How to Create a Safe Candle making Environment

How to create a safe candle making environment? Candles shouldn’t be used as part of the table decoration if you are not planning to light it up during the meal. It’s better to just put it away. It light should be blown away right after the people/guests leave the table to avoid any fire hazard instances. How to create a safe candle making environment? If you’re going to use candles as part of your home décor; then make sure that they are not too lit up to avoid any accidents. In this article, you’ll learn how to create a safe candle making environment.

Don’t Play with Fire

How to create a safe candle making environment? When it comes to creating candles; you have to keep in mind that you’re “playing with fire” or at least with a fire conductor material. You can reduce fire hazards and unforeseen accidents before and after your candle making process by following these precautions:

Tip #1

Do not work near drapes or house curtains. The base of the candle container should be non – flammable. The base of the candle container should also hold the candle tightly so that it wouldn’t fall over

Tip #2

Never leave the candles or the wax burning in your work area. Supervise is a must. When you’re melting the wax, make sure to do it in the pan that’s set into a hot water; and not melt it directly at the stove or direct heat.

Tip #3

Do not use flammable trims; or other flammable decorative materials in the candle such as dried flowers, pine cones, dried evergreen, ribbons, paper figurine, pine cones, cotton batting etc.

Safe Candle Tools

Tool #1

How to create a safe candle making environment? There are various types of heat sources that you can use when making hand – poured candles. Your heat source will affect the quality of your end products particularly when it comes to your fragranced wax.

Tool #2

Turkey roasters are quite common as a heat source if you’re following a D-I-Y candles or Do –It – Yourself candle making. You can melt around 10 to 25 pounds of wax depending on how large the turkey roaster is. Usually it will cost around $100 to $200 or more depending on the brand or added functions. You can easily buy one at your local appliance shop or in Amazon. You may encounter sophisticated wax melters; that can easily melt 100 pounds of wax but such equipment is much more expensive compare to buying turkey roasters.

If you choose to use turkey roasters, you need to make sure that there’s around ¼ inches water under the roaster pan otherwise your candle wax wouldn’t properly melt; and you’ll also end up burning your turkey roaster so ensure that there’s water underneath. That being said, you shouldn’t add more water other; than the measurement we mentioned because if you do, the water will just bubble out in your work area. This can also affect the quality of your candles because too much water can produce holes.

Single Pour

How to create a safe candle making environment? The turkey roasters should be set at 175, and it is best that you use a separate turkey roaster for single – pour candles; and votive candle wax otherwise your single – pour wax will require another pour. If the wax is slabbed; you can cool it using cold water but this can sometimes trap water in your wax so if that’s the case, then just set your wax melter on a low, and allow the water to evaporate out of the candle wax. Ensure that the lid in your wax melter is sealed while you do it.

Tool #3

Aside from turkey roasters, you can use another heat source like a stove or hot plate. Some candle makers only use turkey roaster for melting colorless, unscented candle wax with no additives. This is why you’ll need another heat source in order to maintain your pouring temperature once you add color, fragrance; and additives in your candle wax.

What you can do is to take a 13 x 9 cake pan, and put around ½ inches of water on its bottom similar to how it’s done with turkey roasters so that you can achieve a double boiler effect. You should make sure that the stove or hot place is only set in a low to medium heat settings though you can adjust accordingly depending on how easily your stove or hot plate can heat up.

Recommendations

How to create a safe candle making environment? It’s recommended that you use a stove/ hot plate as a second heat provider so that you have your oven available to heat your candle containers later on. If your candle containers are quite cool, you’ll need to warm them up a bit using your oven before you attempt in pouring the melted wax over it otherwise your wax will cool up, and it can produce jump lines in your candles.

Tool #4

When it comes to pouring pots, some candle makers simply use coffee cans. This is a much cheaper option and it works just as well as actual pouring pots. If you do decide to use it; just make sure that you bend the lip of the can so that you can easily pour the melted wax out of it. You may need to use gloves; or pot holders when doing this to avoid getting burned as the coffee cans may heat up once the melted wax is poured.

Suggestions

We suggest that you have different types; or separate pouring pots / coffee cans for each fragrance oils that you’ll be using so that the scent and color accuracy wouldn’t mix together; or the quality wouldn’t be jeopardized. You don’t have to get a lot of pouring pots or coffee cans; but just make sure you have as many as you can depending on the different colors/ fragrances you’re planning to use.

You should also make sure that the bottom parts of the pouring pots are clean so that it would prevent hot water spilling over you. This is why you need to also make sure; that you have safety glasses and other safety equipment so that you would not get harmed during the process especially if this is your first time doing this. As a side note; only use metal based coffee containers and not plastic coffee containers otherwise it will melt once you’ve poured in the hot wax. If you cannot find one, then just buy stainless pouring pots.

Tool #5

How to create a safe candle making environment? When it comes to candle making, setting the right temperature is of utmost importance. You’ll usually encounter many candle wax problems, and temperature is almost often the cause of it. As mentioned earlier, when it comes to doing single – pour wax; the temperature should be set at around 145 to 150 while the votive wax should be set at 160 to 165.

Votive Molds

How to create a safe candle making environment? Votive molds may cost you around $2 to $5 or more, and the great thing about it is that these votive molds are durable and can literally last for a long time.  When using molds, make sure that it’s set at room temperature before pouring the hot wax. As we’ve mentioned earlier; pouring hot wax into votive molds that are too cool can compromise the quality of your candles. Usually votive molds are stacked together when you buy them so just ensure that you use safety gloves; when trying to get these votive molds separate because its edges are very sharp.

In order to keep your metal candle molds clean; you must rub it with a few drops of shortening, and placed it upside down in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes at 150 degree temperature. Once you do, take it out and wipe it clean. Don’t ever clean the metal votive molds with water.

Setting the Room Temperature

How to create a safe candle making environment? Ensure that your room temperature is set at around 70 degrees. It’s very important that when you’re doing candle making; your candle wax should be in a favorable environment with the right temperature. Ensure that you also don’t have drafts and there should be proper ventilation. If your work area is too cold, it can cause problems for your candle wax and end product.

Safety Tips

• This is optional but it is best that you have your work clothes on; preferably something that is simple and not flammable or doesn’t have any sort of designs that can affect your candle making process. Even if you’re very careful; sometimes you’re going to get wax; and color spilled into your clothes one way or another so it’s better to get your old / work clothes on. 
• All these materials will come in handy whenever you’re working on your candles or melting your wax. It can also help prevent any accidents over spilled hot wax or fragrance oils, and it can also keep your floor tiles clean.
• Buying a stainless steel cups and spoons are highly recommended because it’s much easier to measure fragrance oils when you use this kind of material instead of plastic otherwise the fragrance oil can easily dissolve your plastic measuring cups and spoons.