Teach Soap

How hard would it be to make candles (similar to soap) where the color is swirled. I had someone ask me if I could make a white and red swirled candle that was peppermint scented and I just wondered. Would you just put a drop of color in and not let it mix or can this even be done?

What about doing it in layers? I could see the red and white swirling into pink. If you add color, it will need to be mixed in well.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I guess that could work. Although I have never done a layered candle before either. Does it work similar to MP layered soap, but you just wait till it hardens completely. Does it still adhere together. Does it work the same for votive size and for jar candles?

You don't won't the bottom layer to completely harden; otherwise the 2 layers won't stick. You want the bottom layer just hard enough to support the layer above it. Votive would be harder to do, since the layers will cool off faster.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

You can make a marbled pillar candle. Those look awesome and they are fun and easy to make.

You need to use a parrafin pillar wax for these. Pour your melted wax into a steele mixing bowl and let cool to just before it starts to harden but still slightly liquid. You want the wax warm enough you can use a mixer in it. Blend the wax with the mixer to get a fluffy wax. It will have incorporated a lot of air to be fluffy like whipped cream. Then drop 2-4 drops of liquid colorant onto different areas of the top of the cooling wax. Then blend with a spoon slightly or just enough to get a swirled look. Then spoon the wax into your pillar mold. Pack the wax down hard by tapping the mold several times on a hard surface. Then let harden. Your candle will have a beautiful marbled finish.

I don't know if you can do that with a container wax. I would think it would be impossible to do with soy or palm but I bet you could try it with a parrafin.

Another trick I've seen is to drip dye down the inside of the container jar walls just after you have poured your wax. The color runs down the side of the jar into the wax creating unusual designs.I've seen this done very creatively with blending or matching different colors.

I've tried a technique before for creating a marbled look in my soy candles. I don't know how you would get swirls though. Unfortunately this effect might get you a white, red and pink candle, but it could be worth a try. Unfortunately I can't find the webpage I originally found the technique on. Basically what you do is melt the wax down then pour it into a glass bowl or similar. It would be very slow in metal I think. Due to the low melt point, the wax will begin to harden quite quickly. Stir it around so that you end up with some thick white wax as well as some still liquefied wax in your bowl. When you think you've got almost enough white, start adding your colour and stir it in. It will colour the liquid wax whilst leaving or only faintly colouring the rest depending on how hard it has become. Pour the wax into your mould. What I did find with this (the one time I tried it I should say) is I left it a little long and the wax started to get too thick and didn't pour smoothly so the bottom was very rough. I've since then watched all the soap queen episodes and was very pleased to learn the wonderful technique of heat gunning the top which has worked wonderfully for my palm wax pillars. I'd imagine it would help with this project too. I use an embossing gun because that's what I had and it seems to work well. I'll need to give this technique another try myself.