50 Candle Facts You Have To Know As A Candle Maker
Take a break from all the math, science, and candle curing shenanigans for a minutes and see how many of these 100 random candle facts you already know!
1. Ancient Romans gave candles as gifts in December during a crazy party known as Saturnalia
2. Candle labels in the United States are supposed to list the weight in both English (oz) and metric (g) units.
3. Safe container candles really aren’t any hotter than a cup of coffee. Warning: don’t spill or drink.
4. Fragrance oil is a liquid. Wax is a solid. Candles are a semi solid.
5. Humidity is one of the biggest factors most candle makers miss that affects the final quality. Though hard to control, humidity can still be measured using a hygrometer.
6. Scent can be measured scientifically with gas chromatography-olfactometry. Or a small room. Whichever you happen to have on hand.
7. Heat guns satisfy an enormous set of candle making needs while also being super cool.
8. Flash points don’t affect temperatures for adding fragrance oil to your wax. They don’t. They don’t. They don’t.
9. Lavandin is actually a hybrid essential oil created from true lavender and spike lavender.
10. Candle wax is not safe to eat.
11. A proper wick test involves creating an entire candle and burning it in 4-hour increments from start to end of life or failure.
12. Wax tempering is the process of melting the wax twice to remove excess moisture.
13. One easy way to frustrate the Public Works department is to wash your soy wax down the drain. Soy wax is not water soluble.
14. Stirring too aggressively can introduce a lot of unwanted air into your candles. Be gentle, but persistent.
15. There are no rules for blending fragrance oils except that you should enjoy the final product.
16. Stearic acid lets the candle shrink more as it cools. Great for molds.
17. Good systems produce good candles. Great systems respond dynamically to supply chain changes without compromising their product line.
18. Vanillin discolors candles when it oxidizes from light (photodegradation) or air (oxygen). It’s found in many fragrance oils.
19. Wick tabs also prevent candles from burning to the bottom and potentially burning surfaces they’re placed on.
20. Coffee generally makes morning candle making more pleasant.
21. Frosting is a feature of palm wax, unlike soy, where it’s a nuisance.
22. Stir your wax with anything thin or wide, heat resistant, and non-porous. Wooden spoons, butter knives, or spatulas work just fine.
23. Extinguish an out of control fire by smothering its oxygen. Never use flour unless you’re trying to make it worse.
24. ASTM F-2179 lays out the requirements for glass container heat strength. It’s not for candle makers – it’s for manufacturers.
25. The four corners of the market are low cost/poor quality, low cost/high quality, high cost/low quality, and high cost/high quality.
26. Carbon forms when the balance of fuel, oxygen, and heat is completely out of whack.
27. Wooden wicks cost about 5 times more than cotton equivalents.
28. Air pockets form in your candle when the middle cools after the top and sides. Wax shrinks as it cools. We call these craters.
29. Mica can clog a wick. Wooden wicks are slightly more resilient, but not impervious.
30. The US industry standard for container candle testing fails the candle if it burns or damages the surface it’s on. There is no “max wall temperature” criteria.
31. Preheating jars requires 10-15 seconds of air from a heat gun. That’s all.
32. Tracking individual customer interactions is a good way to bolster your followup strategy. Even better if your sales platform offers this as a feature.
33. A blog gives your brand a unique voice in a saturated candle market.
34. Container type, shape, material, and placement impact hot throw. Measuring this is subjective and breeds arguments easily.
35. Commercial-grade candle wax usually doesn’t need any additives. Sometimes they conflict and just make things worse. Start naked.
36. Microwaves melt wax, but the temperature isn’t consistent and you lose complete control over your temperature management plan.
37. Wooden wicks crackle because the cellulose inside the fibers explode.
38. An old candle makers tale claims that chandlers that drink coffee make better candles.
39. You don’t have to credit your suppliers when selling or labeling candles.
40. Wax can only hold so much oil, including additives, and is typically specified by the manufacturer.
41. Grocery store candles that sell for $5 are after an entirely different market than a $15 handmade candle.
42. Essential oils are neat, but often require a much larger investment of time and money to test for safety and performance.
43. GW 444 has a higher melt point than GW 464 making it more suitable for melts. Otherwise they’re virtually the same.
44. Melt pools aren’t for drinking, swimming, or bathing in.
45. Hot throw relies on indoor air flow almost as much as good wicking.
46. The Net Weight listed on your candle should not include anything that doesn’t melt or burn.
47. You don’t need a wick strategy. You need a testing strategy.
48. Cargill does not include Vybar or UV inhibitors in their product line, according to Cargill.
49. You can replace most any wick with an apple corer and elbow grease.
50. Everything added to a candle impacts everything added to a candle.
