. I figure 13k as a part time hobby should be enough to start off with.

With that said is there a spot on this site to cretique (sp) recipes? Whether makes a difference? Explain this a little more because here in Colorado we are very dry and high up in the air. I also visit White Marsh Virginia which is in Glouster county Court house area I know the humidity is opressive out there.

Donita since you have books in and out of print which ones are some you recomend? I could probably pick you brain for hours.

As far as writing stuf down hands down that is important. I do this everytime when I do computer work. In candle making what are my target items?

so far here is my list

Wax used

Tempeature

weight

Mold

Time

Size of wick

fragrance

any additives used

results

Picture

[drcobane]

Sean,

EOs, whether distilled, expressed, or extracted, IMHO, are a waste in candles simply because of their expense. That's not to say that they are not used, but you aren't going to get the throw (hot or cold) that you will get with synthetic oils (some synthetics actually have EOs in them, but you get a better throw with them because the synthetics act as "carriers" for the EO).

Hopefully the archive of the old board will come up soon - there were a few long discussions about this there.

EDIT: Wanted to add, since candles aren't applied in any way to skin like bath/body products, you don't have to worry about skin and body safe requirements. Naturally you can't use anything water-based. Just use candle-specific dyes, and since you are using paraffin you won't have a couple of the other concerns like you have with soy or gel candles, so your choice really comes down to preference and what works for you.

Great thank you!!!!

This is making it even easier. Exspense wise not to concerned because as I stated it is for a hobby not business but I want to make the best I can. You all here have helped in many ways. The Synth oils are way cheaper that gives me hope.

Sean

[SnowCow]

i will recommend two types of wax to begin with to make pillars.

IGI 1343 - a straight paraffin and very versatile. You can add different additives to obtain different effects. Vybar (there are 2 types, both sold by peaks i think), stearic or stearine, universal additive (UA) and UV inhibitor (helps prevent fading) are typical additives. the supplier's website will list suggested amounts to use. Start there and then play around with adding more or less of different ones and see what pops out of the mold. I swear, it's like getting a present when you are a kid b/c you can see the "wrapper" aka mold and you're just not sure what is inside!

IGI 4625 - this is a pre-blend paraffin wax. It creates very solid colored candles and it can be a challenge to get dark candles, but not impossible. I think the only thing you need to add is UV inhibitor (usually just called UV).

good you have extra $$ you can invest. this is so much fun and there are so many different things you can make. too bad you didn't get here before the old board crashed. there were thousands of pictures that were absolutely inspiring and lots of information for newbies on where to start.

btw, we are crazy and have horrible spelling!

welcome!

[drcobane]

SNow it is not a matter of having spare money it is I know this is expensive and planed my second job around supporting this.

Good to know about the parafin codes and uv

You guys and gals are to cool for words

[hawaiiansun]

Oh my - cheaper it is not - just ask my credit card. It is great for airline miles but not much else. I agree with everyone else - get a started kit but beware - this is a passion and it will get you

ah so well said it is a passion and then you go to the gallery and see all the beautiful creations and OMG the passion becomes an OBSESSION cause you just know you can do that too and the next oh and now you want to try something new, ohhhh I"m having so much fun I think I'm deleriously (where's the spell check) happy or nuts

[Scented]

The only thing I would add is trying the craft first and deciding if it what you want to do rather than put $ into it only to find you just don't have an interest ... regardless of the amount of $ you have.

With candle dyes, you don't want to use water-based coloring like food coloring in wax. The dyes come in a variety of forms, chips, blocks, powders and liquids. You'd probably get more bang for your buck using liquids, but it will be a matter of testing them in your wax to get the color you're seeking.

One of the books I've always enjoyed was the encyclopedia of candlemaking techniques by LEA and I think most candle equipment sites carry it. Aside from books, reading and researching on boards has been invaluable.

Welcome to this board

[drcobane]

Yeah I am finding so much info on this site and from what I heard this is all mostly new because of a crash

I figured it out I have 4 test subject and myself. All of us dont have have candle making but know what candles are supposed to do.

Great thank you again

[Trish]

First off, welcome to the board! I'm a little behind in answering (darn east coasters get up so early, lol)

Pillars are addicting, fun, creative. I would recommend the 1343a also, you can create many different techniques with this wax, just by slightly changing the additives.

Good luck!

[drcobane]

Thank you trish

Yes pilars allow for interesting interior designs

That is why I figure even if it costs me 20k to get the results I want I will learn one of the forgotten arts.

[Trish]

Thank you trish

Yes pilars allow for interesting interior designs

That is why I figure even if it costs me 20k to get the results I want I will learn one of the forgotten arts.

I'm interested to see what you come up with! Be sure to post some pics in the gallery!!

[drcobane]

I definetly will.

When writing down what you did to make your creation what are the key items (I want to be thorough but dont want to write a book on one candle either 2 120 gig hard drives will fill up)

I am intrigued by the cold pour I like the color styles and I also like chunks.

[AngelaVA]

I use the candle test sheet from http://www.candlecauldron.com/ (pink tab on the right hand side)

I modified it a little to suit my needs, but it has all the basic information you should keep track of.