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Candle dyes
There are two different kinds of colours - transparent ink dye (soluble) and pigment dye. Both have advantages as well as disadvantages. Transparent ink dyes are highly
concentrated and do not affect the burning. They are suitable for solid-coloured candles but tend to be light-sensitive, and some colours may fade dramatically in sunlight or
direct halogen light. Normal home lighting conditions will not affect them.
Pigment dyes from our candle craft center are basically ground but insoluble dyes. They are lightfast and available in many colours. If they are too highly concentrated – in
other words – if the colours are too strong, the wick of solid-coloured candles will tend to clog. Pigment dyes are most suitable for dipping waxes. You can allay that the
wick clogs when you chose a bigger wick.
For gel wax we recommend special liquid dyes. These colours are easily measurable and concentrated. Gel wax colours tend to be light-sensitive.
Scents
Depending on their intensity, scents should be added in a ratio of 0.5 to 4%. Generally there are two basic types of scent.
Essential oils –
these oils are natural and vaporize completely at room temperature. Essential oils are for example lemon, orange, tangerine, spruce and larch.
Perfume oils –these scents
contain natural as well as synthetic material. Apples, pears and strawberries, for instance, do not have their own essential oils. Consequently those oils have to be composed.
Roses do have their natural oils but this is extremely expensive. That’s why those oils are composed as well. Like this they are cheaper and they even don’t lose their
perfume.
Some scents are irritants in their concentrated form. So please do not inhale it intensively. Oil of cinnamon is essential, natural oil which is so aggressive
that it even gnaws at plastic!
Some fragrance oils contain components which are insoluble in wax. These components only operate as a carrier substance for the scent while they
keep being undissolved. The best is to keep the mixture of wax and scent oil in the pouring tank for several minutes. If insoluble components exist they will now be at the bottom
of the tank. You can avoid that these components find their way into your candle when you decant it carefully.
Some scent oils can destroy the surface of plastic moulds.
Wicks
See here:
Suction head of the wick in lamp oil
The suction head depends on the type of oil. Rape seed, soy or sunflower oil is quite viscous and does
not ascend well.
In thin paraffin oils the
maximum suction head of 10 cm should not be overstepped. During an experiment with coloured oil (only to determine the suction head, without burning down!) we measured values
between 15 and 20 cm. While the lamp burns down it has never reached this limit as the suction speed is not fast enough in the upper rang.
Wicks and oil lamps
The burning behaviour of oil lamps depends on several factors.
The distance between the flame and
the oil level should be very short. The wick can hardly absorb more than 10 cm!
The hole for the wick must not be so narrow that the capillary action is stopped. The oil has
to be preferably thin.
Paraffin oil causes health risks when you swallow it but it definitely burns best.
Rape seed, soy or sunflower oil, as we know it, generally is too
thick. Cotton wicks burn down; they have to be drawn out of the hole every now and then.
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