Candle Making – The Importance Of Temperature

Candle making techniques are varied and numerous and you should be guided by the type of candle you are making. With any of the candles you make a crucial part is heating the wax to the correct temperature for pouring the candles. This is more than just the wax temperature but also includes the mold temperature and room temperature as these factors will affect your candles.

The pouring wax temperature is very important and this temperature will vary depending on the materials that you are using. Some popular candle making material include paraffin, gel and natural waxes. Each of the candle materials will come with a recommended pouring temperature and you should follow these directions. In general natural waxes will not need to be heated as high as paraffin and other material.

The temperature of the room you are making candles is also important. If the room is very cold then you may need to heat the wax to a higher temperature and if the room is very warm then the temperature does not need to be so high. You may find that you make the exact same candles at different times of the year and they will come out differently. This can be due to the different room temperature. The humidity of the room will also play a part in this.

Mold may need to be pre-heated or chilled. Most time the mold should be preheated to remove any moisture. If you are using very hot wax then you will not need to preheat the mold as much. Preheating should be done using a heat gun or heat lamp as they produce dry heat and will not add moisture.

There are many dyes that can be used to create beautiful colored candles. Generally all colors are comprised of the three primary colors, red, yellow and blue. These colors are mixed to create secondary colors and the secondary and a primary colors can be combined to create any color you want. The most difficult part with making colored candles is having a consistent color throughout the wax. Color uniformity tends to be much easier to achieve when making large batches as you can measure out larger quantities much easier.

There are many different types of dyes and you can use color block, liquid dyes, pigment dyes and powdered dyes. The easiest dyes to use are liquid dyes and they also mix easily for uniform color.

Pigment dyes can be used for deep, rich colors but are only used when dipping candles and not pouring candles. If you are making large batches then powdered dyes are recommended and a little powdered dye will go a very long way.