Black Candle

[grama]

I need to color a candle black and all I can come up with using 5 drops of candlewic black to 8 oz paraffin is a gray color. Afraid to use to much - may clog wick. Anyone have any suggestions? tia

[Wick'n'Wax]

What about overdipping in black?

[TwinMom]

I had to make 200 black votives for a wedding last summer and used Voyageur Soap and Candles black dye and used a few drops and they came out BLACK.....if you look in the candle gallery under a whole bunch of candles you can see the black votives...HTH

[RobinInOR]

For straight paraffin I've got to use 10-12 drops of black. Never could get it to burn properly - you're right, it does clog a bit. Sometimes you can get by that by testing a larger wick. Sometimes you luck out where it won't clog, and also not give you too large a flame or too hot a burn.

The fewer additives the paraffin has, the easier it is to get black. I was using IGI 1343.

[Scented]

Takes me up to 15-16 with no wick clogging in paraffin.

[Laura]

i use BCN's black powder and have no issues with wick clogging. hth!

[grama]

Thanks guys - might try the black dye twinmom was talking about. These are 26oz apoth jars and they are layered - 3 layers. For friends wedding and husband to be is Harley guy so have to have the black, she is a purple person so got to have some purple and then some fall colors thrown in! I always double wick these jars but since I am using no fo trying to single wick it so trying not to go to heavy on the dyes.

[grama]

Checked out Twinmon's place but it is in Canada and I am sure postage would be way high. Anyone else tried black from any suppliers in states that turns out truly black?

[topofmurrayhill]

Checked out Twinmon's place but it is in Canada and I am sure postage would be way high. Anyone else tried black from any suppliers in states that turns out truly black?

It often doesn't matter what kind of colorant you use. Black powder is pure dye so you don't need much. Black liquid is dye diluted in a solvent, so you need more. Use a liquid with twice the coloring power and it will also have roughly twice the wick clogging power. So basically, stick with your CW liquid for now and put in more until you get the color you want.

The type of wax is the biggest thing that affects how much dye you need. That may be what you really need to consider. Plain straight paraffin is easy to color with 10 drops pp or so. A pillar with paraffin and Vybar might take 15 to 20 drops of typical liquid. A container candle made with a single-pour wax may require even more than that, while a soy candle is truly at the outer limits of practicality. That kind of wax colors very pastel and you'd need a huge amount of dye to get beyond grey.

[grama]

Thanks Top - unless I decide to try powder I will probably just add more dye. The black layers are all on the bottom so if it doesn't burn good by then it probably won't matter much since there is no fo in it.