Candle makers amass

[Marcela]

Delving into candlemaking using beeswax. Appears to be more to it than appears; sizing of the wick and pour temperature being important. Small outlay for the materials and equipment, the wax I've found to be about 30% of the price at the stores for candles. Then there's the topic of making or buying molds. I've found silicone radiator hose cut to length works great for pillar candles.

 

[Handlebars]

Delving into candlemaking using beeswax. Appears to be more to it than appears; sizing of the wick and pour temperature being important. Small outlay for the materials and equipment, the wax I've found to be about 30% of the price at the stores for candles. Then there's the topic of making or buying molds. I've found silicone radiator hose cut to length works great for pillar candles.

I took a birthday cake candle and stuck it in a 6 oz small glass half filled with lard. compared to regular parrafin candle burning, it seems 100 times cleaner. What happened though, is that due to the small size of container, the top turned liquid and the rest got a bit warm, as if the birthday candle might flop over. I've seen videos of people using large Crisco containers but as they burn they don't melt the sides enough.

Have you done more with the beeswax? I use that sometimes, mixed with coconut oil and vaseline as skin balm.

 

[Marcela]

Yeah, I make the candles, about 1/3 price of store bought. Can't figure out the wick that one maker is using which burns real nice. Straight beeswax is kind of finicky, whereas if it is mixed with something else believe it burns a little better. Straight it needs a pretty hot flame.

 

[Handlebars]

Yeah, I make the candles, about 1/3 price of store bought. Can't figure out the wick that one maker is using which burns real nice. Straight beeswax is kind of finicky, whereas if it is mixed with something else believe it burns a little better. Straight it needs a pretty hot flame.

Maybe the wick has got asbestos in it.

 

[ActionJackson]

I’ve dabbled In candlemaking - once. When I was a 13 year old in junior high school. In Arts and Crafts class they had a big box full of hard blue wax rods about 1.5” in diameter. The color was beautiful! So I took the box home, managed to melt the wax In a pot, and poured perhaps a dozen candles in quart milk cartons with ice for sculpting and shoelaces for wicking. They seemed to be very nice candles. A few weeks later the arts teacher discovered my project, and was pretty upset because the blue wax rods were jewelers wax - I’d melted down about $500 in jewelry making wax. We didn’t have silver casting that year.

 

[Handlebars]

I’ve dabbled In candlemaking - once. When I was a 13 year old in junior high school. In Arts and Crafts class they had a big box full of hard blue wax rods about 1.5” in diameter. The color was beautiful! So I took the box home, managed to melt the wax In a pot, and poured perhaps a dozen candles in quart milk cartons with ice for sculpting and shoelaces for wicking. They seemed to be very nice candles. A few weeks later the arts teacher discovered my project, and was pretty upset because the blue wax rods were jewelers wax - I’d melted down about $500 in jewelry making wax. We didn’t have silver casting that year.

One candle experiment I remember came from chemistry class. We had fuels to be tested sitting on the shared desks. Someone took a candle and held it in front of the gas burner and a big flame came shooting across the desk. We all jumped back a bit, and everything was OK when he shut down the fuel. A minute later my pants felt a bit warm ... my new corduroys were on fire. No lie.

 

[Marcela]

For straight bees wax, the wax temp has to be just above solidifying temp to prevent voids and do a slow pour. And heating temp is supposed to be non too excessive or it messes up the wax somehow (not my experience, just what Ive read). After it’s all melted I let it cool to 146f and start the pour. There will probably be a solid layer on top as the pour progresses.