Candle Making - Types of Waxes Used in Candle Making

A candle generally gives us light and even some amount of heat. It is the most integral part of today’s home décor. Candles usually come in many beautiful different colors and attractive shapes. But have you ever wondered that how these beautiful candles are made? And what are the ingredients that are used in making these astonishing candles? I bet u hasn’t thought about it yet. So let’s just see the key ingredients that are used in making candles.

Candles are generally made from a solid block of fuel i.e. wax and an entrenched wick.

Candle making waxes are generally of two types’ viz. beeswax and paraffin. Stearin is another kind of wax which is usually added to paraffin wax to balance the missing qualities of Paraffin wax. Besides these two types of wax another natural wax viz. Bayberry wax is normally used in North America for making lucrative candles. Chinese people make candles from the wax of tallow tree.

Different wax melters are used to melt wax in wax melting pots

 This hub is made for answering the HubWords Challenge  Hubwords: Arts-Crafts: Keyword Phrase 1: Candles  (HubWords are The first in a series of hubs that contain keyword phrases, as well as secondary keywords and tags to be used in the construction of new arts and crafts hubs)

Let’s see the difference between these waxes.

BEESWAX: As the name itself says, Beeswax is obtained from the hives of honeybees. Besides being natural, Beeswax is the comb in which the honey is stored. Normally a Beekeeper takes out all the honey from the wax and cleans by heating and melting it and straining any debris from the wax. After the above procedures are performed the Beeswax is free to use for making attractive candles.

Beeswax is a candle making wax which was invented more than a century ago, even before the invention of paraffin wax which was invented in 1850’s. But the biggest drawback faced by this wax was its price. Being expensive only the rich class people and the Church could afford to use Beeswax.Beeswax is 100% natural. It burns very vibrantly and steadily. It produces wonderful aroma and it doesn’t even shrinks when it hardens.

PARAFFIN WAX: Paraffin wax is another candle making wax and it is nothing but a by-product of the petroleum industry. This wax is generally used for making candles which we use in our day to day lives. Paraffin wax is white in color and semi-transparent. The smoke produced from paraffin wax is odorless. Paraffin wax has the advantage of being easily released from moulds but paraffin also burns faster than beeswax. But there’s one thing you need to be cautious about while buying paraffin wax and that is its melting point. It is nothing but the temperature at which the wax melts. The flash point is the temperature at which the wax will catch on fire.

Unlike beeswax, it is not costly and can be easily afforded by anyone.