Buying Wicks Guide for Your Homemade Candles
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So you have survived the first two posts that talked about the types of candles that you can make as well was read on and on about the numerous types of materials that you can use to create beautiful waxy creations that you can light on fire!!
Today I want to discuss the next group of supplies that you will need to consider and purchase after you’ve picked the type of wax or gel you plan to use for making your candles. Depending on what you’ve chosen, you will need to buy wicks based off of the temperature that the wax melts, how large the candles are, etc. While this may seem like a daunting task to the novice candle maker, let me assure you that it is very simple to do and this post will put to rest any burning questions you have about the wick selection!!
Wick Size Requirements
There are not really any hard fast rules that you need to stick to when choosing the wicks to use in your candles. Typically the recommendation from the maker of the wax or from the candlemaking supplier as to the best wick to use. These recommendations are usually based off of the thickness in width of the candle.
Types of Candle Wicks
When you start shopping for wicks for the candles you will find that they come in a few common styles: cored, square braided wicks and flat braid wicks
Homemade Candles using Square Braid Wicks
Square braid wicks have four corners and can be either tightly woven or may have looser weave that will make the wick larger. Square braided wicks are used in pillar candles, beeswax and sometimes in custom shaped candles since they are known to be “stiffer” and straighter. This allows for a more even burn down the center of the candles core.
Using Flat Braid Wick for Desired Burn of Candle
The flat braid wick is the simplest of the types of wicks available. They are made from three strands and have varying types of braid (tight braid or loose braid). Due to the simple nature of a flat braided wick they do not burn in a symmetric fashion and are known to lean down when burning.
Make Candles using Wire Cored Wicks
Core wicks are actually made with material in the center of them to give them a rigid and solid upright standing. The most common materials found in the core of these wicks is either zinc, cotton, paper and even new materials such as hemp have begun to appear in the centers of these candles. The latter filler has come about as more environmentally conscious candle makers have frowned on the long standing lead cored wicks. You can still find lead-cored wicks but as most chandlers become more knowledgeable about their craft they have demanded higher quality wicks and have avoided buying any lead based ones.
Buying candle wicks, whatever the type you feel would best fit your candle projects are relatively cheap and you can get a lot in bulk when you’re purchasing.
Wick Techniques & Wick Preparation
Priming the Wick
After you’ve decided on whehter you want your wick to have a flat braid or a square braid or if it should have the core filled with some material you can’t just go putting a new wick into your latest candle project without first prepping it to be used.
This is where priming comes in. It is important that you eliminate any pockets of air that might be stuck in the braids of your candle wick. Doing so will allow the wick to burn more evenly and you will not experience flares in the candle flame. This is done by making sure the wick is saturated in wax. The effect is similar to putting a dry sponge under water; all of the bubbles coming to the surface are the air pockets releasing from the sponge.
Now to step back just a moment, a lot of times the mere process of putting the wick into the melted wax in the mold, the priming process will be taken care of. This becomes more of a conscious effort type step for your more novelty candle making ventures like a molded candle of some sort. Also, if you’re using a cored candle wick, you don’t really need to prime the wick.
Wicking the Candle
Simply put, wicking the candle is the process of putting a heated needle or even an old shish kabob skewer through the center of a hardened candle. This allows you to then thread your wick into the candle. I’m not going to go on too much since this is another simple process.
Wick Tabs are Handy
After you have wicked your candle you will need to take steps to make sure the wick does not come out one of the ends, especially while its burning. Here you can use wick tabs which have the wick fed through one end. Any excess wick can then be cut off and the wick tab pinched to prevent the wick from moving out of the tab. These cheap little tools are usually made of metal.
Other Candle Making Supplies
I’ve already mentioned the wick tabs just a moment ago, so we will now move onto another essential supply that is related to the wick and it’s use with the candle.
Mold Sealer
After you have wicked your candle and placed the wick along with the tab to hold the wick in place, you need to seal the hole that the wick is now filling. If you don’t do this then you will run into the annoying problem of having hot melted waxed escaping through the hole.
