I have known for a long time that my beloved Glade, Gold Canyon, Bath and Body Works, Goose Creek and Yankee Candles would give me terrible headaches and exacerbate my asthma symptoms. And forgot burning them if any one of us in the house was sick, getting sick or had recently been sick. According to this article, some of these candles are as bad for you as breathing cigarette smoke!!! What???
They also seemed to lose their scent very quickly…after the first few burns there didn’t seem to be much left. I thought that it just somehow evaporated out but I realized after doing some research that it’s not uncommon for commercial candle manufacturers to scent only the top 25% of the candle, or at least scent it more than the remainder. That seems unfair, doesn’t it, when you can pay upwards of $25-30 or more for a large candle?
I set out to create my own candles that would have fewer toxic substances and perhaps not make me wheeze and give me headaches. And maybe they’d last longer and smell better in the process! It took a year altogether of testing, and to be honest, I have invested over $1000 in this process. I’ve been able to sell some candles along the way and am in the process of placing them in small, local boutiques, so I think it’s worth the investment I’ve had to make to get here. I have yet to meet a soul who does not LOVE my candles.
Commercial candles, if they don’t say otherwise, are paraffin. Some companies have begun making soy blends or beeswax blends. There is currently no regulation, so it’s common that your store-bought “soy” or “beeswax” candle could have no more than FIVE perfect soy or beeswax and the rest would still be paraffin! It might be labeled like it’s pure! Isn’t that terrible?
And why do they do it? Beeswax is expensive, especially now while we’re having problems with diminishing bee populations. It’s also hard to scent and wick. Soy is plentiful here in the US, so that’s nice…but soy/paraffin blends are easier to scent and wick properly. They are quicker and easier to mass produce. And it’s easier to make them look perfect and be tolerant of temperature changes in shipping and storage. 100% soy candles often do NOT look perfect. They are prone to “frosting” and sometimes get sink holes even when made well. Neither affects their use or scent throw in any way and while I’ve minimized these issues with lengthy (and expensive) testing, it still happens sometimes. The candles still burn a long time and smell amazing, so I’m ok with it. They ARE handmade, after all.
And have you noticed how awful some commercial beeswax or soy candles smell? Awful!! The Burt’s Bees candles at Walmart come to mind. OMG…they cost the same as mine and the scent makes me want to gag. Truly. I feel bad that people are spending their hard-earned dollars on those, thinking they’re making a better choice. There are some very nice beeswax and soy candles out there, that smell great, but I’ve seen prices starting at $12 for a 3oz candle! Oh my…I love to earn money for my work just as much as the next guy, but that’s insane to me and not something the average American can afford to buy regularly (and in the quantity some of us use!). I don’t mean to bash but I’m seriously still in awe over what I’ve learned about the candle industry.
Soy and beeswax burn longer than paraffin. As least twice as long. My handmade soy candles burn a minimum of 10 hours per ounce. I made one 24oz candle (in a recycled food jar) that lasted over 300 hours ~ yes, I kept a log of that one!! I even forgot about the sucker and few times and it burned overnight after having burned all day. It just kept going and going.
So back to making candles! I sell mine through local boutiques and hope to get them into an online storefront in 2016. I sold them briefly on Etsy but shipping is high since candles are heavy, and Etsy’s fees are insanely high…I just wasn’t making enough money to make it worth the effort. Locally, I wholesale or consign them and that works for me. I figured I could sell them online in my own shop but sell them in four-packs, so the shipping cost makes more sense.
I do want to share, however, how to make your own in case you are so inclined. You don’t need 60+ bottles of professional candle scents (I only buy paraben-free, phthalate-free, petroleum-free, benzene-free fragrance oils), a dozen bottles of professional candle colorant, hundreds of wicks in different sizes or 100 pounds of wax to get started! You don’t need cutesy lids or special jars ~ you *can* make candles in jars recycled from foods but always make sure to burn them supervised, on a heat-proof surface and don’t use a huge wick in a small jar. There is always a chance for breakage and this chance is greater with a recycled jar. Mason jars are a nice safe bet, as are special candle jars. But always keep in mind that a jar can be defective and CAN break. Soy wax cleans up easy-peasy (but is oily, so can stain textiles) and beeswax does not clean up so easily! Mason jars on Amazon are overpriced usually, even with Prime. Check Walmart or your grocery store. If you catch a sale, you’re especially lucky!
