Sunday, December 28, 2014
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candles & candlemaking
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A year ago at Christmastime, I decided to see what kind of candlemaking
supplies were still at my parents' house, and wound up digging a couple of big
Rubbermaid tubs worth of molds, dyes, additives, wick, wax, &c out of the
basement.

I used to do this a lot, but I've mostly forgotten the details of technique.

Rough notes:

- Wax temperature when pouring is important.  I'm aiming for 210-220 F
  with metal molds, but it's hard to get there with the little hot plate I'm
  using.  I can usually get it just over 200, according to the thermometer
  I've got.  This doesn't seem to be doing too much damage, but I do think
  the results would be a little better with hotter wax.
- You're supposed to use a proper double boiler or a purpose-built wax melter.
  I put various sizes of can in some water in a medium size pan.
- I remember that I used to melt wax on the woodstove in my dad's shop, but if
  so we must have been running the stove hotter in those days or I had a lot
  more patience.  it does work well for holding wax at a reasonable
  temperature until you have to do a second pour.
- With metal molds, keeping the wax from streaming out the wick hole at the
  bottom is often kind of problematic.  I think you're supposed to affix the
  wicking with a little screw and put some tacky putty-type stuff over the
  screw, but if you're low on the putty or don't have just the right size
  screw this doesn't work so great.  Things tried this time around:  The
  remaining putty and then everything kind of smashed down on a wood block
  (Ben's idea), pouring a little wax in the bottom and letting it harden first,
  the wrong size screw, silicone caulk.  The wood block and the silicone caulk
  both worked pretty well.
- You can dye beeswax, but you have to keep in mind that the stuff is already
  pretty yellow and opaque.  Shades of green work well.  Other colors...  Well,
  I wound up with some the color of a strange weird woodland fungus.
- Last time I did this, I wound up with a bunch of pillars that burned really
  poorly and with a small flame.  I think I wasn't using a heavy enough wick.
  Tried to go with heavier braided wicking this time.  Guess I'll see how that
  pans out.