HELLO 2018

Good morning candle friends.  I hope everyone had a lovely New Year!  Thought I'd pop in to share something that I've been obsessed with the past few months or so. 

Creating color palettes!

Its a great way to catch a glimpse of the overall look that I want to achieve and it all starts with the tiniest single drop of dye in soy wax.  While I love every color color schemes I've created for Valentines Day I must say that my favorites are the ever traditional reds and pinks.

I've been in a happy valentine's day mood all morning, pouring hearts and roses and fragrances that make my home smell like a perfumery.

Giant Sunflowers and Soy

These are the big mommas to the smaller sunflower floating candles that I've shared in previous posts.  Come to think of it, I think I did share these back in the candle making blog days.. jeesh that has to be 10 years ago or so. 

I decided to dust off the, well, dust from the molds that have been living on a shelf, forgotten, ignored.  Their immense size use to put me off.  They are more costly to make being that they weigh close to a pound.  Over the years I've shelved a lot of the bigger molds opting for the smaller more manageable pieces.

But I've been rethinking the larger candles recently and with summer approaching faster than I can say, grab the sunblock, lets hit the pool, I've decided to give them another go.

Lets face it, summer is pool time centric in the Valley of the Sun and there's no better way to spend those too warm evening bbq's than pool side, lit by candle light.

I've been playing with soy wax the past few weeks and even though I enjoy the soft creamy ease of it, I have huge reservations on how well it can stand up to the upcoming summer heat.  I swear, sometimes I think soy wax can melt at the slightest touch, I can't imagine what it'll be like when summer actually comes.  Mixing it with paraffin has yielded better results and burn tests have been amazing too.  Pool testing is next on the list...long lazy days of floaties and sunblock are next....

As I'm typing this post the temp outside is an irrupting 103 degrees.  Yesterday it was only in the 80's, so I'm gonna grab my towel and floatie and head out with thoughts of soy melting in my head and as I bob along through the rest of my afternoon maybe I'll come up with a way to ship soy wax during the summer.

candles and clouds

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

― John Lubbock, The Use Of Life

My goal is to capture lifes little joys in wax form.  Using natural waxes and calm relaxing fragrances.

 These happy things.   These little white fluff balls that bob along turquoise skies.

made using
100% soy wax
and a mixture of natural waxes, soy, beeswax and candelilla.
cotton braided wick

glowlitecandles online
glowlitecandles on etsy

A chunky stained glass candle making tutorial

in fish form

you can do this with pretty much any type or shape of mold. 

the technique would be the same regardless of what type of mold you use  

 choose a metal, plastic or silicone candle mold, or milk carton, cardboard tube..what have you

I started with a few chopped up bits of soy wax

you can use whatever you have on hand, I prefer the ease of cutting soy, but if you have paraffin use it.  

if you're starting with a plain paraffin add some vybar.

 to get this particular look for the candle you want your chunks opaque 

four colors in various shades of blues and teals (ok there's only three there, a lighter blue shade was added later)

this is scrap from wax melts, all mingled together and they smell divine

a mixture of beach daisies, summer sands and coconut milk

fill your mold with your wax bits, don't cram or squish just fill er up to the top of your mold

this particular mold has a little hole in the center that I can easily drop a wick in to

regardless of the type of mold your using, you want to make sure you aren't disturbing the placement of the wick when you add your wax chunks

remember before how I mentioned those wax bits being opaque? 

for your pour wax, you want it translucent, the only wax I know of that has a translucent-ness to it is paraffin

melt it, add a bit of blue dye, 

i'm using two different blues, a lighter one and a dark 

pouring melt point will vary depending on what type of material your mold is.

this mold is silicone, I poured at 190..ish  I like the higher temp, it helps to melt a bit of those chunk pieces, makes the edges softer and bleeds a bit of the color too.

since I only have two hands I couldn't take a proper picture of the next step

so read on

you need to pour both of the colors at the same time. 

yes, that's right dual wield those pour pots

the colors are going to bleed together, but that's the effect you want

now you have to wait

till it hardens

be patient

it'll be ready to de-mold soon

but first 

you want one last pour to make it flat

waiting...waiting....

and done

this style of candle making has a few different names

chunk candles

stained glass candles

crackle candles (although there is a whole different type of crackle candle finish)

call it what you want

the fun part is seeing how unique each candle is when it comes out of the mold

If you make your own candles and want to share your experiences please do,  I love hearing from other candle makers.