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Maximum Liquid Candle Dye Usage


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I almost always find what I need in search, but this one, not so lucky.

My question is - I see starting points listed to get close to colors, but is there a certain maximum of liquid candle dye drops one should not go over? I know eventually the dye could clog the wick, but what I don't know is does that come closer to 15 drops? 25? 50?

A couple of scents I've been testing around with, I'm still not happy with the darkness of green and blue I'm getting. I'm already at 12 drops on both, but it's only... I'd say about 75% as dark as I would like.

TIA everyone!

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It really depends on the concentration of the dye, but for darker shades, try a drop or 3 of black. Or 2 black, 1 navy blue. If you start with a dark color, like Forest Green for example (rather than spring green), it takes less to get where you're goin'.

The maximum recommended % per pound of wax should be in the description from the supplier or on the bottle. Less dye, of course, is better as far as wicks are concerned. HTH

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Are you using container wax? I read on an old post here that container waxes turn out 'more pastel' than other types. I took that to mean it didn't take dye as well. Which explained why my container + votive wax blend didn't color up as well as votive wax alone.

Maybe Stella's recommendation of black will fix that though.

Darbla

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Well I've had no problems at 30 and I started adding other colors to get darker colors and now use less, exception is black, also tried that at 30 drops with a PITA FO too so was wicking up anyway and that wouldn't help ya. It's pretty much going to be a test and see.

I've got some weak colors and some that fool me from time to time so it's dye dependent too.

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Guest Candelishis

I agree with Stella. Colors are only gonna get so dark by themselves. I only have 5 colors of dye - red, green, yellow, blue, and black, I do combos of colors to get what I want without overloading the amount of dye, and a little bit of black usually gives you a good dark color. But if you use too much it get nasty. You just have to play around and figure out what gives you the colors you want.

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Thanks for the quick responses! It's really any wax I'm using (container, votive or pillar), should have been clear about paraffin though.

I did try primary mix and I'm horrible apparently about drops consistency when mixing more than 2 colors, so I did expand just a bit.

I tried some black, but it.. I dunno, even at a little bit, just seemed.. off.

I'll try the navy blue idea.

Thanks too for the number Scented. I was afraid to go more than 12 cause I hadn't read anything and there's nothing on Peaks site about maximums, nor the bottle. :/

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But if you use too much it get nasty

:laugh2:Couldn't have put it better!:laugh2:

I used to only keep the primary colors, black and white. But I found that I spent less dropper time if I got the in-between shades like pink, purple, navy blue, forest green, etc. The darker hues + a drop or two of black got me there a LOT quicker with fewer ventures into "nastiness" than when I started with a bright, high saturation primary color and tried to tone it down. The lighter shades are also nice to have because if you only want a hint of color in a small batch of wax, one entire drop of red (or whatever) can be too much!

If coloring soy a dark value, ummm you have to lean on it 'cause soy wax is already pretty opaque and white... Palm wax requires less dye to become dark, but the crystals make it very difficult to judge the light/dark value of the final color (usually several shades darker than a sample drop). :)

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Guest Candelishis

I don't make mine too many different colors. I have an index card for each scent I have that says what wick for what jar, etc. and it also says "use 3 drops red and one blue for this" or whatever. I'm trying to go colorless, but I have too many loyal customers I don't want to lose, so I still offer both colored and uncolored.

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I have an index card for each scent I have that says what wick for what jar, etc. and it also says "use 3 drops red and one blue for this" or whatever.

Oh MAN are YOU GOOD!!! I take notes, but I never thought of just writing stuff on index cards... THANKS!!!

Shuffling cards sure beats flipping through notebooks...:yay:

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Reds for instance ... use brown instead of black, a drop at a time for richness till you get familiar what it will do. I have a red from Alabaster that takes an ungodly load to get red enough, but if I use a drop(s) of Peak's coffee, I have what I want.

You'd think I'd have figured that one out! Thanks for that tip!

I do index cards on final mixes, notebooks on testers (and computer for all). I use a recipe box. You should have seen my mom when it was on my counter and she came to visit. I know what Cookies means in my index, I never changed the names on most of them! She was a little more than perplexed when I put had Peaks color, Vybar and FO on there...:P

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Guest Candelishis
Oh MAN are YOU GOOD!!! I take notes, but I never thought of just writing stuff on index cards... THANKS!!!

Shuffling cards sure beats flipping through notebooks...:yay:

LOL....Now who's the one with the moment of clarity?!?!?! :P:laugh2:

Guess what? I alphabetize them by scent too!! LMAO.

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It really does depend on where you get your dye, but I remember Alan saying eons ago that he used 50 drops of Peak black dye and it had no effect on the burning of the candle.

If you aren't getting the colors you want with your dyes perhaps you should try another supplier. I had Peak red and Alabaster red and the difference in getting the same shade was about 12 drops. Peak wins.

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