The Best Way To Accurately Measure Candle Making Supplies
You could say temperature and weight are the universal languages of candle making.
Temperature, because everything in your design hinges on the right temperature ranges when melting, pouring, curing, and even burning.
However, to create a lasting design, one that moves the masses, inspires, and remains constant, requires unchanging inputs. Consider all the ingredients in a typical container candle:
- Wax
- Fragrance oil
- Wick
- Color
- Container
Wax and fragrance oil are the characteristic ingredients of any candle design. Tweaking the amount of either can significantly impact the final result.
Arguably, candles with 1%-2% more fragrance oil than another are an entirely different design, even if everything else remains constant!
Which means building consistent candles requires an accurate method for measuring your ingredients.
The magic sauce of consistency in candles?
W E I G H T
In this article we’ll cover:
- Why weight is the best and most accurate way to create candles
- Three basic formulas used in candle making
- Three common mistakes beginners make with measurements
5 Reasons You Should Measure Candle Making Supplies By Weight
Before you start making candles, make sure you buy a scale. You don’t need anything too fancy, just make sure it can measure by grams (g) or ounces (oz).
We don’t care about fluid ounces (fl oz)!
If you need a recommendation, review the Armatage Candle Company Equipment List for inspiration.
Wax Is Sold By Weight
If you’ve ever bought wax, you know the supplier advertises a weight you can purchase. Rarely (if ever) would you purchase wax by volume.
This fact alone doesn’t mean you have to measure your supplies by weight, but when you consider that your design has an intended “wax weight”, purchasing supplies gets much easier!
Fragrance Oil Is Sold By Weight
Fragrance oil, like wax, is also sold by weight. The reason might be related to freight and wax, but most likely stems from an understanding that most fragrance oils have different densities.
Density describes how much space something takes up compared to its weight.
For example, 1 cubic centimeter (1cm x 1cm x 1cm) of water weighs about 1 gram.
We can apply the same idea to fragrance oil.
If you’ve ever compared new 16 oz bottles of 1 fragrance oil compared to another, they are filled to different levels in the bottle. If you weigh them, they’re both 16 ounces.
No, you didn’t get tricked by marketing – one fragrance oil weighs more than another, and therefore takes up less “volume” in the bottle.
Put another way, the fragrance oil that takes up more space is less dense.
If you measured by volume instead of weight, you’d need to account for the different densities on the market. Fortunately you don’t have to worry about volume-based math because…
Wax Specifications Are Based On Weight
Perhaps the most critical element of candle making is understanding how much of each ingredient you’re combining.
Weight is the standard unit of measurement for candle wax oil retention specified by manufacturers. This is not an indication of volume. For example, when a manufacturer mentions a wax is capable of holding 12% fragrance, this indicates the capacity to hold oil is 12% of its own weight.
If wax weighs 100 grams, and has a 12% capacity, that means it can hold 12 grams of oil, totaling 112 grams after the oil is added.
An interesting note missed by many beginners is the oil capacity, often cited as the fragrance load, is actually an indicator for the total oil a wax can hold, which includes fragrance oil and any other additives such as Vybar.
Measuring Weight Is Easier Than Measuring Volume
If any of the above reasons weren’t convincing enough for using weight as the universal language of supply management, then consider the alternative: measuring by volume.
Measuring the volume of a liquid is easy with a reliable and precise measuring glass or beaker.
The inherent shortcoming of measuring candle supplies by volume is that wax comes as a solid. You’d need to melt it down and measure it in a beaker or other container – a state change that can be a pain in the butt.
Alternatively, you could measure out, with rough approximations, blocks of wax by multiplying the width, height, and depth to find volume.
This technique doesn’t scale well when edges become non-straight or you’re using a wax that ships as flakes or beads.
Not only is weight more flexible (since the wax or oil can be any form), the instruments are typically more precise since scales leave little judgement for whether the liquid fills up to a certain line or not (like in a beaker or measuring glass).
Weight Is A Factor In Shipping
If you somehow manage to escape using weight to measure everything, there’s still a need to know the final weight of your candle when it comes to shipping.
Some shipping strategies offer a flat rate, but many need to know the weight of your packaging and shipment.
You’ll need a scale anyways, so why measure it the right way to begin with?
3 Formulas Every Candle Maker Should Know
Candle making design math boils down to three equations. Before introducing them, make sure to identify:
- Fragrance load, expressed as a percentage (typically 3% – 12%, but ultimately depends on the wax specifications). We’ll call this “f” in the equations below.
- Wax density. Most wax averages about 0.86, but can range from 0.82 to almost 1.0. We’ll call this “SG” in the equations below.
3 Common Mistakes Beginners Make When They Measure Candle Supplies
A few things to caution as you set out on a campaign of measuring your supplies:
Don’t forget different waxes have different densities. While not an emergency, if you forget to account for wax density this can disrupt your product line development if you run out of wax or use too much for a given batch.
Learn more about calculating wax density (specific gravity) here.
Only use grams or ounces to measure weight. While “fluid ounces” sounds a lot like “ounces”, they are not the same. Fluid ounces (fl oz) are a measure of volume. Ounces measure weight. Avoid fluid ounces like the plague.
Use a proper scale to measure weight. They’re very affordable, and you don’t need anything fancy to ensure you have good, accurate measurements every time!
Candle Math Equations
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