Many people light a candle before a statue of God or your Guru. The lighting of a votive candle, represents a Soul that has a desire to see a higher power. More often we light these great candles wanting to see the great light, whose flame, if the circumstance of a breeze are just right, dance beautifully.
If you are like me, you have bought a few of these candles in your lifetime. Now here is your chance to make your own!
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Subtle scents can make a huge difference in a room. They can be used to complement the physical arrangement and the lighting of a room to create a desired ambiance. Scents can come from burning incense, aerosol spray, scented potpourri, or scented candle.
Scented candles have the advantage of serving three functions –light, décor, and a pleasant scent. Another great advantage is you can make your own. Making scented candles can be fun. Apart from giving your home a pleasant smell, they are also perfect for gift-giving.The first step in making a scented candle is to select which of the available waxes you want to use. The most commonly used is paraffin, but you can opt for an insect or plant-based wax as beeswax, soy, or palm wax. You can also choose gel wax although this requires greater temperature and density control as variations in these could affect your finished candle.
Using a double-boiler, wherein the solid wax is placed in a pot which is in turn placed in a bigger pot filled with water, the wax is heated to a temperature of 170 to 180°F.
When the wax has melted remove the smaller pan from the heat source and add the fragrance oil. Remember to use oil-based fragrances as the water-based types will not mix well with the wax. Fragrance oils should be mixed at a ratio of one ounce for every pound of wax. This results in a 6% concentration which is considered the ideal mixture.
If you wish to add colors to the wax, now is the time to do it. You can use a liquid candle dye but try not to overdo it. A few drops will go a long way to create deep colors.
You can now pour your melted, scented, and colored wax into your mold making sure that the wick stays in the center. Let it cool for four to six hours, remove it from the mold, and enjoy a delightful scent, a pleasing view, and a romantic lighting right in your own room.
When a loved-one or any special person celebrates a memorable day of his or her life, gifts would always be at the top list. Gifts may vary from the simple greeting cards to the most luxurious car. Does the cost matter? It does but it does not matter the most. As always said, it is the “thought” that counts.
Though for most people the tag price of your present may “tickle the spine”, it is beyond denial that a “personal” touch expresses more sincerity for the receiver. Your creativity plus a few tips from us would make that special person feel extra special because of your own custom gel candles.
1. Prepare the following materials:
· Ceramic containers like mugs or any fancy-shaped figurine that could hold the candle wax when melted and cooled. Glasses are also great.
· Gel wax,
· Candle wicks
· Pencils
· Pot (for melting wax)
· Candle scent and color (non alcohol-base)
· Sharp scissors
2. With the use of a pencil, twine the wick around it but leave some of the wick free that it could reach the bottom part of the candle container. It must be straight down the center of the container.
3. Put the pencil with the twined wick on top of the container; allow the wick to hang down the center of the container. As what the directions tell, melt the wax by cutting them into cubes first to hasten the melting.
4. Add color and scent but make sure that they will not make the wax cloudy.
5. After the melting, pour the gel wax into the container you have prepared. Fill the container but set a limit. Before getting to the next step, make sure that the wax turned gel fully cools down.
6. Check out the wick if it really takes the focal point of the container.
7. Trim the wick to ¼ of its total length.
8. You could tie a ribbon around it or stick a piece of fancy paper with a special message or a mini-picture of the receiver. Give it with the purest sincerity.
As you follow these quick and easy steps, you could unravel both the artist and entrepreneur in you. This way of preparing gifts would tickle your resourcefulness and creativity. Moreover, it may be an initiation of your new business specializing in candles. They are making it big on the market today.
A couple of weeks ago I announced that we were working on a Candle Making Kit that would allow you to make Advent Candles. The product development process is now finished, the kits have been tested and we’ve written easy to follow illustrated instructions so that you can achieve consistent results every time.
The standard kit allows you to make 8 candles in total: 4 white Christmas Advent Candles and 4 red dinner candles. If you want to make 8 Advent Candles, there’s an option to buy an extra 4 water-slide transfers.
The kit contains:
450g Blended Paraffin WaxWickA reusable mouldA metal wick pinred dye for the dinner candlesblutackIt’s supplied in a jiffy bag to keep the postage cost down.
