How to Use Candle Making Fragrance

Homemade candles are a delight and very satisfying to make.  There are simple one you can start with such as votives and small pillar candles and as you gain confidence you can progress to the larger homemade candles and even onto the more intricate candle types.  Using a candle making fragrance is part of making candles at home and the fragrance can personalize a candle if you are making it for a gift.

Popular scents are sandalwood, vanilla, strawberry, licorice, (other food fragrances are very popular too), and if looking to aromatherapy you might be using eucalyptus, lemon, rosemary, rose, lavender, or any other fragrance that helps clear the head or relax you after a long hard day.

Candle fragrances are best used to compliment the color of the candle so if the color is the most important aspect then choose a fragrance to go with it, or if the fragrance is the most important component then choose a color to match that scent.

Always make sure that your fragrance has been added at the end of melting the wax, just before pouring, so that the fragrance does not burn away.

How To Make Themed Gel Candles

One of the beauties of using gel wax is that you have that beautiful clear look to your candle and within the gel you can make themes to show off and personalize candles.  The types of themes that you could do would be:

For Women

• rose garden using rose petals suspended in the gel
• strawberry creme by using red gel wax suspended with strawberry embellishments and white gel wax on top (you could vary this for any fruit of choice or other similar ideas)
• jewelry where you suspend little crystals within the gel
• champagne glass gel candle

For Men

•  you could suspend any embellishment that suits their choice of sport, whether it be football, grid iron, fishing or whatever
• little ladies in bikinis would go down a treat suspended in the gel
• create a beer glass in gel wax

You can see that there are a number of ideas you can do with gel wax including making ice-creams, sodas and other ideas you can create in tall glasses.

Often the shape of the glass will determine what you do or at least inspire you to develop a candle that will look appealing.   Keep in mind when making candles that all glassware needs to be warmed in a cold oven then up to 150 degrees before using.

Gel Candle Wax Is Different Than Hard Wax

A majority of candles today are made out of a petroleum-based wax called paraffin because it is inexpensive and easy to get. This wax is generally off-white in color and can be dyed fairly easily, but the colors generally end up being dull and opaque. Gel candles, on the other hand, are made of a mixture of processed mineral oils and a gelling agent, which together create a wax that is completely clear and rubbery and can easily be dyed to any color you wish.

Gel wax can be difficult to work with because it has a higher melting point than most waxes and the temperature must be watched very carefully as the wax is heated.

Gel wax can be explosive if it reaches its flash point, which means making gel candles can be dangerous if you are not careful.

The best way to make gel candles is to heat the wax slowly, raising the temperature only very gradually. This way, you will not reach the flashpoint too quickly and you will also have fewer bubbles in your wax.

Gel Candles Beauty and Romantic Charms

Making gel candles allows you a wider range of creative possibilities than using any other type of candle wax you may use. Gel candles can be made in any type of glass jar, including wine glasses, shot glasses, bowls, jelly jars, you name it.

Gel candles can also be made in a variety of colors and fragrances, although you must be very careful with adding these elements to your candles as they can affect the flashpoint.

The best aspect of gel candles from a creative standpoint is their pliability and transparency, which makes them the ideal candidates to add wax imbeds to. You can create entire scenes with these little wax sculptures to make an incredibly unique candle that is sure to wow your customers.

Gel candles make great gifts and decorations for any special occasion. If you are making gel candles for Valentine’s Day, you should plan on making a lot of red ones as red candles sell very well during this time of the year, or for Christmas you could insert Christmas decorations into the glass and frost the top of the glass as well and this would look wonderful.

Because the are made in glasses or glass jars the little embellishments can be varied for any occasion and made very personal to suit the gift recipient.