Soy or Paraffin Fragrant Candles-my First Test as a Candlemaker

As a candle maker, I want to be very versatile at the art of making hand poured candles in my home. I believe we live in a wonderful society where everyone’s personal tastes and views are very different. Everyone should be able to enjoy at least one of the many different kinds of fragrant candles. I have always been a paraffin waxed candle lover. Recently at the request of a friend, I have been learning exactly how soy candle making differs from paraffin candle making. This was my first attempt at making fragrant soy candles and these are my findings:

First, I made some fragrant soy tea light candles. I bought three pounds of 100% soy and made samples. These soy tea light candles were very easy to make. It seemed I didn’t have to re-pour each tea light candle like I did the paraffin waxed tea light candles. I used cotton core wicks because I knew that they burned cleaner than zinc cored wicks. I also used as much highly fragrant fragrance oil in my soy mixture as I used in my paraffin candle mixtures. I even triple scented each tea light sample. The highly fragrant candle fragrance oil which I used was labeled safe for both soy and paraffin candles. I used the basic candle color chips for my fragrant soy samples.

I have never burned a soy candle before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I tested my soy tea light candles in my home and I found that they did indeed burn longer than the paraffin tea light candles. In most cases two times longer than the paraffin candles. Much to my dismay, I found that there wasn’t as large of a scent throw coming from the soy tea light candle as have been emitted from my beloved paraffin waxed tea light candles which I have come to love.

Next, I made some fragrant soy votive samples. These candles were harder to make than I had expected.  I used all of the same ingredients such as fragrance oil, color, and wicks used for the soy tea light candles. I changed the mixture to reflect the votive candle. The wicks I used were still cotton core wicks but were made by the manufacturer for use with votive candles.

It was the same with the fragrant soy votive candle as it was with the fragrant soy tea light candle. The triple scented soy votive candle did burn longer than the triple scented paraffin waxed candle. The fragrance emitted from the fragrant soy votive candle thou was still not as large as the paraffin fragrant votive candle. The soy votive candle was harder for me to get out of the metal candle mold and it seemed to break apart as I tried to remove it. Keep in mind; I let each soy votive candle set over night or at least eight hours before I tried to remove it from the metal mold.

Lastly, I made one 8 ounce fragrant soy jar candle. My findings were still the same as to the lowered scent throw coming from the fragrant soy jar candle. Again, it did burn much longer than my fragrant paraffin waxed jar candle.