The solution is to use mold sealer or sometimes its called mold putty as well; they’re both the same thing. The sealer is a gummy and sticky material that can be put in the wick hole and eliminate the risk of getting melted wax everywhere. The mold sealer also holds the wick tab in place and prevents it from squirming around.
Types of mold sealer that I can think of off the top of my head are Yaley candle mold sealer and….well you know what? I only know of Yaley as a name brand mold putty maker. I’ve never paid attention to the brand when I’m buying it online or even a supply store because I’ve never really had one that made me stop and say, “This mold sealer is crap”. If any of you can think of good or bad brands then please leave a comment.
Well this has been a relatively short post compared to the first two. I will close by saying that if you want to go all out you can make your own wicks for candle making, but I’ve never really been successful in making them and don’t recommend the time needed to make them. It’s probably because it felt like needlework…and that is not something I have the desire or patience to do.
So what is your favorite type of wick to use and where did you get it?
The Basic Candle Making Supplies
Candle Making Tip 1: You might actually have a lot of the items you need to make candles sitting around in a cabinet in your home. Just be sure that its not something you will try to use for cooking later on down the road. This is understating it a bit but that wax will leave a little residue on any of the items you use.
From a convenience standpoint, you can get virtually every single item you will ever need from an online store/source. This is what I do for most of the candle stuff that I use; however there is occasion where I want to go to the craft store and get it. Doing this presents a perfect opportunity to run into other people who make homemade candles and you can bounce ideas, tips or new design ideas off of each other. Besides you don’t want to become too much of a homebody :0)
If you’re serious about learning how to make candles, then I recommend that your first item on your checklist of candle making supplies is a notepad and a pen, or some document on your computer that you will regularly update. What are you supposed to do with this? Well it is here that you will document the different batches of candles you make.
You would track things like
Type of candle wax used
How much coloring
Did the coloring work
Did the mold create a design you liked
Was the fragrance of the candle pleasant
For this post so that you’re not overwhelmed I’m going to focus at length on just two of the many supplies you will need for your candles
Waxes for Candle Making
Wax will be one of the supplies that you will be regularly purchasing as you continue to make candles. One good thing about wax is that if you have leftover wax or candles that have been burned down, it can be melted down and re-used! Talk about a “green” hobby!!
Most candles are made of paraffin or beeswax or a combination of the two; however you’re not limited to just those two. You have your choice of quite a few different types of candle making quality wax and I will cover that here.
Bayberry Wax
Bayberry wax, also known as bayberry tallow, is derived from the bayberry shrub, which were first found at the time the pilgrims settled Cape Cod. It is a very limited supply and expensive wax to come by simply due to the limited supply of bayberry shrubs. The wax is obtained by boiling the berries and the wax coating on them floats to the top where it can be strained from the water. You will typically find bayberry wax at specialty candle making supply stores.
Palm Wax
Palm wax is an all natural product of the oil palm, which is found predominantly in South Asia. The wax is extracted from the fruit that the oil palm produces so it is very much so a renewable source of wax. Some of its qualities are it’s ability to absorb color and scent very well and also it is not difficult to blend with other waxes such as soy wax, which will be discussed a little bit later. Palm wax also has what can be described as a feathered effect which really helps with the visual appeal of a homemade candle. The wax can be purchased for making candles in pellet form (the most common).
Beeswax
We have now come to the grand daddy of waxes. Beeswax has been used by humans to create candles for lighting the darkness for centuries. It is the most widely used natural wax for candles, with other natural waxes such as soy starting to gain ground. As you can tell from the name, this wax is obtained from the byproduct of bees honey making. As a result, beeswax has a very sweet scent to it when it is burned.
Beeswax is a golden to brown color unless it has been bleached to remove all of the impurities. You can obtain beeswax in bulk for your candles in block or pellet form.
Soy Wax
Soy wax is another renewable wax made from soy plants. With many people being more aware of their consumption of fossil fools and such, this makes another good choice for waxes when learning how to make candles. It is also a fairly new wax available to purchase. Additional benefits of soy wax are its affordability when compared with the other natural waxes, like beeswax or bayberry wax.
