How to Make Gel Candles for Beginners
If you've thinking of ways to upgrade your candle making game, then you've come to the right place. This recipe is for those who have been making solid wax candles and would like to try other candles. Gel candles are either transparent or translucent and can be made with other wax embeds to produce something that is nice and aesthetically pleasing to look at. Without wasting time let's learn how to make gel candles for beginners.
HOW TO'S
This can be your next DIY project! Gel candles are translucent or transparent candles made from gel wax. Gel wax is synthetic type of wax made from mineral oil and polymer resin. This gives the gel wax a crystal clear appearance. Another good thing about gel wax candles is that, they burn for a longer time than other types of natural wax.
Gel Candles for Beginners
If you have already been in candle making scene for quite sometime then you might have noticed the popularity of gel candles. Gel candles are aesthetically pleasing to include in a dining table, bathroom or any setting and another thing is its higher melting point that can burn for longer time.
Gel wax candles have many benefits than downsides. Gel wax candles are also non-toxic, which make them a good choice to use around kids and pets. They are cruelty-free and can be easily removed and cleaned on the burn tray compared to other types of waxes that can be a hassle to remove from the burn tray.
To make things even more better gel wax candles can be embedded with wax embeds made from traditional wax to beautify your gel candles. Between this waxes you can make embeds
Beeswax pellets
Soy wax flakes
Paraffin wax blocks
Tallow
This gel candles can be used in your self care routines when you lit them up as part of bathtub treatments or setting relaxing mood in your home. Let's get to create these gel candles.
Selecting Ingredients
Solid Opaque wax: this is our main and sole ingredient for this recipe. You can use vegan-friendly soy wax or beeswax in form of pellets and not blocks for easy melting. These waxes are going to be used to make the wax embeds that are going to decorate your gel candles.
Gel wax: This is the transparent wax that is going to make your gel candles. It is synthetic wax that you can easily get online. You have to keep in mind that it has a higher melting point than your wax used to make wax embeds.
Liquid dyes: When creating gel candles you can't use powder dyes and pigments because they don't mix well. Find your favorite color and use it for your gel candles. Few drops go a long way when mixed in the melted gel wax.
Wick: Is made of fibers usually looks like a long rope. Find a right wick for right candle size. Wick size is crucial for an evenly burning, long-lasting candle. You could find zinc cored wicks for easy use.
Ingredients
12 tablespoons of gel wax
6 tablespoons of soy wax, beeswax or paraffin wax
isopropyl alcohol
liquid dyes (optional)
wicks with metal base
pegs or pencil will do
candle glasses or any small open glass jar or metal container
In this recipe you'll also need tools like double boiler or saucepan, kitchen thermometer and glass measuring cup. Remember to gather all your ingredients and tools to remove any need to stop in the middle of the making process. If you are worried about handling hot melted wax you can wear an apron and gloves for safety concerns. This recipe is fun and so, so easy, you'll enjoy it at the end of the day!
Instructions
Begin making your candles by measuring out your gel wax flakes and add them in the glass measuring cup or double boiler. Do the same for another measuring cup with the paraffin wax pellets.
Place your measuring cup with gel wax flakes inside a saucepan with few inches of water if you lack a double boiler, do the same for the other measuring cup with paraffin wax. Turn on the stove top and put your double boilers or saucepans with glass measuring cups in.
Let your wax melt. When the waxes from these two measuring cups reach 160 to 170 Fahrenheit temperature range then it would've melted completely at this point now. Stir your melting wax occasionally. This melting process won't take more than 15 minutes!
Prepare the molds that you are going to create your wax embeds and spray isopropyl alcohol in them.
Take out your measuring cup of melted paraffin wax and add few drops of your favorite liquid dyes and mix uniformly.
Pour melted wax in to the molds and set them aside to harden. The molds shouldn't be too big or too small to make embeds that can fit the gel candles.
Meanwhile prepare your candle glasses. Carefully attach your wick metal discs to the base of your candle glasses. On the other end of the wick tie it to a pencil and let the pencil rest horizontally on top of the candle glass do the same to other candle glasses. Make sure your wicks are straight and not loosely and limp.
Remove the wax embeds from the molds, don't wait till they're cool remove them while they are warm to avoiding breaking but also to no expand and shrink due to high difference between melted gel wax and embeds.
Your wax is already melted just pour it into the candle glasses then add embeds, do this till you are done creating a beautiful pattern and pour more melted gel wax and let it to cool. Do it slowly to avoid air bubbles forming in the gel candles.
TIP: Place your candle glasses in a hot water bath to avoid rapid cooling that can cause cavities in the middle of your candles.
Use candle glasses that are thick due to gel candles taking a long time to completely burn can make the candle glasses to crack and break, so keep that in mind when getting them.
Let your gel candles to another cure for 24 to 48 hours then you can use them for self-care routine as part of meditating or as a gift idea for your loved ones.
About me
Hello, my dear gorgeous! Welcome to my blog and learn with me as you walk in your skincare journey. I'm skincare enthusiast and a student. I like sharing my passion of beauty and skincare with the world. I like blogging, reading and binge watching YouTube vlogs and Netflix during my leisure time.
