Posts Tagged ‘candle making fragrances’

How to Make Your Candles Throw

June 21st, 2010 | Posted in Candle Fragrances, Candle Making, Candle Making Fragrance Oil, Candle Making Wax | 8 Comments »

Making your Candle Throw (or cast its fragrance over a wide area) is the goal of Fragranced Candles. 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 steps in place, your candle making process will yield an excellent and fragrant candle.

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 here about the differences between A Grade and B Grade fragrances and those sold by others.
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 stuff 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 one quarter to one half teaspoon of 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;
1. Quality fragrance, and you are
2. Using an adequate amount of it, and the fragrance is mixing properly with your wax, and
3. Your wax is holding it evenly after it sets up, and
4. 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. The Whole Secret to a Candle that throws is to know where the “Throw” comes from. It 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. (don’t 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 approximately one quarter 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 one quarter 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.

We are here to help you be successful. If you have other questions feel free to ask, we are happy to help you with this or any other fragrance application.

Grade A Fragrances vs Grade B Fragrances

March 25th, 2010 | Posted in Candle Fragrances, Candle Making Supplies | No Comments »

This question is a valid one and can help you make money as a candle maker:

How do you know that you’re getting the high quality fragrances needed to be make your candle making endeavor as successful as possible?

A Grade Fragrance vs B Grade Fragrance Controversy has been alive since we first introduced the option to customers in smaller quantities in 1998. People have scoffed at the notion and we do not take offense. It simply is a misunderstood concept by people who do not understand how candle fragrances are made.

We believe that no reliable supplier intentionally “cuts” their fragrances. However…. the fact that most do not want you to know is that fragrances are sold at different “Price Points”. Some suppliers are selling fragrances that are “Uncut” from the manufacturer that only cost them $4.00 per pound, others sell a $6.00 price point, others still, sell a $8.00 and up price point. In reality, each fragrance will vary. This is how suppliers can sell a similar smelling “Uncut and Pure” fragrance ( very cheap in some cases, expensive in others) that will sometimes “Throw” great from one place, and not ‘Throw” at all from another. Both will be honestly stating that their fragrances are “Pure and Uncut”. Neither practice is dishonest or shady, but it varies wildly from one supplier to another. It is not always true that an expensive fragrance will throw better than a cheaper one. In some cases, a cheaper fragrance from a better supplier will throw better than an expensive one from a supplier who overcharges! It depends solely on the supplier.

You need the proper product to fit your application. For example, if you wanted to make butter, you would want to buy whole milk. You would have to work a lot harder and use a lot more milk to make butter from 2% milk. For your candles, in many cases you have been trying to make butter with 2% milk. Sadly, there’s no easy test for the common user to determine fragrance concentration except to test output in the final application.

Candle and Cosmetic Fragrances are similar. Fragrance can be purchased at $40.00 per pound, or $3.00 per pound, depending on the concentration. Neither are considered “cut.” They are formulated with more or less of the expensive active ingredients. The higher the concentration of the most expensive ingredients included in a formula, the better the fragrance will throw in the candle. Although it is a simple concept, it is actually a very complicated procedure and series of calculations to modify a fragrance. Fragrances can have 50 or more components that have to be adjusted to properly make a lower price point in a fragrance. There’s no other magic, its as simple as that. A higher concentration is always going to smell stronger in your application. Try not to be lured in by gimmick names or marketing schemes like “Booster,” “Super Thrower Series,” etc.

There is a happy balance though! During our extensive testing, we have found that above a certain threshold of concentration, the “Throw” is not much, if any, better and it’s simply a waste of money to use a higher concentration. Each Fragrance is unique and we test and evaluate each candle fragrance. When we have reached the “Highest Concentration” point of the individual fragrance, we sell that as the A grade, Triple Strength concentration. We do not go by a Fragrance price point at all in this evaluation. Some fragrances will make the A Grade standard at $14.00 per pound, others will take $27.00 and up. Wherever that threshold is, that’s where we sell it. You will notice this reflected in our A Grade pricing. This is why our pricing will vary so much from one fragrance to another. You can trust that A Grade fragrances will be excellent at the stated price point. We test them here first so you can feel confident that the candles you make at home will be of the highest quality.

A Grade Fragrances are in most cases much more concentrated than anything people are used to using. It is not necessary to use 1.5 oz. of fragrance in a candle. Many of our customers use 1 oz. in 5 lbs. but your formulas will vary. In most cases, with the A Grade Strength, you need only use 3/4 to 1 oz per pound, for an extremely strong candle with a fragrance that fills your whole home.

B Grade We also sell an excellent concentration we call our “Manufacturers Grade” or B Grade. Compared to our extremely high A Grade concentrate, it is still an excellent product. It is consistently priced at $12.00 per pound, or $11 for 2+ lbs of the same fragrance. This is designed for, and makes pricing calculations for your product line easy and consistent. In most cases, the B Grade Fragrance is still a higher concentration than most are used to purchasing. We recommend 1 oz per pound of the B Grade for an excellent throw.

We have found that people who are used to using 1.5 oz to even 2 oz of fragrance can use 3/4 to 1 oz of our A Grade to achieve the same Throw. Using this scenario, it is much cheaper to buy a higher concentration and use less of it.

We have noticed one common misuse. We are not being critical because it is a common tendency among us all. It is so tempting to use “just a little more” Fragrance…..thinking…… “it makes it better” and the A Grade is often overused. It is hard to make yourself use less, but to use too much, especially with the A Grade, is often a waste of money.

Try 1/2-3/4 oz per pound of most any of the A Grade Fragrances. You will be shocked at how strong they really are at that level. It is not necessary to overuse the A Grades; they truly are more concentrated and they will save you money if you can discipline yourself and use appropriate amounts.

Since there are several other factors to a strong fragrance throw in a candle, please read the instructions in the “Frequently asked questions” category about “How to make a candle throw.” It should be helpful if you are interested in making candles that fill your whole home with the fragrance of your candle.

If you have any other questions concerning this topic or can think of other items of you think would benefit others, please e-mail me at candlemakers@fuse.net and I will include it in the questions and answers section of our site.