I’ve purchased soy wax in flake and pellet form from the suppliers that I’ve used.
Petroleum Waxes
Petroleum waxes came about as a byproduct of the refinement process of crude oil. There are other steps taken to hydrogenate the byproduct and give it the properties required to make a wax suitable for making candles. While there are different types of petroleum waxes such as montan wax and paraffin wax, it is the latter that you will use to make candles. If your budget will only allow you to buy the most economical wax to start using while you learn the candle making process paraffin will be your best bet since it is the most common manufactured wax type.
Paraffin Wax
Paraffin wax is hands down the most used of all the types of waxes for candle making. It is also a very versatile wax since you can purchase paraffin that melts at different temperatures (which is very important based on the type of candles you might be trying to make).
It’s versatility is also evident in the fact that there is no odor to it, which will allow you to add your own fragrance without having to worry about its scent being tainted by existing odors in the wax. Paraffin is also colorless, which gives you the option to add creative color schemes to your custom candles.
Paraffin is purchased in slabs of 10 pounds or in bags of pellets.
Tallow Wax
Now this type of wax is kind of disgusting and I only mention it because of the historical use of tallow waxes in candle making. Without getting into the gory details, tallow is rendered animal fat that was used to then make candles. One of the more disturbing problems with tallow was the smell of the wax when burned (it is after all, animal fat being burned). I have never actually looked to purchase tallow nor do I care if it can be purchased these days since there are so many more pleasant alternatives to waxes for your candlemaking projects.
Candle Gel
Candle gel is another of the newer types of materials for making candles. It is a combination of mineral oil and polymer, which essentially solidifies the mineral oil until the candle is lit. As you can tell, candle gel is not a wax but it is a very popular substance to make candles with. As of today, a company called Penreco holds the trademark for candle gel so when you purchase it through a supplier or store, chances are it originated from them.
Usually I purchase candle gel in a pail which contains about 35 pounds. The only reason I buy in this quantity is I am obsessed with making gel candles right now. In a future post I’ll have to go into more details about how to make gel candles and what kind of things you can make.
Additives
We are now going to talk about additives, which for some candle making projects are essential to get the desired candle strength, color or scent. Some additives help the candle last longer when burning.
Stearic Acid
Stearic acid is the most common additive use in making candles. It is animal or vegetable fat that is rendered into a flaky or powder form. Stearic is most commonly added to paraffin to harden the wax when it is not being burned. This allows the candle to last longer and not become a puddle of wax!!
Fisher-Tropsch Wax
Fisher-tropsch wax is a synthetic paraffin wax that was created to give candles a much higher temperature threshold before melting. This is a good feature to have when you want to have a solid glow to your candle when you are burning it. I don’t have a lot of experience with this type of wax so unfortunately I can’t provide any more information as to its benefits to candle making.
Vybar Additive
Vybar is often used as a replacement for Stearic acid. It is a polymerized olefin….what? I know I’m probably getting too technical but essentially Vybar has a lower melting temperature so you can eliminate some time and steps by heating up your wax and Vybar at the same time; instead of in a different pot and higher temperatures like the Stearic acid.
Polymers
Polymars are another set of synthetic additives that help to harden a candle, make the color more opaque, which is to eliminate the mottled, blotchy appearance you sometimes see on candles. They also help to make the colors of the candles more vibrant.
The polymers can be purchased in a block form or the beads/pellets form.
White Petrolatum
Now this additive is kind of trick name to throw you off!! 
Most everyone will know what this white petrolatum is as soon as I type the “professional name”. It is basically vaseline and it is a soft petroleum product that helps to create certain types of candles such as sculptable waxes, by keeping it soft.
Microcrystallines
Microcrystallines are what is described as de-oiled petroleum. Their primary function is to provide certain adhesion qualities when you’re making candles. As an example, if you’re making a multi-colored pillar candle, microcrystallines will help aid the different sections to stay together. Another function of theirs is to either soften or harden the wax depending on the type you are using.
There are in fact, far too many types of microcrystallines to mention in this post; however understand that if you do your research you could find almost 50 different types that you could use in your candle making process.
