Giving Candles As Gifts

It's lovely to give candles as gifts especially when you have made them, it's a great way to show your love.

A popular candle gift to give is the canning jar candle, especially when it's well scented. These container candles are easy to make using old canning jars from around the house. If you don't have any not too worry as you can pick them up at flea markets or garage sales. You can also pick them up pretty cheaply at a grocery store or discount store.

These jars are used as the container for the candle and if you use paraffin wax you can pretty much use any type of scent, or think of the recipient and find out their favorite scent and make accordingly.

Another great candle to gift as a gift is the gel candle and for these you need plain jars to which you add non flammable objects.

You can give candles on Mother's Day, the Fourth of July, birthdays, New Year's Day, Easter, St. Patrick's Day and even for Valentine's Day. So this could really keep you quite busy just making candles for family and friends.

When making candles as gifts you really do want to think about the person who is receiving the gift and making it for that person.

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Troubleshooting Your Candle Making

When you start out with your candle making you may find you make some mistakes with your first lot of candles but don't fret these can sometimes be saved.

• Candle smoke when burned – Their can be a few issues here such as too large a wick, air pockets in candle or oil content to high. The most common issue though is that the candle has a too high a flame and this is easy to fix by trimming the wick.

• Drowning wick – This happens when the flame goes out on it's own and is caused by the wick being too small. Another cause can be a wick getting clogged which will happen if you use dyes that are not intended for candle making.

• Flame flickers and sputters – This can happen with the wick hole not being sealed well around the candle and also if alcohol or water based fragrances are used. Also if there is water in the wax, this can sometimes happen when using a double boiler.

• Cracks in candle – This will happen if the candles are cooled too quickly. Depending on the candle you may be able to re melt and re pour it.

• Wet spots – This can be a common problem with container candles' What happens is the wax separates from the wall of the container, this is near impossible to eliminate entirely. However you can reduce the occurrence of it by making sure your containers are clean and pre heating your container with a hair dryer.

• Pitted surface – When this happens it's because your wax was too cool by the time you poured it.

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Making Scented Candles

The biggest reason most people buy candles is for their scent, you may want to remember this when you come to make candles to sell. Having the scent of candles burning can even help with your mood, for example lavender helps to sooth and relax.

Candle fragrances come in a few different forms such as liquid, natural herbs and solid wax perfume chips. You can even blend your own fragrances if you can not find exactly what you want.

When using fragrance oil and adding it to the wax you want to start with approximately 1oz. of oil to a pound of wax as a starting point. When using fragrances and essential oils having more is not necessarily better.

You will want to use fragrance oils that are specially designed for candle making as these are pure oil based fragrances. You will want to avoid water-based and alcohol-based oils as they will cause your candles to dangerously spit and sputter. Also don't buy potpourri type oils you find in the grocery store as these will not blend well with your candle wax.

It's all ways best to measure your fragrance oil by weight as this will help to keep things consistent. Also it's best to wait until your just about ready to pour your melted wax into the pouring pot before adding your scent. By doing this it will help to keep the evaporation down to a minimum and this way you can actually use less fragrance and enjoy it more. Of course with the whole candle making process it's best to test, test and more testing until you find what you are looking for.

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Choosing The Right Wick

Choosing the right wick for your candle is very vital to getting a good burning candle and requires a perfectly balanced recipe. When you are new to candle making it can be a challenge to getting the wick selection right but this can all be learned and its also a matter of testing.

Using the right wick will help your candle maintain a perfect pool without any dripping. If you end up having a wick that's too small your candle will end up tunneling and a large wick will cause your candle to smoke and burn down prematurely and inefficiently. Choosing the wrong type of wick can cause many problems such as mushrooming and poor scent throw.

Each candle is different and this is the beauty of hand-crafted candles so you will be required to do testing until you find what works. Wicks come in a variety of forms, such as cotton core, flat braid, square braid and zinc core. When choosing a wick for a new project the main factors to consider are type of wax you're using and its additives, type of candle you are making and the diameter of your candle.

With your wicks, its a good idea to buy sample packs which you can use on your sample candles before you buy a larger quantity of wicks.

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Dyeing Your Candles

While producing white candles is fun and they can be very elegant, they can also be very boring. Why not add some color to your candle making, you can find all sorts of candle making dyes and they come in many forms. Such as blocks, chips, flakes, liquid and powders. You will also find them in many colors, if they don't have the color you wont you can also blend to create your shade.

When using dye it will depend on the amount of wax you use, also the type of wax used and how dark you want your candle. This is where testing comes in handy, then once you have found what you are looking for you will be able to produce more of the same. Also you don't want to affect the candles burning quality so sometimes it's best to go with less dye rather than more. The best thing to do is test, test and more test, this way you will get it right.

When testing for color you should always take a small amount out and put it on a white saucer and then let it cool, this will then give you a good idea of the color. Once you have finished with this cooled wax you can then put it back into the melting pot to reuse. You also wont to avoid over heating the dye as it may cause color distortion. When you make a new combination of wax, color,scent it would be a good idea to do a test burn to check everything is working okay. 

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Working With Gel Wax

If using gel wax you can really let your imagination go wild and by using this wax you can make some very interesting candles. It does require caution when working with this wax as you need to work at a higher temperature. Gel wax is a clear gel so its not truly a wax and if you intend working with it, you will be able to find it at most local craft stores.

Its lots of fun to use this type of wax as you can suspend small decorative objects in the wax and these can make lovely gifts for family and friends. You can use items such as glitter, sea shells, small pebbles, anything that's not flammable.

Gel wax has a hotter melting point and because of this a double boiler is not used to melt the wax. You will need to put the wax directly over a heat source so this means you need to take great care when melting this type of wax.

Remember when working with gel wax, its not a real wax and also its already in a liquid form and it still needs to be melted. It doesn't melt in the tradition sense like or other waxes, which go from a solid form to a liquid state. You have to watch gel wax because as it gets hotter it becomes more like a syrup-like substance. Also if you continue to melt it thinking its going to get thinner well it just wont, you must use a thermometer.

Working with gel wax is tricky but it allows so much room for creativity and fun, its a great way to express yourself.

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Choosing The Right Type Of Wax For The Job

There are 4 elements that will affect the outcome of your candle making, type of wax, melting temperature, pouring temperature and any additional ingredients. The most common types of waxes in use are beeswax, soy wax, paraffin wax and gel wax. Gel wax is of course not a true wax. Sometimes waxes are blended to achieve optimal results, it really does depend on what you are trying to achieve with your final result.

Now lets take a look at temperature which is a vital element in the candle making process and for this you really do need the thermometer. You will create problems for yourself if you do not melt and pour the wax at the correct temperature. Most quality waxes will come with this information but a common rule-of-thumb when dealing with most waxes is to pour at 175 – 180 F and DO NOT ever heat your wax over 200 F. Of course this does not include gel wax which is a whole another ball game.

Additives are ingredients you use to enhance the appearance and performance of your candles. They are mostly added to your wax before pouring and they can affect the outcome of your candles. Of course the most common ones in use are dyes, fragrance oils and essential oils.

Of course when starting out with your candle making a good thing to do is to make test candles, take lots of notes and then practice what you've learned until you become skilled at what your doing.

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The Equipment Need For Candle Making

The great thing about candle making is the fact that you will most likely have all the necessary equipment in your kitchen to get started. Most likely the only stuff you will need to purchase is the actual candle making supplies. For now you are going to need the following to get started with your candle making.

* Heat Source - for this of course the good old kitchen stove will do. 

* Double Boiler - This is the best way of melting wax for safety and also many candle

waxes can catch on fire if their temperature exceeds 212 F. It's also good to use a

thermometer. Using a double boiler will allow the wax to melt slowly and evenly which

is key in the melting process.

* Thermometer - For this a candy thermometer is fine and they can be purchased

online or your nearest Walmart. The most important thing with the thermometer is

that it has a reading range from between 100 F and 212 F. Different waxes have

different pour temperatures and you can also create special effects by pouring at

different temperatures. So having a thermometer is a VERY important piece of

equipment.

Also you will need a few extra items such as craft scissors, scales, paring knife, baking pans,measuring cups and tape measure. These are just non essential items that will help with the process of candle making. 

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