GermantownCandles Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Does anyone here make their own candle dye? Or, should I ask, is it feasible to make your own candle dye? I have seen many places that carry powdered candle dye, is it possible to blend the powder dye with a carrier to make my own liquid dye? If yes, what carrier is used? Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicky_CO Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 I think you will have mixing problems. I have made my own blocks before but never liquid dyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 (edited) I have made my own color blocks using melted wax as my mixer. Pouring the colored wax into aluminum tea light molds and letting them set up into blocks. Then I just pop out the colored wax and save in ziploc bags for my next candle project.May not be the answer you want but I have done this successfully before. Its just not worth the extra effort when there are so many suppliers and lots of color choices for candlemaking to buy.If you want to make a liquid color you will have to use an oil that will blend well in wax. 76 degree coconut oil would make a nice carrier oil but once it cools to below 76 it solidifies. However it is easily spooned out and heats into oil form very quickly. Don't see this as worth the effort either.I suppose you could try olive oil or some other vegetable oil. Should work great with 'natural' waxes like soy. But I never tried it so I can't know for sure if it works. But it might be worth a shot. Would be an interesting experiment. You would also have to test it out in the candle to make sure it doesn't casue the wick to clog or choke. Edited May 13, 2011 by Candybee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GermantownCandles Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 What about mixing with DPG? Think that would work? I'm thinking about purchasing some powdered color and just giving it a show... We will see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 DPG is not for candles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GermantownCandles Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 I have never used DPG other than to make inscents, does DPG not mix with candle wax? I know some people sell cut FOs (not a good business practice but they do it any way) using DPG. I was thinking that since it would just be used as a dye, that the percentage would be so small that it wouldn't affect the finished product. Just curious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 DPG is one of the ingredients that make candles burn poorly. Pigments tend to clog wicks, so even a small amount of offending substance can cause a BIG problem.Try cottonseed oil or soybean oil.OR, buy the REACH compliant EVO liquid dyes from CandleWic and avoid the problems altogether. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GermantownCandles Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 Stella,Thank you very much for your help. Especially the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedar_lea Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Stella -- How do these dyes compare with Peaks liquid? I've only really played with Peaks before & I'm thinking I need to switch dyes because I'm not getting very far in the frosting battle. I really want to be able to stick with the liquid because it makes more sense to me color theory wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 (edited) I have only bought Peak's liquid dyes once - they are not the same thing as the EVO dyes. They have a petroleum smell, although some brands are even worse. The EVO dyes have no smell and are compliant with California & REACH standards (eco "friendly" whatever that means). Dyes are bigtime offenders in the frosting battle. Not only do some promote frosting, it shows up worse in colored candles. The Reddig-Glo dye chips and the EVO liquids are the best two types I have used for not promoting frosting too badly. While I can obtain intense colors with either type, for general purposes, it's best to use the least amount of dye you can get away with and still enjoy vibrant colors. Pastel works even better.I mix my dyes with prewarmed FO so that the mixture is not cold when it's mixed into the hot wax. This little step helps reduce frosting. No one trick will win the battle, but lots of little techniques combined will help stabilize the wax crystals as best as one can. To reduce frosting, I use USA (with NatureWax C3), temper my wax, use the least amount of dye possible and keep the FO load to 1 oz. pp. Having said that, some FOs really produce heavy frosting, so if you have a favorite FO that frosts badly, consider going dyeless or very pastel. Edited May 14, 2011 by Stella1952 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjdaines Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 What does "temper my wax" mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Asked and answered many times in the veggie wax forum.copy/paste the search string below in the Google search bar:tempering site:craftserver.com(instructions for the Google site search can be found in the General Candlemaking Forum/Helpful Links For Newbies/Board Usage/Post #2) This works even when the forum search tool isn't effective. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedar_lea Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Thanks again Stella. I'm going to look into the EVO dyes. I've had near equal frosting issues no matter what FO I use. The only thing that's actually helped was tempering to the point of practiacally unpourable, which made no frosting and cracked (grrrr hadn't had that problem until that batch). I'll just keep playing and adjusting things until I find something that works, but changing dyes seems like my most rational next step. I'm having a hard time visualising doing melts without any color at all & I've been doing too small of batches to do much of a pastel, but as always you give good info. I hadn't thought of heating the FO. I always add it hot and have to wait forever for the wax to cool enought to pour (I seriously stirred that thing for 15 minutes). So that's something I'll play with too. Also I tried a portion cup and it seemed to frost less that the silicon ice cube tray I was using so I'm going to look into playing with those. It's an adventure right! I'm not quite giving up on it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella1952 Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Just try one or two colors to see how you like them. Reds are often problematic, so that's a good "trial by fire"... It's hard to keep projects of smaller volume (like tarts, for example) from cooling too quickly and soy wax is very temperamental when it comes to temperature changes. The good thing about liquids is that you can tint small quantities of wax by dipping a toothpick in the dye - not even using an entire drop!! I don't warm the FO a lot - maybe 100°-125°F - just enough to help dissolve the dye more completely and to not "shock" the hot wax and drop the temp too quickly. Before I started heating the FO, When I added 1 oz. of room temp FO (in the 60s during the winter months) to a pound of wax at 185°F, the pour pot was cold AND the FO was cold - it dropped the temp to 155°F (or less) in moments. I have better luck pouring C3 on the hot side (about 165°F), so that was a big problem for me. There's a big difference between pouring into glass containers and pouring into silicon or plastic molds. Everyone has to learn techniques that work for them in their own candlemaking operation, so I hope you won't be discouraged if ideas I and others suggest don't work out real well for you... Sooner or later, you'll hit on the right combination that fits you like a glove! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam W Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 (edited) I can't see where it would be cost effective to make your own dyes. A bottle of liq dye will run you $5-6 and last a long time......I have better things to do with my time but I guess if you have time on your hands....go for it. Edited May 15, 2011 by Pam W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 I use the EVO's and not all are the same. The royal blue and brown seem to need a LOT of drops compared to the other colors. So much that it gets into wicking problems. The white is absolutely nasty (its a pigment). So I liked the Red,Green, Yellow, Blue, Black and Magenta. From there I made Cyan. That leaves me with the options of RGB color mixing, RYB color mixing or CMYK mixing and that does the job. All that said, if I want a color that is already made in EVO, its cheaper and easier to just buy a little, as Pam says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam W Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 I use the EVO's and not all are the same. The royal blue and brown seem to need a LOT of drops compared to the other colors. So much that it gets into wicking problems. The white is absolutely nasty (its a pigment). So I liked the Red,Green, Yellow, Blue, Black and Magenta. From there I made Cyan. That leaves me with the options of RGB color mixing, RYB color mixing or CMYK mixing and that does the job. All that said, if I want a color that is already made in EVO, its cheaper and easier to just buy a little, as Pam says.And color consistancy could be an issue with making your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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