How to Make a Candle That Smells Great

I have always loved the smell of candles. My mother said to me one day "too bad, they do not make a candle that the scent can last as long as the candle does." That was all it took for me to get every book out there on how to make candles. In my research i noticed that the directions didnt make much sense. So I played around improvising till I came up with somethimng that works. I figured out how to make the candle that the scent last the whole life of the candle adn the scent is not only strong, that you dont have to even light it to have the scent go through out the room. I am going to share with my secrets of making a great smelling candle.

The first thing you need to know is there are diffreent types of waxes out there, so you have to decide what type of candle you like to make. Personally i like jar candles, so I get a wax that is formulated for jars, this wax is generally a softer type of wax and holds a scent better. Pillar and votive waxes are generally a harder wax, although they can hold the scent nicely, they can be tricky to set because your dealing with molds. Another reason i like jars is i like to use one pour wax. with candle making you have to do repours generally 2-3 to fill in the "caves" that can occur. With the one pour you generally do not get these caves, and one time and your done. Also another reason i prefer one pour wax is it already has additives added to it, when you use parafin, you have to add additives to it so it burns just right, but if you add too much additives it still wont burn right. So with one pour, you dont have to worry about that.

The next thing to decide is scent what scent do I want, there are many to chhose from, but not just the scent that make the candle, certain scents can have a funny smell when you burn the. This mainly mints and citrus scents, they can smell like fuel, so you must keep that in mind. One thing i noticed when i made candles is I would get a headache with lavender scent. this supposed to be a calming scent but it made me get sick, so that was the only candle i would not make, so, sometimes it best to start off with 1oz scent samples when you buy scent, so you know which ones will work best for you, then later you can buy the 16oz bottles. Remember start off small. Also if you plan to sell candles, colors can effect scnets, it a psycological thing, it is weird you can make a granny smith apple candle you put in a blue dye and it just isnt right, next reemlt it add yello to make it green adn smells just right, you know granny smith apples are green, you did nothing but add yellow dye, so keep that in mind as well, color can make a difference.

Now that we have our scents and wax picked out lets make a candle, first thing to remeber is 1oz to 1lb ratio. What does this mean? Well in my reasrch it said to use 1oz scent to every 4lbs of wax, this to me didnt make sense, so I did 1oz of scent to 1lb of wax, and it works well. this is another reason to get the 1oz bottles it helps measure scent later, so when you empty the scent bottles, save them for future use. next a pouring pot is needed, but if you dont have the pouring pot get a metal coffe can and ben the top to form a spout for easy pouring. How much wax do you need to melt? Well you need to figure our what jar your pouring iinto if your using 8oz jars and you have 4 of them, 16oz equals 1lb so you are thinking 2lbs of wax, yes you would be right but I like extra wax for just incase, even though one pour usually does not cave occasionally it might so better safe then sorry, i I would melt 3lbs of wax. Just a not pouring pots hold up to 4lbs of wax. melt the wax over a low heat. nnow oncde the wax is about halfwaymelted I generally add the dye now. there are different dyes from wax block you grate, to chips, to the liquid dyes. i like liquid and chips the best. the blocks are cheaper but the colors can vary and can be harder to match when you sell candles. wheere chips and dyes you know 3 drops or 2 chips give it the right shade you want. keep mixing the max and color till it is completely melted. once the wax is a complete liquid. turn the fire off. this is what i call the cold emulsion infussuion scent. Reason i call it that is because. every book said to add scent while the wax is on the fire and to me that would burn the scent off. So applying some cooking knowledge, I tried this and this really works.

When the wax is off the fire just let the wax set for about 1-2 minutes. Rember the eqation? 1oz to every 1lb of wax, we have 3lbs of wax, so that means we add 3oz of scent. add that to the wax after it sat for 1-2 minuses stir briskly the scent into the wax. You shoul be ready to pour. When the wax was melting you shoul set up you jars for the pouring. I personally the pre wicked tabs. it simple and better then trying to wick you you tabs. they also sell wick sticky tabs, they are very much worth the price, you stick the tab on the bottom the pre wick and peal off the paper place in the bottom the jar and the wick does not "float'. If you do not do this the wick will float when you pour.

Now we are going to pour, pour your scented wax mixture slowly into the jars. when you get to the desired fill go the next jar, and do the same and do that till your done with the last jar. you see the wax was clear, and now it will start to go opaque as it is collong. Let the candles rest for about 1-2 hours, come back and check on them. if there was no caves, then you dont have to do any repours. What you can do with the extra wax, is either melt it slightly till the disk slips out and save the disk for some type of mini candles, or for make chucks out it for popurrie prjects. it is up to you what you like to do with the disk.. When you all done you will see you made candles so highly scented, you will be amazed.