|
A community of people who love to write |
Home | Submit Articles | Login (Note the .ORG in our domain name) |
| ALL Categories | HEALTH | EDUCATION | FINANCE | TECH | WOMEN | ENTERTAINMENT | TRAVEL |
Candle Making: A Rewarding Hobby | How to make Soy and Gel CandlesBY: Anisa Author | Category: Self-Improvement | Submitted: 2010-06-24 06:54:16
Candle making is so easy and interesting that anyone looking for a good hobby could be drawn to it. Materials, like wax, wicks, and molds, used to make candles are easily available from all local craft stores which makes candle making more appealing as you don't need to bother going to different places to collect candle making supplies. Candle making process is quite easy; as a first step you need to prepare the wax. For this purpose double boiler is used in which you keep a large pot filled with water on a lit stove and place a small pot with the un-melted wax in the larger pot. Double boiler makes melting wax easy as otherwise wax will burn. Place the wick in the middle of the mold and after the wax is melted you can pour it in the mold. Allow it to cool for 5 to 6 hours and then you can remove the candle from the mold. Sometimes getting candle out of the mold is difficult, thus you must use one of the many methods to make removal easy. You can keep the mold after it has been cooled inside the freezer for about a half an hour before removing the candle. Or you can use some releasing agent; also before pouring the melted wax into the mold you can spray non-stick cooking spray in it to make removal easy. The most beautiful and fascinating thing about candle making is the endless options you can have in it like you can have candles of different shapes, fragrances, colors etc. In gel candles you can still have hanging decorations inside the candle. Let's see how to make soy and gel candles: How to Make Soy Candles Soy candles are made up of soy wax - a natural vegetable wax made from soybeans. Popularity of soy wax is increasing as it burns cleaner than the regular candle which means it emits white soot and not the black one. But soy wax is a little expensive than paraffin wax. As soybeans are widely available in United States thus getting soy wax is not that difficult. The real difference between soy candle and the regular candle is the wax used in its preparation. Soy candles used soy wax whereas regular candles are made up of paraffin wax. Both of the candles are prepared using same techniques and equipments. You use double boiler for melting both types of waxes. Just keep in mind following while making soy candles: • Make sure to heat the wax below 150 degrees Fahrenheit, as above this temperature you will burn the wax resulting in change of its color to yellow. • The best percentage of fragrance which could be added to the wax is about 7% which means one pound of soy wax can hold 1.12 ounces of fragrance oil. • Avoid pouring wax at too low temperature as it might result in visible cracks in the candle (keep temperature between 95 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit). • Avoid using water to make the cooling process fast as this will also crack the candle. Let the wax cool naturally. How to Make Gel Candles Gel candles (also called jelly candles) usually burn longer than the wax candles. This is one of the many reasons they are gaining popularity. Most of the candle makers are becoming interested in making gel candles. They are easy to make but a little different from how we make wax candles. Gel candle is a combination of 95% mineral oil and 5% polymer resin. The resin is actually a powder but upon mixing with mineral oil it takes a solid state. Gel wax has three different grades: low density, medium density, and high density. Low density has low polymer and high density has high polymer. The lower the density, the smaller the percentage of fragrance the oil can hold. More dense gel could hold more fragrance. Thicker gel could hold swinging decorations inside the candle more firmly but they are difficult to pour and take longer time to melt. The steps such as melting the wax and transferring it into a mold to dry are the same as with regular paraffin wax candle but the equipment and techniques used to make gel candle is different. Double boilers are generally used to melt other types of waxes but for gel wax using double boiler for melting is too time-consuming as gel wax takes longer to melt. To avoid the hassle of using two separate pots one with water and the other one to melt the wax in, some gel candle makers uses multi-cookers. It is a non-stick metal, kind of a deep fryer, with a temperature dial so as to set the temperature at a proper level to melt the gel wax well. To stir the gel wax some hard plastic material or metal is suggested as other material (like a wooden spoon) could add bubbles to the gel candle. You can also alter the color of the gel by using dyes. For best optimal results use liquid dyes as they are the perfect match for gel candles as they doesn't deter the gel's transparency. Just a drop or two of the dye would be enough to change the color of the gel. Bear in mind that gel being a mixture of oil and resin is highly flammable thus it could catch fire, so keep a fire extinguisher nearby to avoid any mishap. Article Source: http://www.writearticles.org/ About Author / Additional Info: Comments on this article: (0 comments so far)
Additional Articles: • Co Sleeping: Effective For You as Well as Your Baby • Customers Are Seldom Right. • The Break Up Effect.... Ohh Get Over It! • Always Pre-book Your Airport Parking Latest Articles in "Self-Improvement" category: • Self Analysis - Do you know yourself? • Be Stupid, Reckless and Shallow. It Pays Off. • Maserati Gran Cabrio and Happiness. • Key to Happiness • Live a Good Quality Life • We Are What We Think of Ourselves! • How to Impress Your Lady Important Disclaimer: All articles on this website are for general information only and is not a professional or experts advice. We do not own any responsibility for correctness or authenticity of the information presented in this article, or any loss or injury resulting from it. We do not endorse these articles, we are neither affiliated with the authors of these articles nor responsible for their content. Please see our disclaimer section for complete terms. 
Copyright © 2010 writearticles.org - Do not copy articles from this website. |
|||||||
| | Disclaimer | Xhtml | | |||||||
