Newbie! Assistance Appreciated!

[RubyRose]

hello! I’m super new to candle making. I mean, I’ve made candles, but always in like an uneducated way. You know.... just mixing a bunch of waxes and dumping them in a can and calling it good. I’ve never taken the time to educate myself on waxes, wicks, scents, and how to make it all come together.

So here I am! I found the wax I wanted, scents I wanted, and the wicks I need for the jars I purchased. But now I’m having trouble understanding how to get the right balance of fragrance to wax. I found a few different sites that have loads of information. I’ve attached a screen shot of the info I found on Lone Star candle supply website. I think I got the math figured out for making just one single candle at a time, but could really use some extra eyes to tell me if I totally effed it up! Math is not one of my strengths- haha

So, I have the following:

A jar, at 8.5 ounces to fill line (11.16 fl ounces to overflow)

Golden Brands 464 soy wax with 12% max fragrance.

So doing the math for wax, it looks like it would be 1 container x 8.5 ounces = 8.5/20 = 0.425 lbs of wax needed.

Then for fragrance it would be 0.425 lbs of wax x 16 (ounces per pound) = 16 ounces x 12% (0.12) = 0.816 ounces of fragrance.

So 0.816 ounces of fragrance to one single 8.5 ounce candle. Does that seem accurate? Or is it too much fragrance oil?

Sorry for the long post. It thanks again for any help!!!

 

[jcandleattic]

12% fragrance is way too much. Drop it to half that. Just because a wax can hold that much, doesn't mean you need to use that much. I'd drop it to at least 8% or even 6% to start. If using quality FO (which looks like you are) that should give you plenty of throw without wasting it with that much extra. Most likely, you'll have an easier time wicking your candle with the lower % as well.

Other than that, everything else looks good. Key is testing. Another thing I have found with suppliers, is they will usually give you the biggest wick that will work in a candle/jar application, so it will cover all scents (some scents, especially heavier bakery type scents, you will have to wick up, some of the lighter scents you will need to wick down)
IME it's best to test with 3 wicks (s/m/l) to give you a good idea of the size wick you will need for that scent.

 

[RubyRose]

Thanks for the reply, jcandleattic! I assumed using the max % of fragrance was ideal, in order to get a nice big scent from it. Especially with my candles being on the smaller side. But being inexperienced, I'll totally take your advice. For the wicks, I used the CandleScience Wick Guide and purchased Eco 14 wicks. Hopefully those work out well!

I purchased my FOs from CandleScience. I'm hoping they are good quality. I did some research before buying and found they had some pretty great reviews. So I bought a big bundle of 1 oz bottles.

The problem I'm having is that I already am not sure about the math, but so many different sites have different equations to determine how much wax and FO to use. Maybe I'm just getting way too into my head about this, but it's so confusing!

So using 6% fragrance load:
If I use the equation from LoneStar Company - I need 0.425 lbs wax (192.78 grams) and 0.408 oz fragrance (11.57 grams).
If I use the equation from Crafty Candle Supplies - I need 254.1 grams of wax. It doesn't advise about fragrance but 6% of that is 15.25 grams (0.54 oz).
If I use the equation from Candle Creations - I need 257.47 grams of wax and 19.8 mL of fragrance (0.67 oz).

Basically - my brain is just broken. So I saw that a good rule of thumb is 1 oz (by weight) fragrance oil to 1 pound (16 oz also by weight). Since I purchased 1 oz bottles, and my jars are 8.5 oz, doesnt that mean that I can just use 1/2 of the FO for one 8.5 oz candle?

 

[I_like_melts]

hello! I’m super new to candle making. I mean, I’ve made candles, but always in like an uneducated way. You know.... just mixing a bunch of waxes and dumping them in a can and calling it good. I’ve never taken the time to educate myself on waxes, wicks, scents, and how to make it all come together.

So here I am! I found the wax I wanted, scents I wanted, and the wicks I need for the jars I purchased. But now I’m having trouble understanding how to get the right balance of fragrance to wax. I found a few different sites that have loads of information. I’ve attached a screen shot of the info I found on Lone Star candle supply website. I think I got the math figured out for making just one single candle at a time, but could really use some extra eyes to tell me if I totally effed it up! Math is not one of my strengths- haha

So, I have the following:

A jar, at 8.5 ounces to fill line (11.16 fl ounces to overflow)

Golden Brands 464 soy wax with 12% max fragrance.

So doing the math for wax, it looks like it would be 1 container x 8.5 ounces = 8.5/20 = 0.425 lbs of wax needed.

Then for fragrance it would be 0.425 lbs of wax x 16 (ounces per pound) = 16 ounces x 12% (0.12) = 0.816 ounces of fragrance.

So 0.816 ounces of fragrance to one single 8.5 ounce candle. Does that seem accurate? Or is it too much fragrance oil?

Sorry for the long post. It thanks again for any help!!!

Just to add about fragrance - each scent is going to be a little different. Many have a 10% max use in candles/wax. 10% is very strong for most scents. (I use 9 - 10% for melts)

 

[HappyGoNaturally]

For your 8.5 ounces fill line, I would melt 8 ounces of wax and use 1/2 oz. of scent to get a feel for it. I've been using about 9%, which would be a little more than 1/2 oz. for your candle. When you pour your candle, do not use all of the wax -- leave just enough in your melting pot to pour a thin layer on top in case you need to top it off after your candle has set up just in case the surface has flaws.

 

[RubyRose]

For your 8.5 ounces fill line, I would melt 8 ounces of wax and use 1/2 oz. of scent to get a feel for it. I've been using about 9%, which would be a little more than 1/2 oz. for your candle. When you pour your candle, do not use all of the wax -- leave just enough in your melting pot to pour a thin layer on top in case you need to top it off after your candle has set up just in case the surface has flaws.

Thanks for the info, all! I'm going to try it that way, HappyGoNaturally. I'll post my update once I pick a scent and test it out! I'm really excited to dive into this.

 

[jcandleattic]

I've been out of town and haven't had a chance to get back to this thread. For candles, I honestly can see no reason to use more than 8% regardless of wax (I use only 6% in my paraffin, and anywhere between 3-4% in my palm wax candles) any more than that, IMO is a complete waste of fragrance. IME it doesn't make the candle throw any better, all it does, for me, is complicate the wicking, and adds extra expense to my production cost.

Now I do up that % by 1-2 points if I am making melts, but no more than that. If it doesn't throw at that % the FO is not worth it for my applications.