Coloring Soy Wax

[StacysScentsations(DH)]

This is my question. Do you think it matters much of you color your soy wax. It is hard for me to get vibrant coors in it or have any clue what color I will end up with. So do you think it matters if you dont color the jar candles? How about the tins, in tins you only see color on top. I wish I could figure out a way to make them white when cold an colored when hot. That would be a novelty.

[joyofsoycandle]

actually there is some dye that does that! I wish i could remember where the heck i found it before. It changes color. From one color when cold, to another when hot and melted. I think they also had another one where it was white, and then turned color when melted. Let me check into it and ill let you know what i find out!

[joyofsoycandle]

Here is one place i found, its not the place i was thinking of though. But heres one. http://www.dyes.com/products/candles.html

Anyway i always heard it was hard to get darker colors in soy. however i hear of plenty of people on here who do. Maybe they will let you know how theyve done it. I think people using liquid dyes get darker colors. I dont dye my soy candles, however im considering it. I just dont know if I want to deal with it lol.

[topofmurrayhill]

Check out http://www.barnloftcandles.com.

I haven't taken the plunge into their dyes yet but other people give good reviews. They use these for their own candles and they look pretty good!

[Laura]

the dye chips at BC get dark and vibrant colors in the EZ-Soy...here's an example of the autumn orange

the only ones i color are the holiday specials...but when i do my initial testing of fo's i color them

[Cindy/WI]

I don't color mine and have had more people tell me they were glad that I didn't b/c this way they didn't have to worry about trying to match the color with their rooms. HTH Cindy/WI

[Lorrie]

You can either color your candles or not. Some people like them not colored and some do. I guess that part is up to you.

What are you using to color your candles? Dye chips, powder, liquid dyes? I use liquid dyes in mine and to get really rich colors, well sometimes you have to put more dye in. You can also add a little black to get a really dark color.

Away for you to test what the colors will be is. Take an egg carton an put some wax into it. Let it cool and that will show you what it will look like before you pour all the container, votives or whatever. I also recommend don't add fragrance oil and then dye. It least if it is the wrong color you could use it for something else.

[Scent Cellar]

Laura, I see your label says soy blend...so are you putting an additive in the EZsoy or adding another wax to it.

[Laura]

that particular line is a para soy blend...but it's the same coloring as in the 100% ez-soy

[ChrisR]

Daph's dyes are the bomb for soy candles........great dark colors without using too much dye and compromising or clogging your wick. You have to get used to weighing everything, but once you get used to that, it's easy. I can get great Christmas greens or a true black time after time, so the colors are always consistent now!! Here's her site: http://www.barnloftcandles.com/soy_dyes.html and she so very helpful at answering any questions too!!

[Marilyn]

I am getting beyond frosting in my jars. I use EZsoy and dont mind the frosty look. But suddenly I am getting large areas of solid white. I use chips from BC and liquid dyes for soy but still get this. I get vibrant colors (on the rest of the jar!!) but am thinking of going to pastel if this doesn't clear up. Help!

[Holly]

Hi Laura,

I love your candle and the color! I also love the label and the bow around the lid. I don't make any country/primitives candles yet, but I want to offer some someday because there are a lot of people I know around here that like the country look. I am a country girl and have horses, but the inside of my house is Victorian/traditional. I do like the country look too. Again, beautiful work!

[Laura]

thank you!

[Henryk]

Daph's dyes are the bomb for soy candles........great dark colors without using too much dye and compromising or clogging your wick. You have to get used to weighing everything, but once you get used to that, it's easy. I can get great Christmas greens or a true black time after time, so the colors are always consistent now!! Here's her site: http://www.barnloftcandles.com/soy_dyes.html and she so very helpful at answering any questions too!!

So Chris,

Are these just soy-based liquid dyes? (I could have sworn some supplier a while ago was selling them.)

I'd be interested if there wasn't REALLY isn't any solvent-type smell. Is there?

Thank you.

[topofmurrayhill]

One thing you should note about these is that you have to factor in colorant when considering the oil retention of your wax. They're in a oil instead of solvent base and you use a little more by weight than liquid dye, so if you have a strongly colored candle that requires 1% colorant, that's 1% less FO you could conceivably put in. Shouldn't be a big deal unless you want a lot of color and are already using a very high FO load. However, I put off trying these when I realized how it would complicate my fine-tuned mottles.

Still seems like a neat product, especially for soy. I may give it a whirl when I have fewer projects up in the air.

[ChrisR]

So Chris,

Are these just soy-based liquid dyes? (I could have sworn some supplier a while ago was selling them.)

I'd be interested if there wasn't REALLY isn't any solvent-type smell. Is there?

Thank you.

I honestly detect no solvent-type smell whatsoever!! As for JUST soy-based liquid dyes you'd have to email Daph to ask, but I used some soy-based dyes a year or so ago and still couldn't get a good dark color without compromising my wicking. These pryme colors act nothing like that and my colors are consistant and true so far. I use them for 100% soy, a soy/paraffin blend and for my straight paraffin tapers. I had to get used to weighing everything precisely, but once I got it down pat, I have no problems at all. Daph has been right there answering any questions and straightening my butt out when I didn't comprehend something!!

[Henryk]

I weigh everything anyway - except for dye - so one more thing to weigh isn't a big deal. The selling point to me would be the solvents and smell.

