Adventures in Candle Making Part 1

I have always loved candles. I love the ambiance and the look of flame. As a child, I would do a natural meditation whereby I would just sit and stare at the flame. I was always fascinated by it. Now as an adult, I use candles in various rituals and to enhance my moods. Since I like to do DIY projects and use natural products, I decided I would venture into making my candles. The more I read about paraffin wax, the more I don’t want to buy cheap candles anymore. Paraffin wax is a byproduct of crude oil refining. When burned, it can release harmful chemicals like toluene and benzene, both linked to respiratory problems and even cancer. The National Health Institute states “As the candles burn, phthalates are released into the air and can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin.” Yuck! I don’t want anything to do with that so I decided to try beeswax candles first since I have it on hand for making my other products.

Beeswax emits negative ions, which can help neutralize allergens and dust particles in the air. I also ordered some generic candle wicks from Amazon to start 6-inch wicks and I decided to make candles in Mason jars since I like the look and I have plenty of Mason jars around.

In my first round I made a couple Mason jar beeswax candles, colored them with mica, and added fragrance oil.

12 oz beeswax
2 oz coconut oil
1.2 oz fragrance (0.6 oz sea salt/honey & 0.6 oz ocean breeze fragrance oils)
I eyeballed the mica

I subsequently read that mica is problematic in candle making, as it can clog the wick and it might burn unevenly. In the future I probably won’t use mica, I am going to get colored candle wax. The candles were really pretty when the mica was melting but the candles seemed to melt very fast and I had tunneling issues. Tunneling can be described as the candle burning a very narrow pool. Tunneling can also be caused by improper wick size. I do not recommend buying wicks from Amazon unless you know what you’re doing. They don’t have the sizing Information available besides the length. I am going to get a set from a candle-making website. I also want to try the wood wicks I love the idea of the crackling sound.

I decided to forge on and wanted to try some yellow beeswax recipes as I had read it smells naturally like honey. The first recipe I found on Pinterest and it added real honey to the beeswax along with some vanilla extract. I figured this would smell divine so I made the recipe. I had to heat the honey as it was a little bit hard and the vanilla was straight from the bottle. I had learned from the previous candles that everything should be warmed including the vessel you’re pouring it in. Therefore I put the Mason jars I’ll be pouring in on top of the warm stove. The recipe is below if you see a honey vanilla candle recipe on Pinterest beware! I do not recommend this recipe:

8 oz Yellow beeswax
2 Tbsp Honey
4 tsp Vanilla extract

Unfortunately, adding the honey and vanilla was a disaster it separated from the wax and went straight to the bottom of the candle as seen below. As I didn’t want liquid in the bottom of my candle I turned it upside down to see if I could shake out the candle but I noticed there were slight gaps down the sides of the candle in spots where the honey could pour out. it took a while and I didn’t quite get it all but I got most of the honey out of the jar.

Comparison of two yellow beeswax candles one with honey

Candle-making is an art that I have much more respect for now. I am looking forward to the journey of learning candle making. I think the main issue I’m having is probably the wicks. From what I have read the thickness of the wick has to be appropriate for the thickness of the candle. I did have the most successful pour with just the yellow beeswax (8 oz), and I added no fragrance. I will update this blog and report back on how it burns. It smells delicious, truly dripping with honey. I also find the yellow color quite attractive as is. It reminds me of the solar plexus chakra.