Making Soy Candles at Home
If you ever wanted to get into making soy candles, now is the time! Once you find out how easy it is to work with soy candle wax, you will discover that using this more natural wax makes for a longer burning candle. Expect to pay a little more for soy candle wax but you will get a much higher quality candle.
Soy wax is made from the soybean – which is a all natural, American product. Remember that any candle emits smoke, but soy wax does not burn the black soot that paraffin wax candles do. Soy candles have a lighter soot, almost white in color.
Once you are ready to try making soy candles at home, you will find other than the wax, the process is much the same. You will use your existing double boiler. A double boiler is the safest way to melt soy wax. Using your thermometer, monitor the temperature to around 150 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. (Candle making tip: once you reach this temperature, do keep it that hot for any length of time or you will end up with a yellowish candle.) Once the wax is fully melted add your color and mix well.
Next take the wax off of the heat source to add your scent. Let it cool to about 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Scent and soy wax works well together. At first, be careful not to add too much scent. The general rule of thumb is to add 5 to 7 percent fragrance by volume of weight. Translated: 7% is a little more than 1 ½ ounces per pound of essential oils. (Candle making tip: if your candles have beads of moisture when you are all done, you may have too much scent – it will bleed through to the outside of the candle.)
Pour your wax (with color and scent) into your preheated molds. The temperature of the wax should be no less than 95 degrees. (Candle making tip: never try to speed up the cooling process by putting the molds in water! Your candle will crack – this also happens when you pour your wax into the molds when the temperature has dropped below the 95 degree mark.)
You will discover a few differences between soy and paraffin wax candles. One, soy wax candles are softer and may not work for some types of candles. The larger pillar candles and taper candles work better with paraffin wax. Paraffin candles work best in really hot weather so you would want to make sure to store your soy candles in a very dry, cool place.
Now that you have made paraffin candles, you are ready to try your hand at making soy candles. Don’t be afraid to experiment to see what types of soy candles end up being your favorites. Learn how to work with the color and scents to make truly elegant soy candles.