So you have made it this far!! You’re obviously serious about learning how to make candles.
Can you think of any other types of wax or additive that you’ve used to help you with your different candle projects?
Make Candles
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So we have come to the beginning of an ongoing series of posts that will be about getting your discount candles an affordable, but more importantly, a fun way; and that’s by making candles at home. I figure the best place to start is by having a discussion of all of the types of candles you can make at home. We don’t want you to think your options are going to be limited!!
Traditional Candles
If you happen to not have the time to make any of these wonderful types of candles you can buy them at a very affordable price by clicking on the associated image.
Pillar Candles
These are the large self standing candles that are normally round in shape. However, you can make them in a number of different shapes such as square or rectangular in shape. The really big pillar candles will usually have two or more wicks to allow for a more effective and even burn. Pair up three or more pillar candles that are of different heights and you can create a visually pleasing setting for your home.
Jar Candles
Jar candles are pretty much a self-explanatory type of candle. When a jar candle is made the melted wax is poured into a container. A very popular example of jar candles would be those sold by the Yankee Candle Company or Gold Canyon Candles. These are the easiest candles to have around since they are already contained in something that is heat resistant and minimizes the potential for fires in the home.
Taper Candles
Taper candles are a more formal type of candle in my opinion. These are the type of candles that are in fancy candle holders and you will see decorating a dining room table or where guests will be entertained. Another common use of these candles are for holidays. Their lazy flicker creates a soothing and happy environment and creates a relaxing ambiance that will soothe even the most savage beast.
Gel Candles
Gel Candles are one of the more unique types of candles you can make, and in my opinion allow for the most creativity when actually making these candles. They are also candles that are not made the traditional way using wax. In fact, they are made from this gelled mineral oils compound that makes them see through and a rubbery feel to them. Using these mineral oils allow you to create many different shapes and designs. If you consider yourself the creative type then you are limited only by your imagination….and patience, as to what types of gel candles you can make!!
Floating Candles
So a trivia question for you. If water is soothing as well as the flickering candle, what happens if you were to combine the two concepts? Well you get yourself a floating candle. Floating candles are typically smaller designed candles that are able to float on water. A lot of times you will pair these candles with a specially made holder that will hold the water. They can create quite a contrast decoration piece.
Another unique use for these candles is when you’re having a party at your home that is going to be in your backyard. For example, last spring we had a barbecue at my house and we placed almost 20 floating candles in our pool. I thought it was quite a beautiful setting!!
Unique Designed Candles
Tealight Candles
I almost hesitate to mention tealight candles since they serve more of a functional purpose than that of beauty or decoration. They are usually very small candles made in a small metal container. These are the types of candles you see at buffets for events, keeping your food warm. They are also used in the containers to heat up fragrance oils or similar. I’m sure you have seen these fancy looking pots or holders that hold the scented liquids.
Votive Candles
Votive candles are a candle that are usually no more than 2 1/2 to 3 inches tall and a cylinder shape. Think of them as the small sister to the much larger pillar candles. When I use them I like to get fancy candle holders for them and place them out in fairly large numbers just for effect. They can be white and odorless, or you can create a rainbow with all of the colors you can choose from. The only problem I’ve found with scented votive candles is that the scent lasts a very short time before it is hardly detectable to your nose.
Luminaria Candles
One of the rarer types of candles are those luminaria candles. Like the tealight candles they are not necessarily the prettiest candle in the box. What makes a luminaria candle unique is that instead of a candle holder these are put in sand. These candles are most commonly associated with various cultural events or celebrations, where the people will place sand in a white bag and place the candle on the sand and then lighting the candles.
This list I’ve provided for you to choose when you make candles will definitely keep you occupied for awhile. Usually you will start out with simple candles like a pillar one since there isn’t a lot of difficulty in that. When you become more experienced, then the fun starts with how creative you can get with the gel candles. At some point you will realize that with all of the fun you’ve been having making these candles, you will have created, for yourself, a large stock of discount candles to burn to your hearts content!!
What type of candles are you going to make first or that you’ve had the best results with?
