OK stretch that out...once you make them what is so hard about getting them to burn?
There is no one recipe for a candle; there's no one size fits all.
Each part of a candle system changes how the candle works. The type of wax, the container, the wax, the temp you melt the wax, the temp you add the fragrance, and the temp you pour.
The wrong size or type of wick can cause all sorts of burn problems: burning too hot and dangerous, during too slowly and extinguishing itself, tunneling/melt pool problems, getting no scent throw from your expensive fragrance oil, soot and black smoke. (don't believe the myth that soy burns cleaner - it just makes a lighter color of soot under most conditions), you might have perfect burn at the first 1/3 of the candle, and it might be an inferno by the middle.
If you get a soy candle in a 3 inch tin to burn well with an eco 6 wick, with black raspberry vanilla - chances are the next fragrance you try will need a different wick to burn well.
Glass containers can burst, wicks can lean over in the wax and heat one side of the candle and break the glass, wicks can drown....etc.
Then, if you want to color your candles....!!!
I was going to make a candle thread, but this one popped up and has a lot of useful info so we keep this going(?). I hope.
anyway, i was hoping to learn how to make candles. Like complimentary candles to my soaps. Especially since a lot of ppl make BnB products, but i cant with floridas laws as far as making and selling out of your house.
Is a kit the best way to start? TBH I havent even done a lot of reading yet. Which i will! I was thinking a kit. But then i am afraid it will be like the start of my soaping venture...I followed soap queen tutorials and projects in the beginning, which really left me clueless on why i was doing anything that i was doing. So i had to back up and actually learn.
I am not an expert at all; I spend about 2 months out of every year (for the last 5 years) trying to make a good unscented, uncolored, crackling wood wick candle to work well....and still not there yet.
Candle making is different from soap - where you can buy Kevin Dunn's chemistry of soap making book and learn how all the rules that produce good soap. Candle making is trial and error. And good record keeping, patience. I don't have the personality for it - too many possibilities and combinations and I can't narrow them down to one or two and master those before moving on.
I don't see the benefit of buying a suppliers kit unless their kit has the exact vessels and wax you want to use. And honestly, some places (like Wood Wick Co.) the kits often don't give successful candles.
Now, the owner of BeScented has her Candle Academy;
Candle Making University – BeScented Soap and Candle Making Supplies
where for a price, she tells you exactly what to use and how to do it. Although - there are things that still might work, but that's as close to a recipe that there is that I've seen. But it's one wax, one type of vessel and specific fragrances in order to make it work.
And if you choose to make luminaries I hope you'll share!
