I am trying to reverse engineer the process by which candles with colorfully burning flames (green, red, etc) are BEST made. What I mean specifically by best is that, having tested a few available products, I noted that quite often the result is underwhelming, with the colorful part of the flame being only a portion of the flame (just half of the flame, or sometimes even just the tip).
I have been trying a few things, including breaking down these products and finding where they incorporate the colorant salts, and have found that the easiest thing that is done is just getting some salt to stick onto the wick, but the better result is achieved by somehow incorporating the colorant into both the wick and the wax itself. I have been moderately successful in getting the colorant onto/into the wick, but this leads to the underwhelming result that only a small part of the flame is the target color.
The issue with adding the colorant salt to the wax is essentially one of solubility. Even if the salt is painstakingly suspended within the wax by carefully adding and mixing it as it sets, it does not travel to the flame with the rest of the wax in the melt pool, it just settles at the bottom of the melt pool.
I was almost ready to think it was impossible until I found a product (specifically the tealights produced by Joelson inc - colorflame.com) that performed beautifully, and when I melted the wax, removed the wick, and let it set with a fresh zinc core wick, and burned both separately, I found that both burned with the target color, and noted that even though I melted the wax, no salt precipitated out of it, indicating that they had found a way to dissolve rather than just suspend the salt.
I assume this was done either by pre-treating the salt somehow, or using an additive that enhanced its solubility in the wax melt. Does anyone have any ideas on how I might reverse engineer the ingredients in the Joelson product, or just generally have any experience with solubilizing salts in candle wax?
I have been trying a few things, including breaking down these products and finding where they incorporate the colorant salts, and have found that the easiest thing that is done is just getting some salt to stick onto the wick, but the better result is achieved by somehow incorporating the colorant into both the wick and the wax itself. I have been moderately successful in getting the colorant onto/into the wick, but this leads to the underwhelming result that only a small part of the flame is the target color.
The issue with adding the colorant salt to the wax is essentially one of solubility. Even if the salt is painstakingly suspended within the wax by carefully adding and mixing it as it sets, it does not travel to the flame with the rest of the wax in the melt pool, it just settles at the bottom of the melt pool.
I was almost ready to think it was impossible until I found a product (specifically the tealights produced by Joelson inc - colorflame.com) that performed beautifully, and when I melted the wax, removed the wick, and let it set with a fresh zinc core wick, and burned both separately, I found that both burned with the target color, and noted that even though I melted the wax, no salt precipitated out of it, indicating that they had found a way to dissolve rather than just suspend the salt.
I assume this was done either by pre-treating the salt somehow, or using an additive that enhanced its solubility in the wax melt. Does anyone have any ideas on how I might reverse engineer the ingredients in the Joelson product, or just generally have any experience with solubilizing salts in candle wax?
