Friday, 7 September 2012

How to Make Soy Candles for Business or Pleasure

By Danielle Callaghan


Not only are soy candles natural, but of course they also burn cleaner than regular paraffin wax candles. In fact, soy wax candles have become increasingly popular even though soy wax is slightly more expensive than paraffin wax. Most people who are involved in candle making usually find that once they have made soy candles, they rarely go back to making regular ones.

Soy wax is a vegetable wax that is made from soybeans. The oil is extracted from the soybean flakes and hydrogenated. The majority of the world's soybeans are grown in the United States in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. It is believed that soy candles burn cleaner then paraffin candles. This is true to an extent. All candles emit soot. There is no way around that. But, paraffin candles emit black soot while soy candles emit white soot. While soot is not harmful to people, white soot is a little cleaner then black.

The most noticeable difference between making soy candles and paraffin wax candles is the actual wax. The method remains the same however, in that both require the use of a double boiler. A double boiler is simply a small pot placed inside a larger part full of water. The wax is a placed into the smaller pot while the water in the larger pot is brought to the boil. The soy wax should be heated to a temperature of between 150 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit, but care should be taken in order to prevent the temperature remaining above 150 degrees for too long, or else you could find that the wax takes on a yellowish color. As soon as all the wax has melted, you can begin adding your color. The wax can then be removed from the heat and the fragrance oil can be added. Ideally, you should aim to use 7% fragrance by weight, which of course means that for every one pound of wax you use, you should use 1.12 ounces of fragrance oil. When the wax is at a temperature of between 140 and 150 degrees you can begin pouring your molds. The candles should then be left to cool down and you should never attempted to speed this process up to buy holding them under cold water, in that it could cause the candles to crack.

Although soy wax candles and paraffin wax candles are mostly the same, there are a couple of differences. Soy wax is a softer wax so it is not suitable for some types of candles. For instance, soy wax does not work well when you are trying to make novelty candles. It also do not work well for pillar candles. You can also not make taper candles with soy wax. Floating soy candles can be made if they are up to 3 inches in diameter.

You can be rest assured that if you've made paraffin wax candles in the past then there is nothing stopping you from making soy wax candles instead. Just as with food, using different wax is just like trying different recipes, and even though soy wax and paraffin wax are so much the same in terms of being able to hold fragrance, it's none the less very enjoyable to try and make something which is out of the ordinary.




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