by: Steve Pollard

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 ¼ to ½ 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 ¼ 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 ¼ 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.

Copyright 2006 The Candlemakers Store