If you want to scent your candles, avoid those expensive small bottles of scents at the craft stores. You’re better off buying an inexpensive essential oil on Amazon. Don’t use your pricey MLM oils though! Not worth it! Don’t use crayons to color…or the expensive colorants at craft stores. It’s better to go natural. You’re making healthier candles and who knows what’s in the crayons, craft store colors and craft store scents and if you want to breathe any of it?! If you must have color, buy one bottle of a neutral color like “honey” from Candle Science or another supplier on Amazon…especially if you have Prime. (I only buy additives and wax made in the US!) Same if you’d rather go with a synthetic fragrance blend (choose a “safer” one) but honestly, the less-expensive essential oils work well! There are brands on Amazon where you can get a 4oz bottle for around $15 and that will go a long way, as you want to use 1 ounce of EO per pound of wax. That’s right, an ounce. I’ve seen how-to’s instructing to use something like 12 drops for a pound of wax…you’re not going to get any throw with that. This is why you want cheap EOs, not the $10-115 for a 5ml or 15ml bottle kind!
For wax, again, avoid the craft store. You can get soy container candle wax on Amazon for a decent price, free shipping if you have Prime. They are a good source for beeswax too. A pound of wax makes about five 4oz candles if you don’t overfill them. Don’t be tempted by cheap paraffin…again…it’s not going to be healthier than the store-bought candles we talked about are are trying to avoid.
Let’s talk wicks now! Again, avoid the craft stores and their over-priced crap! For 4oz or 8oz mason jars, I’d recommend the “medium” sized pre-tabbed ECO wicks Candle Science sells on Amazon. It’s a 50 pack for about $10 shipped and that size works well in soy wax in the smaller mason jars. If your jars are significantly wider, go with “large,” If you’re making votives (or using baby food jars, which is a nice idea and makes cute little candles that still burn 20 hours) then you will want the “small” version.
Here’s a cost breakdown (assumes you have free shipping through Amazon Prime):
10 pounds golden brands soy container wax ~ $22
1 package wicks ~ $10
12 4oz mason jars ~ $7-9
1 20z bottle liquid colorant ~ $7
1 4oz bottle essential oil ~ $15
pour pitcher ~ $12
candy thermometer ~ $3-15 depending on type
TOTAL: $75-80ish and you will be able to make 12 forty hour candles, with enough supplies leftover to make at least three dozen more just for the cost of more jars, or you can recycle the ones you used in the first batch once you’ve used them! It seems like a lot but it really is only going to be about $2 per 4oz candle once you make them all…and they make great gifts! Glade candles are a around 3.5oz and sell for $3-4 plus tax and they’re not healthy, only burn about 20 hours and don’t have as good of a scent throw, so keep that in mind!
When you’ve gathered your supplies and you’re ready to start, you’ll need a hot glue gun (high temp) and glue sticks to glue the pre-tabbed wicks into the jars. Center as best you can with your fingers (careful, it’s HOT) or a skewer.
Melt your wax in a pour pitcher in a pan of simmering water or on a hot plate. You want your wax to hit 185 degrees, but don’t let it boil. At 185, add any color and then any scent you’re using. Stir thoroughly but not briskly because you don’t want to introduce air. Let the mixture cool to 130-150. 140 is a good pour temp, but the best temp will vary based on colorant, fragrance and the environment in your work area. It’s a good idea to hold back a couple ounces of wax so that if you get sinkholes, you can do a second pour and fill them in. Not necessary but looks better. After the candles are fully hardened (I wait at least 4 hours, overnight is even better), trim the wicks to 1/4″. They burn best if you cure for 5-7 days before burning. They will burn longer and have a better throw. Rule of thumb when burning soy is that it’s ideal to always trim the wick to 1/4″ and let the candle burn around 4 hours each burn time, but 4 hours is especially important the first time.
And that’s it! If you make a dozen candles and reuse the jars (pour super hot tap water into them after the wax is gone, clean out the residue and pry off the wick tabs) you will have made a minimum of four dozen candles, each burning 40+ hours for around $80. That could last you a year or two. Ever come away from Bath and Body Works with $40 worth of candles that only last a couple of months if you burn them even semi-regularly? That’s what I’m talking about…and these are safer and healthier in your environment.
For beeswax, the breakdown changes a little. A 1 pound bag will run you around $10-12 on Amazon with free shipping. Procedures are similar, but I prefer to leave them uncolored and unscented. They smell like honey when they burn and they clean the air by giving off negatively charged ions that bind with the positively charged ions of dander, dust and pollen. They cost more to make but they are beautiful and I enjoy them a lot as well as my soy candles! You can use essential oils in them at the same rate as in soy, and you probably will have to upsize the wick compared to soy. But they’re also easy and fun to make!
Happy candle making!!
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