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One recurring question on the forums is: "What is the ideal candle to get started in
candle making?"
In my honest opinion, the answer is: a pillar candle. The pillar candle
may not be the easiest candle to make but it has many advantages:
The pillar we are about to make is the most basic you can make: a single color, unscented.
Note For this example project:
I have used a wax mix of 80% paraffin wax and 20%
stearic acid. Because of this rather high percentage of stearic acid, you
will notice on the pictures that my pillar shows a nice snowflake (or
mottled) effect. If you don't like this effect,
reduce the amount of stearic acid or use Vybar instead.
Prepare your pillar wax blend and start melting it in the
double boiler. It should reach a temperature between 180°F and 190°F.
Cut a length of wick equal to the height of your mold PLUS 6 centimeters and
prime the wick. Not only will a primed wick burn better the first time you
light it but its stiffness will also make it much easier to thread it through
the mold's wick hole.
Now that the wick is ready, prepare your mold. You'll have
to thread the wick through the hole in the bottom of the mold (if you're
using a homemade mold, you'll have to make this hole yourself, perfectly
centered); it must stick up 2 or 3 centimeters from each side of the mold.
At the bottom side of the mold, push the wick flat against
the bottom and cover it with enough mold sealer to hide it entirely. Don't
be thrifty with mold sealer: it can be reused and, moreover, its presence
will prevent the liquid paraffin from escaping the mold and run off all over
the countertop. It will also need to resist the pulling created by the wick
holder on the other end of the mold.
The wick holder is used to keep the wick tight (hence the
pulling I just talked about) and correctly centered inside the mold.
If you use the double boiler method exclusively, you may
skip this step and go directly to the next one. In
my case, I use a slow cooker to melt a large volume of wax at once so I need
to preheat the pouring jug I will use before I transfer the amount of hot
paraffin needed for the pillar into it. This is necessary because the low
temperature of a non heated metallic pouring jug would make the temperature
of the paraffin poured inside fall too much. To preheat my pouring jug, I
usually use a heat gun but you could also place your pouring jug (only if
it's made of metal) a few moments in a warm oven (trouble is that the handle
get quite hot as well).
Make sure that the temperature of the wax is still
somewhere between 180°F and 190°F.
You can now add candle dye, if you want to. Stir scrupulously with an old
spoon or a long wooden stick (barbecue stick) but not too forcefully so that
you won't create air bubbles.
CAUTION: a tiny amount of candle dye is enough to color a large amount of
wax, so start with a very small quantity and add some if necessary. Don't
forget that the color you see in liquid paraffin won't be the same as that
of the cooled down, finished candle.To get an idea of what the final color will be like, pour a small amount of paraffin
in a plastic cup and put it in the fridge for ten minutes: the color of the
wax in the cup should be very close to that of the finished candle. Add more
dye if necessary.
Verify once again the temperature of the paraffin. If it
drops under the 180°F mark, put the pouring pot back into the double boiler
pan until the temperature reaches 180°F again.
If you are going to use a metallic mold, it's a good idea to preheat the
mold using, for instance, a heat gun or by placing it during ten minutes on a
hot heater.
Now, pour the paraffin into the mold, slowly and not from
too high to avoid the formation of air bubbles in the wax. CAUTION: if you
realize that you won't have enough wax to completely fill up your mold, be
sure to keep a small amount of wax to fill the shrinking hole that will form
at the top of the candle. If you fail to do so, you will find it really
difficult to make a new batch of wax of the exact same shade of color.
Hit the sides of the mold (gently, don't break or dent it)
with a wooden spoon to free any trapped air bubbles. You'll see these
bubbles raise to the surface where they should burst and disappear (this
will more than likely be the case if you poured the wax at the right
temperature).
When the wax starts to settle and cool off (after an
average 30 to 45 minutes, although it depends on the size of your candle and
the room temperature), you will see a well taking shape, between the sides
of the mold and the wick. We call this well the shrinking well.
This is a normal phenomenon due to the very nature of
paraffin: as almost everything in the world, wax expands when heated and
shrinks as it cools. The small amount of wax we've kept in the pouring pot
will be used to fill up this well. But before you do so, we need to make
sure that no air pockets are present under the wax surface, along the wick.
Take your wicking or knitting needle and poke a few deep holes, vertically,
all around the wick. Poke deep enough holes but don't force your way through
though. Poke 4 to 6 holes at different places around the wick; these holes
are called release holes.
Bring the leftover wax back to a temperature of 190°F in
the double boiler (for a second pour, the wax must be 10°F (6°C) warmer than
it was for the initial pour).
When it's there, very carefully fill up the shrinking well around the wick.
It is very important that you don't pour higher than the initial wax level;
just fill the well, don't pour any higher or your candle will show a nasty
line where the initial wax level has been.
Pick up your wicking needle again and push it gently in the existing release
holes (they will appear darker in the newly poured wax). If you see air
bubbles raising to the surface, you'll understand why it was worth the while
poking relief holes: any air pocket along the wick will make sure the flame
goes out so better get rid of them.
Unless you're making a very large pillar, you shouldn't
have to make a third pour as it's unlikely that a new well will develop.
However, should it be the case, then just repeat the previous step.
When your candle has entirely cooled off (and this could take some time, up
to two hours or more) and the mold is cool to the touch, remove the mold
sealer and the wick holder. Gently press the mold between your hands, upside
down, to help release the candle inside. If necessary, pretend you're going
to hit the move against the countertop but stop your motion abruptly. The
candle should pop out quite easily.
Do not hit the mold against a hard surface. Do not hit it
too hard either. Don't use a knife to try and release a stuck candle. If it
really won't come out of the mold, put the mold in the fridge (not in the
freezer) during 10 minutes and try again.
Trim the wick at the bottom of the candle. When you've
unmolded the candle, the side that was at the top of the mold has become the
bottom of the candle. Because of the second pour you've made, the bottom
side is neither very nice to look at nor level so we will now take care of
that by rubbing the base of the candle against the hot surface of an old
pan.
After this operation, your candle should be perfectly level.
Almost there! The last thing to do now is to trim the
other side of the wick (the one at the top of the candle) to a length of 5
millimeters.
Congratulations, you've just made your first pillar
candle!
There are hundreds of projects to be made based on this simple pillar candle, from very simple
to utterly complicated. A few examples are multicolored layers, "chunk"
pillars and much, much more!
Author: Chris, Owner of HowtomakeCandles.info
Check out his website with loads of informational resources for candle
makers, and show your support!
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