FO Burning Off or Too Much Added?

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clu23

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Hi Everyone!

I'm new to making wax melts and I was wondering if I could get some advice on some that I have noticed with some of the fragrance oils I've been using. I heat up my soy gw 464 wax up to 185 degrees and then add my oil and as soon as I begin to stir it, vapor/steam starts to rise from the wax as if its being burned off. Once the wax becomes solid the bottom of the clamshells look like they have lots of oil bubbles. I'm not sure if the wax is too hot or if I'm adding too much fragrance oil (0.5 oz FO to 5 oz of wax). The store where I purchased my FO from said it could be used in candles but did not know what the flash point was. Please let me know if anyone has an idea of what is going on!

Thanks! :D
 
I don't make candles or tarts but I know if you add FO with a low flash point to soap that is too hot, it will have fumes like you describe. Do you have to heat the wax to such a high temp or will it fully melt at lower?
 
The wax will melt at 125 degrees but a majority of the candle making posts I've seen suggest melting the wax at that temperature so that the fragrance oil and wax will meld together. Thanks for your input though, I'll try a lower temperature and see if that works!
 
It sounds like the fragrance oil isn't binding with the wax, are you sure it is a oil based fragrance and not a water based?

You heat the wax, and you need to add it at high enough temperature to mix it into the wax properly, and then cool to your pouring temperature.

you will come across some fragrances that just don't like to mix, usually heavy and vanilla based ones.

That is a high percentage of fragrance to wax, is the wax designed to hold 10% or more of fragrance oil?
 
Any wax melt or candle making instruction I have seen says to melt to 180-185F and add in the FO then as long as it is not over the FO flashpoint. In candle making the usage is typically 1oz per pound of wax (16 ounces) and I have been following that for over a year now with no oilyness to my melts/candles. It seems like at .5oz for only 5 ounces of wax that is way too much. I would check to see if the FOs you are using have a lower flashpoint because that would cause the vapor as it is burning off.
 
Yes - make sure you do not add fragrance until the wax is at the flashpoint temp for that particular fragrance. Some fragrances are very light. Read about your particular wax fragrance oil percentage. They are different. Some can take up to 2 ounces per pound, which may be necessary for the light frags - unless light is what you ultimately want. You can add frags at lower temps - you just need to make sure you stir gently for 2 minutes.
 

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