- Home >> Lifestyle: Candle
Making:
Craft
Business:
-
- The Business
Of Candle & Soap Making
Create and
market your hand-made candles. This business, along with its
closely related cousins soapmaking and plastercraft does not
automatically progress from the hobby to business stage without
a good deal of planning and effort.
The volume
sellers must compete with cheaper, less stylish mass-produced
and often imported products. But, with perseverance and ingenuity,
it can be done!
Candle making
is a highly versatile craft -- one that encompasses unlimited
opportunities for creativity. Candles can be dipped, molded,
rolled, fused, layered, sculptured or any combination of processes.
They may be colored (dyed, painted or tinted) within and without;
they can be scented or can have embedded materials such as beads
or shells, coated or whipped (foamed).
An illustration
of candle making ingenuity and versatility is hot yellow-orange
wax poured over small ice cubes. When the ice melts and the wax
sets, it leaves cavities that look like Swiss cheese!
Basic Requirements
for Candle Making are:
- a place to
work (it is too dangerous and messy for the kitchen)
- adequate storage
space for materials
- a relatively
cool place to put finished candles (they will sag in hot temperatures)
- utensils to
melt and blend the waxes, molds and wax additives.
Startup supplies
should include wax (sold in sheets or slabs), colors, stearic
acid, temperature gauge, double broiler, a heating medium, molds
and mold accessories (wick, lead, clay, etc).
Equipment and
supplies to get started at the crafts level should run in neighborhood
of $200 from a professional supplier like Pourette (see Business
Sources).
The candle
making process is not complicated, but does require time and
attention to detail for safety reasons as well as product quality.
Melting wax
is highly volatile and can catch fire easily (this is why double
broilers are used)if one isn't very careful. In the standard
molding process, raw wax is melted and brought to about 180 degrees
Fahrenheit.
During this
time, certain additives such as stearic acid, colors and scents
are added. Meanwhile, the mold is cleaned and sprayed with release
(silicon). A wick inserted from the bottom and tied to a stick
across the top and the hole in the bottom sealed with clay.
Note that the
top of the mold equates to the bottom of the candle, and vice
versa! Heavy lead wires (weights) are wrapped around the bottom
of the mold.
The mold placed
in a convenient position to receive the hot wax. When the wax
is ready it is slowly and carefully poured down the side of the
mold to prevent bubbles from forming.. The mold is filled to
the top.
The remaining
wax is kept at ready temperature and used to refill the hollow
that forms as the wax shrinks, a natural result of the cooling
process.
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