How To Make a Candle That Smells Strong When It Burns (The Secret Disclosed)
Copyright 2006 The Candlemakers Store
Making your Candle Throw (or cast its fragrance over a wide
area) is the primary goal of making a Fragranced Candle. This is
not hard to achieve if you understand the basic parameters.
There are 5 things to consider when making a successfully
Fragranced Candle. If you have the following in place, the
Candle will be excellent and Fragrant.
Do not be discouraged if your first try is not as good as you
had hoped. These things are easily achieved when you know what
to plan and look for.
1. Make sure you are using very high grade fragrance
concentrates. If you wonder what you have, read the article
about the differences between A Grade and B Grade fragrances in
the frequently asked questions section.
2. Make sure you use 1 to 1.5 oz of your fragrance per pound. (1
oz to 20 oz liquid wax) You can use less after testing for
strength, but start here. With our fragrance it will run you out
at that level, and you can back off to your desired fragrance
strength. Also make sure that your fragrance is mixing
completely into your wax. You will know this when you pour into
your candle containers. If there is a bunch of unmixed fragrance
on the bottom of the pot, raise your temperature next time and
stir it in better before pouring.
3. Make sure your wax is holding the fragrance in the wax
evenly, all the way to the top. You will know this if there is
not any watery substance at the bottom of the container after it
sets up. Also, if your candle has very little smell when
initially lit or has to burn about half way down before it
starts to smell good, then you know the fragrance is settling
down into the lower part of your wax. To make sure this does not
happen, add to teaspoon of the additive Vybar 260 to your
container blend to hold it in properly. This will allow the wax
to hold your scent in evenly to the top of the candle after it
sets up and in most cases will not noticeably effect the burn of
the candle.
4. So, now you have made sure you have; Quality fragrance, and
you are Using an adequate amount of it, and the fragrance is
mixing properly with your wax, and your wax is holding it evenly
after it sets up, Make sure the top of the candle is level flat
before lighting it. This means in most cases that no matter if
you are using a one pour wax, or regular paraffin, you will
still have to either do a repour if you are using regular
paraffin to fill the crater in the center, or if you are using a
one pour container blend, you will have to take a heat gun and
remelt the top and fill any holes or dips in the top. Ideally,
where the wick comes out of the wax will be level, or a little
above the edges of the container where the wax touches the edge
of the jar. (like a mini pyramid is shaped) If you do not do
this, the wick no matter how big it is, will core down and drown
out if it is in a well when lit. The candle tops are easily
remelted flat with a heat gun. A hot hair dryer will work in
some cases also. Take care not to light the wick with your heat
gun, people will complain that the candle is used and want to
return it if the wick is charred.
5. Ok, now here it is, The Whole Secret to a Candle that throws
is to know where the Throw comes from. The Throw and Fragrance
from a candle comes from the melt pool of the candle wax when it
burns. The actual fragrance oil burning makes no smell at all.
Raw Fragrance only creates soot if burned directly with an oil
lamp wick by itself. (dont try that yourself by the way, its
dangerous) This is why Melts or Tarts smell so good when used in
a tart melter. The tart melter makes a melt pool to warm up the
candle fragrance in the wax pool creating a warm updraft to
spread the fragrance throughout your home. The same applies to a
Candle. The Melt Pool should be inch to the thickness of your
pinkie finger at the most. A deeper melt pool can make your
container hot and could possibly spill onto your customers table
or carpeting if bumped so be careful and find the ideal melt
pool for your container by varying your wick size up or down. A
Melt Pool of inch works fine in most cases and will throw the
fragrance as the candle is burning, making the melt pool, and
creating a slight heat updraft from the candle that takes the
fragrance with it to fill your home.