And the price? Just £9.99 to make 8 candles! And remember, the mould can be reused time and time again!
Click the link for full details: Christmas Advent Candle And Dinner Candle Kit
And if you want to produce these candles in bulk, we’re putting together a commercial kit: in the meantime email peta@makingyourowncandles.co.uk for more information.
KevIf you're new here, we'd love it if you would subscribe to our mailing list using the signup box on the right. You'll then qualify for a free candle making kit, free tips emails and a big discount off your first order. Thanks for visiting!
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How to choose the right candle making kitCandle Making Equipment: What do you need?Making Pillar CandlesAdvent Candles: the Countdown begins!Making Halloween Candles for Free: PumpkinNot only is soy candle making an exciting hobby that provides hours of fun, there are tremendous benefits to using soy wax over the traditional paraffin wax.
Soy wax is easier to manage because it comes in a flake form, unlike paraffin wax which comes in a block. Would you rather use a measuring cup and scoop what you need, or have to saw chunks off a block and weigh it, then saw some more?When making candles with paraffin wax, cleanup can be a chore. You must heat up the utensils to melt the wax off, or use special cleaners on other surfaces. With soy candle making, cleanup is a breeze. You can just wash everything with soap and water!Soy candles burn longer!Soy candle making is better for the environment and your health! Paraffin wax is made from petroleum. We all know that burning petroleum releases toxic fumes that are harmful to humans, and the planet. Do you really want that stuff burning inside your home? Soy wax is a renewable resource that burns clean and is a byproduct of soy beans which are harvested in the United States, thus helping to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.Whether you’re new to making candles or have been doing it for some time with paraffin wax and are thinking about making the switch, you can’t go wrong with soy candle making. It’s better for you, your health, and the planet!Soy candles are natural and burn cleaner then paraffin candle wax. The popularity of them is growing. Although soy wax is a little bit more expensive then paraffin wax, people who have used and made soy candles are quickly becoming addicted to them.
Soy wax is a vegetable wax that is made from soybeans. The oil is extracted from the soybean flakes and hydrogenated. The majority of the world’s soybeans are grown in the United States in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. It is believed that soy candles burn cleaner then paraffin candles. This is true to an extent. All candles emit soot. There is no way around that. But, paraffin candles emit black soot while soy candles emit white soot. While soot is not harmful to people, white soot is a little cleaner then black.
The only thing that is really different about making soy candles then paraffin candles is the wax. They both use the same techniques and equipment. You can use a double boiler to melt the soy wax.
A double boiler is a smaller pot with the wax is placed in a larger pot full of water that is placed on the stovetop. Heat the soy wax to 150 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Be careful not to keep the melted wax above 150 degrees Fahrenheit for too long because it could burn which will give the wax a yellowish appearance. Ounce the wax is fully melted you can add the color you would like. You can then remove it from the heat and add the fragrance.
It is best to use 7% fragrance by weight. That simply means that for every one pound of soy wax, you can use 1.12 ounces of fragrance oil. If the fragrance concentration is too high, it may bleed through the candle. The soy wax can be about 140 – 150 degrees Fahrenheit. You can then pour the wax into the mold to cool. Be careful not to pour the wax at too low of a temperature or the candle could crack. The wax should be between 95 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. You should also not use water to cool the candle quickly. This could also cause the candle to crack.
Although soy wax candles and paraffin wax candles are mostly the same, there are a couple of differences. Soy wax is a softer wax so it is not suitable for some types of candles. For instance, soy wax does not work well when you are trying to make novelty candles. It also do not work well for pillar candles. You can also not make taper candles with soy wax. Floating soy candles can be made if they are up to 3 inches in diameter.
If you can make candles with paraffin wax, you can make candles with soy wax. Making candles is kind of like trying out a new food recipe; sometimes you have to try things one way then the other to see which works best for you. The bottom line is that soy wax and paraffin wax both hold scent and color the same in candles but, it is great to learn how to make a new kind of candle and offer a variety in your candle making whether you are making candles for pleasure or a business.Candle Making Business is very lucrative.
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