I did think someone asked in another thread on these, but no answer - what is the point of getting the Fade or Base when you can just get the Plus and use less?* Or, since they are soy based - wonder if you just couldn't extend them with soy or another oil.

Thanks!

* Ah... just saw the chart. .8 of a gram for the brown plus ... I'd have to get micro scale.

[Jeana]

http://www.northstar3c.com/cgi-bin/shop2/cp-app.cgi?usr=51H5078811&rnd=4916978&rrc=N&affl=&cip=70.179.10.185&act=&aff=&pg=cat&ref=eco_dye&catstr=HOME:8

Here is a dye that is made for soy. I like it, but it does cause frosting sometimes in my containers. I don't seem to have much trouble with pillars and this color. Sometimes it can take a lot of dye to produce a dark shade.

Henry I know what you mean by the solvent smell. I recently got some new dye from candlescience that is supposed to be super concentrated. It knocks me over just to open the drawer it is in. CS assured me it won't smell like that in the candle when it is made. I'm still afraid to try it cuz I don't want to waste a candle. Does this smell really go away in the candle when it is made?

[Henryk]

The CS dyes - the couple I have, have the solvent smell like my French color dyes (actually, they smell exactly alike IMO). To answer your question, for me, I can STILL smell them in the finished candle when I use them in large amounts. In soy, I smell the solvent more, in paraffin pillars, much less. Honestly, I haven't tried the CS dyes yet, but the smell is so similar to my French dyes, and I can smell them afterwards. Like I said, in paraffin, it seems to be much less noticible to me.

I went to dye chips because they melt easier than the flakes, but now, in my reds and greens I'm getting red and yellow bits at the bottom (top) of my pillars! I have heated the wax up to 215 with no difference. So, at this point, I can't get a break - I always have some problem it seems.

Try the EVO dyes from Candlewic or the ones from JBN if they are closer to you. Last year I used liquids from JBN - they have much less of a solvent smell. I may go back to them (since they come in dropper bottles already - but the Candlewic ones are cheaper but NO glass dropper bottle). Scottopus uses the EVO from candlewic and says there is little if any odor to the ones he was using - he even pointed out that in the candlewic print catalog the wording is very simmilar to the JBN dyes - so maybe they are made by the same place ?

Found my notes for the JBN dyes:

RED, BLUE, GREEN, BROWN, WHITE - NO smell at all.

BLACK, YELLOW - *VERY* light chemically smell.

I don't know if they have been reformulated or not - the last time I had them was in December 2004/Beginning 2005. Then I went to flake, then most recently chips (except for black/brown and I still keep red/green on hand since I use those a lot).

HTH!

EDIT - The candlewic ones look like they come in a plastic dropper bottle - now me being me - I would still transfer them to bottles with droppers - or use plastic pipettes because with my luck I'd squeeze them and it would blow dye all over the place! Just mention this because if you want to factor in bottles or pipettes, the price is probably about the same I assume.

[SunshineSundries]

Just thought that I'd add my two cents here - I use Candlewic dyes and I love them! I can get colors ranging from super light pastels to nice bold colors. The only problem I've ever had was that I got a bottle of their "old" brown and it was yucky - it turned out some kinda grayish green! But to my understanding they have reformulated that one. But I don't buy brown anymore anyway. The painter in me likes to blend colors as much as possible. I do use the disposible pipettes but I find if you plan your "runs" of candles to have similar colors in them, you can use the pipettes more than once so there isn't a huge money waste. I wipe the tips of the pipette off on a lint free cloth and store them "bubble part" down in a mason jar til I'm ready to use them again. But this is only til the end of the day (at the very most the next morning) when I throw out the lot of them and start fresh. I wash the rags I have with all my other candle rags and my "mits" so it's really no added cost there. Plus I like the control of the pipettes. I'm too dangerous with those squeezy bottles! YIKES! Food coloring bottles are bad enough - I couldn't even begin to imagine me with a big ol' bottle of candle dye!

HTH some...

Life & Light!

Tish

[Jordan]

I weigh everything anyway - except for dye - so one more thing to weigh isn't a big deal. The selling point to me would be the solvents and smell.

I did think someone asked in another thread on these, but no answer - what is the point of getting the Fade or Base when you can just get the Plus and use less?* Or, since they are soy based - wonder if you just couldn't extend them with soy or another oil.

Thanks!

* Ah... just saw the chart. .8 of a gram for the brown plus ... I'd have to get micro scale.

Henry--

I have found I use base for most colors, the prime for dark and the fade for awesome--and I mean AWESOME--pastels. There is no comparisson to the beautiful colors you can achieve with these dyes. You could use the prime and use less, but it is not easy to get the lighter colors, you have to be pretty careful.

I don't detect that horrible solvent smell in these dyes, even when I make dark candles. It doesn't effect the wicking for me either. They are the best dyes I have used. ( I have the liquid from Lone Star and RE, and they are not even close to these colors)

J

[Henryk]

Thanks for posting You made it very hard to NOT try these dyes.

[ADSoy]

I've ordered these dyes and am relieved to read the positive feedback on them. Where might I find a 'micro' scale?

Thanks!

Linda

[mystical_angel1219]

I get vibrant colors in soy with Tri-State liquid candle dyes.

Haven't tried any that are specially formulated for soy.... yet.

[Sharon in KY]

About Daph's colors, I don't have a scale that will weigh that small of amount. Thought it said they came with a dropper type top. If not they will be a waste to me, why can't the drop